Impacts of Tourism on Society: Positive and Negative Effects

Tourism and Society

Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is one of the most vital element of global economy. It helps in generating billions of
dollar revenue and enormous number of jobs worldwide. It is considered as a framework by
which the host and tourists gets to know about each other, their cultures, norms and beliefs. This
communication between two parts of the globe generates the emergence of new ideas, new point
of views, values and motivation that facilitates the economic and social growth of country.
Understanding the impact of tourism on society is vital to ensure sustainable management of the
resources (Hall, 2019). There are several benefits that tourism provides to both the hosts and the
guests, but there are also some negative impacts. This essay will observe the positive and
negative impact of tourism on society by considering four societal segments: socio-cultural,
economic, political and environmental. From the socio-cultural viewpoint, the tourism helps the
society by bringing different cultures and backgrounds together. It boosts the generation of jobs,
thus improving the lifestyle of local people. But at the same time, it can lead to increase in
traffic, overcrowding, pollution and the intrusion of outsiders can disturb the local culture of a
particular area. From the economic perspective, the tourism industry contributes the economic
growth of a country through advanced technology, industrialization, increasing employment rate,
opening foreign market, increasing foreign exchange and foreign investment. But tourism also
leads to decline in traditional jobs and increase in prices of goods and services. From the political
viewpoint, increasing number of tourists have forced governments to make policies and laws in
order to ensure safety and security of tourists, this will also enhance the political relation
between the two countries. From environmental perspective, the increase in tourism encourages
the government and agencies to conserve the natural habitat and environment, but the tourism
puts huge stress on environment and can lead to increase in pollution, deforestation, soil erosion
etc.
MAIN BODY
Earlier, tourism and culture were viewed as two different aspects. Cultural resources were
considered as a part of heritage of destination, the behavior of local population, their education
level etc. and tourism was considered as a leisure activity to get relief from everyday life and
social culture. But this has changed with time, now the cultural differences attract and motivates