Tourium

Tourism is a major global industry due to its impact on the global economy. Despite this success, there are still countries which impose barriers and restrictions to travel. These restrictions are not just visa restrictions and bans on entry into the country but also access into some areas of the country after having been granted entry. There exist varying opinions on the need for these restrictions with governments justifying their existence as a means of protecting the local and the natural environment. There are however those who believe that the local population have the right to grow their economy and these restrictions have the opposite effect when it comes to that. This paper will suggest that these governments will take some actions to improve the aspect of health and economics. Besides, the essay will also provide some solutions for dealing with the balance of domestic sanitation and economy.

Health is a major reason for countries to impose travel restrictions on tourists. The awareness of health and safety should be raised before the crisis begins. The way of managing a potential problem is much cheaper and simpler than solving a problem. An important reason for the health crisis is to cut profits in order to increase profits. The accident often happens only because no one takes the time to assess the potential risks and dangers. Governments can invite members of the community's public health department to join in the tourism industry conference. Besides, governments should not avoid the possibility of potential health which is carried by foreign visitors  but rather utilize scientific ways to solve them. What is more incorporate the changes into current marketing plan and make sure to train some relevant workers to learn traveler's health knowledge. For instance up until 2010, China and the US restricted the entry of visitors who are HIV positive except in exceptional circumstances which were rarely for leisure. Certain countries in Europe still restrict visitations of people with HIV. As much as these restrictions are referred to as travel restrictions, they are discriminatory and affect the quality of life of the people who benefit from travelling. The UNAIDS pushed for the elimination of these discriminative restrictions and according to the data collected, as of 2008, 74 countries had some form of travel restrictions on HIV positive people while 12 countries had completely ban access to such people. Their reasoning for the bans and restrictions are protection of public health and avoidance of costs of care, support and treatment of the HIV positive people. The organizations such as UNAIDS that push for the removal of these restrictions claim that they interfere with freedom from discrimination and freedom of movement of HIV positive people in a world that is very globalized (UNAIDS 2008). The Ebola epidemic in 2014 greatly affected tourism through travel restrictions. Saudi Arabia put restrictions against entry of nationals from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea or any other person who had ever visited the three countries. The countries which limit the interaction between tourists and the locals mainly fear that the tourists may pass to the locals some infectious diseases. This concern is not farfetched as someone who is a frequent traveller may easily pick up and infection form one of his or her destinations and spread it rapidly causing and outbreak (Hollingsworth, Ferguson & Anderson 2007). These infectious diseases could even be picked form during the flight or even during a layover and not just from their origin and might be difficult to detect during screening on entry (Wilson 2003). These restrictions definitely consider the impact that air travel has on the spread of infectious diseases (Mangili & Gendreau 2005; Leder & Newman 2005). The arrival of the tourist will then affect the host population through contact through the diseases and infections that they have picked up during their travel (Baker). Once and outbreak occurs, it is difficult to pinpoint which tourist started the outbreak or to contain the spread of the disease.

Tourism economics prove that tourism industry plays a big role in the development of countries. It is due to this that the debate on how ecologically sustainable tourism can be promoted has emerged. Over the decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and deepening ‎diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Restrictions on tourist access to some areas has also been motivated by the effects of tourist activities on the environment which the people believe in their source of wealth aside from the effects the environment has on the climate and what it provides such as water. Restrictions have been recently placed by authorities in South America in the Galapagos Islands with authorities in 2012 putting in place restrictions as to the period that the tourist can access the area. The number of days per tourist is limited and also how they access the islands. The reason behind the regulations is attributed to the fact that the authorities believe that they have to protect the Island and its animal and plant life. The tourist activities are believed to be affecting the animals and plants due to the over visitation and the erosion that results from the activities (Andrews 2011). These restrictions affect the economy of a country by affecting the number of tourists that visit a country as most people are willing to spend their holidays in another country and if that is limited then the country loses on the economic perks of tourism (Songa, Gartnerb & Tascic 2012; Thomas 2012). Just as much economics may promote travel restrictions, they should also be the reason for lifting these access restrictions due to the positive impact that tourism has on a country’s economy. The World Travel and Tourism Council has indicated that the tourism industry is responsible for 292 million jobs in the world and 10.2% of the global economy (World Travel & Tourism Council, n.d)

Admittedly, countries have good a reason to put restrictions due to health reason especially during times that there is an outbreak of an extremely infectious disease such as Ebola or the Zika virus as they are a necessary strategy in epidemic control (Hufnagel, Brockmann & Geisel 2004). Dealing with an outbreak takes a toll on the economy of a country as all its resources is channelled to the epidemic and this why countries are very careful when it comes to this issue. Despite the justification, these restrictions limit the ability of tourism to boost the economy of the local population especially when the restrictions are put in place when there is no epidemic and for diseases which are not highly infectious such as diseases. Instead of putting restrictions on tourists generally, countries need to conduct thorough screenings of all the infectious diseases such that they get to deny entry to those who are infected without affecting the entry of the ones who do not have the diseases. The screening should be on diseases that re highly infectious such as through air or contact and not just any disease such as HIV whose modes of spread are much more complex than Ebola. Placing restrictions for people with diseases such as HIV which are not even highly infectious sends a message of discrimination to the origin country and may create hostility from a whole country or even region. This is for instance the case for Africa which is the continent with the highest number of people living with HIV and therefore putting restriction on the people makes the countries in Africa feel discriminated and affects the willingness of their citizens who do not have the disease, to visit the country as tourists. This affects the tourism economy of the country. Countries therefore need to find a better alternative to protect the health of its locals while at the same time boosting their tourism economy.