International tourism brings tension

Each year, hundreds of millions of people travel around the globe for leisure, business, and other purposes. The continuous and steady growth of international tourism brings together people from different cultural systems and inevitably leads to misunderstandings and conflicts that are difficult to resolve. 

Among the forces contributing to the tension behind these cross-cultural encounters, those of language barriers are perhaps the most prominent. Communication with foreigners has always been difficult and may lead to misunderstandings even with the help of a tour guide or an interpreter. Then, differences in customs and traditions may also produce quite a lot of unpleasantness during a journey. In many Muslim countries, for example, pork and wine are never served because of a taboo against them. This may be particularly difficult to adapt to for a traveller who is planning a long-term stay. Similarly, a Western woman travelling to the Middle East may find it annoying to have to wear a headscarf. What is more, different usage of measurements may cause difficulty in communication. When referring to distance, for instance, Americans tend to use “miles”, which may cause some difficulty in understanding to people who use “kilometres”. 

Apart from these tensions caused by cultural differences, international tourism may also lead to conflicts between tourists and a local community. International tourism brings huge numbers of travellers from all over the world to a local community who may prefer to live peacefully without disruption from the outside world. However, noise, congestion, and pollution always accompany international tourists to the environment and cultures of the regions they visit. 

Undeniably, international tourism is among the foremost vehicles for cultural exchange and proves to be an effective way to boost a region’s economic growth. However, before the cultural gap that exists between the home and a foreign destination can be bridged and “hospitable tourism” becomes a global practice, it always creates tension rather than understanding along the trip. (319 words)