3. Findings.
3.1 Economic impacts.
Multiplier Effect
Pearce (1989) says that tourism has got impact on the economic development and stimulates other sectors. The multiplier measures impact of spending into economy through tourism (how many times money spent by a tourist circulates through a country’s economy). There are three types of expenditure:
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Direct expenditure-visitors spending money on goods and services in hotels, restaurants, shops, tourist facilities, for tourism generated exports or by tourism related investment (the money stays in the area)
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Indirect expenditure-re-spending of the money that stays in the area, for instance purchases of goods by hoteliers from local suppliers and purchases by local suppliers from wholesalers. The effect is that there is increase in employment as well as personal income
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Induced expenditure-increased personal income has got impact on increase in consumer spending generated by the direct expenditure (e.g. hotel workers buy products or services from their wages) (Appendix 3)
Horwath Tourism & Leisure Consulting (1981) says that one of the limitations of Tourism Multiplier is that it treats tourist’s expenditure on accommodation and purchase of products in the supermarket in the same way. It also wrongly assumes that if the income increases, it will be spend on the same products and services as before. Tourism Multiplier ignores the opportunity cost of resources of production diverted from others.
According to Bournemouth Borough Council (2007) the town has got approximately 18,000 bedspaces in the hotels and 6,000 in guest houses and bed&breakfast (as the graph below shows Bournemouth has got the highest percentage of bed spaces capacity in the whole area) and there are 55 restaurants and high number of shops.
Because Bournemouth is located in the developed country and the majority of accommodation suppliers are British chains and there are a significant number of small and medium hotels and guest houses it is assumed that there is no or very small leakage of money and therefore the Multiplier Effect is higher.
The direct effect of Tourism Multiplier in case of Bournemouth are all visitors spending money on accommodation, in visitor attractions, for instance in Aquarium, dining in the local restaurants and bars or doing shopping. Visitors to Bournemouth (especially UK visitors) spend the largest proportion of expenditure on accommodation with the UK staying spending of £87 million and overseas spending of almost £22 million. The second sector in which tourists spend the most of their money is Food and Drink with the overall sum of almost £100 million. What is interesting to note is the fact that day visitors spend more than overseas visitors. Another two most profitable sectors that visitors spend money in are: shopping, travel and attractions/entertainment respectively. Direct tourist spend in Bournemouth accounts for 11% of that for the whole Southern Region. (Appendix 4)
The important role plays Bournemouth International Centre which provides guests for the hotels and customers for local shops and restaurants, especially during the off-peak season. Moreover business visitors have a higher than average spend primarily on accommodation (mostly hotels).
According to BIC (2007) its economic impact (including Pavilion Conference and Exhibition events) in the region is estimated of £40 million pa plus an extra income of approximately £35 million pa from smaller conferences and events. In the future sailing event in Weymouth during the Olympics 2012 will attract even more visitors to Bournemouth as it will be one of the main accommodation bases for them.
Distribution of Tourist Bed Spaces 2001
Source: Visit South West (2003)
According to Godsall (2006) development in Bournemouth (Casino, additional Pavilion Theatre) will increase employment in the area and will therefore increase indirect expenditure. Casino itself will create directly 350 jobs and 546 with the Multiplier. Visit South West (2007) says that total number of tourists spending (staying and day tourists) creates in Bournemouth over 9,000 direct jobs, almost 2,000 indirect jobs and 800 induced jobs. (Appendix 5)
Government Office for South West (2007) says that Bournemouth’s gross full-time annual pay is £20,300, which is below the average for England (£24,000). The majority of jobs in that seaside resort are seasonal, not highly paid. As it has been mentioned before Bournemouth International Centre by attracting business visitors during off-peak season minimises the seasonality issue. According to Mintel (2006) there is a steady growth in personal disposable income as well as consumer expenditure in the UK since 2000. One of the reasons for that is low employment and interest rates. Increase in disposable income influences Induced Multiplier Effect which will grow. (Appendix 6)
Regional development.
