Globalization In Tourism Essay

Introduction

This report was commissioned to research aspects of Globalization in tourism industry. It was requested in September 2014 by Ziene Mottiar; as an assessment as part of the Global to Local: the economic geography of the tourism industry module. This assignment will combine theory, definitions, statistics and overviews.

This paper shows the overview of the globalization and new technology and in particular Internet, its evaluation and all the negative and positive impacts it has had in the tourism industry. Globalisation is presented as being very significant part of tourism industry and like many things, if not most things in life, it has a positive side and a negative side. The first part begins by introducing the understanding

When we are looking at globalization in tourism industry we can see that the formation of a global community has started. Nations around the world now face common problems, both economic and environmental, that they are working together to solve. More and more individuals are taking advantages of the new communication and transportation technologies to learn about and enjoy the whole planet.

According to Buhalis (2003) tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the world; it is rapidly expanding and contributes with over 10% to the global Gross domestic product (GDP). Wall and Mathieson (2008) confirm that tourism has become a phenomenon of global scale with more that 700 million international travellers annually and more national tourists. The figures above shows us that tourism industry plays one of the main roles in todays world and has great impact in the formation of a global world.

Globalization and New Technology (Internet) in Tourism

Therefore the development of new technology such as Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS) has influenced the operation of various companies such as tour operators, travel agencies, airlines and hotels. (Holloway et al, 2009) The well-known phenomenon of word-of-mouth, which is of great value within the service sector due to the intangible nature of the products, acquires a worldwide dimension with people getting in contact the world over throughout the use of Internet (Locke, 2000). This concept link the phenomenon of globalization with the importance of branding with an image that is attractive to tourism while remaining honest with the true components of the destination. (Anholt, 2005). Therefore due to the increasing development of information and communication and improved transport fields, destinations are getting closer. This has two immediate effects. The first effect on tourism is the potential for tourists to travel to distant places in less time and for a reasonable price (Anholt, 2005). An underlying consequence of this is that it leads to an increased competitiveness between destinations. The second immediate effect is the need for places to differentiate themselves as response to this increasing competiveness between places