The Importance of Culture in Generation - Literature review Example

Title: Name: ID: Lecturer: Date: Semester: CULTURAL DISTANCE Culture has been defined by many scholars over the years with each having his or her expression of the subject, but at least one of the major points of agreement is that culture is a peoples way of life. According to Hofstede (2001), culture is to a human collectivity what a personality is to an individual; it is an accumulation of shared meaning, rituals, norms and traditions among members of a society. It is the setting of a human mind that distinguishes members of a particular society from members of another culturally different society. Cultural difference can be defined as the extent to which the culture of a country where a tourist is coming from differs from the culture of the host country. Cultural distance is believed to be a key motivating factor into participation in cultural tourism. Visitors from more culturally distant market are more interested in the culture of a host country than visitors from a country that has close cultural ties with the host country. If this view holds to be true then the emphasis from tourism promotion authorities should be on marketing a country’s culture in markets that are more distant to them culturally which also tends to be literary far away from them (Soutar, Siew & Lee, 2007). Whereas cultural difference might be viewed to be a positive aspect in international tourism, it might as well be a hindrance as tourists tend to be taking less risk in exploring a destination they are not familiar with. They will rely on tour operators a lot and travel packages; essentially they will always be travelling in large groups on short trips in relatively few destinations as they are not so conversant with the culture in the host country. Initial study had suggested that people from culturally similar countries tend to prefer touring amongst each other. According to a pacific Asia Travel Association of 1995, people from Hong Kong preferred being tourist in the mainland china with which they shared close cultural ties. Although this was not empirically tested it has been the view until recently when it was refuted by Jackson (2001) who after empirically testing such kind of a relationship, concluded that people from highly individualized countries such as U.S.A, Australia, Canada and U.K tend to chose culturally similar destinations while those from highly collectivist countries such as South Korea, Ecuador and Colombia tend to prefer culturally dissimilar destinations. From this understanding it is clear that cultural distance can have a double effect where it can favor a great cultural gap or not favor such a gap. Culture and cultural distance in particular has a direct impact on the destination choice for tourists all over the world and can therefore not be regarded to have little or no impact to tourism marketing strategies. As such efforts should be taken to understand culture and it impact on tourism behavior. According to Soutar, Siew & Lee (2007), there are mainly four aspects of culture that dictate a tourist’s choice of destination as far as cultural distance is concerned. These are: A tourist’s national culture- There is a particular culture of a country that distinguishes it from the rest of the countries. This culture may have an influence on the destination choices the tourists make. For example a long standing perception in international tourism is that European tourists favor longer holidays than Japanese. The Americans prefer socializing more with other nationals contrary to the preference of Japanese and Koreans. Germans have been viewed as to like resorts with excellent facilities including golf courses and beaches. A tourist’s individual level culture- This are internalized cultural values which have an influence on a tourist’s destination choice. It is difficult to understand these values however it is possible to do some segmentation for the sake of hypothesizing and coming up with tourism models that will market a destination to a particular perceived market segment. A destinations culture- This is the culture of a potential tourist’s destination. It includes such things as music, tangible and intangible heritage and traditional richness. All the cultural aspects of a country are a pull factor to attract tourists to a destination. Understanding a culture is therefore vital as a first step in marketing a destination from a cultural point of view. Cultural distance- While the view of people having great cultural distance with a destination having the interest to visit the destination, it is still true that cultural similarity or less cultural distance for this particular learning, can be a factor to influence a tourists intention to visit a destination due to the shared beliefs and attitudes. According to this view it is assumed that people with greater cultural similarity with a particular destination are more likely to visit that destination. Other reason why this is favored is because some people fear having cultural shock by visiting countries where the culture is entirely different from the culture at home, for example food, language, etiquette and procedures. A tourist can therefore be influenced by either cultural similarity or difference depending on his own interests and factors which he/ she cannot avoid. This similarities or differences are what make up the cultural distance Nowadays there are cultural distance indices that help to get the perceived cultural difference. From this point then a strategy can be mapped out on how marketing efforts are going to be structured to take advantage of favorable trends dictated by cultural distance in similarity or in difference. Cultural distance can therefore be viewed as a beneficial aspect of tourism that ensures growth in revenue if handled the right way. How long or how short a cultural distance is, surely has an effect on the choice of a destination by a tourist. It is vital therefore that a promotion campaign gets to target people from a particular destination where tourists are expected to come from traditionally or at least according to a new trend. However it should still be noted that some aspects of cultural distance need to be addressed to ensure tourists enjoy their destination such as cuisine, language and proper directions around their destinations. Importance of culture in regeneration Cultural heritage accounts for 30% of the European tourism industry, with the attendance of historical sites doubling in the last two decades. Cultural heritage conserves the cultural values of a place and connects people to a collective