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Tourism and employment: reflections on a pilot study of Looe, Cornwall.

1988; Wiley; Volume: 20; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1475-4762

Gareth Shaw, Allan M. Williams,

Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies

The importance of tourism to the national economy is evident in terms of income generation, invisible earnings and employment. For example, in 1986, a year adversely affected by a major reduction in American visitors, tourism generated some 11 1 billion of spending in England alone and, of this, 53 per cent originated from foreign visitors. Tourism also accounts, both directly and indirectly, for some 1-4 million jobs according to estimates by the English Tourist Board (Financial Times, 25 February 1987). Moreover, employment in tourism has been expanding rapidly at a time of stagnation in total employment in the economy. There was a 41 per cent increase of jobs in the hotel and catering industry between 1975 and 1985 (English Tourist Board 1986), and it is predicted that there is considerable potential for further expansion during the next decade. Policy makers have focussed upon this potential and, after a long period of neglect, tourism in the 1980s occupies a more central role in government employment strategies (Airey 1983). Quite apart from the symbolic transference of responsibility for tourism from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Department of Employment, a number of specific measures have been announced to assist the industry. For example, in February 1987 the English Tourist Board launched an investment drive to create 250,000 jobs in tourism within five years and this is to be underpinned by an immediate 28 per cent increase in the government grant for its development fund. Mr Duncan Bluck, the Board's chairman, stated that 'Our target is to stimulate ?3-?4 billion of investment in the industry in the next five years '. This is broadly in line with the belief of Lord Young, the Secretary of State for Employment, that the expansion of the tourist industry could create some 50,000 jobs a year in the UK. Enthusiasm for tourism as a source of employment creation is also to be found at local government level. Local authorities as diverse as Bradford and South Hams have been eager to adopt strategies for tourist development, whilst the importance of tourism in regional policy has also been recognised (Duffield 1977). Consequently, there has been a plethora of measures to establish conference centres (Law 1985), to promote industrial heritage visits, set up activity holidays, encourage weekend breaks, develop farm tourism (Frater 1983) and other tourist attractions. Considerable grant aid has been made available for some of these purposes (Tan et al. 1983; Bodlender 1982; Houston 1986). There may be considerable potential for national increases in tourism employment, but it should also be recognised that this is likely to be highly uneven between regions. There are very different types of tourist industries and development potential in