ATravel has existed since the beginning of time, when primitive man set out, often traversing great distances in search of game, which provided the food and clothing necessary for his survival. Throughout the course of history, people have travelled for purposes of trade, religious conviction, economic gain, war, migration and other equally compelling motivations. In the Roman era, wealthy aristocrats and high government officials also travelled for pleasure. Seaside resorts located at Pompeii and Herculaneum afforded citizens the opportunity to escape to their vacation villas in order to avoid the summer heat of Rome. Travel, except during the Dark Ages, has continued to grow and, throughout recorded history, has played a vital role in the development of civilisations and their economies.
A 自古以来就有旅行,当时原始人类出门通常是为了走过漫漫长路来搜寻猎物,它们为他的生存提供了必须的食品与衣物。纵观整条历史长河,人们旅行的目的不一而足:贸易、宗教信仰、经济利益、战争、移民以及其他一些同样强有力的动机。在罗马帝国时代,富裕的贵族和高级政府官员们还为了享乐而出游。位于庞贝和赫库兰尼姆的海滨胜地为公民们提供了休闲度假的世外别墅以供他们躲避罗马的炎炎夏日。旅游业,处了在中世纪的黑暗时期以外,一直在持续发展壮大并且贯穿有记录以来的历史,始终在各文明及其经济的发展中扮演着至关重要的角色。
1
BTourism in the mass form as we know it today is a distinctly twentieth-century phenomenon. Historians suggest that the advent of mass tourism began in England during the industrial revolution with the rise of the middle class and the availability of relatively inexpensive transportation. The creation of the commercial airline industry following the Second World War and the subsequent development of the jet aircraft in the 1950s signaled the rapid growth and expansion of international travel. This growth led to the development of major new industry: tourism. In turn, international tourism became the concern of a number of world governments since it not only provided new employment opportunities but also produced a means of earning foreign exchange.
B 为我们今日所熟悉的大众形式的旅游业毫无疑问是一个具有鲜明20世纪特色的现象。历史学家认为,大众旅游业的出现时伴随着中产阶级的上升和价格相对低廉交通方式的发展而在工业革命时期伊始于英格兰。二战结束后商业飞行行业的诞生以及随之而来的20世纪50年代喷气式飞机的发展标志着国家旅行的快速发展和扩张。这个进程导致了一个大型新产业的发展:旅游业。而反过来看,国际旅游业也成了众多国家政府的关注点,因为它不仅提供了新的就业机会,而且还创造出一条赚取外汇的途径。
2
CTourism today has grown significantly in both economic and social importance. In most industrialised countries over the past few years the fastest growth has been seen in the area of services. One of the largest segments of the service industry, although largely unrecognized as an entity in some of these countries, is travel and tourism. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (1992), ‘Travel and tourism is the largest industry in the world on virtually any economic measure including value-added capital investment, employment and tax contributions’. In 1992, the industry’s gross output was estimated to be $3.5 trillion, over 12 per cent of all consumer spending. The travel and tourism industry is the world’s largest employer with almost 130 million jobs, or almost 7 per cent of all employees. This industry is the world’s leading industrial contributor, producing over 6 per cent of the world’s gross national product and accounting for capital investment in excess of $422 billion in direct, indirect and personal taxes each year. Thus, tourism has a profound impact both on the world economy and, because of the educative effect of travel and the effects on employment, on society itself.
