In the last few decades, there is an increasing trend, where countries try to replicate famous sceneries from foreign countries in their own backyard. It is mainly attributed to the increased surge in globalization, which facilitates the exchange of cultural, economic & technological ideas across borders. This leads to standardized planning, architecture, retail outlets & even theme parks, which are more monotonous wherever we travel. Moreover, with the increased social media popularity, people get easily influenced by other countries food, fashion & entertainment, which results in many multinational companies establishing their chain of restaurants, hotels & stores, resulting in the acceleration of abroad places in their country itself. These homogenous places across the globe offer both advantages & disadvantages.
Firstly, from an advantages perspective, it helps citizens to enjoy the best of other cultures in their own backyard. Hence, they get to experience the foreign country’s finest, by visiting their own local places, which results in huge savings. For instance, if one has to savour the finest Italian dining, rather than travelling to Italy, they could just visit their local Italian restaurant chain in their own city. Secondly, it also avoids the sense of homesickness for travellers when they travel abroad, as all the foreign amenities are available in their own place.
On the other hand, these monotonous sceneries result in the decline of their own cultural identity. When foreign cultures get amalgamated with the local cultures, there is an increased risk over time, their countries own heritage & identity would disappear slowly. For example, due to the increased globalization in countries like India, the current generation of folks have lost touch with their heritage and started following Western dreams. In addition to this, country’s tourism markets get impacted as well because foreign travellers tend to avoid the famous local neighbourhood if they think it’s quite similar to what they have in their own yard.
So to conclude, in my opinion, though creating sceneries similar across the world has both advantages & disadvantages, I personally feel that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, as it can result in the decline of the country’s own cherished heritage & culture, which can be quite difficult to recover once it’s lost.