Tourism Statistics

বৃহস্পতিবার, মার্চ ১৪, ২০২৪শুক্রবার, মার্চ ১৫, ২০২৪ আনুশি আরভীন

Statistics is an integral part of our day to day life. Application of statistics in real life is too numerous to be illustrated. Statistics primarily contributes to every aspect of life such as data science, robotics, medical science, business, sports, weather forecasting, tourism and much more. For now, we are going to venture out into the world of tourism statistics.

Tourism statistics refers to the application of statistical techniques to the collection, computation, analysis and distribution of data on tourism. What does this sector do? Well, tourism statistics lends a helping hand to both tourism companies and government institutions in

Designing suitable marketing strategies such as advertising campaigns
Conducting a comparative analysis between tourist places
Evaluating management decisions
Estimating the popularity of various destinations or tourist spots
Estimating maintenance cost and time
Optimizing resource utilization
Implementing tourism development initiatives and infrastructure plan
Formulating national policies on tourism
Making worker benefits decisions

Overall, tourism statistics can have a significant impact on economic growth, employment and the environment of a country. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s annual research report, tourism contributed 7.6% to global GDP; an increase of 22% from 2021 and only 23% below 2019 levels. Exactly 22 million jobs were created in 2022 which represents a 7.9% rise in 2021 and only 11.4% below 2019.

However, uncontrolled and conventional tourism poses a threat to the environment. It can escalate perils in several ways for the environment. Tourism is responsible for emitting more than 5% of greenhouse gasses globally, while transportation contributes to 90% of this. Moreover, it can cause depletion of natural resources e.g., overuse of water, land degradation, etc.; pollution such as sewage pollution, noise and air pollution, etc.; problems of waste production; loss of biological diversity, etc.

In order to prevent problems arising from unrestrained tourism, ecotourism or sustainable tourism must be encouraged and promoted. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) describes sustainable tourism as “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities”. The UNWTO defines the 12 aims of sustainable tourism as: economic viability, local prosperity, employment quality, social equity, visitor fulfillment, local control, community wellbeing, cultural richness, physical integrity, biological diversity, resource efficiency, and environmental purity. In 2023, 69% of tourists plan to travel sustainably. According to the 2022 Sustainable Development Report, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria are the most eco-friendly countries. The governments of these countries proactively work on developing protective policies and regulations against climate change, which deserves a lot of respect and appreciation. The other countries should learn from these countries and put themselves forward to protect the environment from climate change.

References: