Nguyen Hang

Nowadays, international tourism is the biggest industry in the world. Unfortunately, international
tourism creates tension rather than understanding between people from different cultures. To what
extent do you agree or disagree?

In this day and age, matters related to the travel industry have never failed to capture public’s interest.
Albeit being of greatest significance to world economy, international tourism is believed to actually be a
source of tension rather than raising multicultural awareness among individuals of distinct cultural
backgrounds. I, personally, subscribe to this idea for the two reasons as follows.

In the first place, international travel restrains the relationships between culturally different nations.
Firstly, promoting overseas tourism provokes inherent conflicts among tourists and local inhabitants.
This is mainly a result of an enormous difference in lifestyles and beliefs as these people are born and
raised in completely dissimilar cultural settings. For instance, a native of Indonesia who practices Islam
may find exceptionally offended seeing the foreign tourists of other religions consuming pork for their
meals. Secondly, increasing popularity of travelling abroad is likely to result in an erosion of original
cultural values. With a view to maximizing profits, the probabilities are that the local residents will
conceal their actual lifestyles and conform to the popular stereotypes just to meet travelers’
expectations.

Additionally, host countries are especially vulnerable in certain facets as an immediate result of
international tourism. First, the promotion of overseas travel puts the local environment at risk, causing
local residents’ outcry. This is attributed to the excessively large population at such tourist attractions,
whose use of energy and water accounts for a sizeable part of national consumption. Apart from this, in
order to attract visitors, the construction of hotels or recreational centers are absolutely necessary, yet
at the direct expense of the local natural resources. Besides, a massive influx of overseas travelers
triggers the social security of host nations. Visitors from foreign countries are generally perceived to be
partly to blame for the increasing number of petty thieves and criminals. To this end, some local
businesses in countries like Japan have even introduced regulations restricting Vietnamese people for
their notorious reputation.

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly gravitate to the view highlighting the tension created among culturally
distinct citizens due to international tourism on the grounds that it provokes unresolved conflicts and
puts host nations in jeopardy.