Map 9.1. Sápmi. The homeland of the Sámi people spans the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. (Source: XNR Productions)
However, as with indigenous populations across the globe, their way of life was threatened throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The creation of modern nation states and controlled boundaries divided the Sámi homeland. Governments denied the nomadic peoples legal land ownership and encouraged nonnative settlement of traditional land areas. Development programs, such as logging, eroded the natural resource base on which their lifestyle depended. Missionaries sought to convert traditional belief systems to Christianity. Government-sponsored assimilation programs restricted elements of Sámi culture; for example, the use of Sámi languages in schools was prohibited. While some Sámi were displaced and forced farther northward, many became settled and largely assimilated into mainstream society. As a result, population figures vary, with most estimates ranging from seventy thousand to eighty thousand.
In recent years, the governments of countries with a Sámi population have recognized these peoples as an indigenous minority and increased their rights to land, livelihood, and culture. While some elements of Sámi culture have been lost (e.g., extinct dialects) or severely eroded, the population has made concerted efforts to renew and promote culture heritage. In particular, the traditional livelihood of reindeer herding is considered one of the key components of Sámi culture and fundamental in maintaining the group’s traditional heritage. In Norway, this practice is legally reserved for the Sámi, while in the other countries, the Sámi are the primary practitioners. Only a minority of Sámi continue to practice reindeer herding, generally estimated at 10 percent of the population. Yet, in the modern world, even this extent might not be feasible without the supplemental income provided by tourism.
With this rejuvenation, Sámi culture serves as an attraction for a growing number of international tourists. While some tourists visit the region for cultural festivals, many experiences are organized around the group’s reindeer traditions. From a few hours to a full trek, these tours and excursions give tourists the opportunity to learn more about Sámi culture from reindeer herdsmen/guides and experience it firsthand. Tourists can learn to drive a reindeer sled, travel along migratory routes, see unique landscapes, eat typical foods, stay in a traditional lavvu (teepee) or wilderness camp, listen to folk stories or yoik (chanting/music), and purchase slojd (handicrafts).
Of course, the social benefit in which tourism allows the tradition of reindeer herding to continue is contingent upon the way in which it is developed. While there are positive examples of reindeer tours that promote Sámi culture and support traditional patterns of livelihood, there are other examples in which non-Sámi have taken advantage of tourists’ interest in indigenous culture to sell inauthentic experiences and/or souvenirs. In these cases, not only do Sámi communities fail to receive the economic benefits of tourism but they are also subject to the exploitation of their culture and heritage.
Discussion topic: What advantages does tourism have for traditional and/or indigenous communities? What are the disadvantages?
Tourism on the web: Visit Finland, “About Finland,” at http://www.visitfinland.com/web/guest/finland-guide/about-finland/overview/detail/-/article-detail/10123/36492919; Visit Norway, “Explore Norway,” at http://www.visitnorway.com/us/; Visit Sweden, “Welcome to Sweden,” at http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden-us/
Tourism can support traditional ways of life or simply be more compatible with them than other forms of economic development. This might be in the form of the backward linkages discussed in the previous chapter with local farmers or fishermen who are able to continue their livelihood, with the tourism industry serving as a ready market for their produce. In the case of traditional societies, livelihood and culture may be linked. Therefore, if these societies can continue to practice long-standing patterns of livelihood, then they have greater ability to maintain their cultural heritage.
Tourism is cited as having the potential to maintain or even revitalize aspects of traditional culture, such as artistic performances or crafts. One of the criticisms of globalization is the loss of such traditions. However, certain categories of tourists seek unique experiences of places and souvenirs of these experiences. As such, tourism can provide the motivation for local people to continue to practice rituals, songs, dances, or theatrical performances (figure 9.3), when these things might otherwise be abandoned in favor of the patterns of modern global culture. Similarly, the production of local arts and crafts for tourists’ consumption has the potential to keep traditions and skills alive when local craftspeople might otherwise find higher-wage industrial employment and local consumers have increased access to cheap, mass-produced merchandise. Even in light of the production of cheaper copies of traditional crafts, there is still likely to be a demand for high-quality, “authentic” items produced by local people using local materials.
Figure 9.3. Although the Tunpu people of Guizhou Province are considered an ancient clan of Han Chinese, and therefore are not an officially recognized minority group, they have been relatively isolated from outside influences for some six hundred years. As a result, they have maintained traditional aspects of culture and lifestyle. These Tunpu are performing Dixi, an ancient opera, for both a group of American tourists and villagers. (Source: Velvet Nelson)
Social Costs of Tourism
Depending on how tourism takes place at a given destination, each of these potential social benefits of tourism could also be potential social costs. Social interactions through tourism can result in culture clash and misperceptions about the other group. Tourism development can contribute to a decrease in the quality of life for a local community by marginalizing certain sectors of the population, introducing social problems in communities that had few previously, and limiting local peoples’ access to certain sites. Finally, tourism can also contribute to irreversible changes in traditional societies and cultural patterns, or ultimately their destruction.
