Essay On Tourism Industry

Tourism is a Good Economic Development Strategy for Malaysia Currently, tourism has been a significant industry globally. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), over the past six decades, tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world (Dwyer & Spurr, 2010). Tourism, as a kind of the third industry, is especially popular and has also been the most important economic sources in Southeast Asian countries because of the its rich tourism resources. Southeast Asia is the world famous tourist resort, which attracts people from all over the world. Both the humanistic amorous feelings and beautiful islands let people who travel to southeast Asia feel deeply intoxicated. Among all

Tourism has boosted GDP growth in Malaysia with both direct contribution and total contribution. The direct contribution of tourism to GDP reflects the “internal” spending on tourism as well as government “individual” spending on tourism services directly linked to visitors; while the total contribution includes the indirect and induced impacts on the economy (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2015). The direct contribution of tourism to GDP in Malaysia was MYR61.0 billion, which is 1.5 times as much as that of ten years ago and is expected to grow to MYR95.9 billion by 2025 (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2015). While, the total contribution of tourism to GDP was

Figure 1 and Figure 2 respectively display the direct GDP and total GDP in Malaysia. Also, tourism in Malaysia creates many new jobs and employment opportunities in various industries including hotels, travel agents, airlines, restaurant and other passenger transportation services. According to World Travel and Tourism Council (2015), tourism has generated 1,770,000 jobs in 2014, which occupied 13.0% of the total employment, and by 2025, tourism is forecast to support 2,489,000 jobs. Table 1 below shows the number of employed persons in the tourism period. Due to the development of tourism in Malaysia, the number of employed people are also raised.Moreover, tourism in Malaysia has stimulated entrepreneurship, for example, the medical tourism. Medical tourism refers to “travel activity that involves a medical procedure or activities that promote the well-being of the tourist” (Lee, 2007). People may have a medical tourism due to the reason of illness; enhancement (cosmetic surgery); wellness (Spa/alternate therapies) and reproduction (fertility treatment). In Malaysia, medical tourism has provided an innovative opportunity