Tourism is a modern form of colonialism. It distorts local economies, causes environmental damage and ruins the places it exploits. To what extent would you support or reject this idea?

 Tourism is a modern form of colonialism. It distorts local economies, causes environmental damage and ruins the places it exploits. To what extent would you support or reject this idea?

Although the tourism industry is booming, it has invited flak from various quarters asserting that it is destroying local economies and the places of tourist interest, and is regarded as imperialism.

To start with, no parallels can be drawn between the two since imperialism was all about slavery and exploitation, while this activity opens windows for bringing people from different corners of the globe together, helping to create exchange of different perspectives and ideas; thus, creating harmony and appreciating diversity. Along with this, the platform helps in building the global economy: churning out business worth billions and employment for millions. To corroborate, a study conducted by the Tourism Board of India indicated that the industry has offered 40% jobs in hotels, travel agencies and taxi businesses and is anticipated to further rise to 68% by 2040. Moreover, governments generate revenues, mostly, in the form of invaluable foreign exchange, a part of which is also used for the upkeep of tourist places, infrastructure and transportation.

Having said that, despite being unfounded, the skeptics assert the ramifications of growing tourism on environment, local trade and tourist spots: visitors tend to overuse or overexploit the natural resources; expansion of carbon footprint due to greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and improper disposal of trash. Also, they tend to cause accidental offenses, for instance, wearing an inappropriate dress in temples, leads tourists to become a subject of wrath of natives. Above all, the locals tend to abandon their traditional occupations to be  a part of tourism and become vulnerable to seasonal unemployment. 

In hindsight, I completely fail to subscribe to the idea that the activity is colonizing and pernicious to nature and tourist spots; rather, it is offering humongous benefits: enhancing the GDP and diversity.