Socio-cultural impacts of tourism

1.

SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

2. SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

INTRODUCTION
• The socio-cultural impacts are the effects on
host communities of direct and indirect relations
with tourists, and of interaction with the tourism
industry.
• host communities are often the weaker party in
interactions with their guests and service
providers
• These influences are not always apparent, as
they are difficult to measure, depend on value
judgments and are often indirect or hard to
identify.

3. SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

INTRODUCTION
• Impacts arise when tourism brings changes in value
systems & behaviour, threatening indigenous identity.
• Changes often occur in community structure, family
relationships, collective traditional life styles,
ceremonies and morality.
• But tourism can also generate positive impacts as it
can serve as a supportive force for peace, foster pride
in cultural traditions and help avoid urban relocation
by creating local jobs.
• Socio-cultural impacts are ambiguous: the same
objectively described impacts are seen as beneficial
by some groups and as negative by others.

4.

NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
CHANGE OR LOSS OF INDIGENOUS IDENTITY OR VALUES
Tourism can cause change / loss of local identity and values by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
COMMODIFICATION
STANDARDISATION
LOSS OF AUTHENTICITY / STAGED AUTHENTICITY
ADAPTATION TO TOURIST DEMANDS

5. NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

1. Commodification
• Tourism can turn local cultures into
commodities when religious rituals, traditional
ethnic rites and festivals are reduced and
sanitized to conform to tourist expectations,
resulting in what has been called
"reconstructed ethnicity."
• Sacred sites and objects may not be respected
when they are perceived as goods to trade.

6. NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

2. Standardisation
• While landscape, accommodation, food and
drinks etc, must meet the tourists' desire for the
new and unfamiliar, they must at the same time
not be too new or strange because few tourists
are actually looking for completely new things.
• Tourists often look for recognizable facilities in
an unfamiliar environment, like well-known fastfood restaurants and hotel chains.

7. NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

3. Loss of authenticity and staged
authenticity
• Adapting cultural expressions to the tastes of
tourists or even performing shows as if they
were "real life" constitutes "staged
authenticity".

8. NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

4. Adaptation to tourist demands
• Tourists want souvenirs, arts, crafts, and
cultural manifestations, and in many tourist
destinations, craftsmen have responded to the
growing demand, and have made changes in
design of their products to bring them more in
line with the new customers' tastes = cultural
erosion.

9. NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

Culture clashes
• Cultural clashes can take place as a result of
differences in cultures, ethnicity, religion,
values, lifestyles, languages, and levels of
prosperity social & cultural carrying capacity.
• The attitude of local residents towards tourism
development may unfold through the stages of
euphoria, where visitors are very welcome,
through apathy, irritation and potentially
antagonism, when anti-tourist attitudes begin
growing among local people.

10. NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM

Cultural clashes:
• Economic inequality
• In resorts in destination countries such as Jamaica,
Indonesia or Brazil, tourism employees with annual
salaries of US$ 1,500 spend their working hours in
close contact with guests whose yearly income is well
over US$ 80,000.
• Irritation due to tourist behaviour
• In many Muslim countries, strict standards exist
regarding the appearance and behaviour of Muslim
women, who must carefully cover themselves in
public.
• Tourists appear half-dressed , sunbathing topless or
consuming large quantities of alcohol openly.

11.

NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Job level friction
• In developing countries especially, many jobs
occupied by local people in the tourist industry are at a
lower level, such as housemaids, waiters, gardeners
and other practical work, while higher-paying and
more prestigious managerial jobs go to foreigners or
"urbanised" nationals.

12.

NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Ethical issues
Crime generation
• Crime rates typically increase with the
growth and urbanization of an area
• The presence of a large number of tourists with a lot o
money to spend, and often carrying cameras and
jewellery, increases the attraction for criminals and
brings with it activities like robbery and drug dealing.
Child labour
• Jobs in tourism often have poor working and
employment conditions: long hours, unstable
employment, low pay, little training and poor
chances for qualification.

13.

NEGATIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Prostitution and sex tourism
• The commercial sexual exploitation of
children has paralleled the growth of
tourism in many countries.
• The lure of easy money has caused many young people
to trade their bodies in exchange for T-shirts, personal
stereos and even air tickets out the country.
• Children are also trafficked into brothels on the margins
of tourist areas and sold into sex slavery, rarely earning
enough to escape.
• Some places have become centres for sex, frequented
by paedophiles and supported by networks of pimps,
taxi drivers, hotel staff, brothel owners,and tour
operators who organize package sex tours.

14.

POSITIVE SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACTS OF TOURISM
Positive Impacts
It has the potential to promote social development
through employment creation, income redistribution
and poverty alleviation.
Other potential positive impacts of tourism include:
Tourism as a force for peace
1. Strengthening communities
2. Facilities developed for tourism can benefit
residents
3. Revaluation of culture and traditions
4. Encourages civic involvement and pride

15.

Tourisms contribution to socio-cultural conservation
1. Tourism as a force for peace
• Travelling brings people into contact and, as tourism
has an educational element, it fosters understanding
between peoples and cultures and provides cultural
exchange between hosts
and guests.
2. Strengthening communities
• Local events and festivals are
often rejuvenated and developed
in response to tourist interest.
• The jobs created by tourism can act as a vital
incentive to reduce emigration from rural areas.

16.

Tourisms contribution to socio-cultural conservation
• The San of Namibia and southern Africa and
the aboriginal peoples of Australia have
recently regained management or ownership of
traditional national park lands and
conservancies, operating eco-lodges and
serving as guides and rangers while
maintaining their heritage.
eg Gudigwa Camp, Botswana

17.

Tourisms contribution to socio-cultural conservation
3. Tourist facilities can benefit residents
• Higher living standards.
• Benefits include upgraded infrastructure, health and
transport improvements, new sport facilities,
restaurants, and public spaces as well as an influx of
better-quality commodities and food (multiplier effect).
4. Revaluation of culture and traditions
• The preservation and transmission of cultural and
historical traditions, which often contributes to the
conservation and sustainable management of natural
resources, protection of local heritage, and a
renaissance of indigenous cultures, arts and crafts.

18.

Tourisms contribution to socio-cultural conservation
"Tourism has forced the Balinese to reflect on their
artistic output as just one cultural identifier. The
presence of visitors who continually praise Balinese art
and culture has given people a kind of confidence and
pride in their art, and made them truly believe that their
culture is glorious and thus worthy of this praise and
therefore justly admired. This realization removed any
possibility in the people's mind that their art was in any
way inferior to the art of ‘advanced’ nations,
and plays an important role in conserving
and developing the
art in general."
(UNEP)

19.

Tourisms contribution to socio-cultural conservation
5. Tourism encourages civic involvement and pride
• Tourism also helps raise local awareness of the
financial value of natural and cultural sites and
can stimulate a feeling of pride in local and
national heritage and interest in its conservation
and sustainable use of biodiversity.

20.

Tourisms contribution to socio-cultural conservation
Conclusion:
• These are some positive consequences of tourism
that can arise when tourism is practised and
developed in a sustainable and appropriate way.
• A community involved in planning and the
implementation of tourism has a more positive
attitude, is more supportive and has a better
chance to make a profit than a population
passively ruled - or overrun - by tourism.
• One of the core elements of sustainable tourism
development is community development, which
makes decisions that consider the long-term
economy, ecology and equity of all communities.