The global tourism industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

The global tourism industry - Essay Example However, it is debatably the speedy and long-term growth and spread of global tourism, mainly since the 1950s, that has been the most an important factor in driving the surfacing of sustainable tourism as a move toward tourism development (Sharpley, 3). Ever since the early 1900s when tourism was mostly limited the privileged, the prospect to partake in tourism has become progressively extensive. There is also the assertion that tourism has gradually become more democratized. Furthermore, it currently accounts for the single major nonviolent movement of individuals across cultural boundaries in the world history. Consequently, this increased worldwide movement of people amounted to over 662 million arrivals in 1999. This movement across cultural boundaries yielded the interaction and integration of diverse cultures of the world (Hotelmule.com, 1). The collection of global travellers is growing in terms of the quantity of tourists and the gaining of revenues and it has included visitors from a broader range of countries due to the mounting prosperity in rising economies. Growing cross-cultural interactions and greater access to information about tourism attractions in previously lesser-known regions of the world, increasing attraction with the rising and developing economies, new types of tourism activity, and growing investment in infrastructure further widen the destinations of tourists. Simultaneously, due to the shifting business setting and developing technological and logistical changes, the tourism industry is experiencing major structural transformations (Bardhan, et al, 1). Leksakundilok cites World Trade Organization’s estimates that the number of global tourists was 650.4 million in 1999 and by the year 2000, it had reached 698.8 million. Further, from 1995, the global tourism increased at an average of 4.5% per year.