Tourism
Tourism is the movement of people for various reasons, whether for pleasure or business. According to (World Tourism Organization, 2020), Tourism is defined as the economic, cultural, and social phenomenon that involves the movement of people to different countries or places besides their usual environment for personal, business, or professional purposes. Globally, the tourism industry is considered to be the largest industry. Tourism contributes 10% of the world’s GDP. It was noted that in 2016, there were over 1.2 billion international tourists, which is a meaningful economic impact and movement of goods and services. Also, tourism is said to be unique because consumers are the ones that go to the product and consume it on-site. There has been redevelopment of the Canadian Tourism industry since 2002, as the Tourism Commission of Canada and Canada’s National Travel Coalition noted.
Impact of Tourism on the Canadian Economy
Tourism has had a significant impact on Canada’s Economy. For instance, travel restrictions that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic had a considerable tourism impact on the Canadian Economy. Travel restrictions impacted the tourism industry directly and those industries that manufacture the raw materials used by the tourism industry. Canada’s supply use labels are essential for economic impact analysis for estimating direct and indirect impacts. Those travel restrictions significantly damaged the tourism industry, comprising food services, accommodation, reservation services, transportation, and travel arrangement (Liu, 2020). This direct impact on tourism resulted in GDP loss. This was expected because the movement was restricted not only to international movements but also to local movements. Canadians were supposed to stay indoors to prevent the spreading of the virus. This implies that Canada had no tourists visiting their country, and Canadians were not visiting tourist attractions.
In 2019, Canada’s tourism industry accounted for around 2% of the GDP and provided approximately 750,000 jobs (Jackson et al., 2008). This was intact until the travel restrictions came, and the hog demand for tourism activities was significantly affected. For instance, the number of international arrivals in March 2020 to Canada fell by 54.2% from the previous month, February. This was the most significant drop ever since 1972. On top of that, by April 2020, most of the hotels in Canada were empty. Because of these limitations, most tourism businesses had to fire their workers, while some closed permanently. Those businesses that never closed had to adjust their working hours, likely affecting the performance and business capacity. Therefore, because tourism has to collaborate with other industries, the Economy of Canada was broadly impacted by the Covid-19 restrictions. The GPD reduction for the tourism industry in 2020 was around 50%-60%, contributing to losses in other industries. In general, this impact resulted in a reduction of 1.2% – 1.7% of Canada’s GDP and also on jobs.
In addition, tourism provides jobs to a large population of youths and immigrants in Canada. This shows how it dramatically impacts Canada’s Economy. If tourism is not doing well, like in the Covid-19 case, and it happens that Canadians lose their job, then the Economy will go down. Tourism comprises many subsectors, making it among Canada’s most prominent industries that employ people. Therefore, a decrease in output in the tourism industry leads to a decrease in Canada’s Economy since there is a decline in the demand for intermediate products and services offered by other industries. These include food manufacturing industries, wholesale and retail trades, and other services (Hall & Lew, 2009).
The Interrelationship between Hospitality and Tourism
Tourism and hospitality work hand in hand with tourism to ensure all services, such as leisure, food and beverage, transportation, and accommodation, are catered for (Weiler & Walker, 2014). The tourism industry refers to visiting different places to participate in leisure activities. Tourism entails activities whereby tourists want to experience leisure and recreational activities. Most of the time, they need accommodation and food and beverage. This is where hospitality comes in since it offers these services to tourism. Hospitality provides a safe and enjoyable environment for tourists. Hospitality is also responsible for ensuring that liquor is served responsibly so that tourists stay sober and subsequently a problem to the management, staff, and the entire neighborhood.
Nevertheless, traveling and tourism clients require accommodations, food, and more. These facilities are only offered by hotels, restaurants, and resorts, which all fall under the hospitality industry. This already shows the direct interrelation between hospitality and tourism because hospitality will be required to chip in and offer these services to tourism. The hospitality sector has been supporting travel and tourism for so long. Hospitality makes the customer experience in the tourism and travel industry easier. Hospitality also significantly impacts tourism in that; the customer experience offered by the hospitality may affect tourism negatively or positively. Tourism can only do with hospitality since customers will require some services which only hospitality can offer, and vice versa. Although it is evident that the tourism sector depends on the hospitality industry for international and domestic tourism, the tourism sector develops harmony when traveling for tourists, making them work well together.
References
Hall, C. M., & Lew, A. A. (2009). Understanding and managing tourism impacts: An integrated approach. Rutledge. https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-and-Managing-Tourism-Impacts-An-Integrated-Approach/Hall-Lew/p/book/9780415771337
Jackson, C., Kotsovos, D., & Morissette, C. (2008, May). Linking the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account and the Canadian System of Environmental and Resource Accounts to measure the environmental impact of tourism in Canada: an exploratory study for two pilot industries. In 9th International Forum on Tourism Statistics (pp. 4–5). https://webunwto.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2020-09/canadatsaenvironment.pdf
Liu, H. (2020). The economic impact of travel restrictions on the Canadian Economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020023-eng.htm
Weiler, B., & Walker, K. (2014). Enhancing the visitor experience: Reconceptualising the tour guide’s communicative role. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 21, 90-99. https://researchportal.scu.edu.au/view/pdfCoverPage?instCode=61SCU_INST&filePid=1367455110002368&download=true
World Tourism Organization (2020), UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, May 2020 – Special focus on the Impact of COVID-19: https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284421817.
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