"What exactly IS tourism?

Its interconnectedness
with other sectors.
sectors "

Dr Trevor Sofield, Professor of Tourism, University of 
Tasmania, Australia
Lead Faculty for the PPP Tourism Management 
Course, 2006‐2010

Tourism is unlike almost

any other product
It has many distinctive
characteristics

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1. Tourism is purchased in advance -
2 sight unseen
2. unseen, cannot be sampled
3. If unsatisfactory, cannot be
returned, no refund if spoiled or
otherwise unacceptable
4. the consumers join the production
line the moment they leave home

International tourism is an export.

ƒ But unlike other exports the product does not
leave ‘home’ and is consumed at the point of
origin
ƒ Commodity flows and payment flows are in the
same direction
ƒ However, because foreign exchange is brought
into the country even though the product has
not left its country of origin, international
to rism earns foreign e
tourism exchange
change just
j st like an
any
other product of trade.

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 Commodity Exports
(e.g. Coal, Wheat)

Payment Flow
DOLLARS

Australia Japan
COAL
WHEAT Consumption
p
takes place in
Commodity Flow Japan

Tourism Exports
(Japanese visitors to Australia)

Australia
Consumption Payment Flow
takes place in
Australia as
p
Japanese tourists
visit (‘consume’)
DOLLARS
Japan
Australian VISITORS
attractions, sights
and tourism
products. Commodity Flow (consumers)

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 WE NOW COME TO THE QUESTION –
WHO IS A TOURIST?

WHO IS NOT A TOURIST?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO TALK  ABOUT ‘VISITORS’  
RATHER THAN TOURISTS?

WHAT IS MARKET SEGMENTATION?

Market Segmentation 
In tourism, the market is people: that is, all of those people who
have a desire or need to travel.
This is the demand side of tourism.
Because there are many different travel needs, the tourism
industry tries to identify different parts of the market in order to
plan and supply them with their very different needs
The market is therefore segmented, i.e. divided into different
types of people who share enough common characteristics in
their travel needs to be targeted together for planning for
d ti ti
destinations, ffor selling
lli t
travel.
l
But selling travel is not always selling tourism products,
tourism experiences & tourism attractions ....

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Market segmentation ‐
Market segmentation ‐ Visitor Types by main purpose of visit (not 
vacation/holiday)
PLANNING for tourism needs to understand the needs of
different visitors:
Education (study)
Business
‘MICE’ - Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions
Health/wellbeing
Sport
Religion (pilgrimage)
F il (VFR) – Visiting
Family Vi iti FFriends
i d and dR
Relatives
l ti

(But tourists come for leisure and recreation).

Market segmentation ‐ Visitor Types by main purpose of visit
visit (not 
vacation/holiday)

Because “visitors” and “purpose of visit” encompass

much more than tourists, planning for tourism means
that we must plan differently for different types of
visitors, not just tourists.

Different types of visitors will have different needs that

are not the same as the needs of tourists.

Simple example: a business visitor needs a desk in his

hotel room: a tourist needs a beach towel!

Plan to provide the business visitor with a conference

centre, and zoning for beach resorts for the tourist.

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 Tourist Types by Market Segmentation

“Baby Boomers”
“Empty Nesters”
“GYS”
“Silver hairs”
“O.L.s”
What is a ‘Stay‐cation’ ???
What is ‘voluntourism’ ??

TOURISM AS A SYSTEM FOR INTEGRATED PLANNING

Holistic integration with supporting sectors
Since tourism is highly fragmented into many sectors, and each
sector is dependent upon and influenced by many other sectors and
externalities, planning for sustainable tourism development must
b undertaken
be d t k holistically
h li ti ll to
t integrate
i t t tourism
t i sector t planning
l i with ith
supporting sectors such as transport, public works, health, police,
agriculture, manufacturing, the environment, cultural affairs,
foreign affairs and international relations, and so on.

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 Agri-tourism and Linkages into Agriculture
Because of the over-riding importance of the agricultural
sector to the lives of Cambodia’s people, especially rural
communities and the rural poor, special emphasis needs
tol be placed on planning for agri-tourism, and for
strengthening linkages between tourism and agriculture.
Community based tourism (CBT) is of fundamental
importance in terms of both food for tourists and
agritourism.

