Environmental Impacts Of Tourism

In aspects of the environment, the tourism industry often brought a notable affirmative environmental impacts. One of these advantages is the protection of the environment. Knox and Marston (2003) claim that the wildlife preservation and the encouragement of indigenous lifestyle would be stimulated by the tourism industry. For example, Costa Rica has established nature reserves and wildlife to conserve its environment, these constructions led to protect about 30 percent of its land (Knox and Marston, 2003). Moreover, tourism can aid in renovation of historical constructions, ancient sites, reefs and beaches such as the Great Wall of China, Warwick Castle in UK, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (Fletcher, 2008). It seems that the tourism encourages governments and individuals to protect the environment because of its direct positive impact on the people in general, such as, the increasing in number of tourists in that destination, which will lead to more benefits to the locals, as Knox and Marston (2003) mention.
On the other hand, tourism imposes several passive …show more content…
The main problem caused by tourism is the devaluation of traditional lifestyles and cultural heritages. This happens when traditional products or events such as crafts and some ritual are available for the commercial purpose. Consequently, this cultural heritage and traditional products will lose much of their meaning and significant value, this phenomenon known as a commodification (Knox and Marston, 2003) (Fletcher, 2008). For example, the disappearance of Polynesian dances of Western Samoa and the limbo dancers of the Caribbean, as a result of a commodity of culture for financial purposes (Fletcher, 2008). As a result, traditional heritage and cultural events in local communities lose their value in tourism destinations. This is considered as an important negative influence on the culture caused by