Tourism Development And Society Assignment Sample

Tourism Development And Society Assignment

Introduction of Tourism Industry Development at Virgin Islands

• Tourism is a dynamic division that can generate enough development of different sectors of an economy (Khan et al. 2020).
• The tourism private sector contributes to the overall 17 SGDs, as the evaluation of CSR undertakings of 60 huge international organisations from transport, tour operator industries and accommodation have observed.
• The British Virgin Islands has been considered the most tourism-based country where tourists have contributed roughly 95% of the overall GDP (Telfer and Sharpley, 2015).

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Tourism development is crucial in improving foreign exchange earnings by importing vital services, producing segments and capital goods of an economy. Tourism development also leads to employment generation and high income. In order to fulfil the 17 sustainable goals of 2030, the tourism sector has played an important role. It has been understood that the British Virgin Islands is considered a famous tourist spot that has contributed largely to improving the overall GDP of the economy.

Geography of British Virgin Islands

• The British Virgin Islands are situated in the Caribbean, between the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, east of Puerto Rico (Bvi.gov.vg, 2022).
• It has a humid and tropical climate with temperatures decreased by trade winds. The terrain of such islands encompasses coral islands and is almost flat.
• It is hilly, steep and also has volcanic islands.
• The maximum temperature of such islands is roughly 32°C and the daily winter temperature is approximately 29°C (gov.vg, 2022a).
• The average rainfall is about 1,150mm each year and comparatively higher in the hilly portions than the coastal areas.

In such islands, cyclones rarely hit with the cyclone period during June to November every year. 

History of British Virgin Islands

• Such islands were the preliminary haunt of Pirates and buccaneers
• In 1648, Tortola was initially established by Dutch buccaneers who imprisoned this island until it was claimed during 1666 by a grouping of English planters.
• The planters were allowed the civil government with partially elected “constitutional courts”, “legislative council” and elected a “House of Assembly”.
• “British Overseas Territory Act (2002)” changed colony status to that of granting British citizenship and overseas territory to its citizens.
• In 2007, the latest constitution promoted and brought huge self-government to this island (Bvi.gov.vg, 2022b).

It has come to light that during 1917 the “Public Holiday Act” was reformed by displacing Colony Day with Territory Day. Moreover, by respecting the Cabinet decision, Territory Day was displaced by Virgin Islands Day on 2nd December 2020.

Island facts of British Virgin Islands

• BVI islands are “Anegada”, “Virgin Gorda”, “Tortola”, “Jost Van Dyke” and other significant islands (Bvitourism, 2022).
• BVI is situated in the Caribbean.
• Roughly 16 of the total islands are inhabited in BVI.
• Primarily it was a colony.
• It has the closest relation with the UK.
• BVI is considered an important tourism spot. The tourism industry is most crucial here.
• “Baths National Park” situated in BVI is considered a renowned tourist spot.
• It has also hosted the largest selling events each year.

Primarily Amerindian tribes were settled down on the British Virgin Islands. There are a total of 4 islands and 32-minute islands that make up the entire BVI.

