RR Tourism by Tan Han Yu

I agree with the writer that mass tourism threatens to destroy a country's natural environment. Large areas of land, usually forested areas or coastal areas where there is a rich diversity of flora and fauna, have to be cleared in order to make way for the hotels, theme parks, tourist attractions, to accommodate the tourists. In the passage, the writer stated "When coastal areas are converted into beach resorts, mangrove areas and corals that serve as fish sanctuaries are damaged or even completely removed." This shows that in order to make way for the needs of the tourists, it has an adverse impact on biodiversity, clearing the mangrove trees, the corals. The animals living in these environments will also be affected. As the corals are cleared, the fishes will not be able to survive due to the unsuitable conditions, and thus, might lead to the extinction of species. In Singapore, the mangrove forest cover has been reduced from an estimated 13% in the 1820's to only 0.5% of the total land area. Most of the forested areas in Singapore are being cleared due to urbanisation, for the building of hotels, shopping malls to attract tourists. This can lead to loss of many different species of both plants and animals. Thus, I agree with the writer that tourism threatens a county's natural environment.