Introduction - Exploring Tourism's Role in Social Development
Tourism is having a major role to play in the global economy. Due to increased globalisation and internationalisation among the different nations has increased tourism to a greater extent. In the recent decades both the domestic and the international tourism has increased to a greater extent. Tourism is having major impact on the society and affects the society in different ways. There are different societal issues which are being faced by the people within the society. It is important to understand that tourism is having a major role to play in economy and in the development of the nations and they are having an impact on the society. From this perspective it is important to explore that how tourism is affecting the societal issues.
The main aim of this essay is to explore that how tourism is affecting the different societal issues in detail. For this the two different social issues are being selected. Poverty and equality are the important social issues which are creating major issues for the major section of the society (Turner, 2019). The term poverty is being used for stating about a situation or a state of being extremely poor as a result of which the individual is not able to live a better life. Equality issues are the barriers related to the equal treatment to all as the individuals face discrimination in the society based on diverse factors. Both the chosen issues are affecting millions of life across the world. Due to this reason it is important to explore that how the tourism can add value in addressing these issues from the society (Marin, 2015). Tourism industry is generating millions of jobs and is generating great revenue as well. In this context it is important to investigate the interrelationship between tourism and the chosen social issues. This will help in exploring that tourism development is mitigating or adding value to the social issues.
Grab The Best Academic Assistance In Just One Click
Poverty is one of the major social issues for every single nation across the world. Due to the unequal economic system of the nations the poor section of the society faces poverty (Usuka, 2019). The state of poverty leads the people towards lacking the basic human needs or facing issues in having basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, etc.
Figure 1: People living in extreme poverty across the globe
According to the world data around 47% of the world lives the live less than $6.86 per day and 84% of the world lives less than $30 per day. The statistics mentioned below clearly reflects that how the larger section of the society is living under poverty.
Figure 2: World population living in Poverty
From the statistics it is clear that poverty is an important issue which is being faced by almost every nation which includes both the developing and the developed nations. Due to insufficient income the individuals are not able to ensure sustainable livelihood which leads to several other issues as well (Ogebe et. al. 2020). When the people are facing lack of proper income then it leads to malnutrition, social discrimination, social exclusion, hunger, clothing and etc. all this leads the people towards having a life which is not having the basic needs such as education, food, clothing, etc.
In some of the countries like China Tourism development is being used for reducing the poverty. It is believed that when the tourism development takes place then it create new opportunities for the people living in poverty and can help in reducing poverty. The development of Tourism in the nation or a particular area develops a lot of new jobs for both educated and illiterate as well (Medina-Muñoz et. al. 2016). Especially for the developing nations Tourism can help a lot in developing jobs and this can help in reducing poverty. Along with this with the aid of the tourist development the nation's also focus on the development of infrastructure, better facilities, education and other amenities which can help in reducing poverty.
Whenever tourism is being increasing in the nation then it is having a positive impact on the living standards of the residents. This also brings positive changes in the local economies and in the life of the people living there. It can be said that the tourism is having positive effect on the poverty as it adds value in reducing the level of poverty by developing better opportunities for employment. Also the tourism is having a positive impact on the economic development of the nation which helps in reducing the poverty (Mahadevan and Suardi, 2019). It is important to understand that the poverty and tourism development is having a positive interrelationship between them. For maintaining this interrelationship it is necessary to focus on the improvement of the tourism activities or the tourism poverty alleviation. The government and the international welfare organisations should focus on exploring that how this interrelationship can be used for reducing poverty in an effective manner.
Equality is an important issue which is being faced by the poor section of the society. In general terms equality in society is all about having equal rights to access any published materials (Raj et. al. 2019). In the social world there are different factors over which the individuals are being not treated equally and this leads to inequality and the issues related to it. There are multiple factors such as gender, class, colour, religion, age, race, disability, etc which are being used for inequality. The people are not being treated equally based on such factors and this is a major social issue. Individual are facing discrimination on the basis of different factors which makes equality an major issues. Social equality is important in the society so that every individual can enjoy the same rights, benefits, and access to all the public goods and services.
Gender equality is a major challenge for all the nations. Not only this the racial discrimination is also much popular in the countries such as Russia, Israel, South Korea, Qatar, Bulgaria, Cambodia and many more (Joseph et. al. 2022). The individuals belonging to different nations are facing unequal treatment based on different parameters. This reflects that equality is also an major social issue which needs to be addressed.
Tourism is directly not having an impact on the equality. But when tourism increases then it is having an impact on the local communities and the individual behaviour by providing exposure to different nations and culture. Gender equality is one of the important areas related to equality over which the impact of tourism can be seen. Tourism develops job opportunity for both the male and female candidates and promote more work for the female candidates (Whyte, 2019). This helps a lot in filling the gap in the employment sector among male and female candidates. Along with this it adds value in decreasing gender discrimination in the employment in the tourism industry.
Here it can be said that better tourism development helps in reducing the gender inequality. Not only this tourism development can also help in filling the gap between the rich and poor section of the society. In this context it can be said that the discrimination based on the social status and class can also be reduced with the help of tourism (Alarcón and Cole, 2019). There are only few segments or areas related to the tourism which can affect the issues related to equality in the society. The interrelationship between Equality issue and tourism is having the ability to mitigate the adverse effects on inequality in the society. If tourism is being used for raising the knowledge related to equal rights and same treatment for all then it can help. For this the government at both the national and international level need to incorporate the awareness about equality through tourism (Qiao et. al. 2021). So with the help of exchange of culture and language positive ideology related to equality can also be shared among the nations. Although it can be said that further research is required in this area for exploring the interrelationship between Equality and tourism as there is only limited knowledge available.
