News, Travelling & Culture: The Impact Of Tourism

Oops! I did it again!
Image from SCMP

This article has been sitting in my draft for a very long time, and since the negative impact of tourism has once become a hot topic in Hong Kong / worldwide, it is time to have this article posted.

So we know Hong Kong's top-level government officials, their actions matters to them because good 'performance' now means a fine CV for their next job. Their current jobs are just stepping stones to a much brighter future.

The tearless sob -- the Rotten Tomatoes award scene
Image form SCMP

To perform well, sometimes they have to publicise their opinions, often going against people's wish. Take Greg So (above) for instance, first his poor tearless crying act for the downsizing of HKTV, then his call for tolerance to carefree street-defecating mainland visitors, which in turn called for the "10,000 people to poo" outside his Mid-Levels residence and stool samples mailed to his home. He will not like it for sure now, but his future career is bound to be brighter than ever!

Protesters pretended to defecate and urinate outside the home of
secretary for commerce and economic development Greg So Kam-leung
Image and caption from SCMP

But let's take a look at the bigger picture now, how is tourism benefiting the countries and disrupting the locals? Here are 4 stories : Australia, Thailand, Bali and the Maldives, the first one from CCTV, second and third from BBC, and the last from Al Jazeera English.

(Embedding failed, please refer to http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/20130216/101704.shtml for the first video)

Ecotourism is good, others, I'm not so sure.


Vocabulary:
Rotten Tomatoes -- (n) a website launched in 1998 and devoted to film reviews and news and information about films; it is widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes or vegetables when disapproving a poor stage performance.
tolerance -- (n)[U]  (formal toleration) willingness to accept behaviour and beliefs that are different from your own, although you might not agree with or approve of them:
street-defecating -- (adj) to poop on the streets
ecotourism -- (n)  a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial (mass) tourism. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, to directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for different cultures and for human rights.


Resources:

News & Opinions: HKTV and the Hong Kong People @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/10/news-opinions-hktv-and-hong-kong-people.html

'Human faeces' sent in post to Greg So after he calls for tolerance of mainlanders @ SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1507054/parcels-faeces-sent-commerce-secretary-greg-so

Mind your pees and poos, So told @ The Standard
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=21&art_id=145068&sid=42199468&con_type=1&d_str=20140505&isSearch=1&sear_year=2014

takes rise in poo row as So foes play dirty @ The Standard
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=145163&sid=42219462&con_type=3&d_str=20140508&isSearch=1&sear_year=2014

Thailand, Australia enjoy boom in Chinese tourists @ CNTV
http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/20130216/101704.shtml

Thailand is set for a boom in tourists from China @ BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/19388449

Is tourism killing the real Bali? @ BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015w5br

Maldives 'trashing' an island @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1LD-5aKK20

Rotten Tomatoes @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

Ecotourism @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/tolerance_1?q=tolerance+