With the advent of noteworthy developments in the field of transportation, international journeys have been easier than ever before in our globalization world. As a result, the possible harmful effects of international tourism have become the main topic of conservations, and it is an increasingly common issue worldwide, especially in tourist destinations, leading to environmental degradation, the erosion of cultural and social values, infrastructure problems, social and safety problems. While the causes of international tourism are multifaceted, there are several main factors contributing to this issue. In this essay, I will explore the primary causes and propose effective solutions to alleviate the effects of this problem.
One of the most harmful effects of international tourism is environmental degradation in touristic areas. International tourism can cause the destruction of natural areas, the disappearance of habitats, and the degradation of local ecosystems, contributing to upsetting the ecological balance by leading to waste accumulation in natural living areas, as well as air, water, and soil pollution, and excessive use of resource like water, and energy. Another contributing factor is the effects on cultural and social life. Tourists’ intensive attention might cause the commercialization of local culture, which leads to some serious problems, such as degradation of local lifestyle, weakening of customs, and disturbing cultural identity. Moreover, overcrowding brings various infrastructure deficiencies. This means that excessive tourist density causes a number of issues, such as traffic congestion, noises pollution, leading to a decrease in the quality of life for the locals and causes existing infrastructure not meet needs. Lastly, the growing crowd might sometimes cause an increase in the crime rate in the region having intensive tourist flow, leading to the locals to feel unsafe.
To address these problems, several measures can be implemented. First, one of them is that bringing sustainable tourism practices to life has a big importance as supporting ecotourism, encouraging environmentally friendly tourism models, and making laws with strict environmental regulations can contribute to protecting the natural resources and waste management system, recycling and eco-friendly infrastructure investments should be done. Second, the regulating of cultural and social effects is another solution to alleviate this issue. Developing policies for the aim of protecting local culture and heritage should be done. For this purpose, cultural conservation programs and tourism education practices with the local society together to tourist could be done, which helps cultural identity preserve by actively attending local community to tourism processes. Furthermore, specific measure, such as limiting the number of visitors, and developing more intelligent reservation systems, could be taken in order to balance tourist density in tourist attractions. Additionally, infrastructure investments should be given more importance in fundamental services like transportation, water, and energy. Moreover, promoting non-seasonal tourism activities could be a good strategy to overcome these problems. Last, taking more strong measures of security in touristic areas and widening the operations of police and security units and increasing would be another viable solution. Building the effective channels between the locals and foreigners, information campaigns, and bringing public adaptation programs to life could help take control of crime rates and social disharmony.
In conclusion, international tourism is caused by various factors, such as environmental degradation, the making cultural and social values poor, as well as infrastructure, social and safety problems. However, by running sustainable tourism programs, making eco-friendly policies and regulations, taking various precaution like limiting the visitor, all these harmful effects of international journeys could be reduced.