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The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism
William Morrow
May 2013
On Sale: April 16, 2013
ISBN: 1439160996
EAN: 9781439160992
Kindle: B008J4B4YK
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
Tourism, fast becoming the largest global business, employs
one out of twelve persons and produces $6.5 trillion of the
world’s economy. In a groundbreaking book, Elizabeth Becker
uncovers how what was once a hobby has become a colossal
enterprise with profound impact on countries, the
environment, and cultural heritage. This invisible industry exploded at the end of the Cold War.
In 2012 the number of tourists traveling the world reached
one billion. Now everything can be packaged as a tour: with
the high cost of medical care in the U.S., Americans are
booking a vacation and an operation in countries like Turkey
for a fraction of the cost at home. Becker travels the world to take the measure of the
business: France invented the travel business and is still
its leader; Venice is expiring of over-tourism. In Cambodia,
tourists crawl over the temples of Angkor, jeopardizing
precious cultural sites. Costa Rica rejected raising cattle
for American fast-food restaurants to protect their
wilderness for the more lucrative field of eco-tourism. Dubai has transformed a patch of desert in the Arabian Gulf
into a mammoth shopping mall. Africa’s safaris are thriving,
even as its wildlife is threatened by foreign poachers.
Large cruise ships are spoiling the oceans and ruining city
ports as their American-based companies reap handsome
profits through tax loopholes. China, the giant, is at last
inviting tourists and sending its own out in droves. The
United States, which invented some of the best of tourism,
has lost its edge due to political battles. Becker reveals
travel as product. Seeing the tourism industry from the
inside out, through her eyes and ears, we experience a
dizzying range of travel options though very few quiet
getaways. Her investigation is a first examination of one of
the largest and potentially most destructive enterprises in
the world.
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