“Tourism seen as a vehicle of regional development in developed countries, this leading to the redistribution of national income to the benefit of the host region” (Sharpley 2004:168)
Pearce (1989) concludes that tourism plays quite a significant role in regional development because it causes higher spending by tourists and redistributes the capital from the wealthier region to the poorer areas.
There are significant developments taking place in Bournemouth and surrounding area. One of them is Casino Aspers being part of an important renovation of the town's Pavilion. Casino Advisory Panel (2007) are in the opinion that casino development would help in achievement of some Tourism Development Strategy priorities which include developing the night time economy, reducing seasonality and pursuing development of innovative facilities.
Felsenstein and Freeman (1998) suggest that existence of local casino will prevent local economy leakages substituting import gambling services from outside and therefore will contribute to the development of local economy as well as to the Multiplier Effect.
Newcastle City Council (2006) says that casino development benefits the tourism industry of the economy and also provides considerable regeneration benefits. It also brings some economic benefits, for instance it generates employment and additional expenditure from visitors. The Casino will generate the following (apart from direct) types of employment:
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Indirect employment - generated from business expenditure on goods and services from building to cleaning, equipment, catering and professional services. Further employment is generated by suppliers delivering goods and services to the Casino
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Induced employment - generated by the spending of direct (casino) and indirect (supply chain) employees
Casino would also have some social impacts like anti social behaviour, gambling, risks of crime. Bournemouth, especially Boscombe area, is one of the most deprived areas in England. According to Government Office for the South West (2007) in 2005/06 Bournemouth was on the 2nd place in terms of the highest crime rate among the 15 South West counties. The major offences include thefts and violence. (Appendix 7)
Another type of development will take place in Boscombe where the pier from 1960s will be renovated and new 20,000 sq ft pavilion will be built as well as artificial surf reef as part of the £8 million regeneration programme. The surf reef will be Europe’s first and 4th in the world, will be able to host 10,000 surf visits per year and will double the number of annual surfing days to 150 generating £10 million per year. It will generate money from equipment retailing, accommodation, drink and food as well as surfing schools and create 60 full-time and 30 part-time jobs. Surfers’ average spending is around 8% higher than other visitors, bringing therefore more money to the local economy. (Bournemouth 2007)
3.2 Social impacts.
Staged Authenticity.
According to MacCannell IN Holloway (2006:284) staged authenticity means that “tourists search for real experiences of a different culture leading residents to either providing those experiences, or staging them so that they appear as realistic as possible”. That may cause commercializing of the local culture. Tourists will look for local restaurants to enjoy the “authentic” cuisine and environment of the locals therefore making them tourist attractions. As a result residents will find different place to dine in. Tourists will also seek local artefacts as souvenirs or investment causing a danger to loss of cultural treasures from a country what has led to the mass production of poorly crafted works.
There is no relation of that theory to Bournemouth as the majority of tourists coming to visit the area are domestic tourists representing pretty similar culture usually coming for a short period of time. Bournemouth Borough Council (2007) states that Bournemouth is mono-cultural. The population is mostly white British (92.5%) but with some different ethnic groups and religions.
Host and Guest Relationship.
Inskeep (1991) claims that tourists meet with residents in the following situations: where the tourist is purchasing some good or service from the host, where the tourist and host are side by side (for instance on the beach) or where they come face to face within the object of exchanging information or ideas. Those situations may result with social impacts which are consequence of socioeconomic differences between residents and tourists of either the same or different cultural backgrounds influenced by social, economic as well as political development. Pearce (1989) states that the difference is greater the bigger is the distance between country of origin of visitor and country visited.
Differences might be even within particular countries, especially between modern urban and traditional village/rural areas. There might be cultural differences between “hosts and guests” related to values, religion, life-styles, customs, attitude towards strangers or behavioural patterns. Differences in languages between tourists and residents can lead to misunderstanding. Tourists are usually relaxed, free-spending and enjoying their leisure whereas residents employed in tourism are engaged in catering to tourists. It is also said that tourists’ culture is in some ways different than their home culture as they adopt behavioural patterns of a different lifestyle. (Inskeep 1991)
Pearce (1989) is in the similar opinion that the difference between residents and visitors is increased in case when resident is engaged in work in the tourism industry and has to serve visitors while they enjoy their holiday.
