Changes brought about by growth of tourism

Many changes have been brought about, or alternatively, made by the growth of tourism in Japan. These changes take place in various dimensions : Infrastructure, the economy, the general environment and the Socio-cultural environment.

With tourism booming, the infrastructure of Japan has benefited. The Japanese government has come to build more tourist infrastructure as well as upgrade existing infrastructure to cater to tourist needs. Examples of this change in infrastructure are such as the addition of English words to existing signboards at areas that tourists most often congregate or use, such as at the airports and at the train stations.

Picture of signboard at a train station

Source:http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_LmqqQG0v1_A8_qT4_BHoA

The infrastructure also benefited in terms of the accessibility of the place. Not only the tourists would take scenic bus trips or use the new roads to bypass mountain trails to arrive at the destination quicker, the locals can use them too. With more roads being built and more train service coverage, the accessibility of certain parts of Japan also increases, thus locals benefit from it too.

The economy has also been affected and changed by the growth of tourism in Japan. 

First let's look at the positive changes.

• The growth of tourism in Japan would indefinitely lead to the generating of more tourism-related jobs and the need for more manpower to fill these jobs. This would help to reduce unemployment in the country. Thus the growth of tourism is positive in this aspect.
• Another positive change brought about by the growth of tourism in Japan would be the increase in tourist dollars flowing into the country. These tourist dollars would help bring about better standard of living as locals benefit financially from the sales of goods and souvenirs to these tourists.

However, there are also negative changes brought about by the growth of tourism for the economy.

• As tourists usually travel with travel agents, they would dine and shop at designated areas with which the tour operators gain commission from. Thus tourist dollars spent in Japan may not reach the locals, and instead is earned by already huge conglomerates or restaurants, where the money is not being spread around.
• Many Multi-National Companies (MNCs) would flood into Japan. This would then lead to leakage in the money cycle as when these MNCs take part in the tourism-related industry, they would remit their earnings to their home countries or the country they are based on.

The growth of tourism would also affect the general environment for sure. The development of basic tourist accommodation and amenities itself would result in considerable amounts of deforestation. A fine example would be the building of tourist attractions in an attempt to "breathe life into tokyo" (Tabuchi, 2010). Should the plan on the part of the government materialize, even more nature would be cleared to give way to the attractions such as the mammoth museum.

Not to mention the fact that there will also be noise pollution in addition to the negative impacts on the environment already.

Last of all would be the Socio-cultural environment of Japan. The growth of tourism in Japan has brought about many negative impacts on the society and the culture of the Japanese. Through tourism, Japanese come into contact with and have greater exposure to foreign cultures and mindsets. This may potentially result in change for the worse in the indigenous culture of the Japanese as they may pick up negative cultures such as binge drinking, or in some extreme cases encourage sex tourism.

Also, crime-rates would go up as thievery from tourists would increase due to the tourist tendency to carry considerable sums of money when traveling around.

However, the socio-cultural changes may not all be for the worst. Through the exchange with tourists as well as the general increase in tourism, locals may learn that it is important to protect their cultures and their natural environment so as to maintain a sustainable environment and tourism. Thus it would help awaken positive values in Japanese, which is positive.

Reference:
Cost, Language Barrier Still Keeping Tourists Away. Retrieved on 9th December 2010, from http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/cost-language-barrier-still-keeping-tourists-away

Economic Impact. Retrieved on 9th December 2010, from http://www.insidejapantours.com/economic-impact/

Tabuchi (2010) Old Vs. New In Japan Tourist Push. The New York Times