ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF TOURISM

Tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs.

The very nature of tourism affects the economic, physical and social well-being of the host country. For instance, American tourists spend annually about $92 billion in places outside their own country. Actually, the travel expenditures by foreign tourists make a very significant contribution to the national economy. According to the latest data, the highly developed country receives more travel revenues from foreign tourists than its citizens spend on and during overseas trips. Thus, international tourism has become one of the largest exporters of goods and services.

A great potential of a travel industry has always had a significant impact on countries that have made tourism development an economic priority. Revenue generation, job creation, and infrastructure improvement are always considered the major economic benefits to the destination areas. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s report, the travel and tourism industry accounts for more than 6 per cent of the world gross domestic product, employs 1 in every 15 employees, and accounts for 7 per cent of the world’s capital investment.

Tourism is also one of the fastest growing economic activities nowadays. It is one of the biggest earners of foreign currency in many countries. Each year domestic and international travelers spend a lot of money for transportation, lodging, food, entertainment and incidental purchases directly related to travel.

Tourism provides employment. Millions of people have jobs in this sector. In the USA the travel and tourism industry is the country’s second-largest employer after health services. Approximately 6 million people were employed in travel-related jobs in the late 1990. The food service and lodging sectors provide the most jobs, with 2 million and 1 million employees, respectively.

In Ukraine the number of people engaged in the tourism service is around 75 000, and over 2000 people work as guides and interpreters. It is expected that on the background of the growing unemployment, 1.5 million people will get jobs in this sector.

Job creation encourages the development of small and medium business. There are a lot of companies, joint ventures engaged in the tourism business. There are projects of building and reconstructing international tourist centers, bases, hotels, motels, camping grounds, etc.

International cooperation in the field of tourism is regarded as a very important one.

Generally speaking, tourism might be a powerful driver of both economic and social change.