“Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails

the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual

environment for personal or business/professional purposes. These
people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists;
residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities,
some of which imply tourism expenditure (United Nations World
Tourism Organization, 2008) “

Valea Moeciului
The Tourism
is the department or an organization that facilitates people to allow
them to visit or spend vacations at places they like.
is one of the most important industries in any country. It is a large
contributor to the economy of a country as it can provide revenue
throughout the year. Tourism helps in keeping the employment rate of
countries stable as several job opportunities are created due to the
tourism industry.
Sometimes, tourism can be a major source of foreign income for the
country. This transaction doesn’t only facilitate the vacation or
relaxation of tourists visiting these regions, but also helps to provide a
better livelihood to everyone involved in the tourism sector.

Sunset Bucegi – Vf. Omu, Scara

Main Advantages of Tourism

Brasov – Piața Sfatului

1. Wealth Generation
One of the major advantages of Tourism is a constant flow of cash. It is
very important not just for the economy of the country as a whole but for
all those working in the tourism sectors.
Commercial and private airlines operating from these countries tend to
make a ton of revenue as people from around the world fly to a tourist
attraction. Hotels and guest homes in the hospitality industry make a
constant income as travelers flood hotel lobbies looking for a place to
stay. This makes sure hotels make money throughout the year.
These small sectors, that come under the umbrella of tourism help to
generate money for the country throughout the year. This cash flow is
even more essential for small, developing, and third world nations as for
some of them the tourist sector might be the biggest contributor to their
local economy.

Brasov – Sub Tâmpa

The Black Church

2. The Progression of a Country

As wealth influx starts in the country, it helps the government to procure
necessary funds for development and progression of the country. The
tourism sector gives security and stability to the economy of the nation,
preventing it from tanking in times of crisis.
The government also gets necessary funds to carry out large scale
infrastructure projects like restaurants, hotels, casinos and theater
which may further improve the tourism sector, providing more places
for travelers to stay and more activities to indulge in. This will help to
generate further cash influx.

3. Creation of Jobs
Tourism has provided various jobs to people who were previously
unemployed. The natives gifted with constant stable jobs have greatly
improved their livelihood (there is a possible catch to this, I’ve
explained in the cons).
These jobs include working in areas such as hotels, restaurants, bars,
casinos, theatres, zoos, parks, entertainment facilities, and more. Some
of those you might remember from your last trip, especially the travel
agent who booked your tickets or the tour operator who ensured that
your trip went smooth or the captain of your cruise ship in the
Caribbean. They work relentlessly, away from their families, to make
sure you enjoy your vacations.
Brașov – Tâmpa & Scheii Brașovului neighborhood
4. Unity among different societies
The unique feature of tourism is that it helps to create unity among
people from different countries, cultures, backgrounds, traditions, and
ethnicities who are all visiting to have some fun.
It allows people to learn different histories, traditions, cultures, diets,
and lifestyles of the nations they are visiting. This helps to create
understanding and oneness among people which can have a long-lasting
impact socially.
Cross-cultural connections are developed as the natives interact with
the tourists and may lead to further large-scale collaborations as well!

Bran Castle
Brasov – The Council Square
5. Conservation
The main star of attraction for tourists visiting a country is its historical
sites and landscapes, particularly the landmarks of the country. These
landmarks may be in the form of churches, mosques, cathedrals,
monuments, buildings, skyscrapers, beaches, amusement parks, and
other attractions to say the least.
This means it becomes the government’s utmost priority to conserve
these sites, for the tourism industry to be sustainable.

