Potential challenges facing leisure tourism sector

Introduction

Leisure tourism is understood as the activities that individuals carry out at the time of their travelling and stay in different places from their normal environment for a shorter period for leisure, business or other reasons (WTO, 1994).

As highlighted by Bland (2010), tourism can prove to be very advantageous for the country’s economy as tourists will be spending their money in the destination, providing that destination country with a source of revenue. The revenue, hence, can be used to serve multiple purposes, providing the public and the government of the country with positive opportunities. Not only do the country and the people living in the host country reap economic benefits out of the development of the tourism industry, but similarly, there will be numerous positive effects of other aspects of life, like the people’s social well-being.

The aim of this paper is illustrate main issues in leisure tourism. These are the issues affecting tourism sector today and which will influence the development of tourism for the foreseeable future. It is important to recognize that the issues do not exist in isolation for they are interrelated. Furthermore, it is essential to note that these are macro-level issues, and that their impact and scale and nature will vary between countries.

Challenges facing leisure tourism

People are increasingly living in ’money rich, time poor’ societies in many developed countries; therefore their time of leisure is becoming increasingly precious. Many tourists are actively engaging in the kinds of activity that they could quite feasibly do at home (e.g. shopping for global brands, eating international fast food, watching sport on satellite TV) (Tourism Business Frontiers, 2006).

Tyrell and Mai (2001) similarly note that the concept of a ‘leisure society’ is something of a misnomer at a time when leisure time is more limited than ever before! However, people seem to be taking increasingly holidays to compensate, averaging two breaks per year. New leisure tourists are often speaking to visit landscapes that correspond to Barber’s (1995) concept of ‘McWorld’, where a number of familiar global brands and facilities are clustered or integrated under one roof – The Integrated Resorts.

Political instability in destination countries

According to Hall 2000, tourism tend to flourish only when the political environmental is stable, particularly in the tourism destination, but also in the countries which generate the tourist trips. In the past, various governments have been coordinating with each other to promote tourism. However, presently, the stability has been destroyed by the unprecedented rise of co-ordinated international terrorism. This has left no corner of the world feeling safe and secure.

Globalisation and changing markets

The concept of globalisation relates both to the process by which economic markets, technologies and communications becomes progressively more international over time, and also to an extensive range of social and other issues. The deeper liberalisation of international trade regimes and the reduction in the barriers to all forms of international exchange permitted the very rapid spread of the current global crisis among the world’s financial institutions, triggering the worst global recession. The same freedom facilitates the fast spread of threats to global health like H1N1 flu.

Climate change and sustainability

Climate change and global warming present a seminal challenge to the world economy and society with huge potential implications for travel and tourism, with or without effective mitigation or adaption measures by the governments. Tourism is estimated to contribute to about 5.3% of the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission with transport accounting to about 75% of the greenhouse effects. Tourism is particularly exposed to the predicted direct effects of climate change, changes to ocean currents, accelerated rates of global melt and loss of snow cover and permafrost, higher temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and the frequency or intensity of extreme weather events.

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