Factors Affecting Tourism: Honeypots, Personality, And Future Opportunities And Challenges

TOUR2101 Introduction to Global Tourism

Factors Affecting Tourism

Tourism is widely defined as the movement of individuals from one part of the country or world to another temporarily for leisure and also for recreation. Individuals who are tourists from various destinations interact amongst themselves and with tourist destinations. When an individual move from his/her home for more than 24 hours and at most a year for the primary purpose of traveling and visiting other places he/she is considered a tourist. There are specific places where tourists travel and spend most of their time; therefore, there are some factors which make them desire such destination and prefer them above the rest. The purpose of this write-up is to highlight and discuss factors and conditions that affect tourism around the world. Also, it will highlight the personality and characteristics of tourists and how it affects their choice of destination. Finally, it will shed light on the future opportunities and challenges of tourism and the analysis of the same. It will utilize a critical analysis of different articles on tourism to give its position.

Tourism can be divided into many sections, and there are those who travel to see new places like cities and countries. Also, there are those who like adventure, outdoor activities, and seeing prehistoric sites among many others. There are also those who are for a beach holiday and those who are Eco-tourists. Regardless of the reasons or motivation for leaving home to go to a different destination, there are other factors like the personality that contributes to the choice of a tourism destination (Deng, King & Bauer, 2002). Most tourists with similar personalities and preferences will end up crowding some destinations while other destinations will remain with just but a few. There are many characteristics that the destinations mentioned earlier have in common that encourages a large number of tourists from around the world.

All the four countries and tourist destinations have honeypots, this means there are tourist attraction areas where many people around the world are drawn to come and visit. For example, the three destinations mentioned earlier have a religious significance (Beerli & Mart??n, 2004). Most of the tourists who visit those destinations are either religious faithfuls on pilgrimage or visitors who want to see the sacred sites. For example in Saudi Arabia, there is Mecca where Muslims go for Hajj, Israel where Christians pay homage to the Place where Christianity began among others. The honeypots in this case are the Holy sites like Jerusalem, Mecca and the Ghats in Varanasi in India.

Honeypots

The individuals who are drawn to such sites are religious, and they are faithful to their religion. The places have a significant meaning to the lives of the tourists in most cases. Besides that, those destinations have sufficient public and private amenities (Deng, King & Bauer, 2002). There are reasonable accommodations, meals, and transport which makes the stay and travel for tourists comfortable and enjoyable.

There are great tourist destinations around the world where tourists have been advised to avoid them for many reasons. Thailand is home to some unique wildlife, and previously, people would visit there in large numbers. However, these numbers have dropped, and people no longer wish to visit. The animals are drugged, and tourists are allowed to pose with those animals and take photos. Also, most animals are chained up which is an abuse of the wildlife; therefore most tourists are avoiding such locations to discourage such bad activities. Places like Peru are home to great national parks, but tourists are avoiding them because kids are sent to demand sweets and chocolates from the tourists (Wong & Yeh, 2009). The dental diseases that are left behind after tourists visit cannot be accounted for leaving the kids suffering; therefore tourists avoid such places. Other places include India where kids scramble for pens and money from tourists. Other places like Myanmar are avoided because of the violations of human rights that are left unpunished by authorities and also the political unrest and instability of the country (Karl, 2018). Other countries like Cuba and Honduras are dangerous because of the ongoing violence, and they are dangerous for tourists. 

Plog categorizes tourists according to their personality, in this analysis, he says that some tourist destinations have large numbers of tourists because of their behavior/ personality. Psychocentric tourists are those who are also called as repeater tourists (McKercher, 2006). They are not enticed by adventure or the fun of finding and flying to new places for a unique experience. They are comfortable traveling to familiar territories or areas they have gone to for some time. They know what to expect in the destination, for example, food, transport, accommodation, hospitality among others. Such tourists prefer eating in restaurants that are familiar to them and family type, and they can drive and have the freedom to do many things since they know the location. Additionally, they are comfortable repeating the same routine over and over as long as it has a significance to them or their life.

Personality

Some people are not threatened by danger, and in fact, they are thrilled by the dangerous places. Such tourists have the personality that is known as the Allocentric. These type of personality tourists are adventurous, and they have an appetite for new experiences (Litvin & Smith, 2016). They would never travel to one place more than once intentionally unless they are exploring further. They like having the freedom to tour a region by themselves and prefer making arrangements for tourists by themselves (Litvin, 2006). Their itinerary has no specific structure, and they can stay in good places which are not necessarily modern like hotels and restaurants. Today such tourist look for homes to stay because they are outgoing. Besides that, they like meeting and making new friends as they travel and move around. Some destinations that are considered dangerous would be their next destinations because of their appetite for adventure and new experience.

Opportunities.

Many opportunities will affect the future of tourism around the world. On top is the issue of technology, today there are maps and information on all tourist destinations across the globe (Wall & Mathieson, 2006). Individuals can learn about places with a click of a button because all info is on the internet. Also, international trade and business have facilitated tourism, as borders of countries open so will tourism flourish. Many nations have received tourists because of the friendly visa policies.

Challenges and Threats

Political instability is top when it comes to tourism when a country is politically unstable, and tourists tend to shy away from such places until the situation is resolved (Glover, 2010). Additionally, there is the aspect of poaching where some animals which attract more tourists are threatened with extinction. If poaching is not managed in such places, there will be no animal or wildlife for tourists to see. Additionally, there is the issue of harsh weather conditions which are as a result of global warming (Scott, Amelung, Becken, Ceron, Dubois, Gössling & Simpson, 2008). Counties that have poor environmental policies will start having lousy weather which will deter tourists from coming to visit.

Conclusion

Tourism involves individuals moving away from places they call home to another destination for leisure, adventure, business among others. Some factors make tourists go to some destinations and not others. For example, places with honeypots will attract many tourists while places with the animal violation and dangerous will deter the visitors. Personality plays a vital role in the choice of tourists where all centrism will make tourists visit lest popular destinations while psycho-centric will attract many tourists to popular destinations. Finally, the future of tourism depends on opportunities like international business and relations, and climatic conditions and safety threaten it.

References

Beerli, A., & Mart??n, J. D. (2004). Tourists’ characteristics and the perceived image of tourist destinations: a quantitative analysis—a case study of Lanzarote, Spain. Tourism management, 25(5), 623-636.

Deng, J., King, B., & Bauer, T. (2002). Evaluating natural attractions for tourism. Annals of tourism research, 29(2), 422-438.

Glover, P. (2010). 14 Generation Y’s Future Tourism Demand: Some Opportunities and Challenges. Tourism and generation Y, 155.

Karl, M. (2018). Risk and uncertainty in travel decision-making: Tourist and destination perspective. Journal of Travel Research, 57(1), 129-146.

Litvin, S. W. (2006). Revisiting Plog’s model of allocentricity and psychocentricity… one more time. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 47(3), 245-253.

Litvin, S. W., & Smith, W. W. (2016). A new perspective on the Plog psychographic system. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 22(2), 89-97.

McKercher, B. (2006). Are psychographics predictors of destination life cycles? Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 19(1), 49-55.

Scott, D., Amelung, B., Becken, S., Ceron, J. P., Dubois, G., Gössling, S. … & Simpson, M. (2008). Climate change and tourism: Responding to global challenges. World Tourism Organization, Madrid, 230.

Wall, G., & Mathieson, A. (2006). Tourism: change, impacts, and opportunities. New York: Pearson Education.

Wong, J. Y., & Yeh, C. (2009). Tourist hesitation in destination decision making. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(1), 6-23.