I’m strongly disagree with the idea that international tourism creates tension between people from different countries. As a Turkish Erasmus student, I have had the valuable opportunity to travel to many different countries across Europe which I found to be a very pleasant experience. During those travels I only encountered welcoming local people and other friendly foreigners like myself. Before my Erasmus journey, unfortunately I had never had the chance to visit other countries due to the fact that I had never seen or experienced any other cultures than mine.
For these reasons, before coming abroad I used to think that people who did not speak the same language or share the same culture were very different from me, and I was hesitant to communicate with them.
However, my thoughts are completely opposite now. I understood that the more you get to know different cultures, the more you realize that although we may not speak the same language or live in different countries, we are more similar than we think. we are all human beings living in the same world and we inevitably share similar experiences and emotions.
For these reasons I have never experienced any negative situations during my international travels. Therefore, I strongly disagree with the idea that international tourism creates tension among people from different countries. Instead, I believe it promotes understanding, tolerance and unity.