Sustainable tourism and economic development in Asia

Travel and tourism is the world’s largest industry and it creates job opportunities across national and regional economies. Careers generated by travel and tourism is spread across the economies of countries. Tourism has such a great multiplier effect, which helps to provide employment for so many people in various fields.

Due to this factor there are many other industries that are directly or indirectly related to tourism, helping to create many jobs to employ a large proportion of women, minorities and young people; predominantly in small and medium sized companies; and offer good training and transferability.

The Taj Mahal in Agra India

Speaking to Daily News Business Tourist Hotel Association of Sri Lanka President Anura Lokuhetti said advanced planning and management is required to protect and conserve the biodiversity of tourist destinations.

Dealing predominantly with such serious issues, sustainable tourism can become an important strategy to be adopted. Sustainable tourism is all about conserving the resources, valuing the local culture and tradition and providing employment to the local communities whilst contributing largely in economy.

Sustainability is imperative for tourism planning as destinations encounter increasing pressure on the natural, cultural and socio-economic environments from tourism growth.

It has been recognized that uncontrolled growth in tourism aimed at short-term benefits often can harm the environment and societies as well as destroy the very basis of tourism. Most countries that are involved in tourism have become more aware of such problems.

Sri Lanka

It is great that some consumers who now demand higher environmental standards from tourism suppliers and greater commitment from tour operators and travel agents.

This will certainly help to ensure tourism to bring economic benefits to host communities and help improve poverty and save natural and cultural assets for a longer period provided there is proper planning and management with a long-term vision, he said.

Sustainable tourism is a kind of approach to tourism meant to make the development of tourism ecologically supportable in the long-term. The very importance of sustainable tourism lies in its motives to safeguard the resources and increase the value of local culture and tradition.

With the dawn of peace, Sri Lanka is expecting increased footfalls of tourists. Therefore, the need for today is that tourism like other sectors needs to be planned and managed suitably. Sustainable development of tourism is possible only if it follows some of its guidelines and principles.

This should include a comprehensive approach that considers environmental, socio-cultural and economic, institutional and financial aspects, together with their mutual relations when formulating policies, strategies, programs or projects.

Ideally, local plans should be integrated into regional and national tourism policies and plans. This will help us to sustain the tourism industry for a long period without any negative impact to the country.

Tourism is one of the most important economic activities in the world today, as it directly generates services, products, foreign exchange, employment and investments. In countries where tourism has become a flourishing service industry, it has far-reaching economic and a social impacts on national development.

International tourism also has complex linkages to other industries and to the Government development strategies and plans, which affects the structure and diversity of other economic activities at the national and regional levels.

“I consider this as a very important topic that needs to be addressed in this region of South Asia as all our countries are very rich in multicultural, multireligious and historical advantages.

Most of the countries in our region are incredibly compact, yet understated countries, with an abundance of astounding natural beauty, a wealth of UNESCO sites, and a cultural heritage unmatched by any other countries in other regions on this planet.

The great advantage and one that should be aggressively pursued is that of exploiting the diversity of the product of this region. It is a great factor to look at the diversified profile, which makes this region so attractive,” Lokuhetti said.

The underwater paradise of Maldives, possibly the best in the world for divers and snorkelers with the unique possibility of living in your own little island surrounded by beautiful coral reefs.

The diversity of Sri Lanka, a model in most minds having the highest bio-diversity in Asia with the strengths of a strong culture and ecotourism drive, which should be segmented and differentiated.

A culture and eco tour would be the ideal selling point in a new strategy to replace the outdated and easily replicable sun and sand strategy. Maybe the great rock fortress of Sigiriya, today spoken of as the eighth wonder of the world, to take centre stage in Sri Lanka marketing efforts to attract visitors to see this great spectacle of architecture and engineering constructed in 5 AD.

The mystique of India has a lot to offer, and the strength in this historical, culture and monuments is by far equal or better to any in the world. Ayurveda, a herbal treatment for relaxation and healthcare is fast gaining ground in popularity, especially from the European holiday traveller.

Nepal

This concept, which originated in Kerala in the Western part of India, could be an ideal niche to market. We all know that this concept has great healing powers and brings peace and tranquility for where visitors are willing to spend and travel.

He said Nepal with its unique mountains and the great possibility to view and hike. A great number of travellers will be drawn to this Himalayan spectacle, which would be readily identified and differentiated in selling the tourism product in Nepal. From the above is evident what great prospects these regions offer and it is noteworthy that the countries are within the reach of another one hours or so air travel time.

Trekking the Himalayas in Nepal

Let us look at the markets we could attract. As I said, the intra regional market could boom with the networking and proper promotion of strengths of each destination. I will give you one example, Sri Lanka has been wooing the Indian market in the last few years. It is really surprising to note that most of the Indians in the central and northern States hardly know of the beauty and the attractions of Sri Lanka.

Of recent times, focused marketing of this segment have made the Indian traveller aware that Sri Lanka is a holiday destination satisfying most of their needs of a typical holiday.

