Nowadays, more people travel abroad for tourism than ever before. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

To begin, by travelling to a foreign land, individuals obtain the opportunity to relieve stress accumulated as a result of personal and professional responsibilities. To clarify, individuals in the modern world are in constant competition with one another, striving to outperform one another in the labour market. This subjects them to persistent anxiety and overcontemplation about the next possible step. However, when people go on holiday to other countries, they gain the opportunity to unwind, enjoy the sightseeing and try various cuisines. Such a privilege enables them to forget about stress-inducing complications, even if only temporarily. Moreover, international tourism also contributes to numerous employment opportunities in destination countries. For instance, to accommodate the influx of tourists, hotels, restaurants and local entrepreneurs have to hire new employees.

However, these benefits remain valid only if the government has taken precautionary actions against potential adverse effects of tourism. First, regular tourist visits to popular destinations, landmarks, and natural resorts can lead to erosion of their natural beauty or pollution. To counteract these negative consequences, governments must impose strict oversight, including continuous monitoring and imposing harsh monetary fines on tourists who pollute tourist sites. Rising numbers of tourists might also facilitate smuggling. This is attributable to the fact that when countries receive tourists whose numbers amount to millions per year, the visa process and customs checks are sometimes expedited. This, in turn, can avert meticulous scrutiny of the identities of visitors who might include drug dealers or terrorists. Hence, tourism, if left unchecked, can have serious implications for a country.

To conclude, tourism abroad is broadly an advantageous trend, allowing people to reduce stress and a country to offer more job opportunities to their citizens. Nonetheless, these merits become ineffective unless countries adopt countermeasures to combat the risks of pollution, deterioration of tourist areas and smuggling.