Mass Tourism Definition

There's a few people coming, there's tourism, then there's mass tourism. Mass tourism is like the grandest scale of tourism. In this Hub, I'll go through the bad effects of 'mass tourism' and the good effects and how it effects local life.

First off, we need examples of mass tourism. Spain would be a nice, simple example, but then we wouldn't have many bad effects; seeing as Spain is quite a prosperous country (if you excuse the recession they're in). Instead, lets do a country that both thrives and exploits their country for tourism: Thailand.

It's okay, any novice wouldn't care about Asian countries, especially a tiny little one like Thailand. But if you're a Geography enthusiast or like maps, I'm disappointed you don't know.

A brief explanation is in order, I guess. Thailand is a South-Asian country, bordering with Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Burma. Countries close to Thailand are China, Vietnam and India, although the latter is quite far West of Thailand.

Thailand is a Kingdom, as it still has it's Monarchy in place. The ruler, King Rama IX, is a the oldest ruler Thailand and the world has ever seen. In the 1980's, There is around 55 million people living in Thailand, with around 95% of these being Buddhist.

In the 1980's, after the Vietnam war had finished, Thailand became a second and possibly first home for many Americans, with much more tourism then it had ever seen. The country attracted more industrial work too, so between the times of 1980-1990, it prospered more than it ever had done before. The capital Bangkok has became known as one of the worlds leading commercial and industrial areas.

We're now up to around our time, Thailand is a thriving tourist and industrial destination, and everyone is happy. Or so we'd love to say, many in Thailand still live in extreme poverty and while this industrial and tourist revolution has brought much wealth to the country, it's enforced terrible pay on some workers; urbanisation and rural disbandment; crushing wildlife and forcing animals to work to provide for tourists, and other things that may make Thailand wealthy, but are crushing the foundations of Thailand's social and environment era.

So, we know all about Thailand now and if you already did, sorry for wasting your time. But now, onto the real 'mass tourism' effects. First, economical - which is basically money and wealth in the country. Like I said before, it has made Thailand a much more wealthy country then it was in the 1970's, but is everyone more wealthy and could Thailand be wealthier with a new tourism plan?

Good Sides

• Prosperity for country - There's no denying that Thailand's financial budget will be greater this year than the previous and will continue to grow. Thailand is absorbing more tourists every year, with a great deal of them looking for new ways to have a holiday. Where this money goes, however, may be the difference between a better tourist project next year and a better social project.
• Jobs - Tourism brings jobs - it does - honest. Around 17% of all Thailand residents work in tourism, with the other major figure working in industry. Without tourism, I think Thailand would struggle to keep everyone in a job and many would still be working on a farm, or in a shanty-town.
• Increased Income - Many communities that are directly effected by tourism bring in staggering amounts of profit that can be placed into better ideas for the community. The problem, again, is where this money goes. Will the community pay for better social care and better payment, or a jacuzzi in the heads back garden?

Bad Sides

• We may have touched on this before, obviously, the country is prosperous, but where does that go? Does it go to the hard-workers who are helping tourists everyday, or to mad projects like increased military or more industrial work? When leaders look at their payment, they have a choice: good or prosper. Many chose the prosperous route, leave the good till later, ay?
• Low Pay, Long Hours - While it's not a crime, it's certainly not accepted by most social workers, who are looking for a more equal, decent pay. Many workers are forced into work with large hours and little but scraps. This is not just in tourism, many LEDC's are run by greed-mongering savages that'll stop at nothing to become even more rich than the previous day. They employ thousands at a low cost. Like I said, this isn't just tourism, it's industrial, commercial, farming and any other place that can be exploited.
• Social Deprivation - With low pay and hardly any sleep, workers find themselves not being able to communicate properly; even with family. In a place like Thailand, it's not just one or two that must suffer, in many places, almost everyone is in a tourist operation and very little are getting fair pay and fair time.
• Greed - Once you see opportunity, it's very hard to stop yourself from taking everything. I worry that tourism in Thailand will only get vaster and more destructive, until there's nothing left to make money from. Of course, I may be wrong, many tourist workers have stated they're working hard to make tourism more fair, but is it their place to say how tourism is controlled, when company owners live in supreme luxury accommodation and have no sense for the poor?

The environment is a thing many people don't care about or don't think about in their grand creation of tourism. The fact is, we need our trees and it's cruel to throw animals off where they live. It's also wrong to take away their land, so they're forced to go elsewhere to hunt.

In some places, tribes and villagers have been forced out, to make way for grand National Parks or even, in one country, a casino! It's not only tribes and animals that get effected though, there is even vegetation, farming and the sea that is effects. Farming land has been cut off for tourist projects in Thailand for many years now, and it's only now they're realising the damage that has done.

There are good sides to tourism and environment, although they don't overcome the bad I'm afraid. Tut tut, maybe one day we'll have it all levelled out, before all the environment is levelled out.

Good Sides

• Money, Money, Maintain - When a large amount of strangers appear at your doorstep, least you can do is make a toll to get in. Many countries have done this, you have to pay to get into a park, place, city, preserve, village, etc. The payment goes towards maintaining the place and paying for guarding; maintenance and other necessary things. It may also go towards more adventurous creations, which will again bring more guests in.
• Eco-tourism - You won't get to see an indigenous tribe in your life, or will you? With eco-tourism, you're provided with an experience into a wonderfully new environment, without exploiting it.

Bad Sides

• Overdoing It - With some countries, they find a good medium which works for the environment and the tourist. Sadly, in most, you find the environment is a slave to the tourists and will do whatever it asks. In many places, the environments are stamped out and new fancy tourist buildings are made, especially close to the sea, where many habitats for animals are.
• Taking away the animals - Animals won't hang around if you build a new complex on their patch, but I doubt it'll be easy for them to move to another environment and hunt for other animals. Even worse, some companies move the animals around the world, to climates and jungles they have no idea how to survive in.
• Vegetation and Reefs - The one thing we forget is our farming land and our sea. The bad thing is, a couple of trips around the Amazon (or in our case, the Indian ocean) in a high-speed boat, and you've corrupted the reef for about 50 years. Farming is like that too, you drive your car across some vegetation land and there'll be no crops growing there for another year.

Social impacts are all about people, life and culture. Does it go to the drain when tourism comes or do people prosper and become closer with both their religion and ways of life? Does life expectancy go up?

Good Sides

• Money, Money and Money - With a huge supply of jobs on offer, everyone is doing better than what they would be without a job in tourism. There was a huge depression in the 50's - 70's, where many couldn't find jobs and lived in squatter places. Now, many have moved up with tourism, with free housing and better pay.
• Embracing Cultures - A huge amount of people can still believe in their chosen religion because tourists have to respect their ways while in their country. In some countries, especially Muslim, many men are outraged by the way women dress. While this is a negative effect, it's going in some way to create equal rights and freedom of women. Many tribes put on local shows for the tourists and make money, to spend on maintaining their lands and forbidding development.

Bad Sides

• Stressed, Low Paid - Yes, I've said this time and time again. So let's make it short, many locals in Thailand dislike tourism because it has made their lives just jobs. They have no other purpose other than to work for prosperity, and they don't even get a good share in this prosperity. Their cultures and life has been thrown out the window, replaced with work and poor standards.
• Communities - With tourism, most everyone is in that job, the community becomes distant from each other, because everyone is working hard just to make enough. In squatter settlements, there's a huge community boost because everyone works for the community and works to make it better.