The Impact of Tourism on Indigenous Communities - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages However in the mass tourism trade, large hotels are built, theme parks are developed, etc, all of which can impact the people who usually live in the areas, this can increase or decrease employment, and they can affect the development of the land. For example, as according to the Austrian Preparatory Conference for the International Year of Ecotourism (APCIYE), 2001, the development of national parks, such as the Lake Rara National Park in Nepal. This resulted in the replacement of four hundred villagers, the Chhetri people, from their native land. This movement was fueled by tourism and the people who are the land’s natural inhabitants did not have right to say no. However, in Ecuador, the Tambopata reserve integrates the people who inhabit the forests and the forest area itself for outsiders to observe. The main problems of this type of commercial tourism, by creating the national park, this creates new incentives for individuals to move into the areas, cut down more of the land, or claim status to live. Furthermore, creating a park creates a dilemma of what should and should not be included as concluded by APCIYE, 2001.
The impact of tourism on indigenous communities can often be destructive because tribal and minority groups in developing countries are often targeted as objects to be looked at instead of people (Neale 1999). For example, according to WTO, 2005, for the people in Masai in Kenya, who live near safari parks, the natives themselves have not benefited from the tourists themselves. The Masai were presented as part of the “safari’ package and tourists were invited to observe their lifestyle, which many anthropologists refer to as “staged authenticity,” where people expect to see the exotic, remote, and new, given they have travelled a long distance (Forsyth 2002). Though it doesn’t necessarily mean that the people visiting are causing harm to the natives, however, it can increase the barriers between the minority and majority groups who live in the country as a whole.   ...Download file to see next pagesRead More