Global Tourism: Advantages and Disadvantages

This essay provides an overview of global tourism, discussing its advantages and disadvantages. It explores the positive and negative impacts of tourism on social, cultural, and environmental aspects. Examples of different countries are cited to illustrate the effects of tourism. The essay concludes with the importance of directing tourism towards undisturbed areas and the need for countries to mitigate the negative impacts while promoting economic development.

Global Tourism
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Tourism refers to travelling for either business purpose or pleasure to spend time away
from home in order to relax and rejuvenate (Cornelissen, 2017). Tourism crossing the national
boundaries of a country and expanding towards various other countries and regions is known as
global or international tourism.
There are various advantages and disadvantages that tourism can pose as there are many
countries like Spain, Malaysia, Singapore etc. that heavily rely on tourism but on the other hand,
tourism does has a lot of disadvantages associated with it.
This essay covers a brief introduction about Global Tourism, problems that are posed by
it and the negative impacts that it can have. Examples of different countries are also cited along
with for a better understanding of the topic.
MAIN BODY
There are approximately 1 billion tourist arrivals every year all over the world which
makes it 30 check ins every second. A study conducted recently showed that the number is
expected to increase by 60 percent. Tourism, many a times puts pressure on the resources of a
particular country or region through over consumption which not only serves as a cause for their
depletion but also make them scarce.
Tourism can have both positive as well as negative impact on social and cultural features
of a country. A region may not be able to deal with heavy traffic due to increased rush and poor
infrastructure. Interference of people living outside the region may interrupt the local culture
whereas poor sanitation may be a cause for the spread of certain diseases to the local residents as
well as the tourists (Dearborn and Stallmeyer, 2016). Different people have different styles and
hence local people trying to imitate the styles and behaviours of tourists may lead to the loss of
home grown culture of that place. There are high chances of some people fetching easy money
from the tourists and entering into criminal activities. This will cause increased number of crimes
in that area with a loss of moral values.
There may be harm to the natural flora and fauna of the region which in turn increase the
risk of pollution, landslides and erosion as well as loss of natural habitats. There is damage
caused to the ancient monuments and temples due to pollution and increased traffic. Natural
attractions for tourists such as reefs can suffer from permanent damage and may get extinct.
1

People visiting areas with scarcity of water tend to consume more water because of the hot
climate which results in almost the double consumption than that of the local residents. Also, the
hotels and resorts in these areas use up more water for the personal consumption, swimming
pools for the tourists which in turn leads to the shortage of water.
There have been cases where tourists have failed to have regard for the local customs and
values of the place they visited. This may be a result of unconsciousness and carelessness. Also,
it has been observed that tourism is responsible for 5-6 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions
world wide. Also, there are times when tourism becomes so important for a country that it
neglects other forms of income-generation within which in turn can leave it at the risk of
economic instability (Glaesser and et. al., 2017). Large number of people visiting a particular
region creates a load on the transportation there which serves as a cause of high pollution both
locally and globally. Exhaustion of various scenic places is caused because of activities like
snorkelling, hiking etc. that are conducted especially for tourists. Food webs in a particular area
are also affected because people belonging to different places have different eating habits. When
a particular area or place becomes heavily visited by people, it leads to the interest of the local
people drifting away from its actual civilization towards becoming more commercialized and
hence leading to commercial noise. With a high density of tourism, the infrastructure of that
region suffers high burden and changes in the lifestyle of the people.
Tourism may affect the way in which the local residents of a country dress up and the
accent in which they speak. The population of a country/ region is also affected by the amount of
tourism in that country with also problems like high traffic and use as well as exhaustion of
many resources of that particular area (Holden, 2016). When the tourist don't understand or show
respect for the region they've visited, there are high chances of cultural disputes taking place.
There are people who are irresponsible and often throw garbage on tourist spots they visit.
Therefore, if garbage is littered here and there, it may gradually lead to animals eating them and
choking. When tourists leave they at most times leave the local people admiring them and
imitating their styles, language etc. causing a slight change in their native culture. The local
shopkeepers generally increase the prices of the products and sell them to the tourists than the
prices at which those same products are sold to the local people. There are different impacts both
positive and negative on different countries. Examples of some such countries are explained
below.
2

