The International Tourism System of an International Destination

Question: Discuss about the International Tourism System of an International Destination Location Los Angeles. Answer: Introduction: Tourism is one of the major industries in Los Angeles due to its job growth and economic impact. In recent days, Los Angeles has been experiencing a rapid growth in the tourism department (Riley 2014). Moreover, the local government has been contributing sufficient support enhance the tourism industry in Los Angeles. However, in arecent report, it has been published that several political issues including visa restrictions, tax breaks for the hotel industry and the Transient Occupancy Tax on tourists, have surrounded the tourism industry of Los Angeles (Byrne 2012). Tourism is one of the important industries that facilitates in enhancing economic growth of the country. In this context, the researcher has evaluated the importance of tourism industry in Los Angeles. Moreover, the researcher explores the prime attraction of the destination including J Paul Getty Museum, Griffin Park and Observatory, Music Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,etc (Goodall and Ashworth 2013). Tourism Visitation: The tourists visits in Los Angeles have been growing rapidly. In recent years, the industry has experienced robust growth in the tourism industry. Eric Garcetti, the Mayor of the City, has announced that Los Angeles has theworld record for welcoming 45.5 million visitors in 2015Moreover, tourism and convention board president and CEO of Los Angeles have declared that the city has experienced a growth of 2.8% of tourists in 2015. It has been reported that total domestic visitation has already reached to 38.8 million. On the other hand, the international visitors have reached the number of 6.7 million. Moreover, the international visitors have facilitated to increase 3.3% of visitation (Riley 2014). The local government has stated that the popularity of the city has been increasingly popular due to its cultural experiences. Eric Garcetti, the mayor of the city, has expressed that Los Angeles is the place where the cultural experiences and celebrated attraction are met(Ziegler, Dearden and Rollins 2012). On the other hand, the mayor has said that the development of the city attracts a huge number of international and domestic tourists to enjoy the scenic beauty of the place. For example, the government has invested billionsin renovating the airport to improve the mass transits and other assets of international visitors (Cabiddu, Lui and Piccoli 2013). In recent years, most international tourists of Los Angeles are Chinese. Hence, it can be assessed that China is one of the biggest contributors for the enhancement of tourism industry at Los Angeles (Apostolopoulos, Leivadi and Yiannakis 2013). International visitation of China has increased to 13.6% and officially, it becomes L.As 2nd international market behind Mexico with 779,000 visitors in 2015. On the other hand, South Korea is also growing, as 11% increments of tourists have been observed in 2015. The city has welcomed 282,000 visitors from Mexico (Wallace et al 2014). The city has recognized and congratulated million of tourists, as their passion and dedication suggest providing enhanced services to all international and domestic tourists. Consequently, Los Angeles has been experiencing record-breaking visitors throughout five consecutive years. Continuous supports of local organizations have facilitated to provide enhanced services to tourists (Hall et al 2012). For example , Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board are non-profit and private association whose main mission is to enhance the popularity of the city through effective promotion and marketing (Morrison and Pickering 2013). Destination attractiveness: Los Angeles in Southern California is one of the famous cities in the United States. The city is known internationally for its scenic beauty and culture. Hollywood industry contributes to enhancing its popularity in an effective manner. The warm climate and beaches attract the international and domestic tourists for enjoying the city and most of the international tourists have said that the beaches of Los Angeles are one of the major factors for selecting this particular destination (Kavoura and Stavrianea 2014). For example, nearby Venice Beach offers a warm beaching experience like none other. Los Angeles also has acultural attraction that is the selling point of this destination. Traditional culture including J Paul Getty Museum has attracted many international tourists to select this particular destination (Lacher and Oh 2012). Moreover, Le Brea Tar Pits is one of the spectacular place of Los Angeles, as it reveals fossils from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago(Wallace et al 2014). The diverse mix of several things makes LA as a perfect gateway for anyone at any point of time. The MayorEric Garcetti has explained that they motivate the international and domestic tourists for having the experiences of the city. Moreover, there are some organizations, which support tourists by providing knowledge on the tourist destinations in Los Angeles. For example, Los Angeles tourism and convention board, a nonprofit organization has been providing enhanced services to the international tourists (Sigala 2012). The prime motive of the organization is to enhance the popularity of the city by a wide range of promotional activities. The tourism industry has been developing the infrastructure of the city for attracting a huge number of tourists across the globe (Yu and Ko 2012). Issue analysis: Although the tourism industry Los Angeles has been experiencing tremendous growth in recent years, there are some challenges affecting the industry. It has been seen that thepolitical issues have surrounded the tourism industry here (Sigala, Christou and Gretzel 2012). Consequently, the industry has been confronting challenges in providing