Social Impacts of Tourism

1493 Words6 Pages
1. Introduction Tourism is defined as the process in which people temporarily move or travel to destinations outside their environment in which they work and reside and undertake activities that are made to facilitate their stays (Mathieson and Wall, 1982). The tourism industry is considered as the most rapidly growing industry in the world and many nations’ economies are adapting the best strategies to improve this sector. Tourism definitely contributes to any country’s economy and is considered as a lifesaver as it contributes to increase the local community’s income as well as engaging them in participation in the development of tourism. Furthermore, Labello (2000), has stated that, community based tourism should somehow offer a form of benefit to the local communities that are not directly involved in the tourism practice through different means such as providing education and infrastructure. Like any other sector in the world, tourism affects local communities at destinations, and the affects of tourism could be positive or negative according to the destination’s traditions, culture, heritage and the type of tourism destinations attract or adapt. Since tourism is rapidly growing worldwide, the concerns about tourism developments as a leading factor to the loss of culture identity has been raised as local communities strive to cater tourist’s demands. As culture, traditions and lifestyle differ from a country to another; tourists from highly developed and modern countries ten to experience other countries where there are isolated and/or exotic destinations and communities that are still living in an unspoiled environments. In this paper we identify some of the positive and negative impacts of tourism in Socotra Island. 2. Socotra Archipelago The Socotra archipelago consists of four islands and Socotra Island is
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