GLOBAL ISSUES FACING THE EARTH TODAY 4
GlobalIssue Facing the Earth today
Globalissue facing the Earth affecting the Tourism Industry
Theworld faces an array of problems that affect the overall social,economic, cultural and political stability of human beings. Theseissues range in different contexts across various spheres. The world,for instance, is grappling with terrorism, depletion of naturalresources rising poverty levels, income inequalities in addition toclimate change (Tarlow, 2016). This paper argues that climate changeis a predominant challenge facing the tourism industry.
Climatechange is perhaps the biggest issue the world has to contend withbased on its overall impact. The climate is an essential tourismresource. It is important and necessary especially for the beach,nature and winter sports tourism (Tarlow, 2016).
Thechanging climatic and weather patterns in tour destinations present achallenge in the industry based on the fact that it affects thecomfort of tourists, their decisions, and preferences. Climate changehas a devastating impact on humanity as the United NationsEnvironmental Program (UNEP) projects that close to two hundredmillion people will be either displaced or forced to leave theirhomes. This is primarily due to environmental changes anticipated bythe year 2050 (Baehr, 2014). Furthermore, it is estimated that overeight percent of the world’s population will experience waterscarcity by 2100. These effects, therefore, will not only bedetrimental to locals but will also prove to be a disaster to mosttourists. In essence, water scarcity and displacement will imply thattourists cannot visit these areas. In both the small island nationsand the developing world where tourism forms the backbone of someeconomies, any significant reduction in tourist arrivals will lead toa significant increase in the rate of unemployment (Copernicus,2016). Eventually, the economies of these nations decline and giverise to poverty levels.
Inconclusion, the world needs to come up with innovative solutionsaimed at testing global warming. A commitment by industrializedcountries designed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, forinstance, is one of the most practical solutions to the problem(Tarlow, 2016). Additionally, going for green energy sources willreduce the emission levels to an acceptable degree. The initiatives,therefore, ensures that climate change does not become disastrous tothe industry.
References
Baehr,L. (2014). 22Devastating Effects of Climate Change.Accessed on January 11, 2017
From<http://www.businessinsider.com/effects-of-climate-change-2014-6>
Copernicus(2016). ClimateChange Impact on Tourism. Accessedon January 11,
2017,from<https://climate.copernicus.eu/resources/information-service/climate-change-impact-tourism>
Tarlow,P.E. (2016). Issuesfacing the travel and tourism industry.Accessed on January
11,2017, from<http://www.eturbonews.com/69020/issues-facing-travel-and-tourism-industry>