Tourism can be viewed in to aspects, either as the exercise of travelling for relaxation and leisure or as the business of giving tours as well as tourist services. It has been noted by Cindy (109) that Americans travel to varied places for different reasons. Some American travel for pleasure whereas others travel in search of improved health, others travel to look for social opportunities. Moreover others travel to get a glimpse of the beautiful sceneries. Tourism as an activity contributes significantly to the US economy, it influence the American culture along with being an integral part of the society. Tourism has been boosted by the improved transportation, increased want to take a break from the pressures of life, national pride and the ever growing economy.
Though tourism has wonderful contribution to the society, culture and the American economy it has been noted that to a wider extent it also has detrimental effects to the society. It has been studied by Cindy (97) that tourism as an activity can lead to massive pressure on the locally available resources which are limited in supply such as energy, food and useful raw materials. Continued extraction of these local resources worsens the physical impacts that have been identified to occur with the use and exploitation of these resources. In fact it has been proven that during high seasons, tourism put a lot of demand on these resources due to high expectations that most tourist have. For instance, many of them will want proper heating, hot water and things of that kind.
Contribution of tourism on land degradation can not be ignored any further. With annual increase in tourism, there has been an upward trend of increased construction of the tourism facilities along with the recreational facilities. These have exacerbated the exploitation of land resources particularly wildlife, forests, minerals, fossil fuels, wetland and fertile soils. In addition to land degradation, contribution of tourism in air pollution, solid waste, noise, visual and chemical pollution has been noted in the recent past (Cindy 131).
Preservation of the scenic beauty has evolved overtime. Indeed it is true for sure that the present natural sceneries are the results of the activities of the environmentalists who have struggled with the pursuit of preservation. The American Scenic and Historic Preservation have ensured that the natural beauties are protected for the future generation. In return, today we can boast of urban centers full of collection of a memorable infrastructure of preserved structures and houses, public arts, natural parks and historic monuments. Thus in doing this they have managed to create a collective memory which enhances citizenry. The efforts by the government of the United States to enhance preservation has also yielded lots of fruits because it has managed to protect flora and fauna, especially migratory birds from becoming extinct. The state has also succeeded in preserving sublime sceneries, regions and objects with remarkable value or scientific importance (Marguerite 1939).
Native Prairies Association of Texas has enabled land owners to preserve their prairie and yet still maintain their land on private tenure. In fact this has prompted some people to donate their land to NPAT for prairie protection forever. The lands that are given to NPAT for prairie preservation are taken care of permanently to ensure complete preservation of prairie, native plants and wildlife (Marguarite 1888).
Works cited
Cindy, S. Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Marguerite, S. See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880–1940. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001.
