Prompt: Some people say that tourism has many negative effects on the countries that people travel to. How true is this statement? What can tourists do to reduce the harmful effects of tourism on local cultures and environments?

Tourism brings both posiitive and negative impacts in several sectors, particularly in socio-culture. Some people argue that demerits outweigh the merits. However, government and individuals have to solve this controversial issue. Ċ In term of problems, especially in socio-culture, it is true that harmful impacts can be occured. First of all, local people could feel unrespected since some tourists often do not appreciate their moral values and customs. Secondly, tourism could turn the fungtion of traditional religious ritual, for instance Bali's culture Tari Kecak (Kecak Dance) which is originally only performed on special religious ritual, now can be performed on a daily occasions. Furthermore, tourist destinations could be a center of crime or other activities which are possibly illegal such as illegal trade. Ċ Regard to solutions, I believe both society and government can work together to offer and apply some solutions. We can copycat a Palestinian peace builder Aziz Abu Sarah's notion, that utilize tourism as extraordinary way to approache peace-keeping, besides by media and education as well. He realizes that tourism is the perfect medium to get people connected each other and build friendships so that he established Mejdi Tours in 2009, a social enterprise which have successfully turned the misunderstanding often occurs between religions to good views. Trough this, he shows how simple interactions among people in different cultures can erode decades of hate. In addition to this, government should be responsible to make strict and clear regulations regard to tourism in order to minimize the adverse effects that may occur. Ċ Therefore, it is clear that tourism can cause some problems in socio-culture due to its bad influence. But if governments and community share a beneficial mutualism to make solutions applied properly, the disadvantages could be reduced. And they can focus to develop turism due to many benefits which could be gained.