Unsustainable Tourism Essay

Unsustainable Tourism Essay Tourism Industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Tourism has long been a central component of the economic, social and cultural shift that has left its imprint on the world system of cities in the past two decades (Dumond; 2005 cited in Beben; 2006;1). According to the statistics of World Trade Organization, there was 693 million tourist arrivals across the globe in 2002 (Beben; 2006). Moreover, WTO and the World Tourism and Travel Council announced a possible increase in the number of tourists to close to 1 billion by the end of 2010 (Massound; 2010). Mass tourism is seen as a large number of people participating in tourism as well as inflexible and packaged standardized holidays (Poon; 1993). Starting from the 50s a new tourist demand leaded to a new stage in this evolutionary process. Tourism industry just like other Fordist industries has been supplying mass products, mostly considered under the label of mass tourism (Conti; Perelli; 2004). According to Conti and Perelli (2004;3), Thomas Cook created the tourism packages in the 19th century as the pioneering forms of mass tourism and the opportunity for the definitive shift from the aristocratic forms of vacation to the mass mobility of workers spending their paid holidays travelling. The concept of Cookism was used in a place of Fordism to express the era of mass tourism. Others seen mass tourism as consuming places by the large number of visitors (Urry; 1995). More recently mass tourism consumption experience has been linked to the ideas of a McDonaldization, Disneyfication o r McDisneyfication of societies (Ritzer and Liska; 1997 cited in Conti and Perelli; 2004;3). The impact of those consumption patterns has been considered as the typical Fordist leading to a reduction of the cultural diversity by mean of the demand of a tourist experience that will be more and more reproducing the everyday life patterns of consumption (Contti and Perelli; 2004). Mass tourism is strongly linked to seasonality. The impact of schools closure for the holiday periods as well as companiesÂÂ ´ work programmes and the destination specific weather conditions, all that aspects are gathering great number of tourists at the same time (Shaw and Williams; 1995). Before tourism was a luxury, available mostly for higher class but after the introduction of packaged holidays and development of mobility and technology, travelling became more accessible for everyone. Tourism has aroused on the market as a forceful industry making changes which have both positive and negative economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts. The development of tourism industry is very important for economy of the country especially for less developed countries as it increase foreign exchange earnings and generates employment. According to UNWTO, tourism stands for 8% of employment and 9% of global GDP and by the year 2019 will provide 296 million jobs (UNWTO cited in MercoPress, 2010). Tourism can have a powerful and beneficial direction for both economic and sociio-cultural change but at the same time it can be destroying. Do actual benefits from tourism go to the host community? Is governmentÂÂ ´s priority in development are to provide the needs of the tourists instead of local community? The government blinded by the opportunity of the country to generate the money from the development tourism is forgetting about the negative aspects that the industry ca n bring. Most of the attention has been made to economic aspects of the tourism growth and environmental and socio-cultural issues have been swept out to the second plan. Although to make tourism sustainable it is very important to look at those aspects. As mentioned before tourism enables the development of the destination although, the lack of own capital and a weak economy of some underdeveloped destinations makes foreign investors to build a new hotels that makes tourism being beneficial mostly for the developed countries. The same is with employment. It seems like tourism would give jobs to the local community but in the meantime the investors from developed countries employed the workers with a better education and abilities so the developing country stays with almost nothing. When the development is lower than the position of a country is worse. Leakage is an amount of money that escapes from the local economy (France; 1997). According to Kripperdorf(1982;136), tourism planning is usually in the hands of outside promoters the local population are regarded merely as landowners or as a reserve of labour, not as people entitled to participate in decision making. For example, tour operators owning resorts and sending the customers to the destination which mean that local community wont benefit much from those tourists. They export food for the tourist and employ British stuff. How tourism can be sustainable if itÂÂ ´s breaking the basic rules of it. The tourism control and planning strategy is crucial in developing sustainable tourism but how can it be done if even government is closing their eyes on the unfair practices in the Tourism sector of that region. The uncontrolled tourism in Goa has a strong impact on host community who has to face the food and water shortage (Almeida; 1996). Moreover, Goan has to face with electricity problems, there is a severe water shortage. The water pipeline that was originally meant for the villagers is now being utilised by the hotels. The transport too is insufficient to transport both locals and tourists (Misquita, 1996a