enhanced services to the tourists across the global platform. The political issues including visa restrictions, tax breaks for the hotel industry, and the impact of Transient Occupancy Tax on tourists. The local government believes that the tourism industry has been providing a major contribution to strengthening countrys economic structure. However, strict immigration and visa rule are the major challenges for the tourists in Los Angeles (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013). Although the foreign tourists consider Los Angeles as a city of joy and wealth of culture, they may find difficulties in obtaining a visa within a short period. Moreover, it may take l ong time and cost too much for acquiring a visa of Los Angeles (Han and Hyun 2015). However, in 2011, the US travel association has requested the government to simplify the process of visa in order to enhance the tourism industry in an effective manner and the government has initiated Visa Waiver Program for improvising the process of visa. As per the Visa Waiver Program, the citizens of the specific country get the opportunity to travel in the US without having to obtain a visa (Csap 2012). However, the travel must be less than 90 days. The United States is very cautious about providing a visa to international visitors. Tax breaks for hotels is another issue of the travel industry in Los Angeles. Many companies have stated that they need financial contribution from the government in order to develop large attractive hotels in the city (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013). The city council has been attempting to be more selective for the selection of hotels for tourists. They have been trying to identify which hotel receives the city subsidies by deciphering how beneficial each hotel would be in attracting visitors and job creation (Jayawardena et al 2013). Creating new hotels is one of the important initiatives for providing enhanced facilities to international and domestic tourists. These new hotels contain extra 4000 rooms for the tourists so that it can be an attractive conference destination (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013).Many hotels are given tax concession for the development of the infrastructure in an effective manner. Small hotels and organizations have been developing their internal structure to attra ct a huge number of tourists across the global platform. Transient Occupancy Tax is another issue for international tourists (Briassoulis and Van der Straaten 2013). As per this TOT, the international tourists need to provide a certain amount of tax to the hotels in Los Angeles for booking rooms, or entire lodge. However, tourists have said that the government should have minimized the transient occupancy tax in order to enhance the tourist engagement in an effective manner but this particular tax is beneficial for the state government, as in 2012 Los Angeles has paid $354.7 million (Wallace et al 2014). Therefore, it is an added constraint on accommodation business in the city. Strict immigration and visa rules are also economic challenges for the government. It has been reported that barrier to easy travel has kept out 78 million foreign tourists from 2000 to 2010 (Liu, Tzeng and Lee 2012). Therefore, it has indicated a risk factor for the tourism industry in Los Angeles. Moreover , it has directly affected on the economic structure of the country because it has been reported that due to loss of 78 million tourists, the tourism industry has lost $859 billion, which could have pumped up the U.S economy and added 1.3 million jobs (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013). Hence, it was a huge risk factor for the tourism industry. However, the local non-profit organization has been providing enormous support for enhancing the popularity of the industry in an effective manner. The business report said that Mexico, Canada, China, Australia, and the United Kingdom were top five tourists producing markets (Wallace et al 2014). Moreover, the travel price index is quite unstable, it depends on the seasons (Csap 2012). The beverage and lodging cost has increased in recent days due to the high tax rate. The international and domestic tourists face difficulties for finding appropriate accommodation due to the huge cost. Impacts of tourism: Positive Impact of tourism activity: The recent growth in the tourism industry has shown the potentiality of the industry to obtain remarkable profit out of the business. By analyzing the growth of the tourism industry, it can be assessed that Los Angeles has been achieving a huge growth in the industry and consequently, it directly influences the economy of the country (Lacher and Oh 2012). In this context, some of the positive impacts have been shown in the following points. Economic Benefits: Economic diversification is one of the major outcomes of the tourism activities. Tourism is responsible for creating new opportunities for the society to enhance the economic benefits in an effective manner. Through the engagement of employing new hotels and lodges, the tourism industry increases profits. Moreover, it is responsible for creating direct and indirect employment in the business (Sigala 2012). Infrastructure development is one of the important outcomes of the tourism activities. The local development like an airport, roads, schools, hospitals and retails provide adequate facilities to the local communities. In this context, the mayor of Los Angles has said that the government has spent billions to enhance the infrastructure of the airport do that the mass transits and other valuable products transits can be executed in an effective manner (Lacher and Oh 2012). As of 2011, Los Angeles has economy around $827 billion and the businesses of the particular city have contribut ed 35% of total GDP (Wallace et al 2014). The commerce activates contributed the second amount to the GDP with 27%. These are the most prominent character of Los Angeles