The Other Side of Tourism

In recent years, it has become increasing popular for wealthy westerners to travel abroad to underdeveloped and developing countries in search of adventure and to experience an unknown side of the world. Many of these areas have large populations of indigenous communities which have been greatly affected by this surge of tourism. These tourists have little or no idea that their holiday is inadvertently supporting things such as culture loss and land degradation in the surrounding communities. Many people have only recognized the positive effects the growing presence of tourism in these areas has had, while ignoring the stronger negative impact it has had on the people. Governments, especially in the Third World, are more than willing to exploit and disregard the interests of the indigenous peoples in the region in return for the high cash returns that tourism has the potential to bring. However, it is the people, not the government that pay the price.

Threats such as commodification, where local culture is turned into commodities, and cultural erosion, where the rich culture of such people is cheapened and degraded through curtailing cultural goods to be sold to tourists, are serious problems arising from this increase in tourism. There have been other much more devastating effects. Indigenous peoples have been evicted from their land and even had their access to their own natural resources compromised. Environmental concern is also present as once nearly perfect land is ruined and polluted causing many of the resources so vital to the people in the area to be destroyed and lost.

In East Africa a case study was done regarding this phenomenon. A local indigenous group, the Masai, was studied to observe the effects the presence of tourism in surrounding wildlife preserves. The effects could be seen through wide scale eviction from their land, economic dislocation, breakdown of economic values, and environmental degradation. Seventy percent of the wildlife preserves belonged to the Masai and around these preserves, lodges were established to bring in tourism and increase revenue. This led to an inevitable lost of land for the group, a commercialization of their culture, and a complete change in their way of life. Another factor which contributes to cultural degradation lies in the economic inequity between the tourists and the indigenous groups. The tourists have completely different lifestyles, economic backgrounds, and consumption patterns and this can lead to a “culture clash”. This clash can lead to a forced westernization of the culture of the indigenous groups as they begin to take on western qualities and this can have a drastic effect on their values, religion, ethnicity, and even language. Unless indigenous peoples can have a direct participation in the planning, implementation, and regulation of tourism activities that affect them and unless a system is created where the people can actually reap the monetary benefits tourism brings, tourism can never be fully in their interest. Indigenous peoples will continue to be pawns in this billion-dollar industry for governments looking for personal gain with no interest as to the needs of their people. So before planning a trip, it is wise for the traveler to look at the effects of tourism in the area they plan to travel, to avoid promoting the exploitation of these indigenous groups.

Chavez , Raymond. "Globalization and tourism: Deadly mix for indigenous peoples ." Third World Network. Third World Network, Web. 2 Mar 2010. .
John Madeley, 'Foreign Exploits: Transnationals and Tourism', CIIR Briefing, 1995, p.2