Tourism Leakage
Mar 1st, 2023, 06:42 PM
#42
Mar 2nd, 2023, 04:18 PM
#43
Yeah, if I've learned nothing else from Fodors after all these years, it's kind of important to hold on to that old grain of salt when reading/hearing travel advice from somebody who makes their living by selling travel.
Mar 25th, 2023, 10:56 AM
#44
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Yet another article about tourism leakage, this time no less from Fodor's itself.
It cites a UN estimate that tourism accounts for 10% of global GDP. Even though over-tourism is a growing problem, tourism is still a force for reducing poverty and empowering women.
However, tourism leakage mitigates a lot of the benefits, while still leaving behind problems from over-tourism./
This article seems mostly to concentrate on tourist destinations in developing countries, particularly smaller places like the Caribbean islands, where all-inclusive packages are more common, leading to most of the income flowing back to the developed countries where the tourists who buy these packages originate. So most of the money flows back to these outside countries rather than the destination countries.
Read in Fodor's Travel: https://apple.news/A01U28j8bRPGX-iC6BZn2mw
I don't think too many Fodorites are visiting the Caribbean too frequently, especially on these all-inclusive packages, where they don't give you much of a reason to leave the comforts and familiarity of the resorts rather than venturing out and patronizing local businesses.
Recently, some destinations in developed countries have begged off on tourism now. Amsterdam is talking about limiting tourism or making it less appealing to visit the city, by banning short-term rentals, which limit supply of lodgings and pushes prices higher (Amsterdam hotels already have high prices).
Now Hawaii is talking about eliminating their tourist marketing organization, even as hotels have raised their rates to record highs in the last year, even as pent-up pandemic travel demand has waned over there somewhat -- hotels would rather have lower vacancies and higher rates than higher vacancies and lower rates.
Amsterdam probably isn't as reliant on tourism as Hawaii so they can probably eliminate or drastically reduce tourism indefinitely but can Hawaii?
Southern Europe, I don't see them bailing on tourism any time soon though in recent weeks, there are now a lot of stories about housing markets in Lisbon, Athens and other places going out of control due to foreign buyers raising demand and prices for housing, basically pricing-out locals, especially young people. Golden Visa is in danger of being eliminated now, at least for awhile, even though it has brought in billions to Portugal since the debt crisis they faced about 10 years ago.
It cites a UN estimate that tourism accounts for 10% of global GDP. Even though over-tourism is a growing problem, tourism is still a force for reducing poverty and empowering women.
However, tourism leakage mitigates a lot of the benefits, while still leaving behind problems from over-tourism./
This article seems mostly to concentrate on tourist destinations in developing countries, particularly smaller places like the Caribbean islands, where all-inclusive packages are more common, leading to most of the income flowing back to the developed countries where the tourists who buy these packages originate. So most of the money flows back to these outside countries rather than the destination countries.
A 2022 U.N. report highlighted the importance of tourism in global economic recovery, but also noted that substantial money is leaving the destination with foreign-owned operators, airlines, and hotels. According to the report, "such 'tourism leakage' is estimated to amount to about 80% of all money spent by tourists in the Caribbean."
How to Prevent Tourism Leakage
According to the U.N. Atlas of the Oceans, import leakage occurs when the host country can't supply food, equipment, or other products, which are imported. "Much of the income from tourism expenditures leaves the country again to pay for these imports." Export leakage happens when large foreign businesses, especially in developing nations, build tourism infrastructure and overseas investors take profits from these businesses back to their country.
First of all, destinations will need to step up to ensure that they're not losing out. The U.N. report suggests, "Countries could establish and manage online travel platforms that usually take a commission of 15-18% of the price of a hotel room or 3-4% of airfares." Better infrastructure and more awareness will help- encouraging businesses to supply local products and making it easier to procure them should be a priority.
How to Prevent Tourism Leakage
According to the U.N. Atlas of the Oceans, import leakage occurs when the host country can't supply food, equipment, or other products, which are imported. "Much of the income from tourism expenditures leaves the country again to pay for these imports." Export leakage happens when large foreign businesses, especially in developing nations, build tourism infrastructure and overseas investors take profits from these businesses back to their country.
First of all, destinations will need to step up to ensure that they're not losing out. The U.N. report suggests, "Countries could establish and manage online travel platforms that usually take a commission of 15-18% of the price of a hotel room or 3-4% of airfares." Better infrastructure and more awareness will help- encouraging businesses to supply local products and making it easier to procure them should be a priority.
I don't think too many Fodorites are visiting the Caribbean too frequently, especially on these all-inclusive packages, where they don't give you much of a reason to leave the comforts and familiarity of the resorts rather than venturing out and patronizing local businesses.
Recently, some destinations in developed countries have begged off on tourism now. Amsterdam is talking about limiting tourism or making it less appealing to visit the city, by banning short-term rentals, which limit supply of lodgings and pushes prices higher (Amsterdam hotels already have high prices).
Now Hawaii is talking about eliminating their tourist marketing organization, even as hotels have raised their rates to record highs in the last year, even as pent-up pandemic travel demand has waned over there somewhat -- hotels would rather have lower vacancies and higher rates than higher vacancies and lower rates.
Amsterdam probably isn't as reliant on tourism as Hawaii so they can probably eliminate or drastically reduce tourism indefinitely but can Hawaii?
Southern Europe, I don't see them bailing on tourism any time soon though in recent weeks, there are now a lot of stories about housing markets in Lisbon, Athens and other places going out of control due to foreign buyers raising demand and prices for housing, basically pricing-out locals, especially young people. Golden Visa is in danger of being eliminated now, at least for awhile, even though it has brought in billions to Portugal since the debt crisis they faced about 10 years ago.
