Cultural Tourism - Term Paper Example

A.D. PAUL Implications of Cultural Tourism for Host Communities Introduction The emergence of modern cultural tourism is not an isolated and abruptlysprung phenomenon. It is the end product of the protracted interplay of many factors in human nature. The working of the human psyche, the spiritual craving for the ultimate reality, the intellectual curiosity to know the peoples and places and the nostalgic remembrance of the extinct pristine mother earth now preserved only in remote places where massive human intrusion has not taken place could be some of the élan vital for the desire for tourism. The study of the implication of the cultural tourism for the host communities could be made in the backdrop of The Grand Tour, Cook’s tours, the traffic in archeologically important artifacts and the self-destructive and ruthless construction activity to provide infrastructure for a bourgeoisie tourism industry. Tourism is a relatively modern phenomenon, which can be explained as travel for recreation or instruction, often in prearranged groups. It is different from travel which is undertaken either alone with a small party with less of professional management. H.G. Wells argues that the migratory urge is part and parcel of human nature. According to him, in the middle ages the migratory urge, which has never been altogether eliminated from the human make-up, found a relief in pilgrimages. Tourism is not a static concept. As man evolves tourism also takes different shapes. However there were and there are societies where the idea of tour is practically unknown. Generally speaking holidaymaking and travel has become an important social phenomenon in most societies today. Often modern tourism is based on the pseudo-event. Most tourists find pleasure in the stage-managed events. Often they are insulated from the host environment. In many societies toady travel is a sign of status. To go away is part of today’s living and not to go away is similar to not having a car or a house. Historical Roots of Tourism The English race has been inveterate travelers. However the motive for travel till the dawn of renaissance was usually pilgrimage, ecclesiastical business, diplomacy, or commerce. With the delightful discovery of antiquity, increasing numbers of young men were lured to the monuments of ancient Rome. The flowering of renaissance first came about in Italy and the humanist education at an Italian university, especially in Padua was the dream of many English gentlemen of resources. In spite of the cleavage of Christendom to Catholicism and Protestantism the inter course between nations continued and it produced profound results for England. Before the invention of package tours the most popular form of travel to Italy was by The Grand Tours. Watching the extant antiquity and the prevailing culture of the peninsula provided a finish of culture and style to the young man. The Grand Tour Travel as the finishing school of a cultured English gentleman is an idea that was in the British psyche for many years. Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, a bold attempt, to string a number of tales in the backdrop of a pilgrimage is a monumental document of the English predilection towards travel. The travel in which monk and friar, captain and doctor, cook and scholar rubbed shoulder in hilarious camaraderie presents colourful vignettes of medieval social life. Francis Bacon in his aphoristic essay, On Travel reflects on the salutary aspect of travel as one that enriches the mind and completes the education of a gentleman. The Grand Tour as it developed later seems to have accepted the guidelines set by Bacon. He has recommended in the 16th century itself that young men should go abroad under the guidance of a tutor. He has enumerated the items that the young man should look for in his travel and what they must avoid. The first sentence of the essay itself declares travel as the inseparable component of a gentleman’s education. TRAVEL, in the younger sort, is a part of education, in the elder, a part of experience(Bacon). By 1700 it was only appropriate for all young English noblemen of sound classical education to go, with their tutors and valets and often with a couple of friends, on what was branded as The Grand Tour. However this practice was also found among many Germans and French. The English youth would pass slowly through France, across the Alps, and down the Italian Peninsula to Rome. On their way back north, they would stop for some time in Venice. It is only normal that some of these salient social features had its reflection in the literature of the times. The character Rochester, in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, is the prototype the typical English traveler. The acme of his romantic dream is to take Jane to all those fabled locations of his youthful itinerary. … at Paris, Rome, and Naples: at Florence, Venice, and Vienna: all the ground I have wandered over shall be re-trodden by you (258; ch. 24). Indeed his travels sharpened his artistic sense and made him a connoisseur, at the same time his promiscuous past and the living witness of that escapade in the form of his daughter makes Rochester a shady character. In all the lands of sojourn he had mistresses. Instead of refining himself by traveling, he seems to have wasted his life running after English ladies, French countesses, Italian signoras, and German gräfinnen (306; ch. 27). If