TRAVELLER OR TOURIST

TRAVELLER OR TOURIST

INTRODUCTION

This course raises questions about the impact of tourism on the developing world, one of the most important and fastest growing sources of income and employment for many developing countries. In 1960, international tourist arrivals amounted to 25.3 million; in 1990, they had risen to 425 million, 17 times the earlier figure. As such, tourism is a major and growing resource, but, like so many forms of development, it is also potentially very damaging in a variety of ways: environmental degradation, economic dependence, cultural imperialism, and social disarray can all result from unwise tourist development.

The topic of tourism and development has great potential for development education. First, while tourists are predominantly from the wealthier countries of the world, tourism and travel is nonetheless an increasingly widespread experience for people in many countries. So studying the impact of tourism on development has direct implications for the way visitors think about and conduct themselves in travel to other places. It provides useful opportunities to develop understanding of economic, social and cultural differences. Becoming understanding 'travellers' rather than simply 'tourists' can have real benefits if it leads people to assess how they behave when travelling and how they relate to people from other cultures.

Second, increased world tourism means that there should be no shortage of people and resources on this topic. Visitors can give first hand accounts of the developing world; people from developing countries can give a different perspective on the impact of tourism; and tourist promotion agencies and literature allow the study of the public image of tourism to the overseas consumer. All these provide an opportunity for close study of the tourist industry and experience.

Third, tourism is a major growth industry worldwide, and its positive and negative effects are evident everywhere. This means that the study of tourism in the developing world can be related to the students' experience of tourism wherever they live, and in many cases responses to issues can be compared with similar issues in students' own locations. This comparison can provide a bridge between people in many countries, with great potential for empathy and understanding.

Finally, tourism has been closely linked to cultural and economic imperialism. For instance, the hotel market is dominated by American multinationals like Holiday Inn, Best Western and Sheraton. In 1991, eight of the top ten tourist hotel chains were American, one was British and one French. Also, tourism has brought certain images and experiences of the developing world to members of colonising nations, and these need to be critically examined by all involved. As a result, the study and teaching of tourism and development offers opportunities to developing nations to inform the rest of the world about their own histories, cultures and environments, how they should be understood, and how they can be protected.

OBJECTIVES

This workshop aims to increase participants' understanding of the operation of tourism and development, its impacts on life in developing countries, and implications for change at the personal and policy levels, and the educational implications of these issues. Specifically, the unit aims to promote:
knowledge of the nature and significance of tourism in developing countries;
understanding of the benefits and problems for people of various forms of tourism, especially in terms of quality of life, social justice, welfare and the environment;
a critical awareness of the political economy of tourism in the developing world and aspects which need to be changed to protect the welfare of people and environmental quality; and
a personal commitment to promoting tourist activity which will maximise rather than detract from the welfare of people and environmental quality around the world.
WORKSHOP OUTLINE

The workshop will comprise the following elements:
1. Focus Activity: Images of Developing Countries

This is a group discussion activity to raise major issues and focus on the chief aims of the workshop. Based on analysing typical descriptions of tourist attractions in three Asian countries, the workshop will raise questions about the image of these countries in the tourist industry, the popular forms of tourist activity, and the economic and other impacts of tourism on these countries.

The aim is to show how tourist operators create and market tourist destinations by constructing particular images of places and people. Consumers respond to the images created, thus setting up a demand which the people in the destinations then feel they must provide. In this way, the nature of tourist development is significantly affected by the images created about the desirable aspects of a place.

Note that three descriptions are provided with the activity. If possible, actual copies of tourist brochures would be preferable, since illustrations are an important part of the image presented, and the particular images emphasised may vary from country to country. A useful exercise may be to compare the images created of a particular destination in advertising aimed at markets in different countries.
2. The Consequences of Tourist Development

This workshop/discussion activity aims to raise problematic issues of tourist development by asking participants to make judgements about some of its consequences. In classifying consequences as favourable, unfavourable and neutral, participants should become aware of the complexities of the issues and the various perspectives from which they can be judged. In particular, the discussion should acknowledge the competing ethical, economic, social and environmental considerations in judging any tourist development.

At this stage students should not be pressed to draw firm conclusions. The aim is to open the issues up to critical scrutiny.
3. Case Studies in Tourist Development

This activity is an analysis of a series of case studies of the impact of tourism on selected developing countries, including Fiji, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The workshop focuses on the positive and negative effects of tourism in these areas, and policy options available to promote socially just and environmentally sustainable solutions to problems. The resources for this activity require extensive reading and could be distributed earlier for pre-reading.
4. Being an Enlightened Traveller

This section will raise the issue of tourism in developing countries from the perspective of the foreign tourist. It will review alternative tourist roles and suggested codes of behaviour for tourists to developing countries.

