The Impact of Tourism in the Last 30 Years on Urban Areas in the MEDW

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The Impact of Tourism in the Last 30 Years on Urban Areas in the MEDW

Tourism is essentially the industry of making money from travelling

people, and a very new industry at that, having expanded hugely since

the 1960s. In 2000 there were approximately 600 million tourists

world-wide, over 10% of the total world population.

It is one of the largest, (if not the largest) global industries,

being the EU`s largest employer.

Tourists originate mostly from the MEDW, (more economically developed

world) and visit tourist locations in both the LEDW, (less

economically developed world) and MEDW, generating employment in both

these areas, to staff the demand for new services.

The MEDW had experienced an explosion in demand for recreation and

tourism and it is highly probable that this is connected to the

massive increase in disposable income and wealth that the MEDW enjoys.

It is also because of the recent trend in paid holidays, where

employees can take a few weeks a year to go on holiday and still

receive their money as if they had worked those months. This means

that those particularly concerned with finance would not find going on

holiday too costly if they had to take time off work, and that

overall, they have more leisure time available to them.

The very recent phenomenon in the past 4 or 5 years of budget airlines

like Go and Easyjet have made getting onto a plane, as easy as getting

on to a bus or train, at very reasonable prices. This means the

provision of access to the major airport hubs and urban centres, (like

Barcelona, Rome, New York and London) is amazingly quick, simple, and

cheap.

Primary resources are the attractions...

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...Environmentally, large scale tourism development can help, as I have

already discussed, with new greenery being put in place to improve the

aesthetics. However, the built environment can be degraded through

over-use, or over congestion, and when it's past looking its best,

perception of the area could decrease. More tourists does not overly

increase pollution levels because many will use the usual public

transport services, and only relatively few hire cars.

In conclusion, with all impacts taken into account, I believe positive

economic impacts outweigh all the other concerns. As long as the

social and environmental issues are not totally ignored, a boost to

the economy is always beneficial, and with the money from it, social

and environmental issues can be addressed, with the finances to attend

to them successfully.

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