Although its strongest critics view tourism industry as a rapacious predator — moving on to fresh conquests after one environment has been spoilt, and forever fuelling the desires of holidaymakers with the prospect of a new paradise that must be enjoyed 'before it's gone' — there are many within the industry who reject the claim. They are at least partly right. There are examples where the travel trade is doing better. Of course, reforming initiatives often come after the damage has been done and in some cases for public relations purposes rather than from a commitment to sustainability. In addition, the growth of the travel industry puts increasing strain on natural and social environments by its sheer size and volume. George Monbiot, the environmental writer and activist who is fiercely critical of the effects of tourism, admits in an essay that none of the ethical questions tourism raises can be easily answered. He adds: Tour organisers have justified their work on grounds that it is a cultural exchange. Yet what I have seen of their activities suggests that no cultural exchange is taking place. While the visitors get culture, their hosts, if they are lucky, get money. Other people claim that tourism breaks down the barriers between our lives and those of the people we visit. Yet, in most cases, tourists remain firmly behind barriers — be they the windows of a coach, the walls of a hotel or the lens of a camera. Tourism, we are told, brings wealth to local people. All I have seen suggests the opposite — that tourism makes a few people extremely rich, while impoverishing the majority, who lose their land, their resources and their sense of self and make, if anything, a tiny amount of money. Even the oldest maxim of all, that travel broadens the mind.