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Tourism as an industry has grown by leaps and bounds for last 50 years, primarily fueled by the rapid increase in air travel and expansion in hospitality sector. Tourism has a vital role in the economic development of a country yet it has certain negative impacts in the environment and the local population. Let us have a brief discussion on each of these aspects.
There are several kinds of tourism like ecotourism, health tourism, heritage tourism, beach tourism, adventure tourism etc. If promoted with environmental implications in mind, tourism can turn out to be an excellent economic activity. Tourism is the primary source of foreign exchange for many countries. It is a lifeline for the economy of the so called tourist places and provides huge employment opportunities to the local inhabitants.
Tourism helps in the exchange of knowledge and ideas. It allows diverse set of people from a wide variety of backgrounds to interact each other which in turn makes them broad minded and learned individuals. The traditional arts and crafts also gets a big boost due to tourism which prevents them from getting perished.
The tourism has its own set of disadvantages too. It may degrade the environment in a massive scale. The accumulation of plastic and food wastes is a major concern. Plastics when abundantly deposited in soil and water destroys the ecological balance. Food waste can help spread diseases and also contaminate water drinking water sources.The governments should impose a strict ban on usage of plastics on such tourist places. Many a times it is observed that the shops and makeshift counters are allowed to operate indiscriminately which results in more garbage. Both tourists and shops should be fined for irresponsible behavior such as throwing waste in public places and water bodies.
Another major problem the tourism brings is the social and health concerns of the local inhabitants. Tourism brings new diseases to the locality and accelerates the spread of communicable diseases. Increase in tourism mostly increases the crime rates which impacts the societal life of local inhabitants. Tourism also brings more pollution which impacts the local society.
Overall tourism is a good economic and social activity which is beneficial to both the tourist and the host if done in a regulated, controlled and sustainable manner. It brings more harm than good if it is allowed in an uncontrolled manner.