Culture Clash
Although tourism can have a positive effect on both tourists and locals if both approach the experience with an openness and a respect for others, it can also have a negative effect if one or both groups are closed-minded and/or hostile to the other. Tourists and local people alike have been guilty of this. Tourists may travel to a place in which they are not familiar with the language or customs. Whether this is merely a source of annoyance to the local community or a serious offense, tourism may come to be viewed as a detriment to the community rather than an asset. Local people may not treat outsiders with civility. The way tourists are received by local people can have a significant impact on how they view the destination and represent the destination to other potential visitors. As such, a place can develop a poor reputation, which can affect future tourism.
When different social groups come together—especially groups with significant differences in languages, ethnicities, religions, or lifestyles—the potential exists for misunderstandings and culture clash. For tourists, the interaction with these different groups can contribute to culture shock. This may be as minor as a feeling of uneasiness in the unfamiliar setting of the destination or as significant as a sense of complete disorientation. Culture shock is most likely to occur among tourists who have had little previous opportunity to interact with other social groups or those who are ill prepared for the differences they encounter. The greater the culture shock, the more likely it is that the tourist will be dissatisfied with the experience.
To some extent, local people may also experience culture shock; however, culture shock generally occurs with the initial encounter of another social group. Locals are likely to have more sustained contact with the tourist culture. Thus, local people are more likely to experience significant effects from tourism. For example, the demonstration effect is a term used to suggest that local people will experience changes in attitudes, values, or patterns of behavior as a result of observing tourists.
Although it may be argued that the demonstration effect can be positive, it is far more likely to be negative. In particular, the image that is presented by tourists on vacation is often substantially different from their patterns of behavior and consumption at home. This can be seen in the tourist inversions discussed in chapter 2, where tourists may dress more casually, behave more freely, and spend more money on food, alcohol, or luxury items than they would at home. As such, local people may develop considerable misconceptions about life in other parts of the world and, given the demonstration effect, may strive to emulate the worst parts of tourist culture.
The young people in a community are generally most susceptible to the demonstration effect, as they are quick to adopt outside values, dress codes, or lifestyles. This has the potential to cause significant problems within the local community. These new patterns may conflict with traditional views held by older generations, which can contribute to the creation of new social divisions between young people and elders. Yet, even as people aspire to emulate a particular lifestyle with attendant material possessions, these things may remain inaccessible to them—they may be deemed incompatible with traditional lifestyles, unavailable through local distribution channels, or too expensive for local income levels. Consequently, seeing this lifestyle on a regular basis without being able to obtain it can lead to frustration and resentment.
Local Decline
While tourism can create new job opportunities when it is developed in a community, tourism developed outside a community can create a push factor for migration. This contributes to problems of brain drain, where these people are no longer contributing their human capital to their home community. Certain subsets of the population may be more likely to migrate. Depending on the location, this may be a gendered migration, where one gender may be more likely to migrate for work than the other. This can contribute to a breakdown of family systems. Young people may be attracted to destination regions for the opportunities of new or higher-paying jobs, greater wealth, access to material possessions, or the ability to change their lifestyles. As a result, the remaining aging community may experience problems with stagnation and decline, further perpetuating the problem of emigration.
Tourism may introduce new preferences and patterns of behavior or consumption that can contribute to a decline in quality of life. For example, a tourism destination may experience an increase in fast food restaurants and restaurants catering to Western tastes (figure 9.4). As local preferences change accordingly, people may eat more of these high-calorie, processed foods as opposed to fresh, healthy local options. This can create new problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Likewise, tourism can create the conditions that allow social problems that may or may not already exist—such as alcoholism, the sale of illegal drugs, prostitution, and/or gambling—to flourish. The arrival of affluent tourists may provide the inducement for local people to get involved in the provision of one of these activities. Conversely, wage labor from tourism may give local people increased disposable income to participate in such activities.
Figure 9.4. Major fast food chains such as McDonald’s can now be seen in tourism destinations all over the world. (Source: Velvet Nelson)
While some destinations may take measures to decrease crime, tourism can also contribute to an increase in crime. Differences in wealth between tourists and the local community may lead to a rise in robbery and muggings, and tourists are often seen as easy targets for these types of crimes in destinations around the world. The introduction of or increase in the drug trade, prostitution, or gambling may be associated with the rise of organized crime at a destination. Moreover, tourists indulging in the excesses of a destination have the potential to be either the victims or the perpetrators of physical and/or sexual assault.
