The costs of international travel are decreasing and tourism is growing. Do you believe that the advantages of increasing tourism outweigh its disadvantages?

Thanks to the advances in global travelling,

people

nowadays can spend lesser money going abroad than before, which leads to a boom in the

tourism

industry.

Although

this

trend may raise environmental problems, it will

also

help local

people

who are on low incomes. In my opinion, the poor will be better off having more tourists from overseas despite the environmental challenges that

people

will face. The greatest benefit of having a prosperous

tourism

industry is that the living standard of

people

who live below the poverty line can be improved, which would have been

otherwise

impossible if tourists had not come.

This

is because they do not possess special skills that are required for a decent job but can only sell their service or handicrafts to their customers.

For example

, there are only two main sources of income in Sri Lanka, namely the tea industry and

tourism

. If global

tourism

is decreasing, it is not difficult to imagine that half of them will lose their jobs, which will greatly impact their lives.

However

, the main challenge that low-cost travelling will pose is environmental problems due to the fact that it encourages more travellers to go overseas, which

further

increases the usage of flights and local transportation.

As a result

, it greatly exacerbates the deterioration of air pollution.

For instance

, scientists from World Health Organization have proved that the air quality, no matter in which country, is inversely proportional to how frequently cars and flights are used. In conclusion, travelling between countries is becoming cheaper which accelerates the growth of

tourism

. While individuals will no doubt face some environmental problems brought by flourishing

tourism

, it is of utmost importance that poor

people

's living standards can be improved. From my point of view, a lower cost in international travel makes

people

's lives more advantageous than disadvantageous.