cited in Noronha;1999;101). Very fast process of urbanisation has changed Goa into the concrete jungle. Police is closing their eyes on the drug fulfilled parties. Barely 10 % of Goans have benefited from tourism development, moreover, the foreign investors are buying large amounts of lands in the region (Almeida; 1996).All those examples illustrate how unsustainable tourism it is. Moreover, as suggested by Wall and Wright (1977); physical impacts to the tourist destination include alterations to the natural environment, including air, water, soils, vegetation and wildlife as well as changes to the build environment (Mathiesen and Wall; 1999; 38). Mass tourism affects strongly beaches, cliff-side, environment and degraded landscape. In some mass destinations ground water is in an alarmingly low level which is largely consumed by agricultural sector, by the irritation of a great number of gardens constructed due to the development of new summer houses and second homes and golf courses (Molz; 2004;5). Also the beaches have been extended in order to meet tourist demand. The unlimited constructions and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources will lead to the serious environmental problems. Recreational activities organized for tourists have also strong impact. Tourists by touching reefs when diving and snorkeling are damaging them. Also by the great number of boat trips tourist are disturbing marine animals. According to Kripperdorf (1982;135), the mass phenomena of modern tourism have initiated the paradoxial process Tourism destroys tourism. The landscape loses its tourist value through its use, or rather over-use, by th e tourist. Mass tourism is not only a problem of coastal regions but also the winter season is strongly connected to mass tourism. In Alps the number of tourists doubles every 7 years (Dziedzic; 1998). In Tyrol the ski slope is going through the endangered forests. Every year more than 500 hectares of agricultural land is used to make new skiing resorts and slopes (Dziedzic; 1998). Environmental degradation destroys the meaning of existence of tourism itself. The number of tourists is growing every year. According to the World Travel report (cited in Hickman; 2006) by 2020 the natural features of some of the wonders of the world will be damaged by global warming, while other resorts will become seriously overcrowded. The carrying capacity has been described as greatest number of people who can use the place without any damage to the natural resources and without degradation of the environment (Wall and Mathiasen; 1999). The attrition of historical buildings and the saturation of the coasts are one of the problems were carrying capacity has been overtaken. Changes in tourist destinations are inevitable but the concept of carrying capacity has the chance to indicate the amount and the way of change and to assess to which point those changes are acceptable (Mathiesen and Wall; 1999). The socio-cultural impacts are the other aspect of a great importance when looking at the changes in tourism as it strongly changes the way of life of the local communities. Mass tourism is causing displacement of indigenous population by tourists. For example in Hawaii there are about 1 million of indigenous inhabitants, which is a quarter of the whole population (Dziedzic; 1998). In human relationships, the disappearing traditional hospitality is a very important aspect. Especially in the big tourist resorts, these relations were long ago converted into a commodity for sale. Kuhn (2007; cited in Hanna; 2010 HHhhKKKK) argues that sustainable tourism attempts to preserve traditional cultures in a way that the western tourist deems as authentic. If sustainable tourism will lead into that direction it will not be very successful. Tourist resorts also offer its guests a more refined, but a fake version of its folklore and traditions, adapted to the stereotypical images of the visited country. According to Mathieson and Wall (1992; 4) the commercialization of culture, through the marketing and sale of artefacts, may revive traditional art forms or modify them so that they are scarcely recognizable. Which in a long term might create a phony folk culture but at the same moment it can lessen existing unemployment problems and create more jobs. The Tourism authorities are pleased of the fact that tourism is developing in the country but some of the local communities have different opinions on that. According to Ignacio Cembrero in View from Fez (2006), the countrys Islamist party frequently rails against hotel casinos, restaurants that serve alcohol and the growing gay club scene (Ranger; 2006). The tourist must accept the cultural differences of other countries. The most of Moroccans are very religious and tourist has to respect it. Even more tolerate Moroccans can become tired of tourists when seeing nudity on the beaches or tourists wearing t-shirts or short trousers in the churches. It insults their believes and rules. A lack of consideration by tourists for local norms, culture, people or the environment of tourist receiving destinations is leading to unsustainable tourism practices (Poon; 1993 in Wahab and Pigram; 2004;51). This point was also commented by Obrador et al (2009;3) who suggest that local cultures are see n as eroded by a homogenous inauthentic, consumer culture. Moreover, overcrowding and growth of the bad reputation of the destination by breaking ethical rules can be destructive for the destination. There are many places in the world which have been spoiled by mass tourism and