Commodification of Culture

There should be no compromise between authenticity and tourists’ preference. Unfortunately, culture is often modified to suit the tourists’ preferences and packaged as a commodity with a price tag.

• Tourism often leads to the commercialization of art forms and especially handicrafts. Artefacts with cultural or religious meaning are sought by tourists as souvenirs. As more and more tourists visit a destination, souvenir production is increased, often leading to mass production. In the process, the cultural artefacts may lose their cultural meaning. Furthermore, the disappearance of traditional artistic design, art and crave forms, particularly those with deep religious and mythical affiliations

• Culture with a price tag: Cultural costs altering locally promoted ceremonial or traditional values to suit tourists’ preferences. The pursuit of economic gain is conducted at the expense of cultural breakdown

7.1.3. Measurement of Social and Cultural Impact Doxey’s Index of Tourist Irritation

With the development of the tourist industry and the influx of tourists, the contact of tourist-host becomes more frequent and intensified. Demonstrating effects and stereotyping are two of the issues that go along with tourism development in the host society. Unlike environmental and economic impacts, it is always difficult to measure how far tourism development influences the population of the host society. To get a clear picture on the local population responses towards tourists, Doxey (1976) has developed an index to measure the level of irritation generated by the contact between tourists and the host society.

According to Doxey’s irritation index (see Table 7.1), tourist destinations will pass successively through stages, namely euphoria, apathy, irritation and antagonism, then eventually to the final stage. The number of tourists could be a determining factor in leading the sentiment of the local society to the final level. It is because an ever-increasing number of tourists will finally outweigh the capacity that local people can accommodate and consequently brings pressure to the host society. For example, local people may tolerate a few tourists who behave as if they are in their home country, e.g. dress code, but if the number of tourists exceeds certain level, it may be considered as an annoyance by the host society.

1. The level of euphoria

People are enthusiastic and thrilled by tourist development. They welcome the stranger and there is a mutual feeling of satisfaction. There are opportunities for locals and tourists bring in money.

2. The level of apathy

As the industry expands people begin to take the tourist for granted. He rapidly becomes a target for profit-taking and contact on the personal level begins to become more formal.

3. The level of irritation

This will begin when the industry is nearing the saturation point or is allowed to pass a level at which the locals cannot handle the numbers without expansion of facilities.

Parking is a problem in Repulse Bay

4. The level of antagonism

The irritations have become more overt. People now see the tourist as the harbinger of all that is bad. ‘Taxes have gone up because of the tourists.’ ‘They have no respect for property.’ ‘They have corrupted our youth.’ ‘They are bent on destroying all that is fine in our town.’ Mutual politeness has

5. The final level

All this while people have forgotten that what they cherished in the first place was what drew the tourist, but in the wild scramble to develop they overlooked this and allowed the environment to change. What they now must learn to live with is the fact that their ecosystem will never be the same again. They might still be able to draw tourists but of a very different type from those they so happily welcomed in early years. If the destination is large enough to cope with mass tourism it will continue to thrive.

Table 7.1 - Doxey’s Index of Tourist Irritation

Source: Doxey, 1976:26-7 quoted from Mathieson & Wall, 1992:138

7.1.4. Conclusions

Tourism may seriously alter the social and cultural setting in a destination, especially when tourism development is rapid and economic and cultural distances between hosts and guests are large.

The actual assessment of social and cultural impacts is very difficult, because tourism is only one of the factors of societal change. Ascribing social and cultural developments to tourism is therefore a very difficult task. Moreover, a great handicap of the assessment of impacts appears to be the lack of a logically structured impact classification. The construction of such a classification seems to be an important research goal.

Acknowledgement: With permission from Drs. Bas Amelung, Global tourism towards an integrated approach, ICIS, 1995

7.2. The Economic Impacts of Tourism

7.2.1. Positive Impacts on the Economy 1) Creating Jobs

Tourism is a highly labour intensive industry. It depends very much on a large number of people with various levels of skills and abilities (e.g. waiters, tour guides, hotel managers, etc.). In general, tourism industry has a greater capacity to provide more job opportunities than any other industries. There are 2 main types of employment generated by tourism: direct and indirect.

(i) Direct Employment

- Which is employment generated from business that directly provides services to tourists Examples:

• accommodation and catering (hotels)

• tourist attractions and business facilities (e.g. exhibition and convention centres)

• tourism promotion and information (e.g. travel agencies or tourist boards) (ii) Indirect Employment

- Refers to jobs of those people who either:

• serve both local people and tourists, or

• manufacture goods and provide services which are bought or used by business and organisations which serve tourists directly.

Examples:

• taxi drivers

• shopkeepers

• factory workers manufacturing bedroom furniture for sale to hotels Sectors which employ the most employees in the tourism industry are:

• food services

• accommodation

• transportation

• entertainment

• travel agencies and tour operators