Tourism clearly provides a significant number of beneficial economic impacts to any country or locality which receives a steady flow of visitors. International visitors are a valuable source of foreign currency.
At the same time, the spending of both domestic and foreign visitors produces a cascading effect of new money through the economy via the multiplier effect. Enterprise is stimulated, and new jobs created, together contributing to increased government revenue.
But there are some negative factors also to be considered. These particularly concern leakages of expenditure out of the economy, pressures for increased imports, and new utility and infrastructural costs. Also relevant are possible inflationary effects, the problems of over-dependency on a major industry (ie tourism) and also, initially at least, on ex-patriat labour, as well as issues relating to foreign capital investment, seasonality, opportunity costs and displacement effects.
In balance, the economic impacts of tourism are usually considered to be beneficial for countries and localities looking for sustained growth. It is in the field of tourism�s environmental and socio-cultural impacts where the real controversies lie.
Tourism�s environmental and socio-cultural impacts are usually considered to have a number of positives to offset some, at least, of travel�s allegedly negative effects. However, they may not always be able to do so with the same confidence that tourism�s economic impacts can. Indeed, it is these two impact categories where most of the criticisms which are levelled at tourism can be found.