Pros and Cons of Tourism
Pros and Cons of Tourism
Pros and Cons of Tourism
It is easy to underestimate the scale of tourism. Every year, about a billion tourists
take trips: That makes 30 tourists arriving at their destinations every second. There
were around 79.26 million tourists visiting the US in 2019. That many travelers can
easily present huge challenges for many destinations. Transporting, providing places
to stay, feeding, entertaining, policing, and cleaning up after that many additional
people is not a simple or straightforward task. Is it worth it?
° For every job created in the core tourism industry, around 1.5 extra, indirect
jobs are created in the wider tourism-related economies.
° Tourism provides jobs for 1 out of every 12 workers in advanced and emerging
economies.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans usually draws about 1.4 million people... and their
garbage. It takes weeks for the city to recover.
The Disadvantages of Tourism
Benefits Detriments
hugely beneficial both private and touristed areas while other places and
public concerns. industries suffer.
Bangkok is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Approximately
20.5 million tourists visited in 2017 and they contribute to the city's air pollution.
Negative Environmental Impacts of Tourism
Although tourist money might be put to good use in preserving environments, tourism
does put burdens on natural resources and often promotes overconsumption and unfair
allocations of resources in places where resources are already limited. When tourism
becomes unsustainable, it can permanently damage the environment. Tourism impacts
the wildlife, vegetation, air quality, the quality and supply of water, and natural
phenomena.
Benefits Detriments
— Martin Jacques
Cultural Benefits of Traveling
When you visit another culture, you have the opportunity to be exposed to unfamiliar
traditions and perspectives and to gain a broader, more informed, and kinder view of
both the people and places you encounter, as well as of humanity and the world in
general. Preconceptions and stereotypes might be replaced by complexity, empathy,
and first-hand knowledge.
On the other hand, those that travel with a group and don't interact with locals or
merely visit tourist sites and never wander off the beaten path may not enjoy this
benefit at all. Merely visiting a place is not enough to expose a person to culture.
Learning about people takes effort.
However in many touristed places, you'll find traditional dance, music, and other rites
performed merely for entertainment and profit. For example when staged for tourists,
the Hawaiian luau, Spanish flamenco dances, and Balinese ceremonies may lose their
original meaning, energy, and purpose and become merely spectacle.
Benefits Detriments