Question

Explain the socio- cultural and environmental empacts of tourism

Answer 1

 positive and negative effects of Tourism on the social-cultural environment of a country.

How does Tourism Industry impact a country? The positive and negative effects (impact) of Tourism industry can be classified into the social & cultural impact, economic impact and environmental impact.

Social & cultural impact signifies the impact which it creates in terms of social changes in the lives of local people, improvements in infrastructure, lifestyle changes etc.
Economic impact can be quantified in terms of monetary benefits and overall economic development of the society.

Environmental impact refers to the impact on the nature and surrounding areas.
Social & Cultural Effects (impact).
Tourism may have different effects on the social and cultural aspects of life in a particular region depending on the strengths of the region. The effect can be positive or negative.

Positive Impact:
To boost tourism huge money is invested to preserve the local heritage, to improve infrastructure, to provide better local facilities which in turn creates better education, better leisure facilities, organizing frequent social events and thus a better lifestyle for the locale people. They interact with the tourists, mix with people from diverse backgrounds which creates a cosmopolitan culture in the region. Due to the demand for better services, varied employment opportunities are created within the region and therefore people do not feel the need to migrate to other cities to earn their living.

Negative Impact:
Due to the heavy traffic in the region, the infrastructure may not be able to cope up the increased rush thus leading to overcrowding, poor sanitation which may further lead to diseases bot to the tourists as well as local people. The intrusion of outsiders in the area may disturb the local culture and create unrest among the people. The local people may copy the lifestyles of tourists through the demonstration effect and the result could be loss of native customs and traditions. Some people may enter into criminal activities to fetch easy money from tourists which leads to increased crime and anti-social activities and loss of moral and religious values.

Now let's understand the impact of travel industry on the world and country economics.-

Environment is surrounding atmosphere or condition for existence. The impact of tourism on environment is both positive and negative.

Positive Impact:
In order to attract more tourism special emphasis is given on overall beautification of the surroundings, regular planting of trees and landscaping are done to enhance aesthetics. Huge investment is done to improve the facilities in the area like sitting areas, shades, proper sanitation, drinking water etc. More emphasis is given to preserve the monuments, heritage structures to attract more tourists.

Negative Impact:
Any kind of development requires some interference with the nature. Overdevelopment comes at the cost of nature. There may be damage to the natural flora and fauna. Local people are displaced for want of coastal area development. With more people in the area, more natural resources are required which leads to depletion of natural resources. Waste disposal problems crop up and without proper measures to handle this problem it may worsen the situation. Due to more footfall, more transport, more noise, improper waste disposal, pollution increases in the area and disturbs the ecological balance of the region.- 
Economic Impact
Tourism industry has contributes to the economic growth of a country through factors like industrialization, education, advance technology, higher number of qualified professionals, opening up of foreign markets, liberal trade policies and better advertising and strategic marketing.