Events Tourism - Coursework Example

Events Tourism Introduction Research and analysis have revealed that tourism industry is one of the most recession proof and stable industries in the world. This statement might be an eye opener for a lot of people, but this does not falsify the validity and integrity of this statement. On further analysis it was revealed that tourism has become a necessity for people. People, today have developed a need to learn and explore cultures. This exploration of the world allows them to discover the secrets behind the creation of the world and meet different people and learn more and more about humanity (McKercher, 2002). This desire to explore and learn makes people make arrangements for their travel in terms of monetary and other requirements irrespective of their financial position and status. The urge to move around in the world, experience adventures and witness the glorious moments remain constant no matter what the state of macroeconomic cycles is (McKercher, 2002). An urge or desire that becomes independent of money is identified as a need and hence it develops an inelastic demand in the market. No matter how low is the average wage rate in the market or how high the fuel prices are, tourists do not really care and think about the barriers that are in place for their travel plans. This extraordinary state of tourism industry has a solid rationale behind it. People that travel for the sake of exploration and adventure do not do it for pleasure and the good things in life in fact they want to feel the nature and to live the culture that they are experiencing. This feeling and experience is all that they desire and it is this attraction that drives them away from their home. This need to travel and experience is independent of factors such as facilities, infrastructure, technology, highways and the likes. A hardcore tourist coming from the west would never expect the same infrastructure and technological facilities in India as he enjoys at home. In fact this is not at all what he desires. The tourist wants to see the cow dung, the crowded roads, over laden busses, road fights, naked children roaming about in the streets, the great Taj Mahal, slums etc. as this is what he has been fantasizing to actually see and experience all his life (McKercher, 2002). Cultural events are integral and distinguishing components of every culture. Cultural events include presentation and endorsements of local norms and values by the local population in a uniform manner, indicating their acceptance and proud affiliation to the practices of a particular culture. Removing the cultural aspects from the cultural events would be like removing pyramids from Egypt or straightening of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Throughout this paper, modifications made in cultural events and the underlying outcomes will be discussed and analyzed (Wagen, 2010). Culture, a tourist attraction The natural artefacts, culture, tradition, cuisine, clothing, people and eves and rituals all comprise the authenticity of a particular tourist destination. Authenticity refers to the pure cultural aspects of a tourist destination that are preserved by the local authorities and publics within the jurisdiction of a particular country. When the tourists interact with the artefacts and the original form of a culture, the experience becomes absolutely priceless as this one on one interaction and the first hand experience can only be felt by visiting a destination, and hence it is one of the few things that even “Google” can’t manage to provide its users with, the first hand experience and exposure. Under the capitalist order where every object transforms into a commodity and is sold for the production of excessive wealth, tourism industry globally is going through transformation. Tourist industry has been identified as a cash cow by various economies and this has resulted in its commercialization. This trend is a consequent of the lucrative turnovers that the tourism industry has reaped in the recent past. As of 2008 speculations by World Travel and Tourism Council, Tourism Industry was to generate output of more than US$ 2000/- billion. As of another estimate this figure was accounted to be around US$6000/- billion (Cook, 2009). The increasing trend to explore the world and experience foreign traditions and cultures data from EU tourism industry reveals that on an average an EU tourist spends 220 Euros on a domestic trip and around 800 Euros in a foreign tour. These facts and figures clearly reflect the prosperity vested in the tourism industry and its significance to the global economy as well. Bearing in mind the untapped potential of the tourism industry, local governments and authorities worldwide try to upgrade their tourism to make it even more profitable for the country’s economy and thus give a commercial dimension to a natural commodity. Changes in Positioning of Tourism Commercialization of tourism shall be referred to as the transformation of natural, authentic tourism of a destination into a state of the art, commercial tourism product that is used as a tactic to attract more and more tourist to a destination by providing them more commercial reasons to visit the destination. Converting authentic tourism into a tourist product shall be a good move from the economic perspective, as it will create more jobs and would consequently result in excessive macroeconomic activity within the country, but this also has various downsides to it as well. Let’s consider both sides of the coin in