Since young, I always wanna to work in the front office of the hotel... from the looks of it, it is grand, highly respected with a big cheque in the pocket monthly... but I said... from the looks of it.... behind the looks it is nothing but a backstabbing field between depts and a warfield of hurtful gossips.... and of coz, from the uniform you looks super cool but you are surely not as well respected and the pay cheque is also not as well as it looks.... I dun understand... ppl treat you like shit... they think they pay you (the hotel) big bucks and they demand everything from you..... when in fact not even half of what they pay the hotel goes into your pocket daily.... but anyway... without the service personnel in the service industry, it is nothing but an empty shell seriously.... so when you go overseas on holiday think twice before you start screaming at the front office, F&B staffs for peanuts....
Anyway... it is not only the people working in this industry that make this industry.... tourism is basically one of the most profitable industry in the world.... a small island like the Caribbean Islands, can earn big bucks in millions... after being structured into a beautiful peaceful relaxing getaway destination for cruises and tourists around the world... looks at Maldives... it has nothing but beaches and resorts... but making full use of it means you have enough for the rest of your life... provided nothing happen to the only natural assets you earn the money from... many destinations has followed suit in this trend... Bali, Bintan, Aruba...making full use of their natural asssets... of coz ignoring the fact that without proper protection and sustainable use, the negative impacts of continued usage will slowly set in and destroy the destination in a couple of years time......
But sometimes it is not just the natural assets of the destination that allow the country / island to prosper in the tourism industry.... a tourist destination can be created from bare hands... For example: building a Disneyland at St John Island.... it can also become a tourist attraction from nothing..... and like what Singapore is doing now... Build a Integrated Resort with a casino and a grand hotel turning it into a mini Las Vegas where people in Asia dun have to travel all the way to Las Vegas to enjoy the spectacular lights, the grand atmosphere and of coz, the chance to place some stakes on the gambling table in turn for a profit.... so the key point is if you have no natural assets, build something that attracts....
Sometimes it is the culture of the people that makes it into a tourism destination.... people can build a tourist destination..... so if you know how to make full use of the people... you might be able to create a niche for yourself somewhere... cultural tourism is the word... why?? In each country, they have a unique culture and tradition.. Thai culture, Indonesian culture, Japanese & Korean culture, Netherlands, Argentina, China, Mongolia... they all have their own unique and distinct characteristics when it comes to culture and traditions.... there is always something special about each country with their unique way of living.... and sometimes that is what people travel for... to experience other people cultures.... even for Singapore... we have our own unique culture being a multi racial society... with a mix of culture and religions.... we travel to Japan toto experience sleeping on a tatami... eating traditional Japanese food.. right??
Making a tourism destination might be easy... but breaking a tourism destination is even more easy... without proper planning and sustainable use, natural destinations might vanish one day... you might go to Pulau Redang and see a bunch of dead corals, no fishes, lots of plastic bags / floating water bottles and brown muddy water 20 years down the road... for man made tourist destinations... without constant upgrading and opening of new attractions, noone will ever wan to return to Disneyland 20 years in a row... you most probably go there once, tell everyone you have been to Disneyland and that's it... enough forever.... casinos maybe not... hahaha... after all, there will never be an end to gambling.... unless one day everyone decide to quit gambling.. which is unlikely and totally impossible.... for cultural destinations... culture are fading fast with the older generations gone, old traditions are vanishing at a fast rate... unless the government or the younger generations step in to protect and guard these old traditions, perhaps 10 years down the road, you might not be able to find some of the cultures now... for example: as more people from the hill tribes in Mongolia slowly moves into the city for higher earning jobs... the culture of the hill tribes will slowly vanish.... sad but true......
All of the above happens after a long period of time... but within a short period of time, things can also happen.. affecting the tourist appeal of the destination.... for example: a bombing, riots, war or natural disasters... Phuket has been seriously affected from the tsurami incident... Bali has been badly affected by the Bali bombing... Phillippines and Indonesia has yet to fully recovered from the constant riots and fightings of its own people... Malaysia is now threatened by the increasing crime rates and the increasing tourist complaints... and Pattaya, Thailand just got smacked right in the face with a murder of two tourists at one of the famous beaches... people get scared for their own safety.. and of coz when faced with some threats like this, rather switched their tourist destination to somewhere safer and not risk their life paying money to be one of the unlucky fews not to make it back safety...
Tourism... make it or break it.....it can earn you big bucks... but it has always been that fragile....
