Prompt: Some people believe that tourism promotes the economy while other argue that tourism destroy the environment. Discuss both views.

Tourism proponents believe that promoting tourism is an effective way to boost the economy of a country, whereas others focus on the point that tourism involves directly to the environmental concerns, opposing the idea of developing tourism. From a neutral perspective, tourism is actually capable of having both positive and negative influences. Ċ On the one hand, financial merits that tourism brings are massive. Let us take Thailand as a typical example. As reported on Thailandnews.com on 24 January in 2019, the industry was a major contributor to the country's economy, accounting for about 5,65 percent (or 5,6 billion dollars) of the gross domestic product (GDP). Not only that, tourism was also one of Thailand's largest sectors of employment, creating jobs for over 4 million people in the year. Amidst Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, great lack of tourists, leading to the rate of unemployment increasing, seemed to be one of the reasons of social unrest, many protests in the country. Ċ On the other hand, tourism, as other human activities, poses a great threat to the environment. As the industry develops, many hotels and restaurants are constructed to meet travelers' demands. This activity not only leads to depleting of natural resources, but also sabotages the fauna and flora by reason of the need of land. Secondly, tourists often have a penchant for over-consumption in their indulgent moments when travelling. This means they are more likely to consume more products and then dispose more waste such as food and plastic containers, increasing their carbon footprint and affecting negatively the surroundings. Ċ In sum, tourism is advantageous yet disadvantageous since simultaneously it brings economic development and the environmental problems. (275)