issue150

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ISSUE150- "Because of television and worldwide computer connections, people can now become familiar with a great many places that they have never visited. As a result, tourism will soon become obsolete."

With the rapid development of science and technology, people can now become familiar with a great many places that they have never visited on TV or internet. Consequently, a debate has been fueled regarding whether tourism will soon become obsolete. The author believes so, although I disagree. I concede that these high technological inventions have indeed illuminate people’s lives by providing us with all kinds of beautiful sceneries; it does not necessarily mean that it will eventually replace tourism. On the contrary, commonsense tells us that they will render tourism more popular than ever before.

Admittedly, certain kind of new technological inventions, such as television, video camera, etc. have made our life more colorful than it used to be. These inventions have brought thousands of fantastic wonders to our life, which were even unthinkable in the back old days. With these modern facilities, people can enjoy all sorts of the world's wonderful sceneries, such as the Great Wall, the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House and so forth without even going out of their houses whereas in the past, people had no choice but to go there personally to enjoy these wonders, which were quite exhaustive and at the same time would undoubtedly take a great deal of time and money. In such a sense, there is no denying that our life has been extremely facilitated with these new inventions.

However, though these technological facilities enable us to enjoy the world's wonders, it does not necessarily mean that they will ultimately replace tourism. The reason is that watching beautiful sceneries on TV differs a lot from the real meaning of tourism. Every individual might share a belief they go on a tour not only because they want to enjoy beautiful sceneries but also because they want to have a relaxation from their ordinary works. With the rapid pace of modern life, people are more easily to become stressful and burdened after having been fully concentrated on their job for a long time. As a result, it seems extremely necessary for them to go out to have a relaxation for the simple reason that this will free them from these stressful jobs and enable them to be energetic. However, only watching the wonderful sceneries on TV or internet cannot match this purpose, which, in addition, is quite different from seeing the real wonder personally. Besides, only through the process of tourism can we truly touch and feel the real meaning of the true wonders, which cannot be effectively acquired merely by watching television. For this, we need look no further as to the Great Wall, one of the seven wanders in the world. People might think that it is just a common wall and will not show their deep admiration to Chinese people unless they give a try. Simply put, watching sceneries on TV or internet and tourism are two different experiences, which might in a certain degree underscores the fact that tourism would not be wholly replaced by the former.

What is more, these new technological inventions will not render tourism obsolete and they will, to the contrary, precipitate tourism in a certain degree. Due to frequently encountered wonderful places on TV or internet, people will become more and more acquainted to these beautiful cites. Consequently, they are highly probable to choose them as their next tour destination. Moreover, as a result of available on-line services, people could easily accommodate their hotels, airplane tickets, etc. on the internet just by pushing down their mouse, which will be more convenient than ever before and what is more, will be at a fair price as a result of fierce competitions between different travel agencies. All in all, these technical inventions will, in some degree, facilitate tourism rather than make it obsolete.

In a word, these high-technological inventions have brought wonderful places into our life and made us acquainted with a great many places that we have not visited before. However, careful scrutiny of the experience of enjoying wonders on TV and the real sight-seeing, we may easily find that the two are actually quite differently from each other, which indicates that tourism will not be fully replaced by merely watching the wonders on TV. To the contrary, due to the immense bombardment of information on TV and internet, tourism will eventually become more prosperous rather than obsolete.