“Tourism can be a blessing to a country but it is by no means an unmixed blessing.” Discuss

By: L6E1

Tourism is the world’s largest and fastest growing industry and can be defined as the totality of the relationship and phenomenon arising from travel and education purposes of people, provided the stay does not imply the establishment of a permanent residence and is not connected with remunerated activity. While it may boost a country’s economy, doubts about the overall benefits of tourism are reinforced by the belief that tourism brings adverse social and cultural effects. As an industry, it may be have several impacts on a country, both good and bad.

Tourism is a main source of income to developing countries. When …show more content…

Therefore, workers may be sacked, thus creating a situation of unemployment.

Though tourism leads to economic development in the country, it may also lead to environmental degradation and deforestation. This is so because when the state and hotel owners receive foreign currency, they will tend to build more hotels and turn towards more developments in the country. For these things to take place, the government obviously needs to make use of more resources and due to this, natural reserves and parks may be demolished. Also it should be noted that if the natural resources are destroyed for the settlement of hotels, it may be a disadvantage for everyone in the country. For example, in Maurtius , when tourists come to visit our island, they do not just want to spend their time in hotels, but they are keen to visit our historical and natural heritages, such as the ‘Casela Park’, ‘Crocodile Park’ , our unique beaches and the ‘ Aapravasi Ghat’ . It is these places that attract tourists and if the state itself plans to destroy them, then tourists will not be interested in visiting Mauritius. Both Mauritius’s economy and population will be affected by this.

Tourism not only affects a country’s economy, but also its culture. Being mainly a cultural phenomenon, tourism develops communications between different cultures. Thoughts, lifestyles, traditions, knowledge and much more are shared among people from different