Issues and Impacts Associated with Vancouver Destination Development
Throughout this paper we have discussed the type of destination development found in Vancouver and the resident’s view on this development. The following sections will map out both the issues and the impacts tourism development has on Vancouver economically, technologically and socio-culturally.
Economic
Economically, tourism has been very beneficial for Vancouver. In 2012, the tourism industry accounted for $7.1 billion in GDP which “represents a bigger slice of overall economic activity in British Columbia than in most other provinces” (Finlayson & Peacock, 2014). With a period of decline from 2002 to 2009, the tourism industry has been steadily on the rise with 12% of the workforce being supported by tourism development, as shown in Appendix G, which is higher than any other province in Canada. While the local community often contributes, Vancouver experience international visitors who generated a $3.2 billion cash injection into their local community. It is important to distinguish that tourism revenue “measures the money received by businesses, individuals and governments due to
…show more content…
While past successes often lead to future optimism, Vancouver is not experiencing 100% future success. The first and most prominent issue is with the housing market for the local residents. Due to the rising popularity of the destination, the housing market has been virtually unobtainable for local residents. This is because “the costs to purchase housing, especially single family homes, is widely out of scale with local incomes and has been for some time” (Sawatsky, 2005, p. 1). In addition, Vancouver experienced “increasing income inequality and polarization, with wealthier areas expanding during this era and poorer residents and recent immigrants being displaced from the central city” (Sawatsky, 2005, p.
With increasing housing prices, it is not bearable to indigenous residents. The author reiterates that many residents of gentrifying neighborhoods fear the possibility of being displaced and are unsettled by the feeling of being pushed out. The issue of displacement in gentrifying areas is one of the biggest issues implied in this chapter. This relates a lot to my research because of the fact one of the main concerns mentioned in my research is figuring out what occurs to residents who are displaced from their homes because they are not able to afford their rent? There must be a certain mechanism that tap the wealth created by gentrification for the benefit of indigenous and poorer residents who may wish to one day live in a neighborhood.
Vancouver is not affordable to live for the young professionals due to gentrification problems. The economy requires gentrification to develop the city. In order for a city to flow better, more people have to spend and sell. Furthermore, for people to spend or sell more, it requires more people to live. However, gentrification is pushing people away from their homes, and makes it difficult for the young professionals to move in. Therefore, a lot of young professionals and working class would move out and live outside the city.
According to Lehrer, U., & Wieditz, T. (2009), Toronto saw a massive population growth in a period of thirty years due to the extensive construction of high-rise condominium towers which led to the city being divided into three distinct cities: “city of the rich, the shrinking city of middle-income households, and the growing city of concentrated poverty.” According to the article the division is caused by the development of condominiums as the new form of gentrification which displaces the poor people and focuses to attract the higher-income people to the area.
the cost of living in Toronto has come to a record high, we need to start doing something about it now before no one can afford to live at all. There are more than 30,000 women, men and children in the city's homeless shelters annually. Many of thousands more sleep on the streets or considered the “hidden homeless”. About 70,000 households are on Toronto’s social housing waiting list and on the brink of becoming homeless because of the skyrocketing prices of owning a home in Toronto. The Federal Government and the province have begun a slow reinvestment in housing in past years, the number of affordable housing being built now doesn’t even compare near the levels of the early 1980’s. Habitat for Humanity has been building houses for low income
First and foremost, let us begin our quest by exploring the economic benefits of tourism in both Hawai‘i and Charleston, South Carolina. There is no doubt that the tourism industry in Hawai’i does have a significant impact on the state’s economy, as it is the second largest revenue building industry with annual profits far surpassing amounts pouring in from health care expenses - currently only lagging behind in revenue by the State of Hawai’i’s number one economic contributor, military defense (Blair 2010). Dr. Leroy O. Laney, Ph.D., and Professor of Economics at Hawaii Pacific University reported that in the year 2008, the tourism industry pumped in a whopping $11.4 billion dollars into Hawai’i’s economy alone, accounting for approximately 17.9% of the state’s total Gross Domestic Product (16). Further analysis shows that the tourist industry also accounts for roughly one-third of the occupations in Hawai’i as well (Conrow 21).