PESTLE analysis of British Virgin Islands

Political factors	Economic factors
? Politically stable under the constitution of 1967. ? In BVI, the Governor illustrates the heads of the executive council and the Queen. ? BVI and UK governments completed the negotiation of the latest constitution in February 2007.	? It has faced challenges from cyclones. ? Earthquakes and hurricanes are considered natural risks that lead to economic threats (PAHO, 2022). ? Inland flooding, coastal surge, wind damage has created negative impacts on its economy. ? Fishing and agriculture contribute to roughly 1.6% of the total GDP (Bvi.gov.vg, 2021). ? The real GDP of BVI is more than $1.3 billion with a 2.9% average increase between 2010-2018(Bvi.gov.vg, 2021).
Social factors	Technological factors
? BVI’s current population is 30,596. ? In 2018, its literacy rate was 99.00%. ? Most BVI inhabitants believe in Christianity. ? The employment rate is moderate. ? Presence of different religions	? Implementation of information technology for improving business operation in BIV (Bvi.gov.vg, 2022c). ? Adopt financial technologies to ensure technological advancement
Legal factors	Environmental factors
? The application of “Financial Services Commission Act 2001”, “Business Amendment Act 2019” to improve business operation. ? The British public does not need a VISA for roaming BVI (Gov.uk, 2022). ? There is religious freedom in BVI. ? Most people living in BVI believe in Christianity. ? BVI citizens believe in diversity, equality, democracy (Bvi.gov.vg, 2021).	? Tourism is the major industry in BVI. ? The Virgin Islands Government has taken steps for making fishing sustainable sectors and third economic pillar in this territory (Bvi.gov.vg, 2016) ? Launched Fisheries Advisory Committee to ensure improved fishery industry (Bvi.gov.vg, 2016). ? Presence of several beaches ? Famous beaches include “White Bay Beach”, “Cane Garden Bay Beach”, “Brewer’s Bay Beach” and many others (Ward, 2021). ? “Loblolly Bay Beach” situated in Anegada is stretched for miles (Ward, 2021). “White Bay Beach” is stretched for 5,271 miles. ? 1°C-5°C hotter by 2080 under the scenario of Medium-High Carbon emission is a major concern for BVI. ? Change in patterns of rainfall, heavier rain, a flood may be the concerned area for BVI. ? Rising sea level ? More persistent, devastating, stronger hurricanes can lead to major problems. ? “Anegada Horseshoe Reef” is the third greatest ongoing reef in the Eastern Caribbean at roughly 63 km long, having both barrier and patch reef. ? UKOT helps a diverse span of unique habitats ecosystems that include mangrove and coral reefs (Murray et al. 2021).

Table 1: PESTLE analysis

4 types of mangroves in the British Virgin Islands are black mangrove, red mangrove, buttonwood and white mangrove. From the overall PESTLE analysis of BIV, it has evaluated that its political climate is stable but some environmental calamities generate negative impacts on its economic growth.

Tables of capital

Capitals	Attributes	Significance	Current trends
Natural capital	(i) It represents the commodities of non-renewable and renewable natural resources including materials, soil, water, air, plants and animals that combine for delivering benefits to individuals.	(i) Natural capital has played an important role as an income earner thus delivering concern in such a field is crucial. (ii) Resilience and natural capital might be united into broader theories of sustainability (Jones and Wynn, 2019).	(i) Improvement in the roads of BVI can lead to a developed natural capital. (ii) Absence or improper management in BVI can create negative impacts on decreasing natural capital.
Social capital	(i) It includes the efficient functioning of different social groups through shared understanding, interpersonal relationships, shared norms and so on.	(i) Social capital assists BVI to understand how communities, individuals, institutions and globalisation can manage disruption, reduce upcoming vulnerabilities and return to stabilisation (Delilah Roque et al.2020).	(i) The government of BVI has taken initiatives for achieving social sustainability.

Table 2: Natural and Social capital

Therefore, it has been addressed that both natural capital and social capital are essential for the tourism sector to achieve sustainability and ensure better growth and development. Protection of natural capital is crucial for maintaining the environmental sustainability of both society and the economy. On the contrary, the adoption of effective actions is required to protect social capital for the BVI government to realise the impacts of nature on human well-being and the economy. For tourism organisations of BVI, the protection of social capital is most vital to achieving sustainability, effectiveness and handling challenges in their supply chain systems.

 The tourism industry of the British Virgin Islands

• Tourism is considered the most important economic sector of the economy of BVI.
• VI is also famous as the “Sailing capital of the world” that provides the tourists several opportunities to investigate countless cays and inlets by sea (Bvi.gov.vg, 2021).
• “Boat/yachting sector” is a significant part of its tourism sector that contributes roughly 50% of the total tourism expenditure.
• Recently Irma, a devastating cyclone and COVID 19 pandemic have created negative impacts in reducing the sales revenue of such a sector (Bvi.gov.vg, 2021).
• Due to such a hurricane, the overall tourism industry including hotels, restaurants, guest houses have been damaged badly.
• The major challenges that have created several negative effects on its tourism industry include direct air access, lack of proper foreign direct investment, deterioration of public infrastructure and many others (Bvi.gov.vg, 2021).
• During the pandemic situation, the total number of overnight visitors in BVI was 83 thousand whereas the overall number of cruise passengers was 219 thousand (Statista, 2022)

Therefore, it has been evaluated from the above discussion that the tourism sector is the most important in the economy of BVI. It has also been observed that COVID 19 pandemic and the devastating hurricane Irma have created several negative effects on reducing the overall sales revenue of BVI. Therefore, some other aspects that create a bad influence in its tourism industry are lack of FDI, deterioration of federal infrastructure and so on.

