Statistics Book 2007.pdf - Kerala Tourism

11.2 LOCAL IMPACT OF TOURISM : A STUDY BY KITTS
Introduction
The growth and development of tourism industry as we experience today is a post world war phenomenon.
Mechanization, urbanization, growth of higher disposable income, higher standard of living, demand for
leisure and recreation, search for authenticity and quest for knowledge have immensely contributed to
the growth of modern tourism. By making new and better addition to the stock of tourism products, this
dynamic industry has occupied a pride place in the development paradigm of almost all countries. Emerged
as a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional industry, tourism has grown to such an extent in the 1970s that
the world experienced a peculiar situation which later came to be known as mass tourism. Though, in the
beginning, tourism was known as smokeless and hence harmless industry, mass tourism created dire
consequences to society, culture and environment. Later, it was revealed that uncontrolled growth of
tourism can create uncompensated loss to humanity as the industry heavily depends on nature, culture,
society and environment. Academic interest and enquiry into the intricacies and complexities of tourism
started in the 1980s when the search for an alternative to mass tourism acquired power and strength.
Advocates of tourism, whether it is mass or alternative, focused their argument on its benefits mainly on
the economic front. Since most of the alternative forms are based on nature, environment, culture,
tradition, flora and fauna, tourism began to spread from advanced European countries to the so called
third world – less developed – part of the world where untapped tourism resource exists in abundance.
Considering the labour intensive nature, less developed nations considered tourism whole-heartedly for
their economic ills. Academic discussion on the economic impact of tourism mostly revolves around the
benefits, specifically on employment, income, foreign exchange and regional development.
Tourism creates employment to the skilled, semi skilled and unskilled personnels by generating direct,
indirect and induced employment. When tourist visit the destination, they make use of the facilities and
avail various types of services, for which they make due payment. This results in creating income to the
region. Besides, governments at local, regional and national levels are benefited through tax payment at
different levels, by the industry. A much broader perception on tourism would reveal its capacity to
generate foreign exchange while promoting regional development. Thus by making significant contribution
to government revenue, foreign exchange, income employment and regional development, tourism
acquired a pride of place in the development paradigm of many countries. But a detailed academic
examination of this phenomenon revealed that always the destination need not be benefited through
tourism as there are possibilities for leakages. The leakages take many forms so that the multiplier
effect will not be realized as expected, resulting in generating poor economic benefits.
Discussions on socio-cultural and environmental impacts of tourism strengthened globally especially in
the context of growing environmental movements and sustainable development. Linking local community
with tourism and promoting participatory tourism development are recognized as effective tools for
ensuring sustainability in tourism. Moreover, as most of the tourism resources fall under public / common
property, it is only through social/political action that the resource base can be protected for ensuring
sustainability. However, there is no disagreement among academicians, policy makers and practitioners
that the destination community is destined to embrace most of the negatives of tourism development. It
is in this context, attempts to promote sustainable / responsible tourism accentuated globally. Development
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