memory and belongingness. Cities are the main evidence of regeneration as impacted by cultural led regeneration in Europe. Regeneration is the transformation of a place or a people that is showing signs of physical social or economic decline. Culture is a catalyst for the regeneration process. It plays an important role as it advises on the strategies to be adopted in approaching a regeneration agenda of a place or people (Galdini, 2007). In the 21st century cultural events are used as opportunity to sell a country to the rest of the world and boost the earnings in the tourism industry. Take for example the Brazilian carnival. It is known all over the world and so many tourists visit Brazil annually for the event. It is cultural show; a regeneration of the cultural values of the Brazilians which is actually a way of selling Brazil to the rest of the world. A focus on the capital of turkey- Istanbul shows a lot of reliance on culture to regenerate the tourism industry in the country. The tourism authority in turkey approached the restructuring of the city from cultural regeneration strategies such as cultural quarters, heritage sites, museums, international events, cultural industries and flagship projects. According to Galdini (2007), Europe is arguably the continent where people are more concentrated in urban settings than any other continent; urban tourism has been receiving renewed interest since the 1980s. This has been triggered by the need to breathe life back into historic centers of towns and cities. Urban tourism in Europe has been further boosted by the fact that people are taking more but shorter holidays. Authorities in Europe are relying on culture and heritage of the cities to diversify what is on offer for the tourists as they seek to increase the economic gains made from the potential cultural tourism industry. In Europe regeneration of urban places is however a two dimension phenomenon which seeks to promote economic development and urban development. It is a balance between pleasing the visitors and the residents of a city. Culture is an essential factor in successful regeneration of a place (Galdini, 2007). Cultural tourism is no longer restricted to what many refer to as visual consumption of high culture artifacts such as galleries, theatres and architecture but has expanded to include simply soaking up the atmosphere of a place, sampling the local cuisine and participating in local events. Therefore how rich a place is in culture defines how successful the place can be in terms of regenerating the places and people of that region for the purposes of attracting tourists in the place. That according to Galdini (2007), however is not enough, spirited efforts taken by authorities in restructuring a place to conform to the desired culture is vital in ensuring that indeed a regeneration effect is taking place. In Europe tourism has been precisely in the form of heritage attractions such as historic houses, interpretive centers, parks and monument, all these plus the people of the touristic sites play a vital role in promoting and facilitating cultural tourism in Europe as it is. Hosting big events to display culture and heritage of a people can play a big role in regenerating a country or a city in efforts to promote tourism and other objectives such as positioning a country as an ideal business destination. These big events provide an opportunity fro a city to make changes and improvements in the shorter period of time. In Genoa for example major events like Columbus celebrations in 1992, G8 in 2001 and the city’s year as the European capital of culture have helped up a city that is traditionally resistant to change. The city has been renewed as can be evidenced in the renovation of some areas such as the harbors and in the refurbishment of museums and in the cultural events taking place. This is the impact of culture emphasis in the regeneration of a place and a people of Genoa (Galdini, 2007). People are identified by a particular culture that defines their way of life and traditions that are unique to them as such you cannot talk about the regeneration of a place or people and fail to acknowledge the contribution of culture in the regeneration process. It will be visible in the heritage sites that are there to be toured in the country and the type of accommodation and hospitality services available for non-local tourists. It should be noted that every region has a way of accommodating visitors that is a part of their culture. It is expressed in the greetings, food, and general treatment. This is a people’s way of life regeneration which can be inspired by culture that spans many years back (Galdini, 2007). A lot of historical sites especially in Asian tourists’ destinations such as Thailand have regenerated themselves mostly on the cultural platform to have a lot of their tourists’ destination being heritage sites where tourists can have a taste of the ancient Thai way of life. In Europe the traditional cities such as the roman ruins in Italy and the ancient ruins in Macedonia present a past culture of a people that is an opportunity to regenerate the past and package it a tourism product for commercial purposes in the form of tourism income. We can therefore conclude that cultural tourism is a result of regeneration and protection of attractive and distinctive culture of a people which is inspired by the passion within a people to preserve their culture and showcase it to the rest of the world since they are proud of it or it is a part of their heritage that is permanently associate with the people at least for the present history. Culture and people regeneration is therefore intertwined sine the past will always be tied to a culture that is either existing or has faded away but arouses interest and curiosity. References Galdini.R., (2007) Tourism and the city: Opportunity for regeneration, Tourismos- An international multidisplinary journal of tourism, Vol.2, # 2, pp 95-111 Hofstede.G., (2001) Culture’s Consequences, Sage publishers Jackson.M., (2001) Cultural influences on tourist destination choices of 21 pacific rim destinatios, paper presented at the CAUTHE national research conference, pp 166-176 Soutar.G.N., Siew.I.N., Lee.J.A., (2007) Tourists’ intention to visit a country: The impact of cultural distance, tourism management 28, [PDF] available online at http://ftur.uh.cu/intra/ftp/Materiales%20docentes/4to%20a%F1o/Asignatura%20Ocio/Tema%20IV/%28%20GOLF%29/CD%20-%20Golf%20y%20AAVV/Viajes%20y%20Productos/Tourists%92%20intention%20to%20visit%20a%20country%20The%20impact%20of%20cultural%20distance.pdf [accessed on 4 Dec 2012] Read More