Butler’s lifestyle

• As per Butler, under the life cycle of a destination, a region goes through the six stages of the evolutionary cycle.
• These six stages include “exploration”, “involvement”, “development”, “consolidation”, “stagnation” and “rejuvenation” or “decline”.
• It is considered that as per this theory, BVI is situated between the “development” and “consolidation” stages (Rahman, 2021).
• “Development” is a stage where the location is broadly identified as a spot of tourist attraction, partially due to heavy promotional efforts and advertising (Rahman, 2021).
• Moreover, the “consolidation” stage represents the locations where the total number of tourists are comparatively higher than the constant inhabitants (Rahman, 2021).

BVI is situated between these two stages ofButler’s tourism life cycle because it has evidenced that it is a place of tourist attraction. The number of the overall outsider visitors is comparatively higher than the number of its inhabitants. Furthermore, several cultural facilities and attractions including hotels, restaurants, bars are developed in BVI to enlarge the real attractions. Therefore, it has also proved that BVI is placed between the development and consolidation stages. In consolidation, the local economy is hugely influenced by the tourist spot. In this case, it has been addressed previously that the BVI's economy is largely dominated by its tourism sector. Due to such mentioned reasons, it is considered that BVI is situated between these two stages of Butler's life cycle.

Doxey’s irridex

• “Doxey’s irridex model of tourism” has suggested that the attitude of the residents toward tourism probably pass through a collection of various stages
• Stages include “euphoria”, through “irritation” and “apathy”, to “antagonism” as recognised cost surpass expected advantages.
• It is also considered that BVI is situated between “apathy” and “annoyance” for various particular reasons.
• “Apathy” represents that the guests and residents have started to adopt each other as taken for granted.
• “Annoyance” has represented the period when the tourists have created positive impacts on the economy and inhabitants are being frustrated with the presence of tourists.

BVI is situated between these two stages and that is proved with proper evidence. Similar to the “apathy” stage, inhabitants and tourists of BVI have taken each other as taken for granted. On the other hand, it has been reflected that in the “annoyance” stage, residents have become annoyed by the presence of tourists. It is also similar to BVI. The number of outsider tourists is higher in BVI than its residents thus sometimes BVI residents have shown their irritation for the drastic presence of outsider tourists. Therefore, it has been proved that such islands are situated between apathy and annoyance stages.

Discussion of British Virgin Islands

• “Modernisation theory” represents the development of societies through a series of evolutionary stages that are distinguished by an alteration from rural to urban, agriculture to industry and traditional to modern social institutions or values.
• Such a theory more regularly offers an absolute perspective in evaluations focusing on or connected to the outcomes of tourist development (Sharple, 2022).
• Few criticisms of “Modernisation theory” are only emphasised on economic development rather than social, political and cultural dimensions, Ethnocentrism and Westernisation.
• “Neoliberal theory” of tourism seeks profit at all costs, with limited regard to community, natural environment and people (Wearing et al. 2019).
• “Sustainable development” is a concept that human associations stay and meet their requirements without understanding the capabilities of the upcoming generations for meeting their requirements.
• Sustainability in tourism means tourism that adopts the entire account of its future and the current economy, environmental and social impact, understanding tourists' requirements, the environment, the industry and host communities.
• Community-dependent tourism is a beneficial approach for ensuring sustainable tourism development by the procedures of sharing advantages among community representatives and the preservation of natural resources (Khalid et al. 2019).
• “Triple Bottom Line” is considered a framework for ensuring sustainable tourism.
• This approach is a way to measure the impacts of tourism on individuals, the planet and profit.
• The best comprehensive technique in achieving and measuring sustainable businesses is the concept of TBL (Bujan and Kecek, 2019)
• An example of a company looking for a TBL would be the run of social enterprises is non-profit but receiving income by serving opportunities for unemployable persons, to receive a living by recovering. Walmart has used such an approach.
• BVI’s history, geography, culture and religion have been evaluated here perfectly.
• “Modernisation theory” must be applied to create more improvement in BVI for transforming it into a more attractive tourist spot.
• Such a theory is significant for such mentioned islands because it has modernised itself in various ways to build a successful tourism industry.
• Due to the COVID 19 and the devastating attack of hurricanes, various hotels, restaurants in BVI have been damaged badly.
• Nowadays, the government of BVI and the UK government have taken necessary actions to invest in improving or more modernising its infrastructure.
• It can be also stated that focusing on cultural, social and political dimensions will also be essential for BVIs rather than focusing on the only economic dimension.

