Considered as smokeless industry,tourism nowadays becomes the leading industry in the tertiary industry with the relative abundant of material and the corresponding development of people’s living standard.However,when Fairytale Jiuzhai Valley suffers from the premature decay of its karst lake,when Huangshan Mountain are spread all over by litters,when zhouzhuang becomes the typical negative example of over tourism development leading to constructive destruction,we have to think twice about the affect tourism exerting on environment.
First of all,tourism,as an immeasurable model to bring profits,is of significance to the environment.On an island such as Madeira,tourism is,to quote the European Union's European Employment Service,“the regional economy's principal motor and greatest source of revenue”,even beyond its hotels.Without the tourists,Madeira's wine and embroidery industries would suffer,as would the island's 2,000 wicker weavers (it is tourists who mostly buy their work).This in turn would affect the landscape – another of the island's attractions – for there would be no industry left to steward the willows and eucalyptus,neither of which are indigenous and which would begin to encroach and in time destroy the Laurissilva forest that has been there more than 10,000 years.Thus,we are informed that the money tourism gains are of great help to environment preservation.
Crucial continuing is the point that improper tourism would be the hazard to the environment.Excessive tourism would not only cause the air pollution,water pollution and solid waste which jeopardize local residents and tourists,but also result in an inappropriate use of local flora and fauna resources,leading to the ecological structural imbalance.Not to mention the disturbance to the local living environment and the imperilment to the tourism environment including Cultural Relics and Historic Sites recourses.According to the statistics,there are already 44% of our tourism zones are encountered with the garbage pollution,12% are struggling against water pollution,noise pollution occurs in 11%,air pollution are invading 3%.
Taking all this factors into consideration,tourism can be a good model for nature conservation and economic development if it is managed with the well-being of local ecosystems and human communities in a moderate way.Bring financial sources to local nature conservation,tourism can be a supporter but foe to the environment.