detail (Gmelch, 2009). Festivals, outfits, ornaments, food, rituals, music and sometimes also religion when considered in aggregation, form the cultural norms and boundaries of a particular region. These are the aspects that vary from one region to another and thus results in the providing impetus to tourists and explorers from across the spectrum to travel across borders and regions. When the local culture is tampered with the tinge of modernism and progress then the authenticity of the tourist destination is faded. Culture and tradition do not remain the primary attractions of the destination, in fact now culture is just any other reason to travel to a particular destination and the primary reason is the up gradation and transformation that the tourist destination has gone through with the objective of bolstering the economy rather than preserving the local heritage (Gmelch, 2009). How Cultural Events have transformed into Tourist Products Uplifts and modifications in the local tourism industry shall include introduction of prostitution and easy availability of marijuana and other drugs to tourists on purpose. This phenomenon is very prominent in India. The destination was primarily known for its richness of the culture and tradition, with people worshipping snakes, idols and elephants. With brides worshipping their husbands and observing a veil to the intruders and in public, such sites were a tourist’s dream to witness (Cook, 2009). With consistent developments taking place in the country, India is not only known for its cultural highlights alone in fact culture is just another value added product for the tourists visiting India. In destinations like Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa, tourists can experience a complete western colour of environment and entertainment. Low cost prostitution and easy access to drugs has made India popular among young travellers today. To boost their tourism industry entrepreneurs have opened up pubs, bars and brothels to provide cheap entertainment to the tourists. This may have bolstered the industry in economic terms by leaps and bounds, but it has provided India with a huge disadvantage as well. Today all these contrasting cultural features have been added to the cultural events in India under the name of modernization of mindset of the local population (Robert, 2009). Local culture and traditions that attract tourists allow a country to export its values to another, without incurring any costs. But today with transformation of authentic tourism to a tourist product India has been invaded by western norms and conduct, with the genuine Indian way of living finding it hard to persist in the country. Another perspective to this transformation is that India is enjoying only the short term benefits, because whatever that India has started to offer as a tourist product today is not unique to India alone, rather it was the culture, whose preservation is not the primary concern among the concerned authorities. So in other words India is actually losing its competitive edge by undergoing this repositioning. In the long run, tourists shall stop considering India as a tourist destination at all for its cultural aspects, and this may lead to the alienation of Indian nation and the world from its centuries old traditions and cultures (Cook, 2009). Example of India is a well suited one for the case of transformation of authentic tourism, comprising culture, norms values and rituals, to a tourist product comprising materialistic and unsustainable value to the tourism attractions. Another example of creating a tourist product out of authentic tourism is Thailand, where the major source of attraction is not the tourist destinations of the country alone in fact it is the easy access and readily availability of sex workers all across the country (Biederman, 2007). While creating a product out of natural tourism in a country, one of the hidden costs paid is the loss of cultural value within upcoming and blossoming generations of the country; that could have been prevented by keeping the integrity and genuineness of the cultural events intact (Goeldner, 2008). The greed to milk maximum benefits out of the industry, entrepreneurs and those in authority bring risk the countries culture and tradition at stake, at will. Construction of ultra modern hotels and restaurants for providing ultimate experience to the tourists may also result in deforestation and removal of civilian settlements from their natural habitats to make shift arrangements (Chambers, 2009). This consequently leads to a disturbance in the natural processes and loss to the environment at large. All these costs are borne by the stakeholders with great satisfaction with the aim of multiplying monitory benefits. The proceeding section discusses the advantages of preserving authentic tourism with respect to various tourist destinations. These activities have further faded the true essence of Cultural Events from the country to a great extent. Preservation of Authenticity in Cultural Events Sustaining natural and cultural tourism with in a country is of great significance. When the local population feels that the cultural values are respected and practiced at large then they take pride in participating in such activities and they start living them and endorsing them, irrespective of the circumstances. The events taking place such as various rituals under cultural norms are celebrated with great enthusiasm, passion and responsibility (Wagen, 2004). Turkish dance, Turkish tea and the tradition of