Undesirable impacts of tourism

Tourism has grown to become one of the major contributing factors to the world economy. No country can resist the lure of financial benefits brought in by the tourism sector. Various governments across the globe try to promote this sector and thus to enhance their economic growth rate.

But at the same time, many of the tourism elements create harmful effects on nature. For example, the Vembanadu Lake, which was once home for different species of fishes, has been polluted now and it endangers the existence of fish species.

Many studies had been conducted to analyse the reason behind the sudden disappearance of some fish species and they all concluded that the houseboats and other tourism related factors posed a threat to the habitat of these fishes. (With the rise in tourism, the demand for houseboat rides through Vembanadu Lake increased manifold. But the houseboats failed to carry out a proper waste management which in turn polluted the lake, various studies reveal. The hotels, resorts and restaurants set up on the banks of Vembanadu Lake cater to the requirements of the tourists, but they also used to deposit the waste materials in the lake.)

Now the Government has interfered and issued some norms on waste management, which is expected to prevent the water and soil pollution to an extent.

But, don’t imagine that all the resorts and hotels create pollution. If you have ever visited any well-managed kerala ayurvedic resort, you can feel the eco-friendly ambience there and such resorts normally do not create much harm to the environment.