Organized tours

In recent years, there has been a growing tendency for tourists to travel to remote locations and communities on organised tours. This has some positive impacts on the local people, but I think the detrimental effects on the environment are more significant and that the issue is more of a negative development.

The financial and socio-cultural benefits for the locals in remote areas are evident. Tourists visiting these regions have a high demand for goods and services, and are mostly willing to pay higher than average prices. This helps to boost local economies in remote areas and eventually enhance living standards of the local people. Regarding the socio-cultural aspects, Travelers from different cultures can provide ethnic people in remote areas, who are almost completely isolated from the outside world, with a lot of experiences through their interactions with one another, which can help these local  residents to broaden knowledge about a more civilized society.

However, the hordes of tourists to remote regions still leave severe impacts on the environment in these areas. In fact, tourists often litter where ever they go and do not bother to clean after themselves in areas they have visited. This may lead to such conditions as dirty roads or clogged sewage systems in these places, which negatively and directly affects local people’s living conditions. In terms of indirect effects, I believe that the indigenous people have to sacrifice their natural resources to accommodate tourists’ insatiable demands. In several mountainous areas of Vietnam, local people cut down vast areas of forest to make handicrafts or furniture for tourists. These acts can contribute to the environmental deterioration in remote areas.

In conclusion, though the economy and societies in remote areas can benefit tremendously from organised tourism, I think that the negative environmental consequences that this situation brings are far more significant. (304 words)

Vocabulary

• To have a high demand for something
• To enhance living standards of the local people
• Ethnic people
• To be isolated from the outside world
• To broaden knowledge about a more civilized society
• Indigenous (adj)
• To sacrifice something to do something
• The environmental deterioration