Because Bournemouth attracts mainly domestic tourists there are no significant differences between “hosts and guests”. Visitors to that resort have usually similar values, beliefs and life-styles. However it is worth mentioning that because Bournemouth is established as a destination for foreign students willing to learn the language with 53,000 foreign students coming every year there might be differences between them and the hosts what supports theory of Inskeep. (Bournemouth Tourism Facts 2002)
Page et al. (2001) suggests that the social and cultural impacts are higher when the tourist generating country has got stronger economy than the receiving country. The impact is bigger when the difference is bigger. United Kingdom has got strong economy but because the majority of visitors to Bournemouth are from within the UK that socio-cultural difference is not that significant. However there might be bigger difference between language students coming from developing country, for instance Bulgaria or Estonia and the local population.
Social Exchange Theory.
Andriotis (2005) suggests that because local population is dependent in terms of economy and employment it is important to consider their perceptions which could be useful for tourist development. Social exchange theory supports residents “balance the costs and benefits of tourism development and their support for tourism depends on the outcome of this cost-benefit equation”. Faulkner and Tideswell (1997) put forward the possibility that if residents are dependent upon tourism they will either stress positive impacts or accept negative impacts of tourism.
Graph below illustrates that local population will support tourist development if it is beneficial. However if they will not receive any benefits they will not be willing towards further tourism development.
Source: Andriotis (2005)
Survey carried out by Towards 2015 (2007) in order to check the community perceptions on tourism shows that within the whole Dorset county 97% of those surveyed think that tourism is good for their area, 75% feel that the area benefits from tourism significantly. Residents perceive the following tourism impacts (mainly positive):
- Support for local businesses
- Local product development (food and drink)
- Better maintained heritage, environment and culture
- Better choice of cafes, restaurants and shops
- Better choice of attractions and leisure facilities
But also:
- Congestions and problems with parking
- Low paid seasonal and part-time jobs
- Litter
The same survey revealed also results regarding the community perceptions of number of visitors coming to the Dorset area in the summer. The results are the following: 58% of residents think that the number of tourists is the “right number”, 21% feel that it is too many and 10% think that the area would “benefit from more” tourists. (Appendix 8)
Overall result of the survey shows that Bournemouth community is positive to the impacts of tourism as they receive many benefits from tourism. The reason for that is possibly because of the fact that tourism is a dominant economic activity in Bournemouth and residents have to live with tourism and its positive as well as negative effects. However, although there was high appreciation of the positive impacts of tourism, many respondents expressed concern over the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and the society. It is necessary for future plans to emphasize and demonstrate the expected positive impacts of future developments, although care should be given to eliminate any negative environmental and social consequences.
3.3 Environmental Impacts.
There are many authors saying that tourism can generate both positive (if well planned and controlled) as well as negative impacts on the environment. (Lickorish and Jenkins 2002, Cooper et al. 2005, Pearce 1989, Holloway 2006)
Positive impacts of tourism.
Conservation of natural areas.
Inskeep (1991) is of the opinion that tourism contributes to the payment for conservation and development of natural areas. However Cooper et al. (2005) observes that conservation of natural areas, for instance National Parks, is important from tourist perspective but if residents do not believe that it is important to conservate it might have not a positive impact.
The New Forest National Park is situated short distance from Bournemouth funded by central government and from money generated by tourism. The main purpose of New Forest National Park is to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage. (New Forest 2007)
Improvement of environmental quality.
Lickorish and Jenkins (2002) believe that tourism can help maintaining environment through control of pollution of water, air, noise and litter.
The Seafront Strategy has been introduced by Bournemouth Borough Council (2007) in order to outline internal and external investment in the seafront. Land slides on the cliffs have been stopped by re-profiling the cliffs, installing storm water drainage systems and extensive planting.
