Tourism Benefits for Your Community

Tourism is an industry, just like any other industry, and it can bring enormous benefits to your local community. Often those who see tourism as bringing an unwanted seasonal influx of visitors, argue that tourism only benefits those involved directly in the tourism industry - namely accommodation providers (hotels, motels, resorts,), services (restaurants, gift shops, retail stores, petrol stations) tour operators (attractions and transport). This article outlines a range of ways that tourism can bring benefit to the wider community and is something that you can put forward to improve community support of your industry in your own local area.

The benefits that are most commonly association with tourism are increased local incomes and employment, however, there are also a range of other benefits for the local community:

• Economic
• Social
• Environmental

Economic
Employment opportunities
According to recent figures, travellers in Australia spend about $100 per day (both overnight and day visitors) - on accommodation, meals, recreating, sightseeing and shopping. If we were to attract 100 visitors per day each year to our local area, this would account for almost $11 million in revenue, contributing to income and leading to a growth of tourism employment in our area. Particularly for small and rural communities, the ability to offer tourism employment to encourage younger members of our community to stay is an important benefit.
Multiplier effect - increased spending
The money that visitors spend in our local area is not received if we do not have tourism. With tourism, this money goes on to 'multiply' in the economy (Keynes) as it is spent and a proportion of this is re-spent a number of times throughout the year on services, earned as income, spent again on services, earned as income and so on...
New Business Opportunities/Diversification
Tourism can provide a range of new business opportunities in addition to existing industries. This makes the community less reliant on a single industry and may also reduce seasonal fluctuations by bringing income in over traditionally slow periods. Tourism can diversify existing businesses by adding a visitor component on, some examples include farm and wine tourism, but there are also opportunities for local manufacturing and production industries.

Social
Community pride
Tourism can enhance community cohesion and pride as locals become proud to present the natural attractions and facilities in the area.
Improved facilities
To ensure your local area is attractive and appealing to visitors, certain investments in support services must be made, these in turn make the community more attractive and prosperous and encourage more visitors bringing additional money into the area. Without tourism some of these services may simply not be financially viable for your local community - services for tourism may include sporting facilities and clubs, local police stations, waste services, water services, public toilets and local parks, street mainenance, medical facilities, land and water rescue systems.
Broadening of Social Outlook
By bringing visitors from other parts of Australia and the world, from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, residents are provided with the opportunity to interact with other cultures. This has the benefit of brining new ideas and experiences into the community.

Environmental
Environment, Cultural and Heritage Preservation
The preservation of cultural, historical, indigenous and natural resources and facilities are central to tourism today. Tourism can ensure that these resources are preserved through policites andd planning as well as provide interpretive information to enable better understanding of associated values for both visitors and the local community.
Greater focus on conservation
Eco tourism offers increasing opportunities for local communities for focus on nature tourism and with it to improve and maintain the quality of natural resourices at the same time as new jobs and increased local income are generated. Nature tourism can extend into hunting, fishing, 4WDing and wildlife expeditions.

Benefits from tourism can flow to a large range of businesses including building and construction, laundries, food shoelsales and suppliers, public utilities, entertainment services and local services including hairdressers, printers, photogrpahers, doctors and dentists. Eventually, most prople in the community benefit financially (either directly or indirectly) from tourism. However, the benefits don't just happen by themselves, they require planning and investment of time, skill and money by the community in order to make tourism a thriving local industry.