Cooperation with the transport sector at both public and private

sector levels
This form of cooperation is vital for:
• improving access internationally, through the provision of efficient
air services by carriers, and bilateral air services agreements
negotiated by Government; and
• assisting development in isolated or economically depressed outer
regions of the country through the construction of a quality road
network.
• Access for border crossing checkpoints, by sea and by river, are
also vital links

AIR
RAIL

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Cooperation with the Public Works departments
This is vital at national, provincial and municipality levels will also be
an important component of Tourism activities, since basic infra-
structure for the tourism industry such as power, water and sewage are
provided by them.

Cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and the

Ministry of Culture
Cooperation with these ministries must also be continuously
maintained because of the fundamental importance of cultural sites
and national parks and other protected areas, sanctuaries and
reserves As resources that are often fragile or under threat they
reserves.
require careful management regimes for sustainable tourism and
appropriate recreational activities to minimize adverse impacts.

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Education, training and HRD
Education, training and human resource development for all
sectors of the tourism industry are recognized as fundamental for
sustainable tourism development and the tourism industry needs
to foster and the education sector in partnership with the private
sector. Secondary school, technical colleges and universities are
all required to provide for different types of vocation skills,
training and education.

Support for the private sector

In recognition of the key role of the private sector in tourism
development and its capacity to raise venture capital, and the
efficiency of the private sector in commercial business operations,
any country needs to develop private/public sector partnerships and
provide
id a framework
f k for
f security
it off business
b i by
b the
th private
i t sector.
t
It is the key driver of the tourism industry.

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But what exactly does international tourism mean for the local economy?  
Support Industries and Services Sector Backward and
forward linkages
2.2 million tourists visiting Cambodia in a year for an average of six
days is the equivalent of Cambodia having to produce additional food
for more than 36,000
36 000 more permanent residents for 365 days each
eating three meals a day.
That is - approximately 33,00,000 eggs (@2.5 eggs each per day),
- 6,600,000 chickens (@ half a chicken each per day),
- And 12.8 million
hamburgers!
g

TOURISM AS A SYSTEM
• They will eat:
– 25.2 million fish (two fish per day),
– and if they eat only five prawns per day somebody
has to produce 60 million prawns!

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 TOURISM AS A SYSTEM

– They will drink 13.2 million bottles of water (one

bottle per day) and
– 40 million cups of coffee and tea; and
– At one bottle of beer each and one coca cola each
per day, 26.4 million beverages will be consumed.

TOURISM AS A SYSTEM
• Add in all the other consumables that are needed, such as:
– electricity consumption and light bulbs;
– furniture to sit on and sleep on;
– soap for showers and laundry;
– TVs and telephones and airconditioners
– bed linen, table linen, curtains, and lounge fabrics;
– pots and pans, cups and plates and knives and forks;
– tennis balls; swimming goggles; golf buggies; beach umbrellas;
– etcetera, and -

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 TOURISM AS A SYSTEM
When we then add in the $120 that each tourist spends on souvenirs
and we have an extra $264 million – much of it going to poor people
and women – we can begin to understand the power of the tourist
dollar in alleviating poverty.

TOURISM AS A SYSTEM

The key point is that international tourism and every

international visitor brings NEW ADDITIONAL dollars
into the Cambodian economy.
No tourism - and thousand of people lose their jobs, families
lose their livelihood, and poverty is not alleviated.
When we understand tourism as a system and all of its many
linkages the myth of tourism being ‘just a service industry
that doesn’t produce anything’ is completely exploded.

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 Issues and Challenges for the future

Climate change
and global
warming will
have serious
impacts on
tourism globally.

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Climate change
In terms of tourism two key destination types will be most affected:
seaside beach tourism (SSS- ‘sun/sea/sand) and alpine snow ski
tourism.
• As northern high latitude countries warm up there will be no need for
their residents to travel south to the Mediterranean or the Caribbean
for SSS holidays.

• Europeans and
Americans will be less
likely to travel to
destinations like Thailand
for beach holidays.

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Climate change
• In terms of alpine snow ski tourism, globally many ski resort
destinations will face the prospect of no snow. More than one
hundred billion dollars of specialist resorts will no longer be
p
able to operate unless theyy make artificial snow,, and that will
of course make skiing much more expensive.
• However, if Europe lost all of its snow except for
Switzerland, even with greatly reduced snowfields
Switzerland's competitive position could improve as the only
European destination with natural snow!

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CLIMATE CHANGE –
THE DILEMMA OF THE MEKONG RIVER
As north Asia warms up, will flows into the Mekong 
River decrease? If so, what is the impact on Tonle Sap 
Lake???

If global warming results in a rise in sea levels, will 
the level of the Mekong River rise?  If so, what is the 
impact on Tonle Sap and Angkor???

THANKYOU

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