Economic Impacts Of Tourism In Hong Kong Tourism Essay

The tourism industry is considered one of the world largest, fastest growing industries on the global scale (Russo and Borg, 2002, Chen and Zan, 2009). It is an industry, which is the most important export industry compared to others. It is of immense dimensions and does support social developments and economic growth (Acharya, n.d.).

Different tourists have different interests and different dealings with the destination and its resource. The characteristics of visitors are also different, such as the lengths of stay, the level of their satisfaction and their psychographic characteristic such as age, sex, income profile, motivation, expectations, background and behaviour (Wall and Mathieson, 2006).

There are some highly developed countries that rely on the accumulation of their social and economic welfare on profits from tourism alone (Mirbabayez and Shagazatova, n.d.). Subsequently, these may bring about positive and negative social and economic impacts to a country. In this study, the author will be analysing the different impacts, the social and economic impacts of tourism on Hong Kong.

Some of the possible factors on the positive effects of tourism would be labour force displacement, where there is an increase of employment opportunity, more jobs created, for countries migration to tourism region. It can also result in a higher standard of living, improved planning, policy making for job creation and human resource management as part of tourism development. Having these positive effects, these will in turn bring negative effects such as splits in unity among existing and new residents and also having an increase in tax and inflation.

Regarding the sense of place, there are some positive changes, such as stimulating local tradition and culture, inspiring the local understanding and interest in history and culture, also having a sense of pride in local heritage (Acharya, n.d.).

The economic impacts can be split into two distinct types: direct impacts and indirect impacts. Direct impacts can be measured by the tourism expenditure of the country, in the case of Hong Kong, it occurs within the primary tourism sector, such as lodging, transportation and amusement parks. Indirect impacts will be those generated from economic activity of subsequent expenditure. Tourism’s economic impact provides a better understanding of the role and importance of tourism in a region’s economy (Stynes, n.d.). Therefore, it is an important factor in making marketing and management decisions.

The tourism industry is a major support pillar of the Hong Kong economy. It contributed a total of 3.4% to Hong Kong’s GDP in 2009. The government continues to develop a wide range of diversified tourist attractions through the years to enhance Hong Kong as a first class tourist destination. Some of the attractions consist of The Ocean Park, Hong Kong Disneyland and Ngong Ping 360 (Tourism Commission, 2010). Having these attractions, it will help to boost Hong Kong economy and help build upon their reputation.

In the first half of 2009, visitor arrivals to Hong Kong suffered from a 3.4% drop, may due to the global economic downturn and human swine influenza (H1N1). The table below shows Hong Kong’s tourism performance in 2009 compared to 2008.

2009

vs. 2008

Total Visitor Arrivals

29,590,654 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting             end_of_the_skype_highlighting

+0.3%

– Overnight visitors

16,926,067 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting             end_of_the_skype_highlighting

-2.3%

– Same-day visitors

12,664,587 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting             end_of_the_skype_highlighting

+3.9%

Average length of stay of overnight visitors

3.2 nights

-0.1 nights

Overnight visitor per capita spending

HK$5,770

+6.1%

Expenditure associated with inbound tourism

HK$162.9 billion

+3.2%

Average hotel occupancy rate

78%

-7% points

Average achieved hotel room rate

HK$1,023

-16.3%

Table 1.1 Hong Kong’s tourism performance in 2009 compared to 2008

Source: Hong Kong Tourism Board

Mainland Chinese tourists continued being the largest visitor group with 17.96 million arrivals, with that 59% or 10.59 million visitors came to Hong Kong under the Individual Visit Scheme (Tourism Commission, 2010). The scheme allows easier access for mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong unlike the past.

AIM

To analyse the social and economic impacts of tourism in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVES

To review literature on the general social and economic impact of tourism;

To compare and contrast the literature on the social and economic impacts of tourism in Hong Kong

To suggest recommendations to tourism industry and future research

SECONDARY METHODOLOGY

This study will be based on secondary literature. Sources are being obtained through mostly from recent academic research papers which are taken through relevant academic websites, such as Emerald, ESBCO, Science Direct, policy documents, consultancy reports, newspaper articles and textbooks which are related to social and economic impacts of tourism in general. With the help of past research papers, we can understand the use of different tourism models, for example Butler’s model and Doxey’s Irridex,

As the study is based on Hong Kong tourism, research will be based on the statistics and information provided by Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and Tourist Commission of Hong Kong, as they have the most recent figures for reference.