literature is a reflection of life, it is amazing to see, that The Grand Tour is reflected authentically and forcefully in the contemporary literature. The Grand Tour was the privilege of the rich. Before the Industrial Revolution the rich were the nobles. However the Industrial Revolution created a new leisure class. Those rich with limited means often journeyed to Paris and the Low Countries. However the complete grand tour included Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples. To this list some times they added also Vienna. However the inclusion of Paris and Rome was almost mandatory. In most cases the first leg of the journey commenced with the trip to Paris. From there they moved to Italy by turning to the south (Black 8). While some crossed the sea others chose to climb over the Alps. This was mostly done perched on a stretcher like career (Hibbert 97). The time of travel is heavily influenced by external factors and the chief among them was war. While wartime witnessed a fall in the number of travelers the absence of war augmented the number of travelers (Black 93). . Development of Mass Travel Mass travel came into vogue because of two important developments. The innovations in technology allowed the transport of scores of people in a short time to places of interest. In addition to that greater number of people came forward to enjoy the benefits of leisure time. The invention of railways brought many Britain’s seaside towns closer to urban centers. The first person to realize the potential of railroads for tourism was a Baptist minister named Thomas Cook who founded the first modern tourist industry. In his zeal for the improvement of human nature, he first arranged the transportation of some 600 passengers from Leicester to Loughborough for a meeting to help people give up the habit of drinking. The meeting was called temperance rally. Cook eventually used this experience as a business opportunity as well as a chance to instill healthy habits among the lower and middle class. He believed that they would be far better if they saved money for trips rather than for the booze. The customer orientation of Cook was so marvelously unique that most of the paraphernalia related to tourism now in use have been already introduced by him at least in rudimentary form. He promised his clients a full package of services like procuring passport, language guides, transportation, food, lodging and traveler’s cheques. Soon Cook’s plan of a pre-arranged round trip over rails in Europe inaugurated an era of cheap transportation that got entrenched laying the foundation of tourism as an industry catering to the masses. Cook’s expertise as a professional in the field is sufficiently witnessed in the fact that in 1884 his company arranged to transport a force of 18,000 men up the Nile to relieve General Charles Gordon in Khartoum. Tourism and the Search for the Different One of the motives of tourism is the awe generated by the difference. A German tourist in India might wonder at seeing a Guttenberg treadle printer working and might gaze at it for hours. However he may not realize that it has come to India from his own country and has been in use there some 50 years ago. MacCannell calls this phenomenon museumisation. In the early 17th century a French tapestry making unit called Gobelin was considered the acme of the then modern production method. However in the 19th century Gobelin tapestry workshops and the weavers there were objects of curiosity that watching them work became a tourist attraction. To the 19th century tourist the weavers of Gobelin were the last relics of a pre-industrial era and as MacCannell suggests, these workers seem almost museumised.  [...] they appear to be outside of industrial time, working like spiders, weaving to perfection. The sense of difference from the ordinary is generated by indifferent factors. Much of the tourism vogue to Paris of 19th and early 20th century was due to the striking modernity of the city. The sight of animal herds at a watering hole during a safari is spectacular to the tourist because of its quaintness. The modern tourist has successfully made use of this human craving for difference in its organization by making the impressions uniquely different to the casual tourist. Cultural Tourism Cultural tourism is the product of uneven regional development. When a city center develops the sophistication that technology gives to that place a sense of contrast in the gaze of the rural folk. The tourist movement to the urban centers is the result of the desire to experience this sophistication. Similarly the city dweller is surprised at the relative simplicity and slow pace of life in a pristine nature setting. Applying this tendency in a macro level we have global tourist inflows to most thickly populated fashion, industrial and commercial centers of the world as well as to remotest corners of the world where life goes on in snails pace unhampered by the din and noise of modern life, where people have almost fossilized their traditions with a stubborn resistance to change. In spite of this resistance, while the urban meets the rural, usually it is the rural that changes into urban. The instance where tourism has made a sea change in the idyllic and primordial nature of places are many, while not many urban centers have acquired rural status except in the case of those centers of ancient cultures which have become history. Cultural tourism is the product of a romantic attitude. Romantic tries to glorify the remote. It believes that past was more authentic than the present. It also glorifies nature and laments on the harmful inroads man has made on nature. Often the cultural tourist is an irrational and vehement critic of technology without least thinking that it was technology that enabled him to be a tourist. Technology might have changed the face of the earth and might have destroyed pastoral simplicity of primitive life at the same time it is technology that enabled him to get out of the humdrum round of modern living by finding escape in tourism. Macannel epitomizes this romantic attitude: For moderns, reality and authenticity are thought to be elsewhere: in other historical periods and other cultures, in purer, simpler lifestyles.  