Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Social and Cultural Impacts of Tourism
Development
Tourism development has often wrongly been accused of being the sole
agent of rapid social and cultural change in host communities. The debate
surrounding the negative impact of rapid modernisation of societies through
tourism development has created a series of stereotypical notions. Host
communities are often viewed as 'victims', 'having to' accept the social and
cultural changes brought by tourism, while the guests who 'impose' their
own values on the host communities are the 'villains'. Generalisations also
exist that portray tourism development sponsored by MNEs as 'evil inva-
sions'. The positive contributions of tourism to the social and cultural well-
being of a host community are overshadowed by the attention given to the
negative changes brought about by tourism. Claims that tourism develop-
ment can preserve and protect traditional cultures are 'attacked' as serving
only to commercialise culture. While these arguments may be true to some
extent, in some situations, stereotypical notions are often quite misleading
and too simplistic, which is true with respect to the social and cultural
changes occurring in host communities. Changes may also occur in the visi-
tors to a destination, which is a concept often ignored in the literature.
To begin with, the determination as to what extent tourism develop-
ment is a major agent of socio-cultural change in a destination is a grey area.
Socio-cultural change in destination areas occurs not only through tourism
but also on account of a range of other reasons, such as forces of globalisation
and the international media. In examining socio-cultural change, sociology
for example tends to emphasise different aspects of life, such as social struc-
ture, action, culture and power functions (Calhoun, 1995). Exposure to dif-
ferent cultures, peoples and social practices in the form of long-distance
trade, military movement, labour migration, pilgrimages and so forth have
had a gradual influence and have resulted in subsequent changes in host
societies. Tourism is a new form of exposure to different cultures and social
practices in more recent years and can influence social change, but the extent
of this influence has never been clearly determined.
Although the basic philosophy of tourism development is deeply rooted
in economic development or modernisation theories, one particular aspect of
tourism development is the fact that social and cultural changes in host com-
munities are not always considered positive. Tourism development in many
developing countries is the major means of economic development. The mag-
nitude of socio-cultural change is in part determined by the extent of the
differences between hosts and guests. Inskeep (1991) suggests that these dif-
ferences include basic values and logic systems, religious beliefs, traditions,
customs, lifestyles, behavioural patterns, dress codes, sense of time-budgeting
and attitudes towards strangers. In addition, the speed at which tourism
Search WWH ::
Custom Search