Essay (47) Air Travel and Communication

The 20th century witnessed huge breakthroughs in air travel and communication.  This has brought benefits to many nations through close contact with foreigners at different levels, from tourism to business.  Some people, however, say there were more drawbacks than benefits.  To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Countries have achieved substantial progress in various fields, such as business and tourism as a result of closer international relations through developments in airline sector and electronic communication.  However, we need to examine whether the negative impacts of these developments have outweighed the benefits.

Firstly, frequent flights and cheaper airfares are the latest trends in airline sector, which has boosted tourism in many countries, helping them to reap great economic benefits.  Besides, even areas like mountains and jungle regions have become exotic tourist destinations due to easy accessibility by air. For example, a major income in many African counties and island nations like Singapore is tourism and the main reason is the popularity of air-travel.  Similarly, through developments in internet communication, people now can book their flights and hotels online, which has made travel more convenient and economical.

Furthermore, international businesses have grown tremendously, as executives can conveniently fly to different countries and communicate online to transact businesses.  Another area that has emerged due to the development of modern communication systems is business outsourcing.  For example, many Indian companies like Infosys and Wipro today perform software development and back office jobs for major US firms, through their employees located in Indian cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad. 

However, greater access to people of other countries has also led to certain consequences like internationalisation of criminal activities like terrorism and degradation of the cultures of people in underdeveloped countries.  Nonetheless, these negative aspects have very little significance as individuals and businesses in all countries have greatly benefitted from development of air travel and communication.

In summary, despite certain drawbacks, the growth of air travel and communication systems has definitely helped the comprehensive development of the economies of many countries.