after the development of low cost airlines many cities has lost their shine. As most of the products also destinations have a lifecycle. It was clearly presented by Butler (1980) in his model of lifecycle of a tourist destination. He evaluated six stages a destination goes through when tourism development takes place: exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, concluding with either rejuvenation or decline. At this stage the destination is visited by small number of tourists who are keen to explore cultural and natural beauty of the place but the number of visitors is limited due to accessibility difficulties and lack of facilities. Here the attraction of the place yet remains unmodified by tourism. In the next stage of involvement advertising and local initiatives are seen as the element of promotion of the destination which results in increase of the tourist number with the pressure on the public sector to develop infrastructure. Next step in the cycle is development in which further initiatives for development of facilities are made by national and multinational companies. In this stage the control of the public sector is necessary as the popularity of the destination and increasing number of visitors may not only be the reason of success but also cause failure and the destination may suffer a change in quality through problems of over-use and deterioration of facilities (Butler; 198 0;92). The consolidation is the next level of tourism life cycle when tourism becomes a great part of the local community. Next step of stagnation occurs when after reaching peak numbers of visitors the destination is no longer popular and only conservative visitors are still coming back. In this stage the environmental, economical as well as socio-cultural problems can be seen as the reason. The last stage is decline where effort is need to maintain the tourist arrivals by introducing new types of facilities like for example casinos. Prague is only one of the examples of the life cycle destination. The city has become one of the most visited cities in Europe after Czech Republic became a member of EU and after the growth of mobility (Global Travel Industry News; 2010). This beautiful, full of historical monuments city was rejuvenated in the last two decades. The commercialization of the city took place and the old town became surrounded by souvenir vendors, Irish pubs and beer gardens losing its authenticity. Also the prices have gone up and all locals who couldnÂÂ ´t afford been forced to move out of town. Its one of the examples when the way of making quick cash has prevailed over the unspoiled charm of the historic Prague. Mass tourism has led to the development of sustainable tourism in order to reduce negative impacts of tourism growth. Later in time the concept of Post Fordism was seen as the customers seem to acquire more power in determining market tendencies. According to Contti and Perelli (2004;9), this change also tend to meet the new demand for environmental friendly tourism products, being new tourists generally perceived as more educated, interested in local communities culture and in a real interaction with the surrounding environment. Since 1980 the sustainable tourism has began to be an important issue in the tourism industry (Swarbrooke; 1999). By creating a new infrastructure, hotels and businesses the employment is increasing. By travelling people have a chance to experience new cultures and traditions, although not every tourist is keen to do that and some visitors are not interested in it and ignore host communities. Sustainable tourism development is directed especially to create a better understanding of tourism, of how to achieve balance between economic, cultural and environmental aspects of tourism development. It is necessary to encourage people to take responsibility for the environment. Moreover, fair distribution of tourism benefits is necessary and the bigger involvement of local community in the tourism development decisions of their region has to be improved. The sustainable tourism directs to reduce negative impact on environment by introduction of quieter, more fuel efficient aircraft to start from to maximizing economic benefits for the host community rather than the visitors countries. Mass tourism is strongly connected to the high seasonal tourism caused by the great demand of 3s tourism tourists all over the world (Bramwell; 2004). That is why diversification of tourism like development of rural tourism has been developed to minimize saturation of the beaches in the high seasons and to avoid mass tourism. The development of sustainable touris m in very important for the countries where tourism industry is a main element of the local economy because the traditional beach holidays will decline caused by the saturation if the mass tourism will be increasing with that speed (Swarbrooke; 1999). According to Perry (2001), the climate change caused by humans will result in future modification of the climate conditions for example in the Mediterranean area, whereas the northern and western Europe climate will be improved. In 1992 on the conference in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil the first strategy document on sustainable tourism has been announced Agenda 21 as the basic economic model of tourism in XXI century (Hanna; 2010). Although, the Agenda 21 has meet various criticism mostly due to its non-binding treaties allowing most of the recommendations surrounding climate change and various other cultural issues to be ignored by the international community (Hanna; 2010). Nowadays, alternative forms of tourism have been emphasized but taking in account that even small group tours can be damaging the sustainable tourism is hard to accomplish. Latest debate of Tourism Concern came to a conclusion that all-inclusive holidays, arguably the epitome of mass-packaged tourism consumption should be banned (Farrington; 1999 cited in Sharpley and Telfer; 2002; 304). For example Gambias tourism authorities have banned all-inclusive holidays in 1999 (Sharpley and Telfer; 2002). It is an effective contribution to the development of destination. This could be a possible solution of applying sustainable tourism into a real life but it is doubtful if it would work for every country. Another alternative solution suggested by France (1997;89) is the development of holiday complexes which provide artificial ÂÂ ´sun-warm water` environments (e.g. Center Parc villages), located at points of maximum market access which could be an exit for achieving sustainable tourism just if the great number of people would choose it instead of normal holidays. In conclusion, the growth of tourism seems to be inevitably unsustainable. Tourism is giving employment and economic benefits but for example in the Third World countries the division of money is unequal. The powerful developed countries are always going to be stronger than less developed countries if management will not be carefully planned. So even if tourism is bringing money, it is not always bringing it to the right place. Nowadays people blinded by money forgetting about more important things like passing their tradition to the next generation by conserving it. Mass tourism is termed as a neo-colonialism which can be compared to army forces where instead of their invasion we have an invasion of the tourist influx (Dziedzic; 1998). There is no solution to stop people from travelling. The great understanding of negative impacts would lead to better sustainable tourism development but this need a high number of people involved in it which is hard to accomplish as nowadays people donÂÂ ´t think much about the future risk related to the planet because not to go away is like not possessing a car or a nice house. It is a marker of status in modern societies (Urry; 1990;4). There is a lack of sustainable understanding and adequate tourism control to develop sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism will not eliminate negative impacts of tourism but it could be a way to minimize its impact. Because if the growth in mass tourism will continue as fast as it does now the global warming will be arising and some destinations will suffer unbearably hi gh temperatures with an increase in the risk of fire. All those changes will lead tourists to changes in their holiday destinations, which not necessarily means stop of mass tourism. Tourist will continue with transport use even if they will reduce their travels, it will be still environmental damaging. All the facts are coming into conclusion that the best way for sustainable tourism would be staying at home.

African Americans health disparities Essay

In 2011, the diagnosis rate for HIV cases in the United States was 15. 8 per 100,000 population and 60. 4 among Blacks. Of 197,090 diagnoses of HIV-infection from 2008- 2011, Blacks/African Americans accounted for: ?47% OF THE TOTAL ?64% OF WOMEN ?66% OF INFECTIONS ATTRIBUTED TO HETEROSEXUAL CONTACT ?67% OF CHILDREN, AGES < 13 In 2010, the death rate for blacks was higher (25. 0 per 100,000) compared with any other racial ethnicity group (3. 0 whites). Blacks represented 49% of all deaths with HIV in 2010. A recent study showed that blacks diagnosed with HIV are less likely than other groups to be linked to care, retained in care, receive antiretroviral treatment and achieve adequate viral suppression. African American Males African American men accounted for 42% of HIV cases diagnosed among men in 2011. A majority (72%) of African American men with HIV contracted the disease by male to male contact while 19% contracted HIV through heterosexual exposure. African American Females Among African American women, high risk heterosexual contact was the most frequently cited mode of transmission, accounting for 89% of cases diagnosed in 2011. More Information: ?HIV/AIDS TOPIC SITE ?HIV/AIDS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS ?HIV/AIDS STATISTICS AND SURVEILLANCE Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Gonorrhea In 2010, 69% of all reported cases of gonorrhea occurred among blacks. The rate of gonorrhea among blacks in 2010 was 432. 5 cases per 100,000 population, which was 18. 7 times the rate among whites (23. 1). This disparity has changed little in recent years. This disparity was larger for black men (22. 2 times) than for black women (16. 2 times). Chlamydia In 2010, the overall rate among blacks in the United States was 1,167. 5 cases per 100,000, a 4.0% increase from the 2009 rate of 1,122. 2 cases per 100,000. The rate of chlamydia among black women was over seven times the rate among white women (1,536. 5 and 205. 1 per 100,000 women, respectively). The chlamydia rate among black men was almost 11 times the rate among white men (761. 8 and 69. 9 cases per 100,000 men, respectively). Syphilis During 2009–2010, the rate of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis among blacks decreased 8. 7% (from 18. 4 to 16. 8 cases per 100,000 population). In 2010, 47. 4% of all cases reported to CDC were among blacks and 31. 0% of all cases were among whites. The overall 2010 rate for blacks was eight times the rate for whites, while the 2009 rate was 9. 