Blue Flag Awards scheme measures quality of water, sand and facilities for visitors. Bournemouth has received several awards for environmentally-friendly actions (Green Flag, Blue Flag and Green Globe tourism award).
Negative impacts of tourism.
Overcrowding and Congestion.
Pearce (1989) is of the opinion that seasonal increases in population and population densities result in physical congestion experienced in many areas such as beaches, ski-slopes as well as historic centres. The volume of tourists coming to the destination increases the impact.
According to Bournemouth Borough Council (2007) there are 1.5 million tourists and 4.5 million day visitors to the town per year what significantly exceeds carrying capacity of the town. In the busy summer time there are approximately 100.000 people on the beach. The most of the people accommodate in the area of Pier, causing overcrowding. The town introduced the land train in order to encourage people to spread into different parts of the beach.
There is also traffic and congestion in the city centre. Visitors usually park their cars very close to the seafront and are not willing to use buses causing congestion. The Council is planning to introduce Park & Ride scheme offering free bus services in order to provide more parking spaces and therefore reduce congestion as there is no more space in the town to create more carparks. Another problem cause cyclists riding their bikes on the narrow promenade causing more congestion especially in the summer. Therefore there are restrictions introduced on cycling in July and August.
(Bournemouth Borough Council 2007)
Pollution.
“Water, air, noises, pollution are mainly caused by various forms of transport and by the waste the tourist produce during their stay”.
(Davidson and Maitland, 1997:88)
Inskeep (1991) says that it very often happens, especially in the beach resorts, that hotels pollute the water by dispensing sewage into water area causing pollution of ground water or costal sea. Littering is a common problem in tourism areas as there is a large number of people using it.
The main reason for pollution of water in Bournemouth is the storm water flowing from the cliffs. Dredging influence water quality as well however on a small scale.
Bournemouth Borough Council in order to improve visitors’ experience employs litter pickers spending £5 million pounds per year.
Dredging.
Pearce (1989) also says that dredging might bring not only negative but also many positive impacts, for instance more availability of food to fish, improved circulation of water.
Poole Harbour Commissioners (2007) were responsible for Channel Deepening project in order to make sure that all types of ferries are able to be accommodated. 1,100,000m³ of dredged sand will be used for beach replenishment in Bournemouth to enhance the protection of the coast of Poole Bay. Beach replenishment is essential because the beach material is lost through natural erosion of the shore. Combining two of these activities enabled quite high savings in cost as well as (what is more important) decreased the environmental effect by minimising both dredging and sea disposal. The beach material used on Bournemouth's beaches was selected to match that naturally occurring on the beaches. However there are some environmental impacts taking place:
- Minor effect on sediment and water quality
- Destruction of marine colonies and coastal ornithology
4. Conclusions.
Tourism has many and diverse impacts on a destination as well as local communities. Some of them might be positive and some negative. Tourism generates employment and wealth.
The social impact of tourism usually depends on the difference between the residents and visitors. There is no such a significant social impact of tourism in seaside resort mentioned in the report because the majority of visitors are domestic therefore they have similar culture, religion and attitude.
The local community together with the Council work in a partnership in order to balance economic impact and reduce environmental damage and therefore Seafront Strategy has been introduced consisting of local residents, stakeholders and public consultants.
As evidence showed the theoretical framework underpinning tourism impacts on Bournemouth is not always that useful and relevant while assessing tourism impacts. Some authors have also got different views on the theoretical models.
5. References.
About Britain (2007). Bournemouth Tourist Information. [online] Available from: <http://www.aboutbritain.com/towns/bournemouth.asp> [Accessed 17 April 2007].
Andriotis, K. (2005). Community Groups' Perceptions of and Preferences for Tourism Development: Evidence from Crete. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 29, (1), 67-90. [online] Available from: Sage Publications. <> [Accessed 17 April 2007].
Barcelona Field Studies Centre (2007). Tourism Multiplier Effect. [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 19 April 2007].
Bournemouth (2007). Surf’s Up! [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 17 April 2007].
Bournemouth Borough Council (2007). Tourism. [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 17 April 2007].
