The Context, Meaning and Scope of Tourism

A Travel has existed since the beginning of time, when primitive man set out, often traversing great
distances in search of game, which provided the food and clothing necessary for his survival. Throughout
the course of history, people have travelled for purposes of trade, religious conviction, economic gain,
war, migration and other equally compelling motivations. In the Roman era, wealthy aristocrats and high
government officials also travelled for pleasure. Seaside resorts located at Pompeii and Herculaneum
afforded citizens the opportunity to escape to their vacation villas in order to avoid the summer heat of
Rome. Travel, except during the Dark Ages, has continued to grow and, throughout recorded history, has
played a vital role in the development of civilisations and their economies.

B Tourism in the mass form as we know it today is a distinctly twentieth-century phenomenon.

Historians suggest that the advent of mass tourism began in England during the industrial revolution with
the rise of the middle class and the availability of relatively inexpensive transportation. The creation of
the commercial airline industry following the Second World War and the subsequent development of the
jet aircraft in the 1950s signalled the rapid growth and expansion of international travel. This growth led
to the development of a major new industry: tourism. In turn, international tourism became the concern of
a number of world governments since it not only provided new employment opportunities but also
produced a means of earning foreign exchange.

C Tourism today has grown significantly in both economic and social importance. In most industrialised
countries over the past few years the fastest growth has been seen in the area of services. One of the
largest segments of the service industry, although largely unrecognised as an entity in some of these
countries, is travel and tourism. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (1992), Travel and
tourism is the largest industry in the world on virtually any economic measure including value-added
capital investment, employment and tax contributions. In 1992’ the industry’s gross output was estimated
to be $3.5 trillion, over 12 per cent of all consumer spending. The travel and tourism industry is the
world’s largest employer the almost 130 million jobs, or almost 7 per cent of all employees. This industry
is the world’s leading industrial contributor, producing over 6 per cent of the world’s national product and
accounting for capital investment in excess of $422 billion m direct indirect and personal taxes each year.
Thus, tourism has a profound impact both on the world economy and, because of the educative effect of
travel and the effects on employment, on society itself.

D However, the major problems of the travel and tourism industry that have hidden, or obscured, its
economic impact are the diversity and fragmentation of the industry itself. The travel industry includes:
hotels, motels and other types of accommodation; restaurants and other food services; transportation
services and facilities; amusements, attractions and other leisure facilities; gift shops and a large number
of other enterprises. Since many of these businesses also serve local residents, the impact of spending by
visitors can easily be overlooked or underestimated. In addition, Meis (1992) points out that the tourism
industry involves concepts that have remained amorphous to both analysts and decision makers.
Moreover, in all nations this problem has made it difficult for the industry to develop any type of reliable
or credible tourism information base in order to estimate the contribution it makes to regional, national
and global economies. However, the nature of this very diversity makes travel and tourism ideal vehicles
for economic development in a wide variety of countries, regions or communities.

E Once the exclusive province of the wealthy, travel and tourism have become an institutionalised way of
life for most of the population. In fact, McIntosh and Goeldner (1990) suggest that tourism has become
the largest commodity in international trade for many nations and, for a significant number of other
countries, it ranks second or third. For example, tourism is the major source of income in Bermuda,
Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and most Caribbean countries. In addition, Hawkins and Ritchie,
quoting from data published by the American Express Company, suggest that the travel and tourism
industry is the number one ranked employer in the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, France, (the former) West
Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
However, because of problems of definition, which directly affect statistical measurement, it is not
possible with any degree of certainty to provide precise, valid or reliable data about the extent of world-
wide tourism participation or its economic impact. In many cases, similar difficulties arise when attempts
are made to measure domestic tourism.

Questions 1-4

Reading Passage 203 has five paragraphs, A-E. Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E from the
list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i. Economic and social significance of tourism

ii. The development of mass tourism

iii. Travel for the wealthy

iv. Earning foreign exchange through tourism

v. Difficulty in recognising the economic effects of tourism

vi. The contribution of air travel to tourism

vii. The world impact of tourism

viii. The history of travel

1. Paragraph B

2. Paragraph C

3. Paragraph D

4. Paragraph E

Questions 5-10

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 203?

In boxes 5-10 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

 NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

5. The largest employment figures in the world are found in the travel and tourism industry.

6. Tourism contributes over six per cent of the Australian gross national product.

7. Tourism has a social impact because it promotes recreation.

8. Two main features of the travel and tourism industry make its economic significance difficult to
ascertain.

9. Visitor spending is always greater than the spending of residents in tourist areas.

10. It is easy to show statistically how tourism affects individual economies.

Questions 11-13

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in
boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

11. In Greece, tourism the most important………………….. .

12. The travel and tourism industry in Jamaica is the major………………….. .

13. The problems associated with measuring international tourism are often reflected in the measurement
of………………….. .