Tourism Brings Economic Development

Many government leaders have come to understand the importance of tourism as an economic development tool. Yet despite the fact that the world’s largest peacetime industry is as major source of jobs, tax revenue and often, urban revitalization there is still a lack of understanding that tourism is more than merely a part of economic development, to a great extent tourism is economic development.

This month’s edition of Tourism Tidbits addresses not only the direct impact that tourism has on a locale’s economy but also the secondary impact throughout an entire economic system.

Tourism is the world’s largest peacetime industry. For those people who like facts and figures, according to the World Tourism Council, last year tourism produced over $6 trillion. It provided around the world 221 million jobs, with an expectation that by 2015 it will be providing some 269 million jobs. Between 2006 and 2015, tourism’s growth rate is expected to average 4.6 percent per year.

Tourism is a major source of revenue around the world. For example, according to the Travel Association of America, the tourism industry in the United States produces over $600 billion dollars in revenue and over $100 billion in taxes paid to local, state and federal governments.

Tourism is a major source of revenue around the world. For example, according to the Travel Association of America, in the United States the tourism industry produces over $600 billion dollars in revenue and over $100 billion in taxes paid to local, state and federal governments.

Tourism, on a national scale, not only generates employment but also may be a major renewable export source. Tourism attractions do not disappear; millions of people can see the same attraction. These people may also become a major source of foreign exchange, adding needed hard currencies to local economies.

It must be noted however that for tourism to be a renewable resource it must be developed in a sustainable or responsible manner. That means that where ecologies are fragile, numbers and activities must be tightly controlled, pollution must be prevented, and local cultures protected.

Tourism adds to the local economy in a variety of ways. Included are hotel and restaurant expenditures and taxes, conventions and meetings, taxes paid on transportation, attractions of foreign capital, especially in hotel construction, creation of additional jobs in such areas as public services and infrastructure renewal.

Government and community leaders may also want to take into account that tourism adds prestige to a community. People like living in a place which others consider worthy of visiting. This increased national or community pride also can become an important economic generating tool.

Tourism is an important economic development tool for emerging and minority communities around the world. Because tourism is based on the appreciation of the other, tourism industries have been especially open to giving disadvantaged groups around the world opportunities that have often been denied to them by other economic sectors.

The bottom line is that tourism should not be seen as merely an economic development tool, but rather the basis upon which economic development can be built.