Therefore, it has been addressed that such mentioned tourism development theories can create different positive effects on improving the overall tourism industry of BVI. Among all these theories, it can be mentioned that “Modernization Theory” must be applicable or significant for BVI as it has taken frequent initiatives to modernise its overall infrastructure. Therefore, customers can be attracted to visit such islands. It has been stated earlier that tourism is the only dominant sector of BVI’s overall economy. Therefore, the application of such a theory is significant for the British Virgin Atlantic. On the contrary, the adoption of “Sustainable Development Theory” is also beneficial to achieve sustainability and competitiveness as well. The application of “Triple Bottom Line” can offer the tourism industry and companies to build tourism business more sustainable and competitive. 

Comparison of British Virgin Islands

Comparison between the British Virgin Islands and US Virgin Islands

• The “British Virgin Islands” are the territory of the British Overseas whereas the “US Virgin Islands” are the US territory.
• The three important islands of the US Virgin Islands include St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix, on the other hand, the important islands of BVIs are Anegada, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda.
• The core attractions of BVI are sailing, scuba diving, huge rum destinations, Callwood Distillery and so on.
• The tourist attractions of the US Virgin Islands are Cruzan Distillery, decaying sugar mill and many others.

Comparison between the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus

Topic	BVIs	Cyprus
Region	Caribbean	Western Asia
Capital	Road Town	Nicosia
Area	9,250 km²	150 km²
Form of government	UK’s self-governing territory	Presidential democracy
Unemployment rate	2.9%	7.6%
Population	Roughly 30,237	Approximately 1,207,000
Roadways	200 km	19,901km

Table 3: Differences between the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus

Therefore, it has been observed that there are differences between the British Virgin Islands and US Virgin Islands. Furthermore, differences regarding demographics, population, employment rate, region have also been evaluated between BVIs and Cyprus. It can be considered that both the US Virgin Islands and BVIs occupy the best position as tourist spots. With the proper improvement in public infrastructure, foreign direct investments, BVIs can be capable of earning more revenue from its tourism industry and contributing more GDP to its economy. Cyprus is also an important place in Western Asia.

Recommendations and conclusions of British Virgin Islands

Recommendations

• The concept of a “Triple Bottom Line” can be helpful for the British Virgin Islands to ensure its tourism sustainability.
• “Triple Bottom Line” is the most comprehensive and holistic framework for analysing the core indicators in the three most applicable and significant dimensions for tourism organisations worldwide (Gunesch, 2020).
• Such indicators are regarding tourism organisational principal parts of concerns and responsibilities in the highly globalised and integrated tourism and the travel industry (Gunesch, 2020).
• In order to achieve social, economic, environmental sustainability, it will be essential for the travelling industry of BVIs to adopt the concepts of “Triple Bottom Line”.
• The tourism sector of BVIs can also focus on the adoption of the “Rutland theory” to ensure more sustainability.
• The “2020-2025 Discover Rutland Tourism Strategy” targets building achievements, ongoing the target on expanding the season of tourism for attracting more tourists during different months (Discover-rutland, 2020).
• It has also focused on building positive relationships with key partners and optimising the utilisation of digital marketing platforms (Discover-rutland, 2020).
• Three preliminary objectives of such strategy include supporting and stimulating the offers of Rutland, identifying and attracting targeted audiences of Rutland and ensuring a sustainable future of tourism and travelling in Rutland (Discover-rutland, 2020).

Conclusions

• It can be concluded that British Virgin England is situated in the territory of the British Overseas.
• It has a huge number of islands and some of them are inhabited.
• It has been affected by several natural calamities including devastating hurricanes, volcanoes and so on.
• Climate change, COVID 19 pandemic, improper public infrastructure has created negative effects on its tourism industry.
• Its tourism industry contributes to a higher GDP in the overall economy of the British Virgin Islands.
• The adoption of several tourism theories including “Sustainable tourism theory”, “The Bottom-Line Concept”, “Modernisation theory” have created positive impacts on improving its tourism sector.

With the application of proper recommendations, it can be able to develop its tourism sector and increase the number of tourists also.

References 

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