Believing tourism and its and it's economic benifits best be relized via the profit incentive.?

Question

China is turning over it's state-controlled parks, nature reserves and monuments to private sector. Critics worry that this shift will destroy those Chinese treasures. Explain the critics fear.

Answer 1

Experience tells us that the fear of the critics is well founded.

The more successful the effort to attract tourists is, the more will come and the faster the local environment will degrade. The private sector has no interest in the long term and so will encourage as many to come as quickly as possible.

You can look at tourist attractions that rely on natural beauty all around the world and see the same pattern.

http://www.helium.com/items/255299-how-t...

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/el...

http://www.oceansatlas.org/unatlas/uses/...

http://padh.gpa.unep.org/page.cfm?theme=...

Even in the U.S. national park system, once parks get popular, they degrade because the Parks Dept. is always under pressure to let more people in.

http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/...

http://www.wildwilderness.org/content/vi...

Of course none of this is all that new, and each new development promises that this time we'll learn from the past and do it right. But, I've yet to see it.

And, it is not just the natural treasures:

http://www.american.edu/TED/VENICE.HTM

The Japanese are more aware of it than most. There are a number of temples and gardens in Kyoto that greatly limit the number of people allowed each day - and appointments must be made in advance:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3914.html

http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/visitkyoto/en/t...

But that is the exception rather than the rule.

Answer 2

Tourism has a variety of economic impacts. Tourists contribute to sales, profits, jobs, tax revenues, and

income in an area. The most direct effects occur within the primary tourism sectors --lodging, restaurants,

transportation, amusements, and retail trade . Through secondary effects, tourism affects most sectors of the

economy. An economic impact analysis of tourism activity normally focuses on changes in sales, income, and

employment in a region resulting from tourism activity.

A simple tourism impact scenario illustrates. Let’s say a region attracts an additional 100 tourists, each

spending $100 per day. That’s $10,000 in new spending per day in the area. If sustained over a 100 day season, the

region would accumulate a million dollars in new sales. The million dollars in spending would be distributed to

lodging, restaurant, amusement and retail trade sectors in proportion to how the visitor spends the $100. Perhaps

30% of the million dollars would leak out of the region immediately to cover the costs of goods purchased by

tourists that are not made in the local area (only the retail margins for such items should normally be included as

direct sales effects). The remaining $700,000 in direct sales might yield $350,000 in income within tourism

industries and support 20 direct tourism jobs. Tourism industries are labor and income intensive, translating a high

proportion of sales into income and corresponding jobs.