The Benefits and Challenges of Tourism to the Host Country

Introduction

Tourism is of great importance to every nation and it involves the commercial organization and running of vacations and places of interests for domestic and international visitors.  The activity has major benefits to the host country categorized under economic, environmental, services, taxes, and social and cultural benefits. Every nation has the responsibility of ensuring that the tourism industry is maintained to keep the history of the nation intact and promote cultural exchange among the diverse communities and tribes in the world.  Each category of the major areas of benefit from the tourism represents both positive and negative impacts. However, it is the duty of the community and the tourism leaders to effectively employ policies and measures that will ensure there is more of positive impacts than negative results.

Therefore, the leaders have to be sensitive and visionary and should avoid all temptations of glossing over particular challenges that tourism development creates. Also, the leaders should ensure that there is the balance of the opportunities and other concerns of a community regarding the benefits and challenges that come along. The government and the leaders of the particular visiting sites should ensure that the presence of the international visitors does not put in danger the existence of the sites, culture, living standards, and the nation at whole. Over the years, countries like Mauritius, Kenya, and Dubai just to mention a few are working towards ensuring that they create a flourishing environment and sites for the tourist in the country and the outside world (Mason, 2008). 

Thesis Statement

Tourism is an important industry to any nation that has the plans for growing its economy. It brings along major economic benefits to the country, but it as well results in some major challenges. Policies and measures have been put in place to control the impact of tourism in any nation, but it is evident that it comes with equal benefits and challenges to the country. Despite the growth in the economy as a result of the expansion in the tourism sector, the nation experiences some unavoidable problems as well. It depends on the analysis that a particular nation partakes to either reduce the positive results that it gets to reduce the negative impacts or to increase the benefits from tourism and increase the negative impacts. Therefore, the benefits that a nation derives from tourism sector are directly proportionate to the negative results.

Benefits of Tourism to Host Country 

There are different categories that benefit from tourism in the country including the economy, social and cultural sector, crowding and congestion, taxes, services, and the environmental categories. 

Economic benefits

One of the major economic benefits of tourism in the host country is that it contributes to the income and standards of living for the people of the host country. The economy of any country grows at an increasing rate if the number of productive people increases. The productive people are mainly the number of individuals that earn within a given period. Hence, tourism creates employment to the people of the particular nation thereby providing the country with the opportunity of growing its economy and reducing poverty. Another advantage of tourism is that it ensures that there is an improvement in the local economy, and improves infrastructural levels. It means that the leaders of the tourism industry improve the tourist site by improving, the roads, residence sectors, and the transport facilities which in turn improves the infrastructure of the particular region (Spinelli, 2010). 

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It is inevitable to rule out the emergence of new business opportunities that come along with the tourism business. Some of the business opportunities include eating joints, playing areas, and the sale of jewelry from different cultures. However, learning institutions for the visitors to learn the local language at a given fee arises providing employment to many citizens of the local country. Also, the host country benefits from the increase in taxation and foreign currency.

Social and Cultural Benefits

The host has the advantage of the cultural interaction between its people and the visitors from other countries. The cultural interaction ensures that there is sufficient understanding of the way of life within the country of different people in the outside world. However, there is the persistence of cultural preservation in the host nation, satisfaction of psychological needs, and ensures there are positive changes in the values and customs of people in the country (Caves, 2004). 

Environmental Benefits

Some of the environmental merits that a host country receives from tourism comprises of there is the protection of the selected natural environment, preservation of the historical buildings, clean environment is maintained, and there is an improvement of the particular region’s visual and aesthetic.

Crowding and Congestion Benefits

Here, the country has the assurance there will be the minimization of sprawl, the concentration of the tourist facilities and there will be the renovation of the old building for the reuse for the tourists.

Services and Taxes Merits 

Since the host country wants to maintain a good and conducive environment for the tourist, it will increase the services level for its citizens as prove that it has the best goods and services. Some of the services include police response services, increase of recreation facilities for domestic use, and better services for shops, restaurants and other commerce sectors are improved

Those are some of the noticeable benefits that a country receives from the maintenance of a conducive tourist environment. However, it is important to refute in that there are many disasters that come from the encouragement of tourism. As noted, there is a direct relationship between the benefits and demerits of tourism in a country. Therefore, the extreme of how a host country benefits from the tourism activity is directly proportionate to the number of demerits that will be experienced in return (Wong, 2006). 

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Economic Limitations

The economic limitations of tourism are there will be an increase in the prices of goods and services which make a huge number of the country’s population not to afford. The rise in the value of living will be experienced in areas such as the accommodation facilities, increase in public expenditures such as maintenance of roads and tourist sites, and due to seasonal tourism, there will be high risk or under or and unemployment issues within the country. 

Social and cultural Demerits

Here, a country faces the challenges of negative changes in the values and customs of communities, unwanted changes of lifestyle, increase in the levels of smuggling, family disruptions and unwanted language and cultural effects. Also, there will be the problem of exclusion of the local people from the natural resources, displacement of individuals for tourism development, increase in crimes, drug abuse, prostitution, and underage drinking (Mason, 2008).

Environmental Calamities

A lot of environmental hazards arise due to the expansion and development of the tourism industry, and such calamities include an increase in the pollution rate that is water, air, and noise, the loss of natural landscape and agricultural regions to tourism, loss of open space, and the introduction of the exotic species. Also, there is the destruction of flora and fauna, and the disruption of wildlife breeding system and behaviors. 

Crowding and congestion Crisis 

Here, the people of the country receives major problems in the interference of their business activities, the increase of people within a particular region resulting to airborne and water diseases, increased conflicts and construction of overpowering buildings.

Services and Taxes Problem

Some of the demerits that arise in the tax and service category of the economy are that there will be neglect of non-tourist recreation institutions and facilities, increase the pressure on infrastructure, and increase in the property tax and the shortage of goods and services (King, 2008).

Conclusion

The paper raises the issue of the benefits of tourism in the host country, but at the same time, it refutes the positive impact. However, it gives a clear indication that there is a direct relationship between the level of benefits and challenges within the host nation. It means that the higher the expansion and development of the tourism department, the higher the benefits and challenges. The discussion gives the categories that are mainly affected including the economy, environment, crowding and congestion, and the services and taxes segments. Some of the general benefits of tourism comprise of the improvement of standards of living, employment opportunities, the emergence of new business opportunities, reduction of poverty, increase in foreign currency, and the promotion of cultural exchange.

On the other hand, the challenges that arise from the expansion and development of the tourism sector include, exposure of the country to terrorism, neglect of non-tourist sites, air pollution, air and noise pollution, increase in government expenditures on maintenance of tourist sites and infrastructure and the increase in the cost of goods and services. However, there is an increase in the spread of diseases due to overcrowding and congestion, increase in the property tax, unwanted changes in the language and cultural activities, and the disruption of wildlife cycles. Hence, the benefits that the host nation receives from tourism are bound to bring disadvantages. The point to which a country benefit from tourism depends on its efforts to expand the sector and minimize the limitations that come along.