The Ethno-Tourism Industry - Report Example

?Ethno-Tourism INTRODUCTION According to ‘The Paradox of Tourism’, Ethno-tourism is the tourism attracted by small ethnic groups and their exotic cultures. Ethno-tourism plays a very important part in contributing to the national economy of a number of third world countries (Bolnick 2003). The revenue generated from tourism is one of the most important contributors to the overall GDP of the developing countries therefore tourism holds significant importance for such countries. For developing countries, ethno-tourism can be a great source of revenue as there are a number of tourists from developed countries who are eager to be one of the first individuals to have the opportunity to contact the people who live in a manner that is completely free from any influence of the modern world. Even though ethno-tourism is one of the most significant sources of revenue for developing countries, it has attracted so much criticism from human rights activists. According to the critics, ethno-tourism is the exploitation of the uncontacted tribes as they are used by the governments and tourism planners for economic purposes and they are not given any benefits in return. Other critics also suggest that the exposure of the uncontacted tribes to the outside world can endanger their society from a number of aspects. The following paper will evaluate the criticism against ethno-tourism, the opportunities it provides for the developing economies and the impacts it has on the culture and society of the uncontacted tribes. IMPACTS OF ETHNO-TOURISM Developing countries like those in Africa and Asia earn significant revenues from ethno-tourism. Tourists from all around the globe seek opportunities for ethno-tourism therefore countries that provide ethno-tourism are considered to be some of the most sought after venues for the tourists. Ethno-tourism attracts a large number of tourists because it is a unique kind of tourism. Usual tourism includes sightseeing and interacting with people from different cultures, however ethno-tourism provides the tourists with an opportunity to observe the primitive way of living in its most natural form. This is considered to be the most fascinating aspect of ethno-tourism. Ethno-tourism provides the tourists with the opportunity of initial contact with previously uncontacted people who live in ignorance of the outside world. These unconctacted people reside in tribes and their way of living provides a great example of the primitive way of living. Their rituals and traditions are unique and different from those of the modern world. Their culture and traditions make them an attraction for the tourists. One of the arguments presented in the text suggests that ethno-tourism should benefit both the visitors and the contacted tribal communities. There has been significant criticism over ethno-tourism and it has been said that ethno-tourism has negative impacts on the subject communities. One of the most prominent negative impacts of ethno-tourism on the uncontacted tribes is the social deterioration of the tribes. With the exposure to the economic system set up by the modern world, the uncontacted tribes that reside in the primitive manner may become affected. Their society may deteriorate with the rise in the economic divisions within the tribes. Even though tourists are highly attracted towards unseen cultures and ways of life and ethno-tourism generates high amounts of revenue, the impacts on the subject tribal communities give rise to a dilemma. From one perspective, ethno-tourism is a great opportunity for the tourists to observe the primitive way of living, and from another perspective, ethno-tourism is the exploitation of the uncontacted tribes as the interests of the tourists are considered and not that of the tribes. Individuals who criticize ethno-tourism oppose the use of such tribal communities for commercial purposes. The arguments presented to support the criticism are that; the individuals from the tribal communities are not provided enough economic benefits that are primarily generated because of them and the government does not provide the promised facilities to the tribal communities. In order to promote ethno-tourism, governments and organizations that organize tourism plans advertise that the people from the tribal communities will be given economic benefits from the revenues generated from ethno-tourism. However, it has been observed that such claims are not fulfilled to their full extents. The tribal communities are not provided with the facilities and economic benefits that are primarily promised. Even if they are provided with the economic benefits, they are nominal and constitute a very insigifnicant proportion of the overall revenue generated from the ethno-tourism. The recently contacted or uncontacted group of people are the main tourist attraction in a number of developing countries, thus it can be said that such groups of people are the main source of tourism revenue that is enjoyed by a country. In this scenario, the government enjoys high revenues generated from tourism but the people who are the main reason behind such increased tourism are not provided their share of economic benefits. Even though the governments and travel companies emphasize that ethno-tourism brings opportunities for employment for the people from such tribal communities, but the studies by Malloy and Fennell (1998) suggest that these claims are not true as the jobs provided are very low paid and of a very trivial nature. Governments promoting ethno-tourism claim that the tribal communities will be provided with facilities such as health and education from the revenue generated from tourism but it has been observed that these claims are not implemented upon and the tribal communities remain deprived of the most basic facilities. According to Michaud & Maranda (1994), ethno tourism