hospitality are prime examples of such cultural endorsements by the locals. Cultural events taking place in Turkey are well known for their traditional dancers, appearing in traditional outfits performing with traditional musical instruments create excitement for the tourists (Richards, 2010). Celebration of religious festivals with great humility, integrity and respect, also observed in India, are also ways that can help organizations and authorities preserve the authenticity of the culture. For instance in Turkey the day of birth of Prophet Mohammed is celebrated with great reverence, traditional enthusiasm and religious spirit (Wagen, 2004). The day is termed as “Kandilin Mubarik” meaning glad tidings of prevalence of light over darkness. Mosques are ornamented and religious gatherings are organized to enlighten the spirit of religion within the masses and to communicate and transfer the religious ideology and philosophy within the upcoming generations. Events like this one form an integral part of the Turkish culture and are practiced with great zeal and enthusiasm keeping the authenticity of the culture intact. Similar practices are observed in EU countries such as Poland where the Slavic culture remains alive even after centuries of its inception. Even today family traditions, gatherings, outfits, food and even the music are preserved by the locals with great care and responsibility. Through preservation of the culture, and adherence to norms and values, countries have managed to keep the flavour of centuries old traditions and practices alive in their true colour and sentiments (Ivanovic, 2009). Preservation of the cultural event in its original form is of great significance. It not only keeps the local population integrated and bound by common rituals and practices but it creates an amazing atmosphere of social belongingness. This ultimately generates a soothing, pleasant change that is eminently observed by the tourists, and that is exactly what the tourists desire, a change that could be felt, observed and experienced. Similar tourism policies are prevalent in Israel where centuries old monuments, temples and places are persevered in their original form. The preservation of such religious locations in their authentic form leads to an enhanced experience for the tourists, as the spirituality is still sensed fresh by them (Mancini, 2012). Cultural events also form an important part of the culture of every country. Cultural events are great tourist attractions and millions of tourists travel across borders to experience a new dimension of a foreign culture by means of participation in those events and integrating completely into the foreign culture. One of the most famous examples of cultural events could be the Asian marriages especially those that are celebrated in the Asian sub continent, India and connecting countries. In the west marriage ceremonies are formal church gatherings, generally, followed by a party from the couple later that evening, but things are in complete contrast as compared to the west. Marriage ceremonies in India, for instance, usually last for weeks if not months, with one ritual followed by another. A lot of people travel across to India to participate in local marriage ceremonies of their native friends or distant relatives. The colour, the dresses, the decoration, the food; everything is so especial for the tourists that they would literally give away anything for the experience (Richards, 2010). Same can be observed among Asian tourists that would do anything to be in New Zealand at the New Year’s night or to attend the Dubai Shopping Festival. Spending night in the middle of the desert under a tent with fire logs lying outside is an Arab tradition of hanging out with friends. These are certain cultural aspects of tourism that has not changed over ages and that shouldn’t change either (Foley, 2000). Today under the banner of technology and modernization in engineering practices, event managers and authorities try to modify the cultural events by adapting to practices that belong to contrasting cultures. This may look like a creative approach but in reality it is taking away the beauty from the cultural aspects of events. There is no need to find common grounds between contrasting cultures, for the way one differs from the other beautifies and glorifies the existence of various cultures in the world. Getting inspired by different cultures is definitely for good, but giving up one’s own culture, values, norms and practices for another shall not be advisable (Picard, 1997). Conclusion Cultural events are distinguishing features of every culture. With the passage of time cultural events have become one of the most startling tourist attractions bolstering the global tourism industry by leaps and bounds. However local authorities and entrepreneurs are making efforts to modify local cultural events in to tourist products by scratching the authenticity of the cultural event away in the name of up grading the tourist attractions and taking them to the next level. Improvements, as far as the infrastructure are concerned are permissible for they will add convenience to the tourists, but giving up cultural values as the cost to greater profitability is not a good idea. By giving up the cultural aspect of the events, locals lose their competitive advantage and the centuries old customs and integrity. Every region shall preserve its cultural norms and values and make efforts to keep them intact in the original form. 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