This housing affordability crisis is stripping away it’s diversity at increasing rates and I feel that not enough is being done to restore it. Liz Pfeffer article “Is the Bay Area in a Housing Bubble or a Crisis?” describes the situation as, “San Francisco’s chronic problem is a lack of housing for middle and lower-income people. It’s not that they can’t afford it, it’s that it doesn’t exist”. Officials should collaborate on creating solutions to the root causes and offer alternatives that would release some of the pressure. I would suggest promoting micro-homes or smaller scaled homes, limiting foreign investors’s purchases of single-family homes, or expanding campuses of employers to areas that are not heavily populated. It is not too late to restore the balance but it will take collaboration and team work. I am urging these officials and activists to try and save the beloved culture of this area and help retain it as a place where social justice is recognized and
Tourism impacts can be generally classified into seven categories with each having both positive and negative impacts. These impacts include; economic, environmental, social and cultural, crowding and congestion, taxes, and community attitude. It is essential for a balance on array of impacts that may either positively or negatively affect the resident communities. Different groups are concerned about different tourism impacts that affect them in one way or another. Tourism’s benefits can be increased by use of specific plans and actions. These can also lead to decrease in the gravity of negative impacts. Communities will not experience every impact but instead this will depend on particular natural resources, development, or spatial patterns (Glen 1999).
Vancouver is known as a city of booming economy and natural beauty. Both were highlighted by the 2010 Winter Olympic Games: the economy in the ability to host the games and nature in the advertisements for the games. These commercials focused as much on the soaring mountains and lush forests as they did on the city itself. “To the untrained eye, Vancouver is one of those rare cities which seems to have achieved a delicate balance between urban development and scenic preservation.”[2.9] However, this natural beauty can be viewed as causing issues for the development of the city. This essay will delve into how Vancouver has dealt with these problems from its inception until now and what issues still face this city.
According to the Conference Board of Canada, British Columbia ranks the third highest in poverty rates out of the ten provinces in Canada. The disparity between the poverty rates of provinces become quite clear when you compare British Columbia’s 2013 poverty rate of 13.8 and Alberta’s poverty rate of 7.2. While these statistics are again at the provincial level, it is not difficult to see that, due to Vancouver’s extremely high population of the province, these poverty rates can be representative of the city of Vancouver, making the comparisons still
“The benchmark price for a detached home in metro Vancouver has increased 18.9 per cent from the previous year and sits at 1.17 million dollars, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.” “On Vancouver’s west side, the Home Price Index rose 19.2 per cent over the past year to surpass 2.74 million dollars while surging 22.5 per cent to 1.16 million dollars on the east side.” These are just some of the quotations you can get from different news articles explaining the rise in price for homes in Vancouver. Due to and increasingly scarce housing market in Vancouver this had led to pressure on the price of houses to rise as well.
For the introduction, brief information regarding my purchase and the travel and tourism industry is presented. It was then followed by the explanation of the 2 chosen theories from two different chapters.
Nowadays in the rea of globalization, according to the World Tourism Organization, “seven hundred million people travelled abroad in 2003”, and the number is estimated to increase to 1.6 billion by 2020. (International Labour Organization, 2005). Tourism is spreading in unusual places. A lot of people want to be in the midst of adventure. It is a vital source of revenues for the GDP of many countries. I partially agree that tourism hugely benefits the local community. This essay will discuss some of the economic, social and environment effect of tourism on the host community.
Many economists argue that market solutions are more efficient than government agencies in providing services even when it comes to “merit goods”. In the discussion of housing problem, I would disagree with the economist’s view. Housing is a very complicate issue that I believe it will work the best by the cooperation of market and government agencies. The Canadian government has worked for many years on the housing issue, but does not seem to have any adequate solutions to solve the problem. The housing market, unlike other industry, has a dominant feature of inelastic short-run supply. This characteristic of the housing market has made a great obstacle in coping with the problem. In fact, we may look at other countries’ experiences and learn how to deal with the problem effectively. Canadian government’s housing policy is based on the idea that everyone is entitled to decent and affordable housing. Housing is a necessity and everyone needs a place to live. It is for this reason that government set its goal to ensure everyone is living in housing of adequate quality at a price they can afford. However, the government has turned into wrong definition of decency and affordability. Firstly, decency is subjective according to different cultures. I think that the Canadian government is setting a very high value on living environment, and such a high standard may cause more difficulties in solving the problem. Secondly, Canadian government has continuously reduced its standard in defining affordability. It was consider affordable if housing cost no more than 20% of your income.
It is the economic effects of tourism which bring the most benefit to the host nation. Tourism is a low import user which means more of the money earned here stays here. The government is earning money through tourist taxes such as the airport tax, increased export earnings and income tax revenue from people employed by the industry. A balance must be struck between these benefits and associated negative impacts on the community and the environment.
Global events benefit regional, tourism and community development. Take for instance the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. They both are events held globally that increase visitor’s expenditure and length of stay while improving destination awareness and increasing civic pride. Janecko, Mules and Ritchie (2002) explain events in small regional destinations are obviously beneficial and often play an important role in tourism development and thereby in regional development however, differ due to size and scale of the event. Global events create employment and increase labour supply, expenditures and even the standard of living. ‘As local economics have adapted to changing to global dynamics, the hosting of international events has become more commonplace and can play a significant role in local development, acting as a catalysts for jo...