2 times the rate for whites. In 2010, the rate of P&S syphilis among black men was 7. 1 times the rate among white men; the rate among black women was 21 times the rate among white women. In 2010, the rate of congenital syphilis was 33. 1 cases per 100,000 live births among blacks. Race/ethnicity for cases of congenital syphilis is based on the mother’s race/ethnicity. This rates was 12. 3 times the rate among whites (2. 7 cases per 100,000 live births). More Information: ?STD TOPIC SITE? STDS AND HEALTH DISPARITIES ?STD SURVEILLANCE REPORT ?STDS IN RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES Viral Hepatitis Acute Hepatitis A During the past 10 years, there has been little difference between the rates of acute hepatitis A among white non-Hispanics and black non-Hispanics. The 2011 rates for these groups were 0. 29 and 0. 27 cases per 100,000 population, respectively. Acute Hepatitis B In 2011, the rate of acute hepatitis B was highest for Black non-Hispanics (1. 4 cases per 100,000 population). Acute Hepatitis C During 2002–2010, the incidence rate of acute hepatitis C remained below 0. 5 cases per 100,000. The rate of hepatitis C among Black non-Hispanics increased 27. 3% (to 0. 14 case per 100,000 population in 2011). More Information: ?VIRAL HEPATITIS TOPIC SITE ?SURVEILLANCE REPORT FOR VIRAL HEPATITIS Tuberculosis (TB) In 2010, 84% of all reported TB cases occurred in racial and ethnic minorities. Non- Hispanic blacks or African Americans accounted for 24% of TB cases in 2010. African Americans make up approximately 14% of the U. S. population, but accounted for 40% of TB cases in U. S. -born persons. Overall, 11,182 TB cases were reported to CDC from the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2010.

The Chronicles of Do My Powerpoint for Me

The Chronicles of Do My Powerpoint for Me Type of Do My Powerpoint for Me Even if you're a fantastic presenter at some instance of the other it is probably that you will drop the interest of your audience. Obviously, successful sales rarely happen solely as the consequence of a wonderful deck. For revenue, it might have to do with the variety of leads generated. You require a well-designed template that may be customized for your business, industry and market. Do My Powerpoint for Me - Dead or Alive? PowerPoint Labs is a time-saving tool that provides several features to create your presentation more eye-catching. You require the patience to be successful in creating a Karaoke PowerPoint that will enhance your grade. Microsoft PowerPoint features all of the editing tools you would expect of an Office product, and an impressive range of presentation-specific alternatives, like transitions and animations. Microsoft PowerPoint is a huge instance of a superb bit of software. There are quite a lot of tools that it is possible to use with PowerPoint. Use views fora different approach to edit and construct your PowerPoint presentation. Slides PPT is an easy business worthy presentation that'll be certain to impact your viewers. All the slides within this template are animated and designed dependent on master slides. If you've been hunting down for original PowerPoint Diagrams, then have a look at this document! Some can not get this, but you will find multiple slide layouts for PowerPoint templates. Format menus enable you to do fine adjustments that otherwise appear impossible. PPTX file in your favourite text editor (here is a sample file) and take a look at the initial 4 bytes. You receive a list of recently-opened files on the left and a grid of templates to start. Before you do both of the options, you must make sure the Excel workbook is offered in the SharePoint site you're likely to display it in. Simply take the opportunity to create a library of beautiful images you'll be able to use in your presentations. It is essential that you choose the image, first. Not every component of your image will hold the identical price. Some images will be quite tough to work with because they've an excessive amount of variety in contrast and colour. If you'd like us to assist you with a presentation, please get in contact. Once you have started designing your presentation, choose the slide where you wish to add your interactive Infogram chart. If you should collect a contemporary presentation for your organization, full of slides with infographics, and simple colors then you can quit looking. With its simple appearance and distinctive layout, you are certain to make that ideal presentation for this deadline coming soon. You are able to easily work between each screen until you're in a position to finish the presentation. Think of who your perfect audience is you will try and get to register, that is going to be your very first clue for selecting the plan of the webinar PowerPoint. It is possible to also use a QR Code to take a fast poll or maybe to collect feedback. Once you build out your presentation's content, it is a fantastic notion to consider adding visual style. Select Share screen and the picker will provide you a few options. The template can be found in both animated and non-animated versions also. This template includes a design that may be utilised to craft many different sorts of business related presentations. A Startling Fact about Do My Powerpoint for Me Uncovered When you finish rehearsing, you are going to observe an overview of suggested changes to create your presentation stronger. Virtually every word in your presentation needs to be spoken. If you would like your presentation