Countries like Singapore, that earn huge amounts of money through tourism from other
countries makes use of that money by purchasing different goods and services from different
parts of the world. The country is a host to many international hotel chains from around the
world. Tourism has had its impact on the country as it relies primarily on imported goods and
services from different countries as Singapore itself does not have any natural resources of its
own. This has proved to be a negative impact as there is a reduction in the overall revenue of the
country. It is a small country with most of the manpower hired from other places as Singapore
lacks both manpower and expertise. With approximately 17 million tourists visiting the country
per year has resulted in high levels of pollution from emissions and transportation. Since the
country is still in the developing stage, having a high level of water pollution may lead to its
scarcity in the future (Lenzen and et. al., 2018).
With over 83 million visitors visiting Spain every year implies that tourism serves as a
primary industry there with a majority of tourists from UK and the European countries. Besides
being a hub of attractions for the tourists, Spain has faced numerous negative impacts of tourism
on a whole. With attractions designed for tourists from different countries, the country has taken
a side seat and is getting hidden behind other attractions. Most of the tourists visiting Spain do
not speak Spanish but either English or their native language which in turn has led to a language
gap. The number of hotels and resorts with new, innovative and unique ideas opening in the
country has resulted in the local hotels and resorts to lose their Spanish identity. Some tourists
don't behave properly but in a bad manner. The country has crime and problems of drug dealing
that most of the time take place in the hotel premises. The traditional culture of Spain has been
engulfed with a sewage problem in the Mediterranean sea. There is a scarcity of water as there is
very less rainfall in the summer season (Pulido-Fernández and Rodríguez-Díaz, 2016).
Malaysia is a South east Asian country exclusively known for its beaches and rainforests.
According to the data presented by the World Tourism Organization in 2005, Malaysia was
ranked 14th in terms of international tourism. Tourism has helped in the improvement of many
businesses in Malaysia, but this has also had many impacts on it. With tourism rising every year,
it has led to an increase in the use of vehicles of different kinds which has in turn led to large
amount of air pollution. There have been cases where people were forced to wear pollution
masks. Large number of tourists are responsible for generating approximately 23,000 tonnes of
waste each year which is obviously expected to rise in the coming years. Large amounts of waste
3

produced by factories and hotel is discharged into the water bodies leading to their pollution. In
order to construct more number of hotels and resorts, more than 80% of the forest area has been
cleared as of 2018 with the destruction of natural habitats (Wu, 2016). Also, Malaysia has been
on the list of countries having high crime rates such as snatching of bags, ATM frauds and
gambling scams.
CONCLUSION
From the above essay, it can be concluded that tourism serves as an important component
of generating income for any country and hence has both positive as well as negative impacts on
a particular region. Therefore, there is a need for countries directing their overall tourism to more
undisturbed and fragile area that is intended to support its natural resources. Countries can work
towards reducing the negative impacts that tourism poses to them and also maintaining a high
number of people visiting and exploring that place which will not only result in its overall
economic development but also help bring in money.
4

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Cornelissen, S., 2017. The global tourism system: Governance, development and lessons from
South Africa. Routledge.
Dearborn, L. M. and Stallmeyer, J. C., 2016. Inconvenient heritage: erasure and global tourism
in Luang Prabang. Routledge.
Glaesser, D. and et. al., 2017. Global travel patterns: an overview. Journal of travel medicine.
24(4).
Holden, A., 2016. Environment and tourism. Routledge.
Lenzen, M. and et. al., 2018. The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature Climate Change.
8(6). p.522.
Pulido-Fernández, J. I. and Rodríguez-Díaz, B., 2016. Reinterpreting the World Economic
Forum's global tourism competitiveness index. Tourism Management Perspectives. 20.
pp.131-140.
Wu, C. W., 2016. Destination loyalty modeling of the global tourism. Journal of Business
Research. 69(6). pp.2213-2219.
Online
Positive And Negative Impacts To Tourism In Malaysia Economics Essay. 2019. [Online].
Available Through: <https://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/positive-and-
negative-impacts-to-tourism-in-malaysia-economics-essay.php>.
The World's Most Visited Countries. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/10-most-visited-countries-in-the-world.html>.
5