Third core section
Both poverty and equality are the major social issues which are being faced by the nations across the globe. These social issues are having an negative impact on the societies and the life of people as well. There is an need for making improvements in different areas which can help in eliminating these social issues from the society. Every single individual needs to enjoy and get the best possible life on this earth. The impact of tourism on poverty is direct. Through the different factors related to employment, economic conditions and better opportunity for the development of nations the development of tourism can help in reducing poverty. There are several research which are being conducted for understanding the relationship between poverty and tourism.
Zhao, (2021) has also found in his study that the tourism is effective in reducing the poverty and is beneficial for the people living in below poverty line. The empirical results from the study of Tung (2020) have also stated clearly that tourism is having an adverse effect on the poverty. When the tourism is generating better revenue then it helps in lowering the poverty rate in the nation.
When it comes to equality then there are multiple factors over which the individuals are facing discrimination. The government bodies and the international welfare organization are working with different programs and initiatives for reducing discrimination and addressing the issue of equality from the society (Zhang and Zhang, 2021). But this issue remains the same as it is highly related to the ideas and mind-sets of the people living in the society. Tourism is also not having a direct influence on equality. Although it can help in address the issue to some extent.
In the near future with the advancement in tourism and increase cross culture awareness it is expected that the interrelationship between tourism and society will be increased. When the people move to the country for the purpose of tourism they are having major impact on the entire society. With the continuous efforts social issues related to equality and poverty can be reduced in the near future. Along with this in future the tourism development can also be used for having significantly positive impact on the society for betterment of the society.
Conclusion
Diverse social issues are being faced by the people across the world. Better and continuous efforts are required to be made for solving these issues. Poverty is affecting millions of lifes in this world and is affecting the future of hundreds of children. Along with this equal treatment is the right of every single individual on the earth. Statistics has revealed that both equality and poverty list among the major social issues which are being faced across the world. It is necessary to address all these social issues with the help of better efforts.
Tourism and the increasing tourism development found to have an positive impact on reducing the issues related to different social issues. The increasing tourism is helping in generating better revenue, improving the economic conditions, offering new job opportunity and adding value in reducing the level of poverty. This essay has found that poverty is having directly affected by Tourism and tourism development. When it comes to equality then it is not an direct impact of tourism on equality issues. But to some extent tourism is helping in reducing the issues related to equality. It is being concluded that there is a direct interrelationship between poverty and tourism whereas there is an indirect relationship between tourism and equality issues. It can be said that tourism sector is going to have an positive impact on the society for the social well-being and will help in addressing the issues such as poverty and equality from the society. Continuous monitoring of the interrelationship among the different variables of social issues and tourism can help in getting the best out of it.
References
Alarcón, D.M. and Cole, S., 2019. No sustainability for tourism without gender equality. Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
Joseph, K., Chen, H.Y.W., Ionescu, S., Du, Y., Sankhe, P., Hannak, A. and Rudra, A., 2022. A qualitative, network-centric method for modeling socio-technical systems, with applications to evaluating interventions on social media platforms to increase social equality. Applied Network Science, 7(1), pp.1-27.
Mahadevan, R. and Suardi, S., 2019. Panel evidence on the impact of tourism growth on poverty, poverty gap and income inequality. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(3), pp.253-264.
Marin, D., 2015. Study on the economic impact of tourism and of agrotourism on local communities. Research Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 47(4), pp.160-163.
Medina-Muñoz, D.R., Medina-Muñoz, R.D. and Gutiérrez-Pérez, F.J., 2016. The impacts of tourism on poverty alleviation: An integrated research framework. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(2), pp.270-298.
Ogebe, O.F., Adejo, M.A. and Burbuwa, P.A., 2020. Factors Affecting the Rural Poverty and its Vulnerability. International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology in Extension and Education Systems, 10(2), pp.71-79.
Qiao, G., Ding, L., Zhang, L. and Yan, H., 2021. Accessible tourism: A bibliometric review (2008–2020). Tourism Review.
Raj, A., Kumra, T., Darmstadt, G.L. and Freund, K.M., 2019. Achieving gender and social equality: more than gender parity is needed. Academic Medicine, 94(11), pp.1658-1664.
Raul, 2018. World Poverty Map - How Many People Live in Extreme Poverty by Country [Online]. Available through: < https://howmuch.net/articles/people-living-in-extreme-poverty-2018>.
Tung, 2020. Impact of Tourism on Poverty Reduction: Evidence from an Emerging Tourism Market [Online]. Available through: < https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343746246_Impact_of_Tourism_on_Poverty_Reduction_Evidence_from_an_Emerging_Tourism_Market>.
Turner, J., 2019. What is Equality?. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Usuka, K., 2019. An analysis of the determinants of poverty in India and South Africa. Global Majority E-Journal, 10(2), pp.100-115.
Whyte, M.K., 2019. Social trends in China: the triumph of inequality?. In Modernizing China (pp. 103-123). Routledge.
World Economic Forum, 2022. How can we leave widespread poverty behind? [Online]. Available through:< https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/history-of-global-poverty-reduction/>.
Zhang, J. and Zhang, Y., 2021. A qualitative comparative analysis of tourism and gender equality in emerging economies. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 46, pp.284-292.
Zhao, L., 2021. Tourism, institutions, and poverty alleviation: Empirical evidence from China. Journal of Travel Research, 60(7), pp.1543-1565.