In other words, the concern of moderns for naturalness, their nostalgia and their search for authenticity are not merely casual and somewhat decadent, though harmless, attachments to the souvenirs of destroyed cultures and dead epochs.  They are also components of the conquering spirit of modernity - the grounds of its unifying consciousness. Cultural Tourism:The Need for an Integrated Approach The connection between culture, heritage, the environment and tourism is receiving a great amount of attention throughout the world. However often the players in the industry are prone to show more interest in evolving strategies for luring more tourists by attracting massive investment in the form of tourism infrastructure. The attempt to gauge the extent of environmental and cultural damage to the host communities does not receive desirable level of importance and priority. The tourist industry is likely to grow phenomenally in the next few years. There are lot of issues related to the indigenous people, tourists and the local flora and fauna an indeed the topography. It is desirable to have an integrated approach to tourism. The primary reason for travel is the longing to see an ethnically divergent group. Should the process of tourism destroy their ethnicity is the question? The travel directed toward experiencing local traditions, arts and heritage should primarily be planned with the view to preserve their identities which can happen only if we are approaching tourism with an ethical concern to respect the host community and their milieu. Folks travel to witness firsthand how other people live, to share their life styles and experience their environment. Culture and heritage is a compendium of a people’s beliefs, value systems, and acquired behaviour as a result of residing in a distinct topography. A tourism that disregards the local culture is defunct as well as degenerate. A scientific approach to tourism is based on collaborative attempt at team building, in which the environmentalists, conservationists, anthropologists and the local people collaborates with the commercial tour manager to give the best deal to the tourist as well as the local people. It is salutary to see that there have been greater awareness about wildlife extinction and global warming However the dangers to human beings especially to indigenous people have not captured the attention of the larger public. All over the world indigenous people, their human resources and culture are increasingly under the threat of ruin. Most governments do not have the funds to set apart for conservation and in electoral politics, usually problems of slow but lasting consequence are sidelined, and matters of urgent immediacy and step that would win favor with the mob, are the predilection of myopic politicians. Tourism should come to the rescue of the cultural heritage of communities by channeling the income from tourism for conservationist and welfare schemes for the preservation of the indigenous people and their habitat. Harmful Effects of Tourism on the Host Culture Tourism is not only an important activity of our times it is also one of the important disciplines in many universities. A plethora of research material churned out from these centers of learning have a created a voluminous of corpus of literature on the subject. A resonant theme in many studies is the detrimental character of modern tourism to host culture. The better-educated and affluent tourists expect their tour to be educative and enjoyable. One of the conditions for this educative process is the chance to have an authentic experience with the indigenous people by a closer encounter preferably with a short stay among them. At the same time research has shown all kinds of tourism among the indigenous people impact their society. Some impacts are salutary while others are detrimental for the host communities. There is a subtle transaction in the psychological level between the visitor and the visited. For the visitor it may positively augment his self-concept while the harmful impact might be the loss of the host’s self-image as an object of curiosity. At the community level the interaction with an alien element (visitor) might produce cracks in an integrated system of the host by accepting the values of the visitor’s society. Chinu Achabe’s monumental work Things Fall Apart argues that western education and Christianity has eroded the natural vitality of the Ibos of Nigeria with alien’s patterns of thinking intruding into their simple and efficiently functioning system with the coming of the white man. In the community level perhaps the contact with visitor can lead to better