Assignment on Tourism Migating

Running head: TOURISM
MIGATING MASS TOURISM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
MIGATING MASS TOURISM
Sörensson (2010) states mass tourism contributes to about $735 billion in world tourism
income. Sörensson (2010) suggest that tourism is necessary of the growth of the economy of the
country, in fact many developing nations have benefitted from the tourism industry remarkably.
However, some of the main economic gain has been brought from mass tourism. Mass tourism
has been described as the type of tourism that promotes mass travelers to go to a certain
destination, this includes the package deals that encourages groups of people to take holiday
together by providing accommodation and travel discounts. The following essay explore the
effects of mass tourism and possible migrating solutions.
Studies state that there is direct relation between the destination’s image and tourism
success. Researchers have shown that when there is a higher tourist influx it is often associated
with the positive aspect of the place such the safety, the food, the culture, wildlife and others
(Heinrich, 2018). Mass tourism is highest in France, followed by other countries such as Spain,
USA, China, Italy and others. To illustrate, Barcelona is attached with art, music good food and
the Spanish culture draws in tourists all over the world making it one of the most popular place
(Heinrich, 2018). Studies indicate that mass tourism is a major factor that contributes to creating
job market through various, hotels, resorts, and other tourism related industries, this helps to
strengthen the local economy and helps in its growth and development (Baranowski, 2007).
Mass tourism also encourages the growth of infrastructure in the area, such building or roads,
railways and other facilities. Baranowski (2007) states that due to mass tourism local
communities and government is benefitted a lot through the revenue generated. Most importantly
mass tourism encourages cross cultural communication and helps to build better understanding
of different cultures.
With so many benefits however, mass tourism has its disadvantages as well. Akis (2011)
indicates that there is a serious issue of pollution, increased stress on the natural resources of the
place which can be difficult for the locals. Tourism also needs a lot of development strategies
that promotes building infrastructure to support the increasing tourists, meaning that there is a
rapid loss of farming lands meaning loss of resources. The rapid urbanization and expansion of
living facilities and infrastructure to accommodate more tourist is pushing the natural resources
and altering the lives of the wildlife and the people significantly.
Issues of mass tourism is very apparent and even drastic, case in point, the Kaziranga
wildlife sanctuary in Assam, India is facing severe floods owing to the rapidly changing weather
conditions that has resulted in the displacement of several species and killed some of the
endangered species such as the one horned rhino. The stress of global climate change is raising
the water levels and is especially problematic in the tourist regions (Borah et al, 2018). On the
other hand there are cases where mass tourism has promoted the local government to take action
to promote environmental positive behaviour. For example, in Thailand which has banned
tourists smoking in their beaches due to excessive pollution of cigarette butts and issued a fine if
found committing the act of smoking in beaches. This has reduced the pollution significantly.
Additionally, Thailand has issued a ban on all single use plastic which has promoted a more
ethical and conscious use of plastic which is one the largest pollutants in the world (Chanin,
2016).
Mass tourism also pollutes the indigenous culture of the place which means that culture
can be lost through mass tourism. The tourism industry has recognized the trend of mass tourism
and its long term effect on the place (Lai et al, 2017). To illustrate, a case study conducted in