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Tourism 's Benefits Of Tourism

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Tourism Cares Scholarship Essay – Kathleen Lo

“So you want to be a travel agent?” This is a question I am frequently asked when I tell people I am studying tourism. Tourism affects almost every industry, from land development to fishing, from recreation to hospitality. Interestingly enough, very few people understand what a career in tourism actually involves. Not only is it a vital source of income for many stakeholders, tourism has the potential to impact virtually everyone. Furthermore, it involves a lot more than travel and leisure, despite the common perception of tourism as the “happy industry”.

While I was working for a “hop-on, hop-off” tour bus company, I saw firsthand the “happy” nature of tourism. As a ticket agent engaging in street sales, I witnessed hundreds and thousands of tourists arriving into the city by cruise ship and by bus every day. Each day, I was responsible for smiling, greeting and interacting with tourists, providing general tourism information about the city and selling tickets and packages to Vancouver’s attractions. During the four months I spent working for this tour operator, my love of the tourism industry grew even deeper. Answering peoples’ questions, hearing their excitement about the city and learning about the countries they were from gave me insight into this “happy industry”. On a busy day, I would often head back to the office with hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of dollars in my pocket.

However, there was a day in

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