to appear animated,'' you'll have to do just a little tinkering. An attractive presentation can truly grab your audience's interest. Before delivering the presentation knowing the preferences of your audience is vital. Instead of just keeping a list of expected titles and attempting to compose a complete post from there, take some time to flesh out the way that it will flow and the way the ideas actually fit together. Your ideas are less difficult for different folks to understand, so they can provide you constructive feedback, sooner. With a modern and clean appearance, it's going to be ideal for showcasing your ideas. So How About Do My Powerpoint for Me? There isn't a limit regarding how many slides to use, and you are able to spend hours creating your design with the various options which are readily available. One of the major ingredients for a 306090-day plan is the capacity to define clear and realistic objectives. It's possible to create touch points by inserting a rectangle shape over the region you wish to link. When you place the shape in addition to the current phone, however, you'll observe t hat the shape doesn't fit the proper perspective.

Review On The Genesis Of The Crisis Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2438 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? The term global economic crisis (GEC) or global financial crisis (GFC) is used to describe the general slowdown of the world economy. This means that there are fewer and fewer people buying and selling to each other. As such, trade goes down whereby less money circulates in the market. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Review On The Genesis Of The Crisis Finance Essay" essay for you Create order A crisis is then developed, because once this cycle of less gets started, it is very difficult to break. Bludell-Wingnall and Atkinson (2008) simply defined the GFC as a situation where a dam is overfilled with flooding water but water is forcefully and continuously directed to it. Pressure increases and the dam finally breaks and the damage gets enormous. This is what particularly happened with the 2007-2010 GFC which has its roots in the United States, the worlds largest industrial military complex. The high risks that banks and financial institutions kept on taking for a greater inflow of money suddenly exploded and spread to the world as a scourge with developed and developing countries feeling the heat first and the least developing ones at a much later stage. 2.1 The Genesis of the Crisis While examining the origins of the financial crisis, we are much likely to start with the real estate market, that is the place where the crisis really began and focusing on the subprime mortgages and unscrupulous lenders and casting the blame on the unsustainable real bubble which began to collapse in 2006. This is what happened in the real estate bubble which is also one of the main factors of the GFC. Problems began when borrowing and lending between banks in different countries started to become a little unbalanced. Banks in the United States and Britain began borrowing large sums of money from banks in Asia and Russia. The UK and the US used this money to approve home loans that they would usually not consider. Basically, before a home loan is approved, the bank checks that the applicant has got a steady income and a clean credit history. That is, the person who wishes to take a loan has to prove that he is employed, reliable and good at paying his bills. However within the last decade, banks began to approve loans to applicants who did not necessarily satisfy these criteria. And to cover the risk of approving these less than perfect candidates, the banks, charged higher interest rates in order to make more money. This kind of home loan is called a sub-prime mortgage. And as Khatiwada and McGirr (2008) stated many of these sub-prime mortgages never made it to the balance sheet of the lending institutions that originates them. Moreover in many instances, applicants of the sub-prime mortgages defaulted their loans or were simply unable to repay the banks. The tool of last resort was finally put to use. The banks sold the mortgages to the investment banks. The latter in turn pooled together hundreds and thousands of mortgages as mortgage-based securities (MBS) and sold them. Securitization, the wonderful financial vehicle made it possible because as securities, mortgages could be resold. Thus securitization creates diversification and liquidity and also eases the risk of default or going bankrupt. In addition to this, credit rating agencies like Moody, Standard and Poor, and Fitch did not take into consideration the possible systematic risk and blessed the apparently low risk securities with AAA ratings. This attracted pension funds, banks, mutual funds, some money market funds and investors from all over the world which purchased the securities assuming that they were safe. Additionally, because investors considered such securities as low risk ones, they leveraged them. In short they invested more than they had actually capitalled for. In this process, none cared to assure the credit worthiness of the home buyers and their likelihood to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. This was so because the MBS moved from investors to investors and the income they earned was from the origination fees rather from the eventual monthly payments. Investment banks have a similar incentives in their role as they buy mortgag es from the originators and sell them to the final investors and make most their money from processing fees also known as broker fees. To sum up, the securitization of mortgages was a process that was filled with perverse incentives to ignore the credit risks of the borrowers, and to make as much money as possible on volume and processing fees. However, the problem with securitization is that it does not provide protection against systematic risk. And unfortunately such systematic risk was not priced into the subprime mortgage pools; not until things went wrong and subprime borrowers started defaulting on their mortgages. 