I agree with the statement wholeheartedly. Travelling is essential for us to see and appreciate the wonderful world we live in. Speaking from personal experience; travelling is the best thing that one person can do with his time and money. I have made so many new friends and also had great experiences and visited beautiful places in the world, just because I booked that ticket and boarded that flight. I have no regrets when it comes to past travels but I cannot be ego centric and just think of myself when I travel. I always try to be mindful of others and the locals of the country that I am visiting. This brings me to my first point: That travelling also travelling has its own negative impacts just like everything else does.
“Over-Tourism” is a term used to describe the wave of tourists who take over to a destination to a point where the infrastructure can no longer handle it. Over-Tourism is extremely dangerous as it can harm the landscape, may damage beaches, whilst putting infrastructure under enormous strain and pricing residents out of the property market. It can have an impact in many ways. I would like to mention Malta as it is where I come from. Currently Malta is being referred to as a “Concrete Jungle” and I cannot begin to describe how much I agree.
Everywhere I go in my country, ether it is summer or winter or day and night, the cranes and scaffoldings block my views. I can see them whether I go to the North part of the island and also the south part of the island. I know that, at the end of the day, they are building better hotels and apartments for the locals and tourists but do we really need all of these hotels? Can we put a stop to this madness and have some fresh air rather than polluted dust that makes all the locals have breathing problems. Let me talk about another point which is the cruise industry.
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The cruise ships deliver thousands of passengers daily to many places in the world including Malta. Whilst quite little is returned to the locals, the cruise ship activity creates physical and visual pollution. City residents also have to bear the cost of tourism growth, as cities transform to cater for tourists, the global travel supply chain prospers. This clashes as price of properties increase and with them also rising costs of living for local communities. Which have enforced permanent changes to their lifestyles, access to amenities and general well-being. “Tourism as a form of human mobility, is a major contributor to the shrinking of our planet.
However, it is also fundamental to the solutions to the challenges we face because of its role in providing an expansion of global knowledge, awareness and consciousness.” Why travel? – travel, tourism and global consciousness by Alan A. Lew I do believe that travel can change the world. It can make you see things from a different perspective, a breath of fresh air if you allow me. Nowadays thanks to cheap flights, the sharing economy and an explosion of Asian and middle eastern tour groups around the world, destinations have gotten a bit crowded lately.
Whilst many tourists want to “Live like a local” and have an authentic experience during their visit, the residents of many tourism-dependent destinations are seeing the beauty of their towns slowly vanish beneath a wave of souvenir shops, crowds, tour buses and bars which is very sad. While this is not a new problem, the inhabitants are trying their best to keep their country as local as possible and also maybe feel a sense of belonging. I can understand them because sometimes, I do not even feel home in my own country.
I barely use my language and I see tourists everywhere I go even places where I do not expect to see them. I do not mind them but it is nice to be surrounded with locals speaking your own language and feeling at home. It is not easy to keep your country clean and friendly and safe however when there is an influx of many foreigners coming in the country and bringing their own traditions and cultures, things do change. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst.
I feel that over-tourism is looked upon as a good thing as it brings a lot of new jobs, and more cash flow within the country however Over-tourism has more disadvantages than advantages. I feel that there should be a maximum number of tourists per country per year and when that is reached, other tourists have to visit the coming year in order to not over crowd the place and also not to disturb the people living there. I might be exaggerating but I feel that at some point, we do need to start considering some of these methods or else, there will be no locals left here because everyone would have emigrated.
