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Describe and Evaluate the Negative Social, Cultural or Environmental Impact Caused by Tourism in a Destination of Your Choice. Analyse the Causes of This Impact and Judge to What Extent Sustainable Tourism Strategies

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Describe and evaluate the negative social, cultural or environmental impact caused by tourism in a destination of your choice. Analyse the causes of this impact and judge to what extent sustainable tourism strategies and methods could eliminate or ameliorate them and thereby secure the long term future of the destination.

The negative effects of tourism are widely publicised in a number of destinations worldwide; however it is often underdeveloped nations that are home to natural wonders of the world which attract huge tourism levels. This is significant as these underdeveloped nations often rely on the tourist industry as a main source of income and therefore a source of economic development. Increasing tourism levels often requires …show more content…

Accessed March 22 2010).

The environmental, cultural impact in the shape of damage to the temples can be explained by the way the tourist experience is consumed in Angkor. The wearing of shoes and touching of the sculptures by millions of tourists is causing huge erosion problems. “We are very concerned by this unprecedented, uncontrolled acceleration, which is damaging the monuments and the local environment.” Teruo Jinnai, UNESCO's top official in Cambodia ( Justine Smith (25th Feb 2007) Tourism invasion threatens to ruin Angkor Wat, The Guardian, Accessed March 23).Passes to the ancient sites are sold in one-day ($20), three-day ($40) and seven-day ($60) blocks, and visiting hours are 5:00am to 6.00pm (Angkor Archaeological Park (n.d) Accessed March 25). Visible damage to the temples has arisen from large numbers of daily visitors or short stays include congestion of facilities in and around the temples. It can be argued that the cause of erosion and damage to the temples lies in economic and political motivation of the Cambodian government to maintain and increase tourist revenue. The consideration of thresholds and carrying capacity could to a great extent reduce such negative impacts as over and consequent negative social and cultural impacts on the Angkor temples. Carrying capacity can be defined as” the maximum number of people who can use a site without an unacceptable alteration in the physical environment and without an

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