2.2 The Shock Soon subprime lending increased home ownership rate in the US significantly and about 5 million people went from tenants to homeowners. As a result rents went down and house prices increased till they reached unsustainable heights relative to rents. But in contrast to the stock market, in the real estate market when the asset prices rise, more assets are created through construction. Between 2001 and 2007, the construction of new housing units exceeded significantly, the new household formations and naturally this housing bubble could not grow infinitely. As Robert Collier (1885-1950) said supply comes on the heels of demands. So naturally, the housing bubble had to come to a stop as there was excess supply in the market. The rise in housing asset prices stopped in 2006 and the decline accelerated in 2007 and 2008. This implied that many of the subprime owners could no longer refinance when their mortgage rates were reset, which caused delinquencies and defaults of mortgages to increase sharply, especially among subprime borrowers. Moreover, insurers like AIG who insured these bad mortgages also got in trouble. From the first quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2008, the percentage of mortgages in foreclosure tripled, from 1 percent to 3 percent, and the percentage of mortgages in foreclosure or at least thirty days delinquent more than doubled, from 4.5 percent to 10 percent. These foreclosure and delinquency rates are the highest since the Great Depression. The previous peak for the delinquency rate was 6.8 percent in 1984 and 2002. The American dream of owning your own home was turning into an American nightmare for millions of families. Meanwhile, banks started losing their money which made overseas lenders nervous. The lenders demanded that the banks return what they borrowed, and made pressure worse by imposing a tight time frame which led banks into a financially unviable situation. Hyun-Soo (2008) however argues that it is the Trust Crisi s which caused this global predicament. It is, indeed, to some extent true, because people started to lose confidence in the banking system and everyone wanted to withdraw their money at the same time. On such incidence happened to the Northern Rock Bank which seeked an emergency loan to stay afloat, prompting a run on the bank as worried customers withdraw  £ 2 billion (BBC 2009). Furthermore confidence in many financial institutions was shaken and stock market witnessed systemic weakness across financial sectors. The share prices for large, small, and investment banks all significantly dropped and between July 2007 and March 2008, lost about a third of their value. This caused banks to stop trusting other banks and interbank lending was disrupted. This problem become so large that even banks with large capital reserves ran out. The government had to step in and inject money into the banks which took the form of taxpayer money. For Chan Lau (2008), the financial quake made the ailing US economy tremble and run the risk of a major bankruptcy. European economies which were well aligned with their American counterparts in the form of overseas subsidiaries and affiliates were eventually threatened by the crisis and it was foreseen that emerging economies in the developing world would suffer. 2.3 Causes of the Crisis Moving down the chain, after feeling the shock of the crisis which is likely to affect different countries differently depending on their economic structure; the next move that needs to be taken is about the precautionary or preventive measures. Though the GFC is not over yet, it quite an important step if one does not want history to repeat itself in the near future. This aim cannot be achieved without having a look at the plausible causes of the GFC. Many factors directly and indirectly caused the ongoing financial crisis of 2007-2010, with experts placing different weights upon particular causes. 2.3.1 Imprudent Mortgage Lending Low interest rates, increasing housing prices and above all flexible lending standards allowed anyone to own houses which were once unaffordable by them. However one cannot fully blame the bank as like everyone else, they also wish to maximize their profits in a materialist cultural environment where maximization of income and wealth is the highest measure of human achievement. 2.3.2 Lack of Transparency and Accountability in Mortgage Finance The current financial crisis in the US shows that the price to be paid for lacking transparency and accountability in the securitization process of mortgage loans has proven to be very costly in terms of loss of credibility, reputation, market share and value. Moreover without transparent responsibility, business leaders will not be able to regain trust and confidence which regrettably have been lost in this crisis. 