Tourism Protects Traditional Communities and Their Local Cultures - Coursework Example

what ехtеnt do you аgrее that tourism рrоtесts trаditiоnаl соmmunitiеs and their lосаl сulturеs? Name Institution Course Tutor Date Introduction Tourism has positive impacts on the society and this enhances the promotion of the social development. In the contemporary world, tourism involves the conduct of activities that demonstrate the embracement of the traditional cultural practices. Those areas or regions where tourism is highly practiced, the dwellers manage to retain their traditional community practices and continue practicing their local cultures. In the global tourism activities, the majority of the communities tend to embrace and introduce their traditions and cultural practices to the other communities. This aspect shows the love for the traditions and helps in making the local cultures remain alive even in the future. People introduce their arts, dressing, music, and architecture among other cultural practices to the tourists. This paper seeks to identify the extent through which tourism offers protection to the traditional communities and the local cultures. The paper shows the positive impacts and negative impacts of the tourism to the traditional communities and their cultures. Argument Tourism has the tendency of encouraging the retention of local culture and making the traditions alive. According to the argument put forth by Ahmed, Krohn, and Heller (1994, 37), once tourism is carefully managed, it manages to lead to social-cultural benefits to the host community. Ultimately, tourism supports the maintenance of traditional festivals and music, customs, art and handicrafts, architecture, and customs and dress. As emphasized by Okech (2008, 10) the international tourism encourages the practice of interchanging guests and hosts’ cultural practices, thus allowing an improved understanding of the specific cultural understanding. The impacts of tourism can be assets to the communities since the experience of diverse cultural practices enables the host communities to recognize the value of their cultural approaches (Mowforth, Munt, Charlton, & Dawsonera 2008, 23). As postulated by Salazar (2012, 10) majority of the tourists develop an interest in the local cultures and the communities’ traditions, thus offering support towards the preservation of the architecture and historical artifacts. Through tourism activities, the host communities preserve their culture through the preservation of the physical history, which attracts tourists and preserve the cultural food; whereby they serve their cultural prepared food to the tourists (López-Guzmán, Sánchez-Cañizares, and Pavón, 2011, 73). The artwork is something that mostly attracts tourists in a tourist attraction. Once the host communities prepare attractive and historical artifacts, the international tourists develop the interest of learning more about their artwork and adopt it, thus protecting the local cultures (López-Guzmán, Sánchez-Cañizares, and Pavón, 2011, 78). The local communities sell their traditional crafts and arts to the tourists. In many tourism attractions, the host communities practice their music to entertain the tourists, for instance, the African communities that like demonstrating their way of doing music to the western tourists. The music issue in tourism helps in the retention of the local cultures. Despite the increased cultural exchanges, the local communities retain their cultural identity through the tourism activities (Ahmed, Krohn, & Heller, 1994, 40). Festivals are among the major events that attract tourists, especially when conducted in the local approaches because tourists like seeing and witnessing different things from what they are used to doing in their home countries. The cultural dances presented to tourists are done with the display of the local cultures. According to Okech (2008, 11), the dress code is another aspect through which tourism enables the protection of the local cultures. The host communities dress in their cultural mode of dressing especially while in the tourism attractions, thus assisting the tourists to protect their local cultures. Traditional fashion does not only look funny but also attractive to the tourists, thus helping in the preservation of the traditional communities and their cultural practices. Architecture, especially in the African tourism attractions, is highly known for attracting tourists. Tourism attractions are in most cases established through the historical architecture, a practice, which allows the opportunity to preserve the historical architecture of the local communities (Salazar 2012, 14). The local communities display their architectural designs to the tourists, which attract them to purchasing the local mode of architecture. Counter argument In most cases, the local communities work towards pleasing the tourists through their cultural practices, customs, and values. However, the particular communities end up adopting some of the tourist behaviors. As articulated by Ahmed, Krohn, and Heller (1994, 42), the increased international tourism results to pushing the local communities to adopt foreign moral conduct such as high