The airlines of both countries have to increase capacity to accommodate the expected increases of travellers between the countries. Protectionist policies would be of fruitless avail and would be a great impediment to the future development of tourism between the countries.

There is great scope for promoting tourism in the region due to historic, social and cultural links of the people’s. Tourism is another potential area of interest for international donors who think it can promote integration in the region. Recently, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided assistance for development of the SASEC Tourism, which includes India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

India and Pakistan

ADB spots great advantages for India and Pakistan in the tourism industry. As a result of partition of India in 1947 a large number of families were divided and continue to remain apart. Besides meeting family and friends people of India and Pakistan are very keen to visit these countries for sightseeing and vacation.

Both countries have many to offer the tourists in terms of social, cultural and historical interests. The present meager tourism trade of around US$ 15 million per annum could be easily expanded to over US$ 155 million per annum after liberalization of visas and improved provision of inter country transportation facilities.

The East Asian market includes China, the biggest and the best market place for this region. The leisure potential of the mighty China could well be the focus of the strategy in the new millennium.

With close proximity to travel from one to another there is great potential to tap this market of over a billion people who have begun to take to leisure travel at a much larger scale.

Japan is a nature market and could be easily attracted in larger numbers. The tiger economies of the recent past such as Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia cannot be underscored.

There is immense potential from the region to draw much larger numbers to our region, with sure prosperity to return to these giant of economies, strangely whose potential to travel is not second to none. Our profile would go hand in glove with the aspirations and the interest.

Most of the countries in our region have the potential to make tourism the biggest foreign exchange earner. In 2009, international tourism receipts represented around six percent of worldwide exports of goods and services; the share of tourism as a part of service exports increased to nearly 30 percent in terms of growth; the tourism industry worldwide has been stagnated since 2000, but made a strong recovery throughout 2004.

Bangladesh

At the end of 2004 and in early 2005, the devastation caused by Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami had a significant impact on several important Asian tourism destinations.

However, when you consider South Asia’s total number of arrivals for 2009 was only 6.9 million, while Northeast Asia has recorded 196 million. Southeast Asia has recorded almost 62 million tourist arrivals.

Considering these figures there is a very small number of tourists yet recorded in our region. It is very vital that we analyze and prepare a strategic plan for a minimum of five years to improve tourist arrivals to this region.

A safari park in Bangladesh

Tourist arrivals in comparison to the last years first few months, South Asia has shown a 15 percent growth and Southeast and Northeast Asia has shown a 10 percent growth.

The growth in Asia is much greater than the world average, which is only two percent. It is very encouraging to note that in our region remarkable growth has been shown by Sri Lanka (50 percent), Nepal (30 percent) and India (13 percent) within the first two months of 2010.

During the first four months of 2010, the rate of growth in tourist arrivals for Asia and the Pacific was almost 10 percent, according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

This indicates that the earthquake and tsunami in December 2004 only had a marginal affect on overall results although tourism in Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand suffered strong effects.

“With further analyze in regard to the arrival pattern to the Asian countries most of the countries are yet enjoying mostly European customers and I think it is very necessary to improve the intra-regional traffic as there are many concerns in regard to the carbon emissions in countries like UK and some of the European countries are thinking of increasing the taxes for carbon emission charges by almost 100 to 200 percent,” Lokuhetti said.

Air transport

He said they are pleased that the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has intervened in this matter and are trying to negotiate on any such taxes imposed on long haul destinations will result in countries having direct impact on tourist arrivals.

Most European countries are not totally off the economic recession and considering these matters it is very vital for us to improve the intra-regional travel to improve the tourism industry.

When you consider the intra regional travel it is essential to analyze the opportunities and threats that are faced by the countries in South Asia currently. When you consider the opportunities, we can segment into several areas such as;

Religious tourism: Buddhism, Hindusm and Islam

Cultural tourism: visiting friends and relatives. All the countries in the region can promote one of the major cultural events. i.e - Kandy Perahara and India Holy festival.

Nature tourism - All our countries are very rich in nature therefore we could easily promote

Beach tourism - particularly Sri Lanka and Maldives

Ecotourism - Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh

Wildlife tourism - Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka

Heritage tourism - India , Pakistan, Sri Lanka

A beach resort in the Maldives

The rich and unique cultures, diverse natural environments and standards of service will continue to make destinations in the Asian region attractive to international tourists.

It is clear that the tourism industries of many countries in the region have been remarkably responsive to recent trends in demand.

The region should therefore be well placed to benefit from positive prospects for the expansion of tourism worldwide.

Lokuhetti said globalization has transformed the tourism product over time from domination by mass tourism to a diversified industry catering more for the individual needs of travellers. New Tourism is the terms used to define the transformed tourism product.

The concept of New Tourism includes ideas, practices related to responsible, green alternative sustainable tourism. Globalization has transmitted these ideas and practices worldwide, thus making the tourism industry more diversified and putting pressure on developing countries to create targeted and niche markets.

