The advantages and disadvantages of the country’s hospitality

Before the dawn of civilization, man has traveled far for places unknown to him. Initially the traveling was only done with a purpose offoodand shelter, but as time passed by and as we became more and more developed, the need to go to a place without any motive, without any intention started eloping in our minds. This motive free traveling came under the name of “ tourism”.

New Zealand is a country that is famous for its breath taking views and is quiet a hotspot for tourists, who want to come to a place which has all in store for people of all ages and backgrounds. Slowly but surely, New Zealand has developed a place for itself in the world’s top destination places, and people from almost everywhere in the world flock to this country to experience its natural beauty and resources. The tourism in New Zealand is bringing in good inflow of foreign exchange to the country and is very helpful to the economy.

Even though the main economy of the country is through agriculture and industrial inputs, tourism has craved a niche in the country, so much that it is estimated that the country’s 10% population is working for the hospitality sector. Increase in tourism, is developing the place more and more, and there can be seen a substantial rise of hotels in the country. International franchises of hotels are keen in opening up more and more of their hotels in the country to suffice the tourist onslaught of the country. The major advantage of New Zealand’s tourism is to the country’s financial background itself, and the major advantages of it can be assessed by the following:

‘ Tourism is important for New Zealand’s future economic growth. It contributes $18. 6 billion to the economy each year — 9% of New Zealand’s gross domestic product. It is also an important source of employment. One in every

10 New Zealanders works in thetourism industry. Tourism is our largest export sector. International visitors contribute $8. 3 billion to the economy each year, which
accounts for 19. 2% of export earnings. During 2006, 2. 4 million international visitors arrived in New Zealand’

(Courtesy: ‘ New Zealand’s Tourism Strategy 2015’. Retrieved on April 10, 2008, from site http://www. nztourismstrategy. com/files/NZTS2015%20final. pdf)

Tourism no doubt is very advantageous for New Zealand, as apart from pumping inmoney, is reviving the pride and refurnishing small town of the country, as now they have become major tourist hotspots. Tourism also is making the government revamp places that include parks and museums, and in one way local heritage is being preserved and well maintained because of tourism.

The major disadvantage that can be considered is because of this high amount of tourism is that the hotels that are coming up every year, are causing damage to the flora of the country. The country in order to suffice high expectations is experiencing rapid changes in climate due toglobal warming. Also the high expectations are taking its toll on the labor market, and the hospitality industry is currently facing labor shortage and skilled manpower shortage at the moment. Migrating people from just for the sake of hospitality sector might sound beneficial, but then New Zealand which is currently out of migration woes, might start suffering too, like other western countries. Also to motivate high amount of tourism is to relax visa procedure for entering the country, which is the biggest disadvantage as it is open invitation for people trying to become illegal immigrants and even maybe toterrorism. The country has it advantages and disadvantages for hospitality, but one thing that is for sure is the country will always thrive on tourism.

Reference:

1)      ‘ New Zealand’s Tourism Strategy 2015’. http://www. nztourismstrategy. com/files/NZTS2015%20final. pdf

2)      http://www. tianz. org. nz/Files/TourismHospWkbkLR. pdf.

3)   http://www. fas. usda. gov/gainfiles/200503/146119096. pdf