Although tourism development can lead to improvements at a destination, local people may not always benefit from these improvements. The construction of tourist facilities or the designation of parks or reserves can lead to the displacement or segregation of local people. For example, in less developed countries, groups of people, often ethnic minorities, may have lived in a certain area for generations without having modern, legal land ownership. As this land becomes targeted for tourism development, this lack of legal ownership allows the government to sanction their removal. Similarly, tourism developments may limit local peoples’ access to certain sites or facilities, such as beaches or parks. In some cases, this may be a result of the transition from public to private lands where the new owners prohibit local people. In other cases, this may be a function of a newly introduced fee structure that local people are unable to afford. The destination might see an increase in new goods available at local stores, but these goods may replace the ones traditionally used and may be beyond the means of local people.
Cultural Erosion
If efforts are not consciously made to preserve culture and ways of life, they can be eroded or even destroyed by tourism. The development of standardized mass tourism, particularly by multinational companies with globally recognized brands, can overwhelm and fundamentally alter the unique character of a place. A rural area or village may become more urbanized, and local businesses may be replaced. Traditional patterns of livelihood may be diminished or supplanted as people turn to tourism as easier (i.e., less physically demanding) or more lucrative employment.
Elements of local culture may be lost as people adopt elements of the tourist culture. For example, it is typically unrealistic to expect that tourists will learn a significant amount of the language spoken at their intended destination. It is, of course, also unrealistic to expect local people to learn all of the native languages spoken by the tourists they receive. As a result, there is a distinct need for a lingua franca, or a language that is used for the purpose of communication between people speaking different languages. As local people learn and speak this lingua franca to communicate with tourists in various service capacities, less emphasis may be placed on using local languages.
The very elements of culture that are intended to be preserved through tourism may also be destroyed by it, as they are changed to meet tourists’ demands. Local cuisine may be made more palatable to tourists’ tastes. Local objects that once had use and meaning within a society may be turned into something to be produced and sold as souvenirs (box 9.2). The mass production of these objects—possibly outsourced to factories with cheap labor—may result in a decline in the need for local skilled craftspeople. Rituals, songs, dances, or theater shows may be held for profit rather than for their original spiritual or social functions. Such events may be reformulated to make them easy to be performed for and understood by tourists. In some cases, they may be created specifically to fit tourists’ preconceived ideas. Eventually, those within the society, including the craftspeople and performers, may lose their understanding of the original significance and/or meaning.
Finally, even those practices that continue to be undertaken by local people may be disrupted by the presence of tourists and tourism activities. For example, churches, temples, mosques, and other sacred sites may be presented to or perceived by tourists as attractions to be seen rather than places for practitioners to worship. These tourists may fail to respect religious ceremonies taking place or disturb those who came to pray (figure 9.5). Although these sites may not be logistically off-limits to local people, as in the case of site privatization, they become effectively unavailable to people who wish to use them for their original purpose.
Box 9.2. In-Depth: Authenticity and Commodification of Culture in Tourism
Authenticity and commodification are frequently used and much discussed terms in examinations of the sociocultural impacts of tourism. Authenticity can refer to the genuineness of something (e.g., an authentic artifact) or the accuracy of the reproduction of that thing (e.g., an authentic replica). Authenticity is a socially constructed concept, meaning that it is not inherent. People will have different ideas about what is authentic and what is not, and the
se ideas may change over time as peoples’ values change. Some social scientists have argued that life in the modern world is often perceived as superficial and inadequate. Consequently, people may feel the need to search for authenticity, and tourism may be seen as providing the means of doing so.1 Yet, as we have seen, tourism will affect that place and therefore will affect what is seen as authentic for that place.
The term commodification (sometimes also referred to as commoditization) is used to describe the way in which something of intrinsic or cultural value is transformed into a product with commercial value that can be packaged and sold for consumption (i.e., a commodity). Although almost all aspects of a place—physical and human—may be commodified for the purposes of tourism, attention has particularly been focused on the commodification of culture. Commodification of culture can take place for many different reasons, but, as one scholar notes, “The most important characteristic is its purposeful production for tourism consumption.”2 In other words, a tourism company or a local community may deliberately make changes or adaptations of aspects of culture based on the potential economic benefits that can be derived from tourism.
Some researchers have argued that tourism inevitably results in cultural commodification. This is seen as particularly applicable in cases of mass tourism, in which the emphasis is on mass production and consumption of both tangible goods and experiences.3 As the objects, performances, and so on are commodified for tourists’ consumption, they are irrevocably changed. Many scholars have viewed these changes as a loss of authenticity. Yet, others argue that this need not be the case. A society can use—and perhaps adapt—an element of their culture in tourism, to receive the economic benefits of the industry. At the same time, they will be able to keep the most important, closely guarded elements of culture for themselves, with their original meanings or for their intended purposes. Indeed, there are some cases in which communities have entirely created cultural works (e.g., items to be sold as souvenirs) or practices (e.g., festivals) for the purpose of tourism that have no traditional basis in the culture. These works or practices are empty of meaning, but they may be presented to tourists as authentic.
An Introduction to the Geography of Tourism Page 27
