Essays

• Increased employment due to tourism:

  • Tourism accounts for 330 million formal jobs, representing 10% of global workforce in 2019
  • Between 2015 to 2019, 25% of new jobs were created by tourism
• Income generation due to tourism:

  • In 1980s, the Maldives was one of the poorest countries 
  • Due to tourism, it's economy grew and it now has low poverty rates
• Economy leakage:

  • According to United Nations Environmental Programme, for every 100 USD spent at the tourist destination region, only 5 USD remains in the tourist destination region
• Overdependence on tourism:

  • The Maldives is highly dependent on tourism and suffered a 4% decrease in GDP due to a 7% drop in tourism arrival in 2009
• Cultural preservations:

  • Shadow puppetry is an important art form as it passes down history and traditions
  • Innovations such as using VR to watch these shows revitalised the art form when tourist showed interest in the art form
• Enhancing cultural ecosystem services:

  • San Jing Yuan National park in China draws in tourist due to rare sighting of snow leopards
  • Tourist can stay with locals under community based tourism
  • This allows people to enjoy the scenery of the park and learn about conservation efforts for snow leopards
  • The space could also be used for recreation and buddhist locals can connect spiritually to the mountains and snow leopards sacred to them
• Commodification of culture:

  • Many national parks of Kenya have traditional homes of African tribe Maasai
  • Tour companies may bring tourist to such places for tourist to interact with locals
  • However, these interactions are often highly exaggerated and not meaningful for tourist, making tourist unsatisfied
• Culture clashes: 

  • Locals did not wish for tourist to return to Hawaii since the tourist do not respect their culture and do not follow safety guidelines
• Rise in crime: 

  • Tour bus in Spain were attacked by anti tourist protestors in 2017
  • Tyres were punctured and the bus had anti tourism graffiti on it
• Interaction between locals and tourist:

  • Thailand long neck women village which tourist have to pay to enter and tourist will take pictures with them without permission 
  • Some villagers are happy to wear the rings while other felt exploited  
• Conservation of natural environment:

  • Galapagos National park in Ecuador charges an entrance fee of $100
  • The revenue generated is used for conservation and general upkeep of the park such as the hiring of park rangers
• Restoration of degraded ecosystems: 

  • Coral reefs in Mauritius and Seychelles islands are damaged by overfishing and unsustainable fishing practises 
  • Regional projects set up by UN development fund restores coral ecosystems
• Improper waste disposal:

  • People leave trash on Mount Everest 
  • On the Boracay islands on the Philippines, 200 local accommodations are not connected to sewage lines and directly dump sewage into the sea, causing degradation in water 
• Depletion of natural resources:

  • In Bali, Indonesia, 3 million litres of water is drawn everyday from public water supply to support hotels
  • This causes the rivers to dry up, there is less water for locals and other species
  • The water prices increases and agriculture is less profitable, causing farmers to get less income
• Threat to wildlife habitats:

  • Building of large scale facilities in the Maldives threaten the coastal environment as rock and sand is dumped into the sea, suffocating the locals
  • Big coral is observed to be lacking near resorts and animals dependent on coral lose their habitat and source of food 
• Soil liquefaction:

  • 2010-2011 Christchurch New Zealand 
  • Triggered severe soil liquefaction as the city use to lie on a former swamp area where the soil is loose and saturated 
  • More than 60 000 residential buildings and infrastructure buried
  • Liquefied soil entered river together with untreated sewage, polluting the river, reducing species like caddisflies 
• Landslides:

  • 2018 Papua New Guinea earthquake caused a landslide that caused huge amounts of debris to enter rivers
  • Debris also destroyed forest, polluted rivers and killed fish
• Tsunami: 

  • 2011 Tohoku Japan earthquakes caused a Tsunami 40 metres in height that destroyed homes and brought large amounts of debris inland, polluting the environment
  • 70 000 pine trees were knocked down and 100 000 albatross were killed, reducing biodiversity
• Tephra:

  • 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption caused Ash emitted to bury 180 km^2 of forest and destroyed 800 km^2 of rice fields
  • Several airports also closed and flights were cancelled
• Volcanic gases:

  • Dieng eruption in Indonesia in 1979 erupted and released deadly amounts of carbon dioxide that killed 150 people 
• Lava flow:

  • 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii released large amounts of lava
  • Lava destroyed more than 600 homes and destroyed huge areas of forest and ecosystems 
  • Telephone lines and power lines were also destroyed
• Pyroclastic flow:

  • 2010 Merapi eruption in Indonesia killed 350 people due to burns and injuries
  • Huge areas of forest were also burnt
• Lahars:

  • 1985 Nevado Del Ruiz volcano eruption caused fast moving lahars that buried 20 000 people 
  • Rivers was polluted killing many fish
• Volcanic landslides:

  • 1980 St Helens volcano eruption in USA caused a landslide that travelled 23 km from the volcano
  • The landslide destroyed huge amounts of land and killed many wildlife
• Oceanic Oceanic divergence:

  • North American plate and European Plate
  • Creates Mid Atlantic ridge 
• Continental-Continental divergence:

  • Nubian Plate and Somalian plate
  • Forms Great Rift valley and volcanic mountains like Mount Kenya
• Oceanic Oceanic convergence:

  • Pacific Plate and Philippine plate
  • Forms Mariana trench and Mariana Island 
• Continental Continental convergence:

  • Indo-Australian plate and Eurasian Plate
  • Forms Himalayan Mountain range 
• Oceanic continental convergence:

  • Oceanic Nazca plate and Continental South American plate
  • Forms Peru-Chile trench, Andes fold mountain range and Nevado Del Ruiz Volcano
• Transform plate:

  • Pacific plate and North American plate
  • Forms San Andreas Fault in California USA