5 Positive and 5 Negative Impacts in Chile
5 Positive Impacts:
Strong Economic: Chile gain strong economic from the foreign tourist. Chile got around 2.35 million foreign-origin visitors from January to August 2013. While the number reflects a 1.1 percent decrease relative to what was registered in 2012, it reached 3.5 million. The findings were still good, despite a small decline. For the last to straight years, the number of international tourists has been more than 2.3 million, the highest number of the last six years. Compared to 2008, this year’s estimates reflect a rise in the number of foreign visitors visiting. The region’s tourism promotion organizations are now focused on reaching the goal of more than 4 million international visitors in 2014. The contribution to GDP would therefore be increased by 6 people.
Adventure Tourism in Chile: over the years, adventure travel begins to achieve greater significance. The average sort of tourist is starting to adjust his/her appetite for travel and people traveling around the world don’t only want to do sightseeing but are willing to take their comfort zone out. This trend in tourism has led Chile to win, once again the “Best Adventure Tourism Destination in South America” (Leagal team Chile, 2018). award.
Fast growing in wellness tourism: By 2022, Global Wellness Institute predicts that wellness tourism will rise at an annual average rate of 7.5 percent, slightly higher than the 6.4 percent annual growth expected for global tourism. In 2022, we expect global spending on wellness tourism to hit over $919 billion, which represent 18 percent of the global tourism industry. By 2022, we expect to boost “wellness tourism trips to 1.2 billion trips by 8.1 percent annually” (Global Wellness Tourism Economy, 2018a). This growth forecast is well-aligned with the expected growth across many sectors that focus on wellness and holistic health (e.g., fitness/mind-body, healthy eating, organic food, etc.), as more consumers adopt wellness as a dominant lifestyle value and decision driver.
Natural environment preservation: Nowadays, talk of sustainable tourism is no longer a curiosity. Several countries have chosen a peaceful and sustainable mode of tourism that encourages the protection and appreciation of the natural environment, and “Chile is not lagging behind” (Chile Travel, 2019), responding to needs in a dedicated and involved manner. There are still several hurdles ahead, but progress is being made on the subject, provided that the immense range of parks and national reserves is leading the way for tourism to be eco-friendly. Maintaining a persistent defence of the well-being of future generations in any of them, so it becomes interesting to make this a habit that transforms into changing the conditions day after day instead of degrading.
Wellness products and brands travel with their customers: As fitness habits for many consumers become a normal lifestyle, products and brands accompany their customers on their journeys to help them maintain these rituals everywhere they go. Some retail and product firms, such as “Lululemon and Free People,” are expanding their fitness products into events, such as giving their clients wellness retreats.
5 Negative Impacts
Anti-Government Protests: After more than a month of anti-government protests, the social outbreaks in Chile affected the tourism industry, which affected the economy and the labour market of the South American country. The tourism industry has announced that over 37,000 employees have lost their jobs, with more than $938 million in damages following the cancellation of 50 percent of hotel bookings. The unemployment rate in the third quarter stood at 7 percent. The Ministry of Finance, however, worries that it could only be 10%.
Deforestation: As a result of its growth in Chile, the tree was cut down. Chile’s delicate temperate rainforests have endured as one website says, from both logging for over a century. Chile alone lost nearly 2 million hectares of tropical forest between 1985 and 1995, according to the World Wildlife Fund – “burn for pulp, then replanted with pine and eucalyptus plantations “(Responsible Travel, n.d.). that developed at an annual rate of nearly 10%. There are also determent effects on biodiversity from the loss of native forests. Ninety percent of Chile’s indigenous forest-dependent species are found elsewhere in the world, including Pudu , the smallest deer species in the world and a rare hummingbird that builds their nest from spiderwebs and moss.
Water can be an issue: Some regions are overflowing with water, if you excuse the pun, but it can be sparse in other parts. The arid north is an apparent example. The Torres Del Paine, it means that even you see snow and ice, it’s doesn’t mean that you are not required to care about the water footprint.
Patagonia for sale: The indigenous Mapuche people of Patagonia believe that “it was never colonized by the Spanish. Since there remains the so-called ‘Indian crisis.” (Responsible Travel, n.d.). Patagonia is the ancestral home of the Mapuche indigenous people who have existed for millennia on this land but have no documents to prove possession. To Mapuche indigenous, land is precious, and the way to transfer them to the new place is unacceptable. This information is indicated for the foreigner tourist to respect for indigenous or local people land, especially the message to the billionaire to not purchase indigenous land.
Whale watching: Research from a land-based station in 2007 used a theodolite to track typical bottlenose dolphin activity and behaviour in the presence of whale watching vessels and compare their behaviour when there were no vessels involved. The study showed that in the presence of boats, dolphins were more likely to partake in higher energy activities such as leaping and accelerated swimming, and that this may potentially have a detrimental effect on their “energy budgets” (International Whaling Commission, 2020). and long-term health.
Reference :
Chile Travel. (2019, May 14). Ecotourism and sustainable tourism: We are green tourism and the protection of the environment in chile. https://chile.travel/en/we-are-green-tourism-and-the-protection-of-the-environment-in-chile
Global Wellness Tourism Economy (2018, November a). Wellness tourism will continue its growth momentum as more consumers adopt wellness as a key decision driver. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GWI_GlobalWellnessTourismEconomyReport.pdf
Global Wellness Tourism Economy (2018, November b). Wellness, hospitality, and travel business are converging. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GWI_GlobalWellnessTourismEconomyReport.pdf
Hausold, A. (2019, December 2a). Chile: Political and social crisis impacts tourism: Tourism review news. https://www.tourism-review.com/crisis-in-chile-impacts-tourism-news11301
Hausold, A. (2013, November 25b). Chile: Tourism recording positive numbers: Tourism review news. https://www.tourism-review.com/travel-tourism-magazine-chile-tourism-industry-using-its-great-potential-article2263
International Whaling Commission. (2020). Research on Whale Watching in Chile: Chile. https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/en/country-profiles/chile
Legal Team Chile. (2018, November 12). Business opportunities in the sustainable tourism sector in chile: Bizlatin hub. https://www.bizlatinhub.com/sustainable-tourism-chile-business-opportunities/
Responsible Travel (n.d.). Responsible tourism in chile. https://www.responsiblevacation.com/vacations/chile/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-chile