Drivers of Change

Abstract

At first glance, it would appear that tourism is ubiquitous; it is a global activity that is experienced in all countries, with every country having an equal stake. However, this is misleading as it has been demonstrated that international tourism is ‘dominated by relatively few countries’, with tourism being described as an activity ‘open to an elite only‘. As such, tourism has traditionally been engaged in by those who are from prosperous countries, who have higher incomes and stable and secure societies (Todd, 2001: 12). International tourism is dominated by the ‘wealthier, industrialised world’ (Sharpley, 2018: 50), with the major tourism flows occurring between the more developed countries or from developed countries to developing countries. In recent years some new destinations such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have emerged (Weaver and Lawton, 2014), challenging the dominance of the traditional generating and receiving countries. However, the majority of travel is still undertaken by tourists from traditional tourism generating regions of Europe, North America and parts of South East Asia (Sharpley, 2018: 50). Despite this concentration of tourist origins, many countries around the world are interested in receiving tourists for the economic benefits including local employment and foreign currency. Todd (2001: 14) suggests that if every country in the world had ‘peace with its neighbours and a rational approach to development’, they could see tourism play its part in developing their economies. From a demand side perspective, ‘rising real incomes, expanding discretionary spending, increasing leisure time, faster and cheaper transport and the spread of global awareness through the printed and broadcast media and... through the internet’ fuel tourism growth (Todd, 2001: 15). But the question remains, what will happen to tourism in the future?