A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income. Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not managed correctly.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern world. Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks?

Nowadays tourism generates a significant portion of national income for many countries, but it has certain drawbacks too. This essay will examine the advantages and disadvantages of tourism and provide a logical conclusion.

The two main advantages of the developed tourism industry are a boost in a country’s economy and a large number of new job openings for the local people. Firstly, tourists spend money on a wide range of services, including hotels, amusements, transportation, food and medical services. This way, tourism yields an additional income, greatly supporting the country’s economy. Secondly, tourism increases the level of employment by bringing in new jobs. For instance, the influx of tourists results in a larger demand for restaurant workers, tour guides, hotel staff and employees of retail services, exhorting business owners to hire more people for these positions.

But tourism also has some major disadvantages like the destruction of popular tourist destinations and development of illegal economic activities. Ancient buildings, temples and monuments struggle to cope with a vast amount of visitor’s traffic and get damaged. Also, the large number of tourists can cause environmental problems. For instance, when places of interest are overcrowded, natural resources often become overexploited. What’s more, the presence of a considerable number of tourists with a lot of money to spend, and often carrying valuables such as cameras and jewellery, increases the attraction for criminals and brings with it activities like robbery and drug dealing. However, proper hospitality management and correct usage of tourism revenue by the local government can eliminate these disadvantages.

To conclude, although tourism can have certain negative effects like destructive impact and growth of crime rate, it has an extremely positive influence on country’s economy and provides a large number of new jobs for the local people. I believe that these benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks.