The tourism industry is a dynamic,global business which incorporates a diversity of interests.

Running Head : TOURISM INDUSTRY

The Dynamism of the Tourism Industry

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[University]

[Professor]

[Class] The Dynamism of the Tourism Industry

The tourism industry is a dynamic , global business which incorporates a diversity of interests . At first glance , this statement is already self-explanatory as it is everything that it is described to be . Looking closely , however , it should be noted that the key words and phrase were carefully chosen to encompass tourism as it is today . It merits further study as to why it is

Tourism is one the

industries that creates a huge number of employment opportunities . In the website of the World Travel and Tourism Council (2007 , it is maintained that at present , employment is provided for an estimated 231 million people and generating over 10 .4 per cent of the world GDP . Moreover , a fearless forecast has been made that tourism is expected to grow at a level of 4 .3 per year over the next ten years . This forecast is not unlikely at all since such mark had in fact already been achieved between 1995 and 2006 , where a study of international travelers was made by the World Tourism Organization (2006 ) and it was able to establish that there had been an increase of 4 .5 more international travelers or 36 million more on top of the previous 842 million . With increasing world prosperity combined with changing lifestyles , preferences and mobility , the number can only go up

Tourism can be simply explained by citing the drivers leading to its expansion . A formula has in fact been outlined by Smith (cited in Mowforth Munt 2003 ,

. 82

T L I M

where

T Tourism

L Leisure Time

I Income (discretionary or surplus

M Motivation

While the basic components have not changed , the individual definitions certainly have . It can be surmised that Europe comprised 47 of the 36-million increase in international travelers due to a rise in leisure time with the implementation of the 48-hour maximum work week . Moreover growing work mobility as an offshoot of the influx of highly sophisticated technology allowing for remote work gave rise to objective-driven job responsibilities rather than having to clock in at the office . In a statistical table compiled by the Euromonitor (2007 covering 71 major countries , an increase of 35 .16 in the disposable income per household was recorded . Prosperity is no longer concentrated in Europe and North America although it continues to steadily increase particularly in Europe . In Asia , there are a number of emerging markets with its population coming into instant wealth . In the same study by WTO (2007 , Asia and the Pacific 9 ) stands out as the best performing region in the world in the first four months of 2007 , confirming its role as one of the motors of international tourism expansion . The highest increase in arrivals was recorded by South Asia 12 , while South-East Asia and North-East Asia (both at 9 ) sustained the healthy growth of 2006 ' With income thus easier to collect , inclinations have changed from...