Warm beaches, sparkling ocean water, palm trees swaying in the wind: the life of a tourist is full of beauty. Tourism has always been popular, and for good reason. Tourism enables travelers to explore a new culture, climate and more. For those who have the access and money to travel, booking that trip is an easy choice. The governments in these vacation spots, in turn, continue to pander towards tourism, despite various concerns from locals about rude tourists or other issues.
The main reason countries promote tourism is for money, as the average tourist in the U.S. spends around $1,800 to 2,000 for a week-long trip. This cost begins to multiply when accounting for larger travel groups or longer trips. The money then goes on to fund the local restaurant, hotel and entertainment industries.
Due to these prices, governments and large companies significantly benefit and profit from large amounts of tourists, often disregarding the state of their own nation and instead prioritizing tourism revenue. For example, the city of Los Angeles has recently been dealing with floods of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and chaos among its streets, possibly the worst hand dealt among all American cities regarding the recent outburst of immigration control. Despite this, the government of Los Angeles launched its “LA is Open” Campaign, in hopes of promoting tourism.
Tourism’s impact on the locals and land of a location can perhaps be seen most clearly in Hawaii. As a result of the over 9 million tourists Hawaii receives each year, the state’s cost of living has skyrocketed to being among the highest in the nation. To capture tourism demand, large hotel chains are pitted against each other in a race for land. In doing so, prices of housing rose, allowing for richer tourists to purchase land while locals are pushed out of housing opportunities. While tourists are only forced to tackle these high costs for the duration of their trip, locals must manage them indefinitely.
Consequently, Hawaiian natives have been forced to leave their country as it is unaffordable. Hawai’i has become almost comparable to the prices of California, who is first in regional price parities among all 50 states. According to the Health resources and Services Administration, prices in Hawai’i were 13% above the U.S. average. With Hawaii now in third on the list behind New Jersey, Hawaiian locals have started to move to more affordable places to live. As of 2020, less than half of the population of Native Hawaiians or any combination resides in Hawaii due mainly to high housing prices and high cost of living. The effect of high prices goes beyond where one resides: 29% of SNAP benefit users reported to be either fully or partially native Hawaiian.
For many citizens of popular travel destinations, it seems as if their relationship with tourists is unbalanced and never ending. These locations have become extremely reliant on tourism, with Hawaii having 17 to 23% of their state’s GDP coming from tourism and visitor spending. Although this is nowhere close to normal for the wide majority of countries and cities, many are in a similar situation. Just like Hawai’i, the city of Las Vegas is highly invested in tourism, with over 250 hotels —, a similar number to San Francisco — and an economy that panders to tourism.
“Tourism can benefit the economic situation of an area, and some tourist spots can be really heavily reliant on that tourism,” said senior V Galstan.
Although large brands take away from smaller businesses, they do provide thousands of jobs within hotels, airlines, and more, giving money back to the community. Because there are many different brands associated with travel in popular destinations, jobs become easier to acquire. Money is dispersed among citizens, boosting the economy.
While the reactions of those who experience it may differ, the behavior of tourists usually doesn’t. Boundaries and normalities change depending on location, but many disrespectful behaviors affect places negatively. Some of these behaviors include not having proper etiquette and manners, choosing to support large hotels and large chain restaurants instead of locally owned businesses, blocking walkways or paths and leaving behind a mess.
“You obviously need to research the country you’re going to and not just go in and not know cultural expectations,” Galstan said. “You can’t just assume that everything is going to be the same as your home country.”
More travelers are beginning to not only travel, but learn as they traverse the world. For people who appreciate history-rich destinations, learning about culture certainly helps, and for those who seek to better understand the community in the place they’re visiting, knowing at least the basics of the language can aid in connection.
As a result of an increasing amount of tourists that are learning to visit countries more respectfully, more citizens and natives are accepting them. However, citizens in Barcelona have reacted differently. Protests, signs and graffiti express the hatred of tourism in Barcelona, with crowds of protesters spreading a similar message that tourists are not welcome in Barcelona. While media coverage of Barcelona’s retaliation often portrays citizens in a violent light, the general message is similar to what Hawaiian natives have been stating for years.
As tourism continues its rigorous cycle of benefit and pain, two things become clear: while tourism has the potential to leave lasting negative impacts on nations, it introduces travelers to new cultures and experience, and in turn helps people become less close-minded. While tourism can be viewed differently by different people, it’s an integral industry for many locations, despite its ramifications.
