It's not such a black and white issue. Maybe mass tourism as it currently exists is bad, but not all tourism is necessarily bad. The problem is when the meme of

It's not such a black and white issue. Maybe mass tourism as it currently exists is bad, but not all tourism is necessarily bad. The problem is when the meme of "tourism benefits local communities" is repeated uncritically without nuance. We need to be honest about exactly how the money is flowing into those local communities. A lot of people think that everybody in Mexico, for example, is poor and destitute. So therefore any dollars I spend in the country is automatically helping them. But there are rich people in Mexico (or Vietnam or wherever) who are exploiting working class people just like in any "developed" country. If you go stay at the all-inclusive resort and do all the typical tourist package stuff, you are only benefiting the top 1% of that country. We can support tourism destinations and practices where the presence of foreigners with money is most likely to actually benefit the locals who need the help.