International tourism has brought enormous benefit to many places. At the same time, there is concern about its impact on local inhabitants and the environment. Do the disadvantages of international tourism outweigh the advantages?

Tourism

in general accounts for 10.3% of the

world

's Gross Domestic Product or GDP which is set to contribute $250 billion annually by 2030 and will provide 110 million additional jobs. In ASEAN

countries

, their livelihoods are dependent upon

tourism

, as it holds more than 30% of their GDP and fluctuation in tourist inflow will affect their local economies.

Furthermore

, many

countries

are inclined to hold international-level sporting events and socio-economic conferences to improve their soft power and boost their local

tourism

.

Tourism

leads to positive cash inflow into a nation, which in turn

also

funds the infrastructure development of a nation to complement its guests. A downfall to funding

such

growth leads to land acquisition and deforestation,

furthermore

, it affects the local population and environment.

Hence

, it is necessary to discuss both sides of view in

such

a way that it can complement better outcomes in the end. When we think about a country like Thailand, we think about the monks, the monasteries and the Buddha. Due to the high inflow of

tourism

in the

last

two decades, the rise of prostitution and drug addiction is so severe that 3 out of 4 monks are high with Crystal-meth and cases of AIDS are all-time high in Bangkok. Recently, high tourist incursions addled with densely populated devotees in a 1000-year-old monastery caused its plinth and foundations to fail.

Furthermore

, the increase in construction of the international hotel chains in reserved forest areas had caused demonstrations in the municipal corporations by the local communities. Going far west, Qatar, an oil-producing nation recently held the FIFA

world

cup 2022 in its capital city of Doha. Being unfit for agriculture and

tourism

, winning a bid for hosting the

world

cup in 2013 and having built infrastructure in the most economic and sustainable way. Beams and columns used to build stadiums are precasted and can be removed easily and exported whenever required. Reforestation near pavements and rainwater harvesting approach has been implemented at each and every infrastructure. At the

world

cup event, tourists from 190

countries

come to support their home teams and the government managed the event efficiently with the help of cloud computing. In the case of Qatar, one can excel in the

tourism

business by implementing new technologies; meanwhile, Thailand, being a most favourable tourist attraction due to its culture and tradition had been degraded through improper intervention by their authorities.

Hence

, while discussing case studies of both

countries

, we concur that through better governance and better optimisation of local resources,

tourism

industries can be run successfully without impacting the environment.

Finally

, a most important role is played by the authorities and the policymakers, as to optimise their regulations in

such

a way that it compliments the hospitality sector and

furthermore

, helps the local population to live in harmony and its environment.