Tourism Industry: The Largest Economic Activity in The World

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Introduction
According to the World Trade Organization, tourism is the largest economic activity in the world. This industry is a key driver of economic progress in many countries in the world and its role in economic development can be expected to increase even though the sector continues to experience expansion. One subset of tourism patterns that has gained prominence over the past few decades is sports tourism. The number of sporting events taking place all over the world has increased and many people travel to foreign destinations either to participate in or observe and attend the events. This paper will set out to demonstrate that sports tourism has a positive socio-economic impact on the destination country, which is hosting a sport event.
Sports Tourism: An Overview
The tourism industry plays a major role in the economic development of many countries. The World Tourism Organization (2014) documents that tourism contributes 9% of the world GDP. This contribution is from the direct and indirect impacts of the sector. The tourism industry is the world largest employer with 9.1% of all available jobs being as a direct or indirect result of tourism; any job related to any activities accrued from tourists traffic such as transportations, accommodation, and services are considered as a part of the industry contributes employment. Europe is the most visited region in the world due to the numerous tourist attractions found in this region. This region attracts 43% of the total number of international tourists and it contributes US $458 billion every year. There are countries that rely almost entirely on the revenue obtained from tourism for their economy. The World Tourism Organization (2014) reports that Luxembourg, Bahamas, Bermu...

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...e from this sector.

Works Cited

Daniels, M. (2004). Beyond input-output analysis: Using occupation-based modeling to estimate wages generated by a sports tourism event. Journal of Travel Research, 43, 75-82.
Delpy, L. (1998). An overview of sports tourism: Building towards a dimensional framework. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 4, 23-38.
Hritz, N., & Ross, C. (2010). The Perceived Impacts of Sport Tourism: An Urban Host Community Perspective. Journal of Sport Management, 24, 119-138.
Illum, S. (2012). Sport Tourism Development. Tourism Management, 33(6), 1604-1605.
Kim, N., & Chalip, L. (2004). Why travel to the FIFA World Cup? Effects of motives, background, interest, and constraints. Tourism Management, 25, 695-707.
World Tourism Organization (2014). Tourism Highlights. Retrieved from: http://mkt.unwto.org/publication/unwto-tourism-highlights-2013-edition

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