usage of the illicit drug. Sometimes when tourists do not demonstrate their interest in the local practices and they tend to introduce their practices to the host communities. In the areas of the festival, many tourists introduce the usage of alcohol to the host communities, thus making them adopt the western behaviors. As identified by Kim, Uysal, and Sirgy, (2013, 531) tourist congestion leads to expansion of the tourism attractions, thus interfering with the local residential areas and forcing modification of the physical structure of the regions. Ultimately, the forced migration of the local communities to other places leads to their feeling of being excluded from the benefit of the local resources, thus hindering the growth of the traditional communities in the specific regions. Mowforth, Munt, Charlton, and Dawsonera (2008, 24) assert that tourism leads to changing of the local culture while trying to fit the interests of tourists, which also results in changes in the cultural and language practices. In locations where tourists stay in a region for a long time, the local communities are likely to adopt the tourists’ behavior because of the increased influence. Zamani-Farahani and Musa (2012, 807) argue that the tourism demonstration effect is the aspect whereby the local dwellers adopt the tourists’ behavior and tend to add tourist facilities to their customs, thus the change of the traditional culture. Tourism does not help in the protection of the traditional communities because of the issue of the local communities marrying tourists, which highly influences the cultural practices and local language. In addition, family disruption leads to some negative changes in the customs and values of the traditional communities, as well as the modification of the traditional social structure. The manner through which tourism activities are implemented might lead to the loss of rituals, language, material culture, and religion and this depends on the level of dominance of tourists to the local communities. Through tourism, the majority of the young people do not embrace the traditional behavior and clothing, but they adopt the fashion introduced by tourists in their regions (Okech 2008, 12). The young people also fail to observe their societal customs and the practices introduced by their elders. Refutation Tourism does not fully protect the traditional communities and their local cultures because of the increased introduction of the foreign cultural practices. Ultimately, some tourism interests make residents change their behavior since they are forced to adopt the tourist facilities especially when tourists stay in a certain place for a long period. The interest of the visitors in the traditional ways and festivals helps in retaining the cultural practices. However, cultural identity is lost because of the development of interest in the activities and practices introduced by tourists. Conclusion Tourism has positive and negative impacts on the society. It is evident that tourism helps in the retention of the festivals, music, arts, handicraft, dress, architecture, and customs. However, the global tourism had negative effects on the life of the host communities, whereby majority are made to live a life that is not as per the human rights. Some traditional communities are displaced in areas where tourism hotels and beaches and developed, thus leading to the erosion of their values and traditions. The local residents engage in festivals and events, which contribute to the protection and sustainability of their local heritage and retention of their indigenous cultural crafts, arts, and cultures. It is evident that is some level, tourism has enhanced protection of the traditional communities and their local cultures and in some level, tourism has resulted in the adoption of the tourist activities especially by the young generations. References Ahmed, Z U, Krohn, F. B., & Heller, V 1994. International Tourism Ethics as a way to World Understanding. Journal of Tourism Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 36-44 Kim, K, Uysal, M and Sirgy, M J, 2013. How does tourism in a community impact the quality of life of community residents?. Tourism Management, Vol. 36, pp.527-540. López-Guzmán, T, Sánchez-Cañizares, S and Pavón, V, 2011. Community-based tourism in developing countries: A case study. Tourismos: an international multidisciplinary journal of tourism, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp.69-84. Mowforth, M, Munt, I, Charlton, C, Dawsonera 2008. Tourism and responsibility: perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean. Abingdon: London: Routledge Okech, R 2008. Ecotourism and the economy: case study of Mara and Ambolesi in Kenya. Journal of tourism Vol. 5, pp. 9-13 Salazar, N B, 2012. Community-based cultural tourism: issues, threats, and opportunities. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.9-22. Zamani-Farahani, H and Musa, G, 2012. The relationship between Islamic religiosity and residents’ perceptions of socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Iran: Case studies of Sare’in and Masooleh. Tourism Management, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp.802-814. Read More