As tourism gains popularity, it begins to unavoidably affect multiple states worldwide, bringing some positive changes, as well as leading to negative ramifications. While some of these potential consequences will be discussed in the essay, I hold the opinion that increasing reliance of countries on tourism is not only ruining local societies but also is putting economies under threat.
On the one hand, extensive development of tourism will likely raise incomes of local people. In other words, if more visitors are coming to a country, more money are being spent in a state on goods and services, which, in turn, appears to be regions’ profit. In addition, travelling fosters cultural exchange as increasingly more individuals from a number of various places all around the world are coming, and, thus, enrich other cultures by their knowledge. In essence, touristic places appear to be more versatile and nuanced in terms of traditions. Yet, there are some drawbacks of progression of this trend.
That said, tourism might often lead to disappearance of cultural identities and peculiarities. Due to the strong cultural exchange, some local identities might disappear, as dominant foreign traditions will eliminate specialties common in the region. Furthermore, from my perspective, increasing dependency on tourism as a main source of income might, makes local people reliant and, therefore, puts their incomes under threat, in case some catastrophic events happen. In fact, a recent pandemic caused disruptions in travelling routes, leading to huge financial problems for a local population in some states. So, these disadvantages appear to be severe enough.
In conclusion, to my mind, flaws of tourism are crucial to consider and cannot be outweighed by positives, as they do not only consist of social problems but also of serious economic consequences.