Many people are concerned about the potential adverse effects of global tourism on the locals and the environment. The reason for such an opinion might be rooting from the cultural differences between the tourists and the locals. However, tourism across national borders has many major benefits, such as revenue generation, and building friendly diplomatic relations between countries. This essay will assess both these opinions and show why the benefits of international tourism outweigh its drawbacks.
International tourism generates large sums of money for almost all the countries in the world. Additionally, it also helps in stimulating the forex markets, due to the exchange of currencies, that further generates more revenue. Furthermore, allowing tourism between countries helps in maintaining positive diplomatic ties between the respective governments, which can result in increased trade and employment. For example, by making tourism visa-free for Indians, Thailand has been able to generate billions of dollars in tourism revenue. Not only that, but due to this gesture, they have also succeeded in forming a bond with the Indian government.
The primary drawback of international tourism is that many tourists, especially the ones travelling from less developed to more developed countries, are often not acquainted with the common cultural attributes of the nation that they are visiting, and hence behave in ways that might offend the locals. For example, tourists from India often bring their national culture of littering into Japan, which is deeply offensive to the Japanese people.
In conclusion, the monetary and diplomatic gains of international tourism are far too important to be neglected due to the minor drawbacks caused by cultural differences.