educational and social opportunities. The negative impacts of tourism can be managed by educating the tourist about the fragile areas of the environment and the cultural issues, which are taboos to the host culture. Cultural tourism has to become more strategic with targets well beyond the present, in serving the clientele and in protecting the interest of the host culture. The demographical changes that have happened in the past only tell us that indigenous people have been always in the brink of ruin. Statistics available about the conditions of indigenous people do not paint a bright picture of the lot of these people in the recent past. The region of Central America is a region of teeming bio-diversity. A population of 5 million people spread over 43 distinct indigenous groups live there. The place is the beaten track of avid tourists whose numbers increase every year. There is the danger that the increased visitation may not be sustained by the place. The indigenous people value their culture expressed through their dance, music, craft and food. Some of the indigenous communities do feel the pressure of alien visitors and whether they will survive for long is doubtful. It is alarming to note that more than 90 of Brazil’s indigenous tribes have disappeared since the beginning of 20th century. The sudden reduction in the number of Penan tribe members is an eye opener. In l970, there were 13,000 Penan tribal living in the forests of Sarawak. Now their number has dwindled to no fewer than 500. The world over, the indigenous people, ask for the right to survive in their distinctive way. They opt to march toward the future in the path of their ancestors and wish to live faithful to their distinct cultural identity. Any planning of cultural tourism perhaps should start with the realization that the indigenous people are the most valuable non-renewable assets of the earth. Tourism and the Erosion of Cultural Resources One of the cravings in culture tourism is the lure of souvenirs. The tourist while feasting his eyes and mind with the soothing experience of being in the quaint places also took care to collect various souvenirs for carrying home thus virtually petrifying the tourist experience in the form of a palpable commodity. Often the tourist seeks the expertise of connoisseurs in the selection and buying of the artifact. It was not unusual during the days of The Grand Tour that the ruthless connoisseurs and traders hoodwinked many gullible English tourists by making them buy fake products at inflated prices. However instances of the tourists massively exploiting the credulity of the host by his/her air of privileged person who has the means to travel were somewhat wide spread. It is indeed a ruthless story of plunder and pillage and many of the museum exhibits that are window displayed in the fabled museums of many developed countries do tell a cruel story. The pillage and traffic in historical artifacts, monuments and statuary of religious significance has revealed in a big way the cultural poverty and the personal integrity of the tourist in the eyes of the hosts. The thought that the statuary or the articles of great religious significance for them will be put to sacrilegious use was heart-rending. The Story of the Elgin Marbles The history of tourism shows that many tourists were ready for robbing their host countries. Many toured with the blatant intention of returning with antiquities, by whatever means. Often the pillage was done with the direct use of governmental authority. The procuring of the famous Elgin marbles from Athens and the present housing of them in the British Museum is a bone of contention between Greece and Britain. For the student of tourism history it is a warning, of the dangers to the host culture, if ruthless profiteers handle tourism. The British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the 7th earl of Elgin, brought the Elgin marbles from Athens. He first saw the marbles during a trip to Athens in 1799. Subsequently he became the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire who ruled Greece at that time. Elgin secured permission from the Ottoman Sultan to remove any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon. Apparently the aim of Lord Elgin was to secure a safer haven for the pieces. However the whole deed was shrouded in mystery. Though Elgin’s reputation is associated with the marbles the way of procuring them and subsequent housing them in the British museum has given him sufficient notoriety also. So far the Greek governments campaign for securing them back in Greece has yielded no success. During the days of the Empire instances of ruthless pillage was the order of the day. According to Hibbert the behaviour of Elgin was not exceptional… few collectors acted any more scrupulously than Elgin. Hibbert narrates the instance of an archeologist of British museum who calmed the objection to carrying away a statue by paying £40. The same statue subsequently was sold for £4,500 to an agent acting for Prince Ludwig of Bavaria. Protection of the Interests of Host Culture If the study of history can help us to guide our future course action, we do well to realize that human track record in protecting interests of people who are not vocal is poor. It is not vice to leave the interests of indigenous people to the vagaries and caprice of human nature. Indeed the natural and cultural resources are the fuel that powers the tourism industry. The