Ecotourism

I am torn over this idea of eco-tourism and the benefits of traveling to the detriments traveling have on the environment. While yes, it is more beneficial for the environment for people to not travel on planes. I think that if people did not travel, especially to the south, ignorance of environmental degradation and world conflicts would be especially prominent. When a person travels to the South, they experience poverty and environmental degradation. They experience the culture and they see what their impact is on the country. I think this eye-opening knowledge is beneficial and should be protected. If we created detriments to traveling, like taxes on traveling, I think it could really harm the environment. People get invested in places after they have visited. Like if a traveler goes to Brazil and sees the Amazon forest, I think a traveler would be more invested to protect the Amazons after that experience.

I just feel like Americans are so ignorant about so much that is occurring around the world, that if we put taxes on traveling it could cause more people to not travel. I think traveling is essential to get Americans to broaden and learn about the world. I think traveling is an excellent way to inform people about different problems around the world. However I do wonder if tourists are willing to learn about local political issues when they travel, or if they prefer to lay out on the beach instead.

At the same time I feel like eco-tourism is an important problem. Many people go to different countries and waste so many resources to have their elegant hotels. The waste at hotels and planes high fossil fuel consumption does create a strong environmental impact. Tourist should have to address their wasteful habits and pay something towards their environmental impact. So I guess even though I believe that we must encourage traveling, if you are producing large amounts of waste, you should have to address this. I do believe that if a person is traveling for educational reasons, like studying abroad or grant projects, that we should not make them pay any additional taxes for their travel waste. I think that if a person is traveling for educational purposes than we must encourage that over the environmental impact.

-Tracey Swan