Tourism,the,Pacific,Tourismis, travel,insurance Tourism in the Pacific
Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chiles national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w
Tourismis the world's largest and fastest-growing industry, accounting for 10 percentof world economic activity and one in 15 jobs worldwide. Some 750 millionpeople a year currently travel abroad compared to only 25 million in 1950, andeach year over 100 million first-world tourists visit developing countries,transferring billions of dollars from North to South. Tourism is the onlyindustry that allows a net flow of wealth from richer to poorer countries, and inthe islands it's one of the few avenues open for economic development,providing much-needed foreign exchange required to pay for imports. Unlikeevery other export, purchasers of tourism products pay their own transportationcosts to the market.Australiaprovides the largest percentage of the one million plus tourists who visit theSouth Pacific islands each year, followed by the United States, New Zealand,France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany in that order. It's thenumber-one industry in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, and Vanuatu, and some 50,000 islandersnow rely on tourism as a way of making a living. Yet tourism is relatively lowkey: overcrowded Hawaiigets 10 times as many annual visitors as the entire South Pacific combined. The"tyranny of distance" has thus far prevented the islands from beingspoiled.Onlyabout 40 percent of the net earnings from tourism actually stays in the hostcountry. The rest is "leaked" in repatriated profits, salaries forexpatriates, commissions, imported goods, food, fuel, etc. Top managementpositions usually go to foreigners, with local residents offered low-payingservice jobs. To encourage hotel construction, local governments must commit tocrippling tax concessions and large infrastructure investments for the benefitof hotel companies. The cost of airports, roads, communications networks, powerlines, sewers, and waste disposal can exceed the profits from tourism.Tourism-relatedconstruction can cause unsightly beach erosion due to the clearing ofvegetation and the extraction of sand. Resort sewage causes lagoon pollution,while the reefs are blasted to provide passes for tourist craft and stripped ofcorals or shells by visitors. Locally scarce water supplies are diverted tohotels, and foods such as fruit and fish can be priced beyond the reach oflocal residents. Access to the ocean can be blocked by wall-to-wall resorts.Althoughtourism is often seen as a way of experiencing other cultures, it can underminethose same cultures. Traditional dances and ceremonies are shortened or changedto fit into tourist schedules, and mock celebrations are held out of season andcontext, and their significance is lost. Cheap mass-produced handicrafts aremade to satisfy the expectations of visitors; thus, the New Guinea-style masksof Fiji, mock-Hawaiian tikisof Tonga, and Balinesecarvings of Bora Bora. Authenticity issacrificed for immediate profits. While travel cannot help but improveinternational understanding, the aura of glamour and prosperity surroundingtourist resorts can present a totally false image of a country's social andeconomic realities.Foreigntour operators usually focus on luxury resorts and all-inclusive tours--theexotic rather than the authentic. Packaged holidays create the illusion ofadventure while avoiding all risks and individualized variables, and on manytours the only islanders seen are maids and bartenders. This elitist tourismperpetuates the colonial master-servant relationship as condescendingforeigners instill a feeling of inferiority in local residents and workers.Many island governments are publicly on record as favoring development based onlocal resources and island technology, yet inexplicably this concept is rarelyapplied to tourism. Without local participation, tourism can be the proverbialwolf in sheep's clothing. Article Tags: Local Residents
Tourism,the,Pacific,Tourismis,