personnel in the tourism industry are invested with the responsibility to shield the environment, the society and the individuals who are visited. Only a concerted effort will ensure the ethical and sustainable development of cultural tourism. There should be greater interface between environmentalists, preservationists and conservationists through a process of team building. The development of cultural tourism should not tamper with the life style and culture of local dwellers. All developmental activities should not harm the topography in anyway and at the same time should adroitly merge with the environment so as to not to be alien to the milieu. Tourism activity should be bridled properly not to trespass the identified sustainability level. Though tourism is for the visitor the central point in cultural tourism is the host and his milieu. If the host and his environment do not survive, there is no more tourism. Hence the benefits of increased visitation should be first shared for the welfare of the host community. Any hurried and profit driven half measures can endanger the cultural tourism. I t is up to us to become vigilant watch dogs to detect the fissures in the trade and take the appropriate remedial action so that tourism may not become a short lived display of pyrotechnic. Guidelines of the Charter on Tourism Can a cultural tourist destination survive in the post-industrial urban tourism? The question has generated a current of ideas through various forms of literature in all the media. One of the significant developments in this regard is the framing of the International Cultural Tourism Charter framed in 2002 under the aegis of International Cultural Tourism Committee. The Charter claims that it addresses the primary relationships between the cultural identity and cultural heritage of the host community and the interests, expectations and behaviour of visitors, both domestic and international. The charter has delineated 6 well thought out principles to make the practice of tourism really worthwhile. The gateway to wholesome growth in tourism is the practical implementation of this guiding principle. The faithful adherence to the 6 principles of the charter can take the tourist industry a long way. The domestic and the international tourism are among the leading channel for cultural exchange. Therefore conservation should give responsible and well-managed opportunities for members of the host community and visitors to taste and understand that community’s heritage and culture at first hand. The charter has a realistic assessment of the possible areas of conflict among the stakeholders in tourism and has given this guiding principle for all to follow. The association between Heritage Places and Tourism is dynamic and the possibility of clash of conflicting values is not ruled out. In spite of the conflicts it should be managed in a sustainable way for present and future generations. The expectation of an experience and its fulfillment is the catalyst in tourism and charter has made provision for this. Conservation and Tourism Planning for Heritage Places should guarantee that the tourist Experience would be meaningful, fulfilling and pleasing. The charter has perceived the failure of tourist planning imposed from above and do not take the host community to genuine confidence. The stricture that includes the host communities and the indigenous peoples in planning for conservation and tourism is an inclusive strategy much needed in this era of team building. The charter is aware of the history of the exploitation of the indigenous people in the past and dangers of profiteering in the name of tourism. The instruction, tourism and conservation activities should benefit the host communities is a necessary and welcome directive meant to improve the lot of the host communities. The bureaucratic tangle of tourism has produced lot of schemes that are incongruent to the nature of cultural tourism. The chapter hopes to eliminate the danger by the guideline that Tourism promotion programmes should protect and enhance Natural and Cultural Heritage characteristics. Conclusion Humanity today is on the threshold of a new era of prosperity. Transportation and communication has made the world a global village. In the days of The Grand Tours only the privileged enjoyed the pleasures of travel. The rest were almost tied down to their endless labour. Technology and the scientific management of tourism have made travel and tour a social and democratic experience. The blessings of tourism is available now to more and more people and with the increase in wealth and by the use of cutting edge technology more people will be able to enjoy the exhilarating experience of cultural tourism in the near future. ==================================================== Works cited. Bacon Francis. Bacon’s Essays.London:Macmillan and Co,1892. Black, Jeremy. The British and The Grand Tour. London: Croom Helm, 1985. Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1996 Hibbert, Christopher. The Grand Tour. London: Methuen, 1987. The ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Charter approved by the ICOMOS General Assembly in Mexico in October 1999. Maccannell Dean, The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class, University of California Press, London, 1976, 1999 edition Wells H.G. The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind, Routledge, London.1972. ======================= Read More