Sustainability in Tourism, Unequal Guest-Host Relationships - Coursework Example

Sustainability in tourism xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx SUSTAINABILITY IN TOURISM: IMPROVING GUEST-HOST RELATIONSHIP Introduction Tourism, from the social point of view, is the process in which people from different cultural, economic and social context gain social contact. Relationships are bound to be developed from this social encounters and their nature and sustainability is dependent on a number of factors including the behavior, attitudes and motivations of both the tourists and the local people. Therefore, tourism is essentially a social phenomenon which is plays a fundamental role in tourist experience. It is the kind of interaction between the host and the guest that gives a specific destination peculiar attractiveness. In other words, actual and perceived social interactions with local people attract tourists in the same magnitude as physical and cultural attractions. Therefore, logically speaking, the future development of tourism within a particular destination can be profoundly influenced by the nature of interpersonal relationships existing between guests and hosts (Nasa 2010). While these relationships have been found important in driving tourism growth, contemporary studies in tourism have revealed existence of unequal/uneven power relations between the guest and the host. According to Beeton (2006), the desire to learn about the culture of others can, by itself, act as a travel motivation, but cultural differences can act as a source of conflicts. The tourist-host relationship therefore, becomes complex and the guest begin to see things differently from reality or from the hosts point of view. The gap between the host and the guest therefore, need to be reconciled so as to achieve the desired outcomes from tourism. This essay is will examine several causative factors to unequal guest-host relationships and thereafter examine steps/measures that the tourism industry has put in place to address the issue. Unequal Guest-Host Relationships ‘Tourist’ is the person who undertakes a journey away from his normal place of residence or work and where they undertake different roles and activities from the residents of the destination. To the host, the tourists are considered as guests as they are a mindset of enjoyment. In this regard, the tourist becomes a consumer of the tourism products and services produced by the host. The ‘host’ on the other hand lacks an exact definition in the context of tourism, but can be generally described as the local inhabitants of a particular destination (Wamwara-Mbugua and Cornwell 2008). Theories have been developed to provide greater insight into the dynamic and complex relationship between guests and hosts and more importantly the impact of resistance of the local community to adapt to changes in market needs. Doxey’s Index of Irritation (Irridex) is a framework which attempts to conceptualize the impacts of the attitudes of the host community towards tourists. The concept of irritation created among the hosts due to increasing number of tourists in actually derived from the name of the model. According to Irridex, the host’s attitude develops in four main stages: Euphoria, Apathy, Irritation and Antagonism. During euphoria, tourists are small in numbers and they seek to find constructive mergers and relationships with local people. At this point, there are limited commercial activities concerning tourism and the hosts tend to be very welcoming. At the apathy stage, visitors numbers increase marginally and the host begins to take them for granted. The guest-host relationship becomes more formalized. During the irritation stage, the number of visitors has grown significantly putting more pressure on commercial activities regarding tourism. Competition for resources intensifies between the host and guests which becomes a great concern for local people. Locals become completely hostile towards tourists at the antagonism stage and they could go to any lengths to limit tourism flows (Inskeep 1998). Butler Tourist Area Life Cycle Model (TALC) is another theory that explains the host-guest relationship. The model classifies the destination into different stages including exploration involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation and decline. At the initial stages, tourists explore the destination which is then followed by the host’s involvement to provide services to the guests. This results to an influx of physical developments which subsequently which are reflected in changes in ecological, cultural, sociological and economical aspects. Consolidation is the stage where visitor’s numbers almost exceed resident numbers. At stagnation, tourism reaches peak and the number of visitors does not grow and it is no longer a fashion status as the previous years. Stagnation is the most fundamental stage as it offers the nation an opportunity to reinvent (rejuvenate). The last phase can be either a decline or acceleration depending on whether the tourist took counteractive measures against stagnation. Irridex and Butler theories make consensus about one thing; local inhabitants always response to the tourism development in a certain way. Commoditization of global tourism is major concern for host communities. Apparently, cultural and commercial exploitations by multinational tourism organizations often results to little financial returns to the host communities. As a result, there is local mass resistance against such local stakeholders. Government laws and legislations are seen to have little to no effect on such protagonist and their effects on indigenous people. In actual facts governments, especially in developing nations, have overly empowered foreign investors, who have in turn exploited local communities. In Costa Rica, for instance, foreign developers in tourist hotels can enjoy beneficiaries of aid money to support new establishments, tax exemptions and import building equipment and materials free of charge (Mowforth and Munt 1998). This is a compelling