Tourism is an industry that has historically been tied to ever growing Globalization trends. In the 21st Century, the tourism industry is larger than ever before – employing 1 out of every 12 people and contributing 5% of global GDP. While the tourism growth rate for first world countries is steady to low, with the U.S. being almost constant and Europe seeing a steady estimated 3% a year, on average it is the emerging economies that benefit the most from this industry.

South America is witnessing a large boost in tourism, with the industry growing at 9% and receipts at 12%. The Asia Pacific region too has an impressive tourism growth rate, and is expected to have as many as five times the visitors it received in 1998 by 2020. Tourism growth in regions like the Middle East, the Russian Federation and the Indian Subcontinent remains unpredictable, owing to the political instability and economic turbulence.

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HOW CAN WE DETERMINE WHETHER A REGION WILL BE TOURIST FRIENDLY?

Tourist friendly countries are reasonably easy to spot despite the wide variety of factors that come into consideration. Factors like currency, political stability, security issues and changes in Government policy will help determine whether a region will see a sharp rise or decline in tourism.

Capacity and overall civic planning can come into consideration as well. Is this area capable of handling the increase in visitors? Can services grow to fit more customers? What is the housing situation like? Are the roads planned well? These as well as other similar questions can be asked in addition to the subjective perceptions of previous and future tourist populations.

BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES

While global brands like McDonalds and Singapore Airlines profit from the rise in tourism, small players are expected to benefit too. Local companies play a part in seasonal tourism surges and see a large upswing during these periods.

The trend of overworked young people working unsociable hours will change as well, as there will not be enough young people to carry out such jobs given shifting demographics.

The other major challenge will be that of climate change, and given the uncertainty on how climate change will affect varying regions in the longer term, it is difficult to predict how the tourism industry will be affected. The rising sea levels can mean the disappearance of many islands and even coastal cities like London and Sydney.

Interestingly, most planners and forecasters do not take this into account when designing master plans, as the place might itself be under water by the time the plan is ready to be implemented.

GOING FORWARD

Given these undeniable trends of ever increasing global integration, concrete initiatives to boost an economy’s adaptability are invaluable. The Philippines in particular suffers from an SME market that is limited by a lack of anything from financing to contextual knowledge and as a result are unable to take advantage of the upsurge in tourism and resulting international business opportunity. An especially potent example would be an importer or exporter’s ability to validate themselves in a manner that is acceptable on an international level – something that would easily lead to the attraction of more customers from overseas. Even further, a common, quickly done validation standard between domestic SMEs and larger businesses can be a difficult barrier to overcome.

The CreditBPO Rating Report could easily fill many of these gaps. An example for tourism would be a restaurant or tour bus company needing a short term influx of capital for an upcoming tourist season – a couple of hours’ worth of input (and for past customers, much less than that) results in a meaningful assessment of their worth as a loan applicant. Businesses needing to meet a logistical gap can ask for possible suppliers’ CreditBPO Rating Reports for validation. The Department of Tourism seeking to encourage and manage high-potential companies could do so through the CreditBPO Supervisor account – enabling historical analytics and filter based mapping. The possibilities are varied and flexible – all oriented toward the fulfillment of business potential and overall enrichment of the region.