2.3.3 ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ 2.4 Impact of the Crisis on the Economy US Economy The crisis started to show its effects in the middle of 2007. The economic recession The economic recession worldwide has redefined many a modern economy, including the bigwigs like the United States of America and Russia. The down-trend exhibited by the US economy is hemorrhaging at a rate that is alien to the previous five decades. With nearly four million jobs on the line, revival seems a distant dream, but not impossible. The US economic crisis has hit the common man the most, reducing the quantum and quality of lifestyle greatly. Homes and investments have plunged, tagging along labor market statistical pressure. The main features of the current US economic crisis include: Steep payroll decline Loss of more than 4.4 million jobs Sharp contraction within the labor market Increase in involuntary part-time job slots and underemployment Drop in average hourly earnings Reduced consumer spending (Borade year unknown ) Impact on the various sectors of US The IMFs estimate of the US bank loses are as huge as $1.6 trillion. US banks have raised an additional $400 billion in capital so far, which means they need another $1.20trillion to get back to normal health. For banks to recover this amount through profits would take years. Until then, banks would not be in a position to provide adequate credit. The Bureau of Labour Statistics of the US released a monthly report stating that the US economy, in January 2009, lost almost 600,000 jobs. The official unemployment rate rose from 7.2% to 7.6%, the highest in 16 years. Inside that 600,000 figure are 207,000 manufacturing jobs, which is the largest decline in a single month. The US commerce department released its report stating that the new orders received by US factories fell by 3.9% in December, following a 6.5% slump in November (Prasad 2009a). Since January 1, 2009, as many as 20 million people have lost their jobs. Almost 5.4 million people go each week to collect their dwindling unemployment benefits; a year ago the number was 2.6 million. This is the highest figure since 1967 (Prasad 2009b). Reaction of US People During the mortgage crisis of 2007 and 2008, the average US consumer spent less because of a feeling that there may be a time in the future where his income will not be the same. He saved the money he earned instead of spending it on a new TV set or a new washing machine. At these times, even those who possess postgraduate degrees are not insulated from job loss. This past couples of years are those times when the average American would rather save most of his salary and spend less on luxury and non-essential goods. The problem gets exacerbated even further because corporate entities refused to expand their operations because of the amplified economic risk. As more people spent less, more people earned even less, hence an economic slowdown. (Miller 2010) This attitude of developing less created another problem. US had to cut down on imports and one of the luxury goods that have been affected is garment, or better said the textile industry. People are more and more focusing on th eir basic necessities. The Global Textile Industry The fact that the US is an important country for textile global market fundamentals, its ups or downturns is likely to have an impact the other textile markets. Generally, US import more garments and clothing from other developing nations in high volumes than any other country. Hence the financial crisis in the USA economy will have an impact on textiles import also which have dropped the market sentiments in overseas market since the last few months. Moreover it was sure that the financial turmoil will have an adverse impact on the global textile sector. But the real impact would be felt if the economic slowdown in the US and European economies persist over a long duration (more than 2 years), which would have an impact on the basic fundamentals of demand supply of various economies. This would result not only in the reduction in demand for the Textile Sector but also result in pricing pressures at time to time in markets. A we have seen earlier, the economic crisis has redu ced EU and US demand for at least some categories of imports from the South as economic uncertainty about job security, income and savings has lead many Northern consumers to cut back on purchasing brand products. This in turn has an impact on retailers who have to cut back on production due to shrinking consumer markets. Many consumers are now going for the sharply discounted apparel and lower end products, which will favour some brands and retailers over others, but in any event prices paid to suppliers will be affected. One such country that has been to some extent been affected is Mauritius. Textile Industry is one of the major pillars of the Mauritian economy. Further details of the impact of the GFC on this sector will be discussed in the next chapter. CHAPTER 3: Mauritian Textile Industry and the Global Financial Crisis 3.0 Definition of the Apparel Industry Instead of using the word textile, the most appropriate word to use would be apparel. Apparel industries are companies which design, manufacture, and/or license brands for mens, womens, and/or childrens clothing, footwear, and accessories. The apparel industry encloses or may be even called using the following names: footwear industry, textile and clothing industry, shoe industry, textile industry, clothing stores, fashion industry, clothing industry, apparel manufacturing industry, clothing apparel industry, garment industry, or even fashion and clothing industry (Bitpipe.com, 2000) 3.1 History of Textile In Mauritius   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚     Ãƒâ€š