may encourage creation of wealth divisions within the recently contacted or uncontacted communities. This is one of the impacts of ethno tourism on the culture and society of the uncontacted communities. Where one group of people from the tribal communities earns significant amounts of money dealing with tourists, others may not receive equitable economic benefits. Thus, ethno-tourism may be the cause of creation of wealth divisions among the tribal communities where no such divisions existed before. Another argument presented by Hitchcock (1997) is; when the people from the tribal communities engage in facilitating the tourists, the community work such as harvesting food, which actually makes the tribal communities different from others, is disrupted. This may lead towards a social breakdown. However, the fact that that ethno-tourism has the potential to contribute significant revenue into the economy of a country cannot be ignored. Tribal communities are one of the major tourist attractions and tourists from all around the globe seek the opportunity to witness these tribal communities in person. From the perspective of a free market, the factors of demand and supply are completely in favour of the governments. There are numerous tourists who seek the opportunities to visit places that are home to the uncontacted tribal communities, and the places that host such communities provide the facilities to the tourists for observing the primitive way of life from a personal angle. Thus, with sufficient demand i.e. the willing tourists for ethno-tourism and with sufficient supply i.e. the available facilities by the government and tourism planners, ethno-tourism can be the source of significant economic benefits for the governments of the developing countries. Therefore, even though there has been significant criticism regarding the negative impacts of ethno-tourism, it cannot be disregarded that ethno-tourism can assist a country in the development of its economy. In "Tourism and Disease", it has been argued that one of the major threats to the uncontacted tribes from ethno-tourism is the exposure to diseases. Such societies remain isolated from the outside world therefore they also remain isolated from the diseases that prevail in the world. Uncontacted tribal communities have minimal or no natural immunity against such diseases therefore they are gravely affected if the diseases are contracted by them in case of contact with the outside world.  It is claimed that uncontacted tribes witness the death of as many as 50% of their number shortly after the contact is made with the outside world (Hurtado et al. 2001). This is because of numerous factors. People living in the modern world have developed natural immunity against diseases like common cold, measles and other such diseases that hold insignificant value with regard to mortality. However, these diseases can have devastating effects on the uncontacted tribal communities due to their lack of natural immunity against such diseases. The critics of ethno-tourism also present other negative impacts that contact can have on the tribal communities such as; economic impoverishment and social degradation, however, the exposure to diseases is the only factor that has the most negative impact on the uncontacted tribal communities.  Due to the high risk of death due to diseases, it has been argued that it should be the moral responsibility of the people to leave these tribal communities uncontacted or at least ensure that the contact is made in circumstances that are completely safe for such communities. Some supporters of ethno-tourism suggest that tourist programmes that are managed with care can help in reducing the risk of contagion. If the tourists are kept at a safe distance from the tribal communities and all the relevant factors are taken into consideration, ethno-tourism can be beneficial for all the parties. The countries hosting the tribal communities can earn significant economic benefits from ethno-tourism and this can benefit both; the government and the tribal communities (Xie 2010). CONCLUSION Thus, it can be concluded that ethno-tourism holds significant economic value for third world countries that host recently contacted or uncontacted tribal communities. Even though it is economically significant, there has been significant criticism over ethno-tourism. Critics argue that ethno-tourism does not benefit the tribal communities and it only benefits the governments. They also argue that tourism causes disruption in the society of the tribal communities and causes wealth divisions. It has also been argued that ethno-tourism is the leading cause of the exposure of the tribal communities to deadly diseases. However, if tourist programmes are carefully planned, all the negative impacts can be mitigated and economic benefits can be derived without any damage to the tribal communities. REFERENCES Bolnick, S. (2003) ‘Promoting the Culture Sector through Job Creation and Small Enterprise Development in SADC Countries: The Ethno-Tourism Industry.’ Geneva, International Labour Office. Hitchcock, R. K. (1997) Cultural, economic and environmental impacts of tourism among Kalahari bushmen.’ In, Tourism and Culture: An applied perspective. E. Chambers. Albany, State University of New York Press. Hurtado, M., Hill, K., Kaplan, H., & Lancaster, J. (2001) “The Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases among South American Indians: a call for guidelines for ethical research”. Current Anthropology, 42(3), 425 – 432. Malloy, D. C. and Fennell, D.A. (1998) ‘Codes of Ethics and Tourism: An Exploratory Content Analysis’, Tourism Management 19(5), 453-461. Michaud, J., Maranda, P. (1994). “Ethnological tourism in the Solomon Islands: An experience in applied anthropology.” Anthropologica, 36: 35-56. Xie, P. F. (2010) Authenticating Ethno Tourism. Channel View Publications. Read More