Tourism as a factor of development

Abstract

If well exploited and closely linked with other sectors of the economy, tourism is believed to serve as an engine of growth. This paper shows how the tourism sector can be a factor of development by offering diverse job opportunities and by increasing foreign earnings which in many nations are used to boost other economic activities. Activities that are developed as a result of tourism include among others: entertainment, transportation services, craft rental and sales, tour guides, restaurants, hotels, beach manicures and pedicures and many more. These activities are interlinked with financial influx. From a trade perspective, the paper argues from reviewed literature that tourism in many developing nations contributes to foreign earnings more than many other economic sectors regarded as main export-oriented without facing the same trade restrictions. Tourism has a powerful multiplier effect through which it contributes to development. Through consumption of local tourism products and other local but non-tourism products, tourism can perform as a means for development of many small businesses. The paper concludes that the tourism sector needs to be sustainable in order to successfully play its role of development factor.

Sustainable Tourism and Destination Management: The Greek Island of Poros

“…The contribution of Tourism sector to development needs to be clearly explained to allow countries to invest into tourism. Tourism is considered as a development factor [6] as is probably the best example among human activities in which the linkages between environmental quality and economic prospects are evident [7]. Tourism is a part of a general strategy towards sustainability there is little agreement on, or evidence of, how to achieve this.…”

Determinants and Implications of the Tourism Multiplier Effect in EU Economies. Towards a Core-Periphery PatternS

“…A large and growing body of literature has investigated tourism multiplier effect from a theoretical or empirical point of view during the last decades (Ntibanyurwa, 2006;van Leeuwen, Nijkamp and Rietveld, 2009;Pascariu and Tiganasu, 2014). The multiplier effect was mostly used for the determination of economic impact of visitor spending, by multiplying it with the number of tourists and the average spending per visitor (Stynes, 1999).…”

“…Additional studies proved that the multiplier effect can be positively influenced by the level of national or regional economic diversification (Muchapondwa and Stage, 2013), due to the chances of involving more sectors of economy, the level of infrastructure (Freeman and Sultan, 1997;Huse, Gustavsen and Almedal, 1998), the number of inhabitants (van Leeuwen, Nijkamp and Rietveld, 2009) or the typology of tourist attractions (for example van Leeuwen, Nijkamp and Rietveld, (2009) found that the coastal destinations where the sun is the main resource tend to have a larger multiplier effect, while the destinations based on cultural resources recorded the lowest values of multiplier effect). Hansen and Jensen (1996) suggested that a richer region dominated by 3+ stars hotels tends to express a higher multiplier effect than a poorer region dominated by 2 stars' hotels or camping, while Ntibanyurwa (2006) offered evidence for a higher multiplier effect on the regions with small businesses.…”

Comparative analysis of carrying capacity indices for the central Aegean islands

“…The purpose of this study is to examine the image of the Cycladic and Samos region islands by analysing the interactions between tourism and the environment by examining environmental indices [11]. The population of Cyclades is mainly concentrated in Syros (19,870) Naxos (18,988), Thira (13,960), Paros (12,853), Andros (1,009) Mykonos (9,320) Tinos (8,574), the other islands' population is under 4,000. Samos' population is 33.814 and Ikaria's 8,312.…”

“…The contribution of tourism sector to development needs to be clearly explained to allow countries to invest in tourism. Tourism is considered as a development factor [8] as it is probably the best example among human activities in which the linkages between environmental quality and economic prospects are evident [9]. Tourism is a part of a general strategy towards sustainability.…”