Tourism

The tourism industry generates substantial economic benefits to both host countries and tourists' home countries. Especially in developing countries, one of the primary motivations for a region to promote itself as a tourism destination is the expected economic improvement.

Its economic benefits are touted¹ by the industry for a variety of reasons. Tourism has a variety of economic impacts. Tourists contribute to sales, profits, jobs, tax revenues, and income in an area. The most direct effects occur within the primary tourism sectors² --lodging, restaurants, transportation, amusements, and retail³ trade. It can also generate jobs directly through hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, taxis, and souvenir sales, and indirectly⁴ through the supply of goods and services needed by tourism-related businesses.

As with other impacts, this massive economic development brings along both positive and negative consequences. Tourism can cause damage to local environment and culture as well.

To begin with, it change or loss of local indigenous⁵ identity and values, brought about by several closely related influences. Tourism can turn local cultures into commodities when religious rituals, traditional ethnic⁶ rites⁷ and festivals are reduced and sanitized to conform to tourist expectations, resulting in what has been called "reconstructed ethnicity." Once a destination is sold as a tourism product, and the tourism demand for souvenirs, arts, entertainment and other commodities begins to exert influence, basic changes in human values may occur. Sacred sites and objects may not be respected when they are perceived as goods to trade.

Secondly⁸, although tourism can encourage a government to preserve areas of natural beauty, large numbers of hotels can cause damage to unspoilt areas. An expedition can cause a surprising amount of waste and generates a huge number of plastic bottles being left as waste.

Tourism can be a significant, even essential, part of the local economy. So local governments at various levels shall take charge of the work concerning the protection of cultural relics⁹ within their own administrative¹⁰ areas. Capital construction and the development of tourism shall be governed by the principle for the work concerning the protection of cultural relics, and such activities may not cause damage to cultural relics.