RR Tourism by Huiying

  Firstly, I agree with the writer on the point raised about how mass tourism threatens to destroy a country's environment. With tourism, a country is greatly benefitted economically. Hence, if a country would like to continue to prosper through tourism, there is a need for the country to provide facilities and services such as hotels, tourist attractions or they would need to further develop their transport infrastructure in order to cater to the needs of tourists. The provision of such facilities cause a depletion in natural resources as well as land degradation, where wildlife, forests and wetland are affected. The writer states that in Philippines, "when coastal areas are converted into beach resorts, mangrove areas and corals that serve as fish sanctuaries are damaged or even completely removed". Tourism also worsens the air quality as the writer also states that in the Philippines, "carbon emissions and air pollution also significantly increase, as more air and land-based vehicles are needed to transport tourists from one destination to another." In Singapore, tourism has also affected our environment as it worsened the depletion of our water resources. As of 2014, Singapore had 392 hotels and if each hotel uses an average of 21, 537 gallons of water per day, it is obvious that a lot of our water is pumped into these hotels and there is a possibility of Singapore facing water scarcity in the future. Therefore, with the problems that arise due to tourism, I believe that tourism brings about many harmful effects on a country's environment.