Several things influence the tourist industry's future. Globalization and sustainable development are two of these factors. Globalisation in tourism refers to the process through which modest tourism and hospitality businesses can gain international clout and begin attracting tourists on a global scale. Sustainable development, on the other hand, aims to enhance the existing tourism market while not limiting future generations' ability to meet their requirements through the utilization of available resources.
Most countries' tourism industries have evolved to service markets outside their borders, a process known as internationalization. Globalization is the most advanced form of internationalization. Globalization enables the tourism sector to employ the media and international trade in attracting more clients and ensuring the stable growth of the industry. The travel firms in the domestic level have resorted to focusing their aim to targeting international customers. This is because they find the local market as saturated (Mihajlovic, & Krželj, 2014).
In this modern world, globalization in the tourism industry has intensified and increased its scope. The aspect of globalization in the tourism enlarges the scope of people in the firm to view it through economic, cultural, political and environmental terms. For example, cultural globalization refers in travel business relates to the inclusion of the western culture, most especially the US lifestyle, into the lives of people in other countries such as the African countries (Mihajlovic, & Krželj, 2014).
Globalization has its pros and cons in the tourism firm. Some of the pros include the expansion of market and growth for the travel companies. However, globalization results into cons such as too many tourists in a locality may result in environmental pollution (Peric, 2005).
Sustainable development is defined as the actions taken to ensure maximum use of resources while still considering the future generations. This principle is also commonly found in the tourism industry. According to the world tourism travel Council, the tourism sector is beneficial towards the achievement of the sustainable development since most of the tourism activities are focused in appreciating natural scenarios. Also, Tourism activities are seen as a significant tool towards the achievement of some of the sustainable development goals (UNWTO, 2017). The tourism industry has been known to give employment opportunities to the people, for example, the tourism sector contributes 1/11 jobs offered currently in the market. Tourism activities also promote environmental conservation and sustainability of the natural resources (UNWTO, 2017).
References
Mihajlovic, I., & Krželj, Z. (2014). The Impact of Globalisation on the Development of Tourism Within Social and Economic Changes. Eujournal.org. Retrieved 1 May 2017, from http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/download/4014/3825
Peric, V. (2005). Tourism and Globalization. fm-kp.si/zalozba. Retrieved 1 May 2017, from http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISBN/961-6573-03-9/peric.pdf
UNWTO. (2017). Tourism and the SDGs | Institutional Relations and Resource Mobilization. Icr.unwto.org. Retrieved 1 May 2017, from http://icr.unwto.org/content/tourism-and-sdgs