Bournemouth International Centre (2007). Facts and Figures.
Bournemouth Tourism and Marketing Services (2005). Student Pack 2005.
Butler, R. (ed) (2005). The Tourism Area Life Cycle vol.1, Channel View
Publications.
Casino Advisory Panel (2007). Final Report of the Casino Advisory Panel [online] Available from: <http://www.culture.gov.uk/Cap/publications/finalreportcap_300107.pdf> [Accessed 1 May 2007].
Cooper, Ch., Wanhill, S. (ed) (1997). Tourism Development: Environmental and Community Issues. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Cooper, Ch., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D., Wanhill, S. (2005) Tourism: Principles and Practice. 3rd edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Dorset for You (2007). The phenomenal growth of Bournemouth. [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 19 April 2007].
Faulkner, B. and Tideswell, C. (1997). A Framework for Monitoring Community Impacts of Tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 5, (1), 3-28
Felsenstein, D. and Freeman, D. (1998). Simulating the Impacts of Gambling in a Tourist Location: Some Evidence from Israel. Journal of Travel Research. 37, (2), 145-155. [online] Available from: Sage Publications. <> [Accessed 20 April 2007].
Godsall, S.K. (2006), Casino License [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 19 April 2007].
Government Office for South West (2007), Dorset, Bournemouth and Dorset Statistical Brief [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 20 April 2007].
Holloway, J., Ch. (2006), The Business of Tourism, 7th ed., Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Horwath Tourism & Leisure Consulting (1981), The Multipliers Explained [online]. Published in Conjunction with the World Tourism Organisation Available from: <> [Accessed 19 April 2007].
Inskeep, E. (1991). Tourism Planning: An Integrated and Sustainable Development Approach. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Lickorish, L.J. and Jenkins, C.L. (2002) An Introduction to Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Mintel (March 2006). British on Holiday at Home-UK-March 2006 [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 20 April 2007].
Newcastle City Council (2006). Proposed Regional Casino Development-Economic and Social Impact Assessment [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 1 May 2007].
New Forest (2007) Conservation [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 19 April 2007].
Page, S. J., Brunt, P., Busby, G., Connell, J. (2001). Tourism: A Modern Synthesis. London : Thomson Learning.
Pearce, D. (1989), Tourist Development, 2nd edition, Longman; Harlow.
Poole Harbour Commissioners (2007) Environmental Impact Assessment [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 20 April 2007].
Towards 2015 (2007). Tourism impact on communities [online] Available from: <> [Accessed 20 April 2007].
Visit South West (2007). Bournemouth Briefing 2003 [online] Available from: <http://www.visitsouthwest.co.uk/swtresearch/survey/valueoftourism2003/dorset.pdf> [Accessed 20 April 2007].
6. Appendixes
6.1 Appendix 1: Area visited for last domestic holiday
Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults
Source: GB TGI, 2000, Autumn 2002 & 2004 & Quarter 4 2005/Mintel
6.2 Appendix 2: A phenomenal growth of Bournemouth
Source: Dorset for You (2007)
6.3 Appendix 3: The Tourist Multiplier Effect
Source: Barcelona Field Studies Centre (2007)
6.4 Appendix 4: Visitor spending in Bournemouth
Source: Visit South West (2003)
6.5 Appendix 5: Jobs created by certain developments and Actual Number of Jobs Related to Tourism Spend in Bournemouth
Jobs created by certain developments
Source: Godsall (2006)
Estimated Actual Number of Jobs Related to Tourism Spend
Source: Visit South West (2007)
6.6 Appendix 6: Trends in personal disposable income and consumer expenditure in the UK
Source: Mintel (2006)
6.7 Appendix 7: Depravation in Bournemouth
Index of Multiple Deprivation in Bournemouth
6.8 Appendix 8: Community Perceptions of Tourism and Visitor Numbers
Community Perceptions of Tourism in the Summer
Source: Towards 2015 (2007)
Community Perceptions of Visitor Number in the Summer
Source: Towards 2015 (2007)
