Tourism, Environmental Change

Abstract

Being one of the largest industries in the world, and growing at an exceptional rate, makes tourism a concept worth exploring from a geographic perspective. Because the tourism industry has linkages across every continent and every environment, there is priority in understanding how the industry is impacting those environments at both a local and a global level. Money spent by tourists at a destination directly influences the host economy and the wellbeing of local populations, can contribute to conservation efforts, and can greatly shape development there. However, tourism also manages to affect the entire landscape of the destination in potentially negative ways in a similar manner: the local economy, the local society, and the environment. There is great importance in understanding how those linkages work and how the various phenomena of tourism are impacting the local and global environment.