1. COST & BENIFIT OF TOURISM
NCC-TGTA & DTM
TRAVEL & TOURISM DEPARTMENT
2. Social Costs
• May attract visitors whose lifestyles and ideas conflict with
the community's. An example may be the visitors' use of
drugs and alcohol.
• May change individual behaviour and family relationships.
• May lead to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases.
• Loss of traditional values and culture through imitation of
visitor behaviour or cultural diffusion resulting from normal,
everyday interaction.
• May create crowding and congestion.
3. Social Costs
• May compete with residents for available services, facilities,
and existing recreation opportunities.
• May result in harassment of visitors perceived to be wealthy
and an increase in crime.
• Can involve violations of human rights. People have been
displaced from their land and beaches have been reserved for
hotel guests while access is barred to local people.
4. Social Benefits
• Brings in outside dollars to support community facilities and
services that otherwise might not be developed.
• Encourages civic involvement and pride.
• Provides cultural exchange between hosts and guests.
• Encourages the preservation and celebration of local festivals and
cultural events.
• Facilities and infrastructure developed for tourism can also benefit
residents.
• Encourages the learning of new languages and skills.
• Tourism related funds have contributed towards schools being built
in some areas.
5. Environmental Costs
• May threaten specific natural resources such as beaches and
coral reefs or historical sites.
• May increase litter, noise, and pollution.
• Brings increased competition for limited resources such as
water and land, resulting in land degradation, loss of wildlife
habitats and deterioration of scenery.
• Directly contributes to sewage and solid waste pollution.
• Emissions generated by forms of transport are one of the
main environmental problems of tourism.
6. Environmental Benefits
• Fosters conservation and preservation of natural, cultural and
historical resources.
• Encourages community beautification and revitalization.
• Could be considered a clean industry.
7. Economic Costs
• Tourism development of infrastructure (airports, roads, etc.)
can cost the local government a great deal of money.
• May inflate property values and prices of goods and services.
• If outside interests own the tourism development, most of the
economic benefits will leave the community.
• Considerable amount of foreign exchange revenues leaks back
out of the destination countries for tourism-related imports.
• Employment tends to be seasonal. Workers may be laid off in
the winter season.
8. Economic Costs
• Many jobs in the tourism industry are poorly paid. This is a
particular problem in LEDCs where the local workforce lacks the
skills to fill the better paid management positions.
• Tourist numbers can be adversely affected by events beyond the
control of the destination e.g. terrorism, economic recession. This is
a big problem in LEDC countries dependent on tourism.
• Tourism follows a "product life cycle", with a final stage of decline,
where the destination no longer offers new attractions for the
tourist, and the quality has diminished with the rise of competition
and tourist saturation.
9. Economic Benefits
• Helps diversify and stabilize the local economy.
• Provides governments with extra tax revenues
each year through accommodation and restaurant taxes,
airport taxes, sales taxes,
park entrance fees, employee income tax etc..
• Creates local jobs and business opportunities. These
include those jobs directly related to tourism (hotel and
tour services) and those that indirectly support tourism
(such as food production and housing construction).
10. Economic Benefits
• Brings new money into the economy. Tourist money is
returned to the local economy as it is spent over and over
again.
• Helps attract additional businesses and services to support
the tourist industry.
• Is labour-intensive.
• Earns valuable foreign exchange.
