8. Tourist attractions, environmental damage

1. Do you think tourism damages the environment?

Do you think mass tourism returns little benefit to local communities?

I'm afraid it does. It's a well-known fact that mass tourism puts enormous pressure on an area and leads to a variety of problems such as natural habitat loss, increased air and noise pollution, soil erosion, depletion of local resources and even climate change. What's more, it often puts a strain on water resources as the tourism industry generally overuses water resources for hotels, swimming pools and personal use of water by tourists. One more major problem tourists bring is solid waste and littering as they degrade the physical appearance…

2. What can be done to reduce the impact that international travel makes on the environment?

I may be mistaken, but, in my opinion, it boils down to reducing the carbon footprint made by travellers. So I'm sure that people should travel responsibly in order to reduce their carbon footprint. And the first obvious step to reducing carbon emissions from international travel is to encourage people to fly less 'cause air travel has a greater climate impact per passenger per mile, even over longer distances. So whenever possible, travellers should use other modes of transport, such as taking a train or bus or take longer vacations. Also, travellers should opt for nonstop flights as the biggest amount of a plane's emissions is produced by takeoff and landing. People can fly economy 'cause first class seats take up more space and therefore increase the amount of fuel used per passenger. One more step each person can take is to calculate and offset the carbon footprint created by their trip in order to compensate for the travel footprint. I mean tourists can purchase carbon offset credits equivalent to the amount of emissions they are responsible for. One project might establish a wind farm that generates clean energy, while another may plant trees that absorb carbon emissions.. Also, airlines should focus or reducing emissions from flights. This ca done by recycling all cabin

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