example of governments support to powerful corporations to divert and siphon precious resources that could be used by local people to improve their lives. Nash (1996) notes that the direct intention of these corporations is to commodify the culture of the local people for the selfish motive of expanding profit margins. Even so, they have little regard for the ways in which their practices negatively impact upon the local people. The result is increased resentment and hostility from the local people which is reflected in increased crime as they grumble for their draining resources and destroy oppressive tourist developments. They no longer welcome tourists a factor that leads to uneven guest-host relationships. Stereotyping is an important concept in the study of guest-host relationships. Stereotyping is defined as judgments made about others on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds. It is simply generalizing the behaviors and attitudes of people of alternative ethnicities (Wearing and Wearing 2006). From the tourism stand point, stereotyping has potential source of misguided perceptions between the host and the guest. In many destinations, local people have been found to stereotype visitors by nationality. This is based on the notion that people from different nations behave differently. For example, Calatans stereotype English people as socially conscious, dependable, honest and stiff but Welsh residents on the other hand view them as least considerate. Stereotyping ignores positive attributes and acknowledgement about the differences between ethnicities and instead promoted discrimination and prejudice. The social exchange theory also makes contribution to the causes of unequal guest-host relationships. It offers a framework which explains the way relationships are built and retained based on the perception of each other. More importantly, the social exchange theory has been used to study the correlation between benefits and hosts attitude towards tourists. Both parties essentially seek to mutually benefit from the exchange process. Nevertheless, the exchange is more often than not asymmetrical which subsequently provides negative perceptions of the encounter. Tourist overly benefit from the exchange but no direct or tangible benefits to local people. Lack of participation of the local people in decision making is a leading cause of this asymmetry. Local participation has only been achieved at the leadership level which is still unsatisfactory for the grassroots people who feel that they efforts are taken for granted (Hall and Testoni 2004). Tourism industry response towards unequal guest-host relationships Greater emphasis is being placed on nature tourism. Gurung and Seeland (2008) argue that nature tourism can serve as a vehicle to deliver sustainable outcomes to local communities. Examples of nature tourism activities in Australia include visiting botanical and public gardens, zoos and aquariums, national parks, bush walking and watching dolphins in the ocean. Among other benefits such as protection of National Estate and enhancement of environmental consciousness and understanding, nature tourism is seen as the perfect venture to offer economic opportunities to local people. In order to achieve this objective, engaging in cooperative tourism planning is a fundamental step. This requires cooperation between the private and public sectors as well as among administrative levels of the government. The Australian government’s effort to facilitate community participation is evidenced in the establishment and implementation of the National Ecotourism Strategy (Herbert-Cheshire 2000). One of the major objectives of this strategy is to ensure that benefits of ecotourism are distributed equitably with significant benefits accruing to the local community. Besides that, the strategy identifies core issues underlying ecotourism management, planning and management. Although the strategy is gradually taking root, effective integration of the local community in management of tourism has been problematic due to the over simplification of tourism objective; which is to find the link between nature conservation and economic development (Wearing and Wearing 1999). The question therefore, would be how ecotourism can minimize the sociocultural impacts of tourism upon the local community. These social and cultural impacts include impact on population structure, transformation of types of occupation, transformation on traditional ways of life and modification of consumption patterns. Schweinsberg et al (2007) notes that some of the basic mechanisms being employed by the tourism industry include revival of cultural and social life of the population, support of local cultural activities, art and crafts, increasing job opportunities in the tourism industry, developing friendly opportunities between guest and local people and increasing education opportunities especially for indigenous communities such as the Aboriginal people. ‘World expedition’ is another common phenomenon being applied by the tourist industry to enhance the tourist-host relationship. It is a symbol of staged authenticity and a form of traditional marketing aimed at representing the local people in ‘traditional’ costumes in the eyes of white tourists. Opponent of world expedition contend that the strategy does not support local communities. This is because world expedition often uses brochures with images of tour leaders from developed countries. Therefore, local community is portrayed as ‘other’ by visitors who had a different perception as indicated by the brochures. It is the local people who are responsible for the day-to-day living arrangements for the local people such as preparing of meals and accommodation; their alienation would adversely affect the ecotourism experience. World expedition has however, being hailed for offering orientation programs for tourists in form of meetings, written information and audio-visual. Its main objective is to provide tourists with an idea of religion, customs, cultures and appropriate behavior