Competition has become stronger and is based increasingly on diversification, market segmentation and diagonal integration, which involves the merger and conglomeration of related business activities.

An important source of tourism revenue is now based on identifying, developing and promoting niche markets.

Market segmentation in the form of eco-tourism, culture tourism, cruises and adventure tourism is becoming more evident and successful. New niche markets are constantly being identified in an attempt to diversify the industry further.

The New Tourism also reflects demographic changes as well as changing lifestyles, thus creating demand for more targeted and customized holidays since travellers now belong to a number of different lifestyle segments.

The changing values of tourists are also getting demand for more environmentally conscious and nature oriented holidays, where tourism providers have to pay much attention to the way people think, feel and behave.

In recent years, the niche market has become a more important factor in the tourism industry.

SAARC countries

As SAARC countries, when we participate in foreign exhibitions we should participate under one banner and one slogan.

SAARC countries should have a common brochure and come up with twin centre concept that will help to attract tourists to visit our region against the other regions; promoting beaches for Maldives, culture for Sri Lanka, heritage of India and mountains in Nepal.

One of the other challenges faced in developing tourism especially in our region is because traditionally Asian countries have safeguarded their national carriers to protect them from foreign competition. However, the situation is changing as Governments realize that such restrictive policies are counterproductive to tourism.

Some of the Southeast and Northeast countries such as Singapore and Thailand have already signed open skies agreements with the United States and similar agreements are expected between United States and Malaysia.

Liberalization of air transport will only serve to enhance trade and tourism growth in the region. It will lead to more multilateral open skies agreements between countries. We recommend developing the intra regional tourism to introduce more budget airlines.

In this rapidly evolving world, people have many reservations with regard to various problems faced. People do not plan long holidays and to improve this visa and cross border entry formalities and external shocks need to be reduced.

Growth prospects

The prospects of tourism growth, nevertheless will be driven by a number of factors including globalization, the associated developments in transport and tourism related infrastructure and the development of interregional level.

At the same time, there are a number of factors that could hinder the development of tourism, such as visa and cross border formalities, as well as various unforeseen shocks like natural disasters, health crisis and security threats that have a direct impact on tourist arrivals. This considers these factors and concludes with the assessment of the impact of tourism on economic growth, he said.

Successful and sustainable tourism development and competition in the international tourist market depend on the extent to which tourists find their travel experiences impeded or facilitated.

Hence, the Governments have a crucial role in deciding how much it will liberalize, to what extent international tourism will contribute to national development and how to reduce impediments to travel and tourism.

The air transport industry is a key determinant development of tourism worldwide, including Asia. According to PATA and UNWTO reports it is expanding twice as fast as the general output of the world economy, with further growth potential expected over the next two decades.

In developing countries, air transport accounts for nearly 80 percent of international tourists arrivals.

The recent trend towards liberalization had been through the spread of open skies agreements, widespread airline alliances and the emergence of low-cost airlines.

The main issue motivating these dynamic is the need to minimize costs while maintaining the quality of services and extending connections within regions and throughout the world.

According to reports recent privatization has ended Government protection for national airlines in a number of developing countries. The liberalization of air transport means increased market access for private carriers. International Air Transport Association (IATA) and other sources show fastest growth in air travel is on regional flights over short and medium routes mostly served by smaller planes.

The business of low-cost airlines is not easy and has been made tougher by high fuel prices. The regional aviation business is relatively fragmented, and factors affecting its growth may vary.

The Asian region has become part of the surging growth in low-cost regional carriers worldwide. The critical factor for Asian regional growth is willingness of governments to give private operators freedom of choice in setting up and operating airlines, as long as safety regulations are tightly enforced.

The Asian highway is one form of land transport infrastructure, which enhances cooperation and integration among Asian countries by facilitating increased tourism and trade that is intra-regional and international in scope.

Encouraging travel along the Asian highway for tourism purposes could also clearly contribute to increased social interactions and better understanding among a great number of Asian countries.

He said countries linked by the Asian highway share a wealth of historical and cultural heritage and unspoiled natural beauty. These countries could join hands in promoting tourism along the Asian highway and spread tourism development in ways that could contribute to poverty reduction in areas that are otherwise remote from tourism development.

Effective development of the Asian highway through regional and sub regional cooperation could help the 32 countries along the Asian highway to encourage greater synergies linking sustainable tourism development to poverty reduction and purposeful management of globalization.

Railway travel as a tourism product has the potential for creating a variety of niche markets, such as tourist trains that emphasize a variety of experiences, including scenery, cultural heritage, luxury travel, getaways to new environments, low-lost adventure travel and specially organized excursions.

The Trans-Asian Railway has tourism potential in view of the increased awareness and acceptance that railway travel could play an important role in the national and international movement of tourists.

For example, greater use of rail travel in Asia for tourism purposes could make 12 land locked countries more accessible to tourism, eventhough they are far from the nearest ports and international airports.

Several countries in Asia and the Pacific have successfully developed tourism products based on railway travel.

Compiled by Charumini de Silva