economy. Hence, it suggests that the tourism activity has facilitated the economy of the country and it has been contributing to strengthening the economic structure of the country. Social Benefits: Social benefit is another positive outcome of the tourism industry. In Los Angeles, the tourist industry has enhanced the social life though the enormous financial contribution and it has facilitated to create a huge employment opportunity in Los Angeles (Yu and Ko 2012). The increments of hotels and lodges have created several job opportunities for the local communities. Through the engagement of employing tourism activities, the city successfully promotes its culture to the global platform (Csap 2012). Environmental Benefits: Tourism industry provides financial support to the conservation of natural resourcesmanagement and conservation of ecosystems. Moreover, it facilitates Los Angeles to make the destination more authentic and desirable for domestic and international tourists across the global platform. Furthermore, it would increase the value of local tourism in Los Angeles (Sigala, Christou and Gretzel 2012). Negative activity of tourism activity: Besides the enormous positive impacts, there are some drawbacks of tourism activities. Exceeding environmental capacity can be a risk factor for the local communities as the resources including energy, food, and water may be at risk (Han and Hyun 2015). On the other hand, increasing tourism activity can cause the environmental contamination. Sometimes, a huge number of tourists may be responsible for water and soil pollutions and discharging of wastes is a major factor for environmental pollution as the Mayor Eric Garcetti has said that the local government has spent billions on enhancing the tourism infrastructure to attract a huge number of tourists in Los Angeles. However, this money could have been utilized for contributing the local community to enhance their lifestyle in an effective manner (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013). Sometimes, enhanced tourism activities can be responsible for implementing a new foreign culture in the host communities. Hence, it indicates the risk factors for the local community to retain the traditional culture in the society in an effective manner. Moreover, increasing tourism activities indicates a threat for the historical and religious heritage of the local community (Csap 2012). Environmental destruction is one of the major issues of tourism activities in Los Angeles. With the involvement of the welcoming a huge number of tourists, Los Angeles indeed create difficulties for the local community as they may be suffer due the shrinkage of local services. Moreover, the healthcare services needs to be expanded for providing enhanced services to the tourists. Hence, the local government needs to invest on the health care system to uphold the same services in the society. Policy implications: Four policies for a sustainable tourism are provided below: Tourism planning: Tourism planning is one of the major factors that provide sustainable growth in the industry. Regional development plans areresponsible for strengthening the economic structure of the country and sustainable tourism planning needs to be incorporated in the regional and national development (Han and Hyun 2015). Stakeholders engagement, governance mechanism, and public policies should be incorporated into the planning method for national and regional development. Hence, the planners should recognize and utilize the legal and fiscal regimes, knowledge, information, evaluation tools and cooperative processes among professional and civil society. The multi-stakeholder participatory planning process is another effective method of planning. In this process, NGOs, local authorities, enterprises, and community-based organizations facilitate to obtain sustainable tourism (Jayawardena et al 2013). Tourism investment: The financial investment allows the tourism industry to enhance its infrastructure in an effective manner. On the other hand, regulatory instruments with integrated social and environmental criteria should be implemented in different processes including licensing, tendering, and permit approval process. Moreover, these instruments also facilitatethe application and tools including Strategic Environmental influence in Los Angeles (Briassoulis and Van der Straaten 2013). Tourism promotion and marketing: Marketing strategies promote the idea and need for sustainability. Different promotion and distribution channels should focus on sustainability as the main option for tourism development and persuade tourists choice in an effective method. Nowadays, social media engagement is one of the major platforms for the effective promotion. Therefore, the tourism industry can incorporate their promotional activities in the social media platform for expanding the information of particular tourism services across the global platform (Ruhanen and Shakeela 2013). Tourism operations and management: Tourism operations need to respect the planned objectives and legislative for managing sustainability development in the industry. Tourism objective must be related with tourism development and management. Moreover, the operations should be internationally recognized standard for sustainable development. Tourism development authority needs to educate, inform, and work collaboratively in order to incorporate sustainability into themanagement practices and policies (Kavoura and Stavrianea 2014). Moreover, it secures their active contribution to the development of sustainable tourism. References: Apostolopoulos, Y., Leivadi, S. and Yiannakis, A., 2013.The sociology of tourism: theoretical and empirical investigations(Vol. 1). Routledge. Briassoulis, H. and Van der Straaten, J. eds., 2013.Tourism and the environment: regional, economic, cultural and policy issues(Vol. 6). Springer Science Business Media. Byrne, J., 2012. 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