Real winners of tourism

Negative effects of tourism

Growing tourism in the world

Developing tourism with caution

Benefits to the locals from tourism

Tourism problems and possible solutions 1. ______ On the Mediterranean island of Majorca in Spain , the locals are angry. Too late. In the last quarter of the 20th century , they obtained profit from foreign visitors wanting to buy up property on their beautiful island. Suddenly it occurred to Majorcans that the island no longer belonged to them. Its 630,000 inhabitants (居民) are increasingly convinced that the 14 million visitors a year are far too much of a good thing. Water is in short supply , pollution is worsening , and there is no affordable housing left for them to buy. 2. ______ Tourism is the world’s largest and fastest growing industry. In 1950,25 million people traveled abroad ; last year it was 750 million. The World Tourism Organization predicts that 1.6 billion people , by 2020 , will travel each year , spending over two trillion (万亿) US dollars. 3. ______ The host country may not see many benefits. In Thailand, 60% of the $4 billion annual tourism income leaves the country. Tourists arranged by travel companies tend to stay at big foreign owned hotels , buying few local products. Mass tourism (团队旅游) usually leaves little money inside the country and most of the money goes to the airlines , the tour operators , and the foreign hotel owners , who are the final winners of tourism. 4. ______ These days the industry’s most urgent question may be how to control the flow of tourists. A typical example of this is Italy , where great cultural centers like Florence and Venice can’t handle all the tourists they get every summer. In Florence , its half million inhabitants have to live with the pollution , traffic jam , and crime caused by 11 million visitors a year. Now there’s talk about how to solve these problems , like raising hotel taxes , or even charging admission to some public squares. The idea is to discourage at least some visitors , as well as to pay for cleaning up the mess. 5. ______ For many poorer countries , tourism may still offer the best hope for development. The Vietnamese are doing their best to open up their country. Libya has paid $1 million for a study. They all want tourists. Yet if something isn’t done , tourism seems certain to become the victim of its own success. Its effect on the environment is a major concern. For this reason , tourist organizations need to have second thoughts about what exactly they are trying to sell.