C 旅游业如今在经济和社会方面的重要性都有了长足的发展。过去几年在大多数工业化国家中,最快速的发展都出现在服务领域。虽然在其中一些国家并未作为实体行业而获得认可,而服务服务产业中最大的组成部分之一正是旅游观光业。根据世界观光旅游委员会(1992)的说法,“旅游观光业无论从哪种经济指标来衡量都是世界上最大的产业,这些指标中包括增值资本投资、就业和税收贡献”。在1992年,这个行业的总产值估计达到了3.5万亿美元,超过全部消费支出的12%。旅游观光业也是全球最大的就业行业,提供了约1.3亿个职位,或大约相当于所有就业人数的7%。此行业还是世界领先的工业产值创造者,产出超过全球国民生产值的6%,每年在直接、间接和个人税收领域创造了超过4220亿的资本投资,由此观之,旅游业不但对世界经济有着重大的影响力,而且由于旅行的教育效用和对就业产生的种种影响,其对社会本身也具有举足轻重的意义。
3
DHowever, the major problems of the travel and tourism industry that have hidden, or obscured, its economic impact are the diversity and fragmentation of the industry itself. The travel industry includes: hotels, motels and other types of accommodation; restaurants and other food services; transportation services and facilities; amusements, attractions and other leisure facilities; gift shops and a large number of other enterprises. Since many of these businesses also serve local residents, the impact of spending by visitors can easily be overlooked or underestimated. In addition, Meis (1992) points out that the tourism industry involves concepts that have remained amorphous to both analysts and decision makers. Moreover, in all nations this problem has made it difficult for the industry to develop any type of reliable or credible tourism information base in order to estimate the contribution it makes to regional, national and global economies. However, the nature of this very diversity makes travel and tourism ideal vehicles for economic development in a wide variety of countries, regions or communities.
D 然而,旅游观光业存在着一些重大问题,掩盖或者模糊了其经济影响力,即此行业自身的多样性和分化性。这个行业包括:旅馆、汽车旅馆以及其他形式的住宿;餐厅和其他食品服务;交通服务和设施;娱乐、观光点和其他休闲设施;礼物商店数量众多的其他买卖。由于这些生意中有许多也同时服务于本地居民,因此游客消费行为所产生的影响很容易被忽视或低估。此外,Meis(1992)指出,旅游业所牵扯到的一些概念对于分析家和决策者来说仍是无法确切定义的。并且,在所有国家候中,这一问题使得该产业很难开发出任何类型的可靠或可信旅行信息数据库以评估其对地区、国家和全球经济所作出的贡献。不过,也正是这种多样性的特质使得旅游观光业在许多国家、地区或社区中成为经济发展的完美载体。
4
EOnce the exclusive province of the wealthy, travel and tourism have become an institutionalized way of life for most of the population. In fact, McIntosh and Goeldner (1990) suggest that tourism has become the largest commodity in international trade for many nations and, for a significant number of other countries, it ranks second or third. For example, tourism is the major source of income in Bermuda, Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and most Caribbean countries. In addition, Hawkins and Ritchie, quoting from data published by the American Express Company, suggest that the travel and tourism industry is the number one ranked employer in the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, France, (the former) West Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. However, because of problems of definition, which directly affect statistical measurement, it is not possible with any degree of certainty to provide precise, valid or reliable data about the extent of world-wide tourism participation or its economic impact. In many cases, similar difficulties arise when attempts are made to measure domestic tourism.
E 旅游观光曾一度是富有阶层的专属领域,现在则成为大多数人习以为常的一种生活方式。实际上,Mclntosh和Goeldner(1990)曾指出,旅游业在许多国家已经成为其国际贸易中的最大商品,而在数量众多的其他国家里,它的排名也是非二即三。举例来说,旅游业是百慕大、希腊、意大利、西班牙、瑞士和大多数加勒比海沿岸国家的主要收入来源。此外,Hawkins和Ritchie引用了美国运通公司所发布的数据称,旅游观光业在巴哈马、巴西、加拿大、法国、(前)西德、中国香港、意大利、牙买加、日本、新加坡、英国和美国都是排名第一的就业行业。但是,由于定义困难的问题直接影响了数据的衡量,很难用任何定论来为全球范围内旅游业的涉及范畴和其经济影响力给出确切、有效和可靠的数据。很多情况下,在试图对国内旅游业作出评估的时候也会产生类似的困难