6. Improves geographical identity worldwide
Tourists often go back home and praise about the vacation that they
had. Every person that goes back home brags to at-least 10 more
people about the wonderful vacation they had, usually through social
media. This allows more people to know more about the country and
helps it earn its name and make a place for itself on the map!
Increased recognition leads to further foreign investment and
development, followed with increased tourism activity in the area.
Caraiman Cross & Prahova Valley
Major Cons of Tourism
1. Damage to the Environment by Tourists
When it comes to tourism thousands of people may visit, even millions in
some spots. This high influx of tourists can lead to immense
environmental destruction, especially in destinations where tourists are
more prone to visit.
This environmental burden is not solely due to the high influx of tourists,
but it is associated with various other factors working together to bring
environmental harm.
These factors include increased presence and use of cars, buses, trains,
and other vehicles which may raise carbon emissions. A large number
of flights at the airport could become a large contributor of air pollution
as well.
Tourists can cause a lot of land pollution; as they throw a massive
amount of garbage and waste, which is mostly non-biodegradable,
leading to a massive number of landfills. All these activities may
combine to greatly impact the environment of the region.
2. Exploitation of Local Culture
Some countries, seeing the vast amount of tourists coming in their
country to observe their unorthodox lifestyle and traditions, begin to
commercialize their culture. It can be in the form of souvenirs. Usually,
the natives are not offended by this.
However, in some regions this can be considered an outright disgrace
and mocking of their culture. This is especially true for the regions
where locals consider their culture to be their identity. Commercializing
may result in people just wearing costumes and exhibiting traditions just
to entertain tourists. Observing that the governments are using their
culture as a tool for profiteering can cause them to feel sad and
ridiculed by their nation.
3. Non-Compliance of Tourists
Sometimes, tourists do not honor cultures and traditions of
countries/regions they visit. They may break certain rules and unspoken
codes of conduct to which the locals have very high regard. Tourists get
drunk in public and do horrendous acts at times. This creates certain
hatred among the locals for the incoming tourists.
Look at it this way; if you go to a friend’s house, you don’t outright
break stuff at his home or start shouting remarks to his/her family. You
respectfully meet your friend and have a good time, in good spirits.
That’s the way you should treat natives when you’re visiting another
country, because you’re visiting their home!
4. Lack of job security/Seasonal only
Although we did mention that tourism leads to an increase in the
employment rate; sometimes these jobs can be seasonal depending on
the region and hence, cannot be a dependable income throughout the
year. This is more concerning in countries that have specific durations
and seasons of high influx of tourists from around the world. These
seasonal jobs, hence, offer minimal job security and employees can be
left without a proper pension or insurance.
5. Confined to Service Jobs
Although tourism generates jobs for locals, most of these jobs are
confined to service industry with minimal wages. These low-wage and
minimum-skill workers have little ambition to promotion and getting
higher up the chain.
6. Unequal Infrastructure growth
Massive income generated from tourism offers countries to build upon
infrastructure of the tourist destination only. Sadly, the countries do not
use the revenue generated from this infrastructure to build and develop
other regions which require maintenance and development.
The wealth generated from tourism is put back into tourism-related
things and regions that desperately need improvement are constantly
neglected. The locals who don’t live in tourist-economy regions are
neglected which leads to imbalance of infrastructure development.
7. Foreign business owners
Sometimes most of the places which are heavily infiltrated by tourists
are owned by foreign businesses. This means most of the profits and
money coming into the country are being used by foreigners thereby
causing significant loss of local businesses.
Local industries miss out on the primary source of income that is
required for them to stay afloat and to grow. This can lead to businesses
going bankrupt and losing, overall damaging the country’s economy.
8. Neglecting of Other Sectors
Countries see that tourist is the major source of income for them, tend to
ignore other various sectors upon which they are built. This leads to
nations neglecting these sectors, thus causing a loss of income, jobs,
and growth amongst these sectors. The country aims to put all of its
resources in one basket which is the tourism industry, will leaving all
others behind for them to crumble and diminish.
This over-reliance on a specific sector for the stability of the nations can
sometimes cause a massive impact, especially during times of war,
political instability, or natural disasters as it will be led to the long term
closure of the tourism of those countries due to unrest. This can
eventually drain the country down as its only resource which is tourism
is no longer function, and it didn’t have any other sector nor did they
built any other sector in a way for them to become sustainable in times
of economic crisis.
Environmental Environmental
Pros of Tourism Cons of Tourism

Causes
Helps to generate
environmental
revenue
degradation

Revenue
promotes
Pollution (Air
preservation
Pollution mainly)
of natural
environment

May promote
environmental Depletion of
awareness and natural resources
activism
Negative Environmental Impacts of Tourism
The government may choose to put the wealth generated from tourism
into preservation of the environment. However, tourism still goes on to
put sufficient burden on the natural resources of our planet and prompts
over-consumption of natural resources in regions with already limited
resources.
Once tourism becomes unsustainable, the surrounding environment
starts to deteriorate. Tourism has a wide impact on the air quality,
vegetation, water supply, wildlife, and the natural ecosystems of the
region.
 - Environmental damage

Most of the tourist activities have a negative impact on ecosystems. 

These include fishing, hiking, and snorkeling; all of which tend to affect
and deplete the local scenery.
To run a tropical golf course for tourists requires water that can feed up
to 60,000 locals. There is a trail in the Himalayas known as “the toilet
paper trail” which shows how much damage tourism has caused to the
environment.
 - Pollution
Once there is an influx of tourists to a common destination, there is an
overuse of transportation systems which heavily contributes to pollution
(Mainly air pollution). Tourism accounts for 60% of air travel
worldwide, and flying one mile in a plane can produce 53 pounds of
carbon dioxide.
 - Ecotourism
Even travelers conscious of hurting the environment also cause a
negative impact. Tourists that travel to natural sites located remotely,
tend to cause damage to natural ecosystems they come to see.
 - Invasive organisms
The increased human presence on many geographical regions can alter
the number of native plants in the region and introduce non native
species in those areas.
Even species brought in as pets into the country are sometime released
into the wild and could bring havoc upon the ecosystem if they turned
out to be invasive species.
 - Negative Impact on Wildlife
Human intervention and presence can disrupt food webs, ecological
communities, and harm keystone species in an area. Others take an
active approach and hunt foreign animals as a tourist activity. They can
also damage the natural habitat of native wildlife by engaging with it.
All of these contribute to wildlife endangerment and extinction.
 - Loss of Natural Resources
Tourism can shrink the natural resources by causing over-consumption.
This is particularly damaging in areas with food and water scarcity.
This may also lead to hatred among the locals for tourists who use up
the limited water supply for luxuries. A natural resource like water
could be used to fill up Jacuzzis at a 5-star hotel but could much better
be used in feeding a child who suffers from dehydration.