Pro
By Allison Lefkowitz / Staff Reporter
Tourism is one of the most powerful industries in the world, having an enormous global impact. It can provide many benefits, from creating economic assistance in a country to promoting a better cultural and global understanding.
One of the biggest advantages of tourism for these countries is its positive impact on their economies. Tourism is a primary industry in many countries, and it has brought in trillions of dollars worth of revenue worldwide. According to The World Travel & Tourism Council, the United States saw extreme economic growth from travel and tourism in 2019, and Spain’s tourism generated over $60 billion in revenue in 2023. The industry not only benefits individual countries, but the global economy as well.
Tourism can also help support local business and small communities. It allows entrepreneurs to establish products and services that would not survive on the local population alone.
Another positive impact of tourism is its creation of new jobs. According to the website Mize, tourism serves as a catalyst for growth, encouraging investment in infrastructure, and enhancing the preservation of cultural and natural heritage, which leads to job opportunities in hotels, restaurants, transportation and retail. Not only does tourism support existing jobs, but it encourages new businesses to emerge to cater to the needs of tourists.
Tourism can also help spread cultural knowledge. It allows for cross cultural exchange, giving people from different backgrounds and cultures the opportunity to learn from each other. By exploring new places, tourists are able to gain insight into diverse cultures, traditions and customs. This not only creates a greater sense of appreciation for diversity, but it can help dispel stereotypes between communities.
While tourism does present certain challenges such as environmental impacts, there are many programs put in place to help, and its benefits are undeniable. Because of its economic support, job stimulation and cultural exchange, tourism has a positive impact on our world.
Con
By Evie Lippman / Staff Reporter
Tourism can be seen as a fun way to get out of the house and explore the world. However, it causes large environmental, economic and cultural issues in frequently visited countries.
Tourism can be incredibly harmful to the economies of popular vacation spots. Dependence on tourists in these countries actually increases the cost of living for its locals and creates an unstable economy. According to Future Learn, seasonal tourism and jobs associated with it create high unemployment during the offseason. This leads to job and income uncertainty for locals and promotes economic instability. Although people think spending money on these places helps the locals, it is actually taking money away from local businesses.
The cost of living in large tourist attractions also increases greatly. This is because there is a greater demand for resources such as food and water and demand for real estate from rising tourism increases housing prices. This makes it more expensive and difficult for natives to live there and sometimes forces them to move.
Another issue concerning tourism is its large contribution to pollution. According to the Global Developments Resource Center, transportation caused by tourism like buses, flights and cars contributes to a greatly increased amount of air and noise pollution in local areas. In addition to air pollution, water contamination is also a huge problem, with waste water and sewage from large hotel chains and resorts seeping into surrounding bodies of water and harming local wildlife.
Finally, tourism leads to cultural erosion, and it creates a loss of traditional practices. This is done by driving out locals to make room for attractions and dumbing down traditional customs for the purpose of entertaining tourists. The history and culture of these places is meant to be honored, not simplified and glamorized.
When planning trips, people often don’t think about the repercussions of their actions on the local economy, environment and culture; this ignorance has immense consequences to locals living in places considered tourist attractions.