while in their anticipated destinations. Beeton (2006) argues that clustering of tourism attractions and activities in less developed areas stimulates partnership and cooperation between communities in local regions. Development of rural tourism routes, establishment of easily accessible information offices and erection of user-friendly signage stimulate entrepreneurial activities in less developed areas. In so doing, the tourist industry focuses on ensuring that tourism evenly distributed to all regions of the country and the local community equally benefits. Besides that, it will provide incentives to tourists to stay longer and return on repeat visits. The potential of tourism routes has particularly bared notable outcomes especially in developed countries. In Europe, the European Cultural Routes, established in 1964, has successfully attained its prime objective which is to raise awareness if European culture through travel. The initiative set up networks of culture tourism so as to simulate cultural, economic and social development and thus improve the life of local people. The United States has also developed heritage trails through which have prompted development of a range of tourism attractions and facilities along the routes. Richard and Hall (2000) argue that since tourist are dispersed evenly along the lengths of the trail, negative environmental impacts are reduced, economic developments are evenly distributed and management of carrying capacity is facilitated. South Africa’s Open Africa foundation is success story of a tourism initiative directed towards enhancing the overall outlook of the local people. Established in 1995 under the patronage of ex-President Nelson Mandela, the project has withstood major challenges brought about the ongoing global recession such as expanding population and increasing unemployment. The travel and tourism industry remains to be the largest employer and creator of entrepreneurial opportunities in South Africa. For a long time, tourism activities have been concentrated in Cape Town, a trend that is now gradually fading away. The tourism industry has recognized the richness in the country’s marginalized areas in terms of indigenous rituals, ceremonies and religious festivals and has subsequently revitalized and regenerated it through development of tourism routes (Briendehann and Wickens 2004). More recently, tourism researchers have found profound impact of mediators in the promotion and development of contemporary tourism business. Doron (2005) notes local tour operators seek to promote the romantic vision of the ‘native’ so as to change the negative perceptions of the tourists. Local people are often perceived to lead lives steeped into tradition and resistant to modernization. Thus, tourism marketing is continually gaining popularity since it conditions and prescribes the terms of engagement between the hosts and the guest. In the industry however, only the elite have been given dominance to occupy mediator positions; the role of locals is still disregarded. Even so, locals would be better poisoned to serve as mediators. For example, the Varanasi boatmen have been regarded as resourceful culture brokers who negotiate the sacred city for a wide range of visitors. They have developed well calculated strategies and innovations to influence and control tourists arriving at the riverfront. Boatmen have learnt, through experience, aspects of tourist disclosure that would directly influence the travel experience. This has been majorly achieved through electronic communication and travel talks. They have realized that cultivating personal relationships and establishing trust with tourist’s yields unexpected benefits such as the tourist recommending the boatman to his fellow travelers. In this regard, tourism industries should consider supporting informal tour guides as their contribution in enhancing guest-host relationships is quite immense. Conclusion Unequal power relationships between tourist and their hosts is a common phenomenon among many nations. Tourists often perceive the local people as ‘other’ with an extraordinary system of life. The locals in turn feel intimidated and resentful against tourists. This cycle produces detrimental effects to the tourism industry of a nation. Eco-tourism provides a good platform for economic development of local people as well as enhanced nature and cultural experiences to tourist through expansion of tourist activities to less developed areas of a nation. The tourist industry in major tourism destinations is working effortlessly to engrain culture of conservation of culture through stringent regulations and legislations to curb the problem of culture commodification. Additionally, there is enhanced role of informal mediators and commission based agents who have been recognized as the best mediators in the tourist-host relationship. Travel routes have been proven as appropriate drivers of sustainable tourism. Through increased education institutions, upgrading of infrastructure and establishment of tourism attractions and facilities in rural areas will ensure even distribution of economic benefits accrued from tourism activities. Clearly, improvement of the guest-host relationship is a inherent ingredient to sustainable tourism. References Beeton, S 2006, Community Development Through Tourism. Collingwood, Victoria: Landlinks Press. Briendehann, J, and Wickens, E 2004, Tourism routes as a tool for the economic development of rural areas-vibrant hope or impossible dream, Tourism Management, 25, 71-79. Doron, A 2005, Encountering the 'other': Pilgrims, tourists and boatmen in the city of Varanasi, Australian Journal of Anthropology, 16(2), pp. 157-178. Gurung, D, and Seeland, K 2008, Ecotourism in Bhutan: Extending its benefits to rural communities, Annals of tourism research, 35(2), P. 489-508. Hall, N, & Testoni, L 2004, Steps to Sustainable Tourism: Planning a Sustainable Future for Tourism, Heritage and the Environment. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. 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