Does tourism do more harm than good?

I am feeling more than a little hypocritical for arguing the case in any way against tourism. Since I was fifteen years of age wanderlust has been stuck to the soles of my shoes and I hope to continue travelling for as long as the good Lord gives me the health to do so.Transient people have been good for my pocket as well, as much of my business success had to do with the area of tourism.Now for the case against, taking account of the common good. All things on this planet are governed by balances and counter-balances and there is a price to be paid for everything and this includes tourism. Let this column be the Devil's advocate by pointing out how we would all be better off without mass hordes of tourists drifting back and forth across the earth. For a start, air travel currently accounts for close to 10 per cebt of the UK's CO2 emissions and is rising rapidly. The obvious benefit of tourism around the Mediterranean is clear for all to see and I have watched a lot of it grow first-hand. But there is a price to pay big time for the environment for a start: a hundred golf courses, for example, use as much water as a city of 1.25 million people and most experts argue this is not sustainable for very much longer.Further afield, tourism is now flourishing in remote poor areas we had never heard of until twenty years ago. I have met locals who are happy to work incredibly long hours for as little as €100 per month and those who say that this is better than the way they were do have a point; but, the host country tends to benefit little as it is foreign all-inclusive package tour operators who grab 80% of the holiday cost. Most of the 20% spent in the area is for imported brands of food and drink familiar to the purchaser.Tourism pushes up prices, not only in poor countries, but we have seen it here in Ireland over the years. I give you Salthill, for example. Local people at home find it more difficult to buy or rent houses in tourist areas, because the price has been pushed up by rich outsiders wanting a holiday home. Then when a region becomes too reliant on tourism for its economic survival it faces severe problems the year the tourist doesn't turn up. I think Blackpool has been regenerated in recent years, but I remember being there fifteen years ago and even then I couldn't believe the devastation caused by the British people switching to their two weeks a year in Benidorm and Santa Ponsa, instead of their traditional sea-side resorts: rows of derelict hotels and decaying buildings along the deserted sea front.More permanent damage is caused to the great outdoors than to cities by tourism. Whether it is here in Ireland or elsewhere across the globe, mass tourism is continuing to do irreversible harm to ancient sites and to the natural habitat of flora and fauna. Visitors clog up the roads and push services in intensive tourist areas to buckling point.Very often there is not all that much fun for families going on a package holiday. Study parents with children at airports; arguments, shouting and stress, stress, stress. A lot of this goes on during the holiday but all are conditioned to arrive home with the photos and tell family and friends about the great time they enjoyed and all the unusual places they "discovered".A good holiday mode is a state of mind which could be acquired at home for a more relaxing, less expensive experience and without the stress. You could sleep in your own bed every night and head off each morning to do something enjoyable that day. Adopt the same frame of mind to your own area as you would at the other end of a plane journey. There is just as much to see and do that you have never seen or done before. If you want to add more of the holiday spirit, stay in a hotel by all means. Use the leisure facilities and behave like a tourist. There hasn't been better value in Irish hotels for a very long time; and don't be shy about looking for recession discount. If a lot more people holidayed in their own country they would be leaving their money among their own people and fighting this depression in a practical manner. Last year, for the first time, Irish people travelling abroad exceeded the number of tourists visiting our country. Irish people made more than 7.8 million overseas trips and spent around €7 billion in the process. The bulk of these trips were for holiday and leisure activities. I know … I know … all this rain makes it a bad time to make this argument, but I have been heard saying; "I can't wait to get home to feel rain on my face!"Open your eyes to all there is to see and do in Ireland. It is only when I show visitors around that I recognise all we have through someone else's eyes; or when I visit my daughter in Westport and see the riches of relaxation and entertainment which The West has to offer. The weather won't be as predictable as Spain, but when the sun does shine in Ireland there is no better place to be. We have some of the best golf courses in the world (mostly watered by nature!) so why need thousands get on a plane with sets of golf clubs?There are music festivals, race meetings, regattas, concerts and sporting events within a short drive every week. You will find a pub with nightly music within a high note of wherever you are; music to suit all tastes, like old-time in a small pub from the likes of the multi-talented Pat Harris and son, to heaving discos with a live-wire DJ at the local night spot. If all that isn't enough look at the paper and you will find an internationally renowned singer performing in Dublin, Castlebar, or Mullingar. And you won't have a language barrier … unless perhaps if you go to The Opera House in Cork or the like …!Don't ForgetA tourist is a person who travels a few thousand miles just to get a snapshot of himself doing nothing.