First of all this text makes it look like that only or mainly women are affected by mass tourism which is certainly not true. Everyone in the country is somehow affected by tourism, even if it is not directly. For example a farmer somewhere in the middle of nowhere might never have heard about any big tourist destination hundreds of miles from his farm. But the milk which is produced on his farm might be delivered to this destination and he gets money for it. Because of tourism there are new jobs in third world countries which in my opinion are almost always better than working in a big factory. Of course tourism could have negative impact too for example on the environment or even on the local people. An example for that is sex tourism and this is certainly something that especially concerns women. I also do not think that mass tourism only concerns third world countries. Austria is one of the 10 richest countries in the world and tourism is a very big part of our economy. A lot of effort goes into marketing campaigns in order to get people to come to Austria for a vacation.
I completely can relate to the topic of women and travelling. I love to travel and since my field of studies requires some travelling I have the chance to see at least some parts of the world. My grandma for example doesn’t like these circumstances very much. In her opinion a girl should stay home instead of travelling to god knows where especially alone. I think that it is important to travel in order to see other countries and cultures and to learn from them.
November 23, 2009 at 9:01 pm |
Magdalena: You make a great point about tourism not only being something that affects so-called “third world” countries. My on New York City is often over-run with tourists! Unfortunately, the underpaid and often abused women (and men) working in the tourist industry also exist everywhere! As we’ve read, too, the women working in tourism are often behind-the-scenes, where they are far less likely to get the tips that make up the majority of men’s earnings in the field.