It will also consider the implications of the 'enlightened traveller' idea by asking participants to construct an advertisement for a tourist visit to their own localities. The advertisement will aim to promote the kind of tourist experience recommended by the previous sections of the workshop.
5. Being a Discerning Host

This section considers how people who host tourists in countries which are tourist destinations (which of course includes all countries) should respond to the problems of tourism. It asks how they might take steps to ensure that the tourists who visit their localities will experience the pleasures and personal enrichment which travel can offer, while minimising the potentially harmful effects of tourism. A typology of different kinds of tourists is used to raise discussion of these issues.
6. Discussion

This concluding section reviews the previous activities and their implications for school curricula and teaching, identifying teaching activities relevant to the topic, and discussing problematic issues which could arise in teaching about tourism in the developing world.

MATERIALS REQUIRED
A. Provided

Overhead Transparency Masters

OHT 1: Being an Enlightened Traveller

Resources

Resource 1: Tourist Images of Asia: Singapore

Resource 2: Tourist Images of Asia: Thailand

Resource 3: Tourist Images of Asia: Bali

Resource 4: The Pros and Cons of Tourist Development

Resource 5: Case Studies in Tourist Development

Resource 6: Case Studies of Tourist Development 1: Sri Lanka

Resource 7: Case Studies of Tourist Development 2: Nepal

Resource 8: Case Studies of Tourist Development 3: Fiji

Resource 9: Being an Enlightened Traveller

Resource 10: Being a Discerning Host

Reading

For a valuable overview, the books by Harrison, Lea and Mason and the issues of the magazine New Internationalist (December 1984 and July 1993) are useful sources of information, concepts and illustrations.


ACTIVITIES
1. Focus Activity: Tourist Images of Asia

This exercise is aimed mainly at establishing the link between the consumer (or potential consumer) of tourism and the development of tourism in the host countries. The argument is that knowing about tourism has a personal significance, as our views of desirable tourist activities can influence tourist development.

Tourist destinations are products constructed for consumption. They are constructed in two ways: first, as images to appeal to the consumer, and second, as actual sites for buildings, services, work and the everyday activities of people living in these areas. These two constructions are related, but the image is not a simple reflection of the existing tangible reality. Tourist operators construct images based in part on the existing resources of the destination but they tailor the image to what they think consumers want. In addition, this desired image becomes the model for the construction of physical facilities and the kinds of services, activities and work which goes on. Thus, the image in a sense is then constructing the reality.

This exercise tries to capture some of these ideas. It is based upon the 'touristic' descriptions of Singapore, Thailand and Bali in Resources 1-3, respectively. Note that actual tourist brochures would be a preferable basis for discussion, but that the descriptions provided would be quite adequate.
Divide participants into small groups and give each group a copy of either Resource 1, Resource 2 or Resource 3. Ask the groups to read the statements and answer the questions at the end.
After 20 minutes, conduct a general discussion of group answers, focusing especially on the concept of images and the construction of reality in the third set of questions explored by each group.

2. The Pros and Cons of Tourist Development

This session considers general issues which will arise in the following activities. It is based on a workshop activity in which participants classify as 'beneficial', 'problematic' or 'neutral' the series of statements about the relationship between tourism and development in Resource 4.

The aim is to engage the group in thinking about the complexity of the potential effects of tourism, and the criteria which might be used to judge them.

The group leader should be prepared to elaborate the points where necessary with information from the literature. The points are taken largely from the references listed by Gamble, Lea, Purdie and O'Connor, and New Internationalist.

The discussion should raise specific issues about the nature of tourist development, but also more fundamental issues about development itself and notions of human welfare and environmental quality.

3. Case Studies in Tourist Development

This is a major activity which considers issues in particular tourism areas: Sri Lanka (Resource 6), Nepal (Resource 7) and Fiji (Resource 8). These case studies are intended to introduce concrete evidence on which analysis and discussion can be based.

The activity requires a considerable amount of reading. Participants can be asked to read one or all three of the case studies. While the three cases together give a useful range of information, there may not be time to read them all. It may be desirable to allocate and distribute this reading before the workshop.
After the chosen reading task is completed and participants are directed into appropriate work groups, give each group a copy of the discussion questions on Resource 5.
Allow 30 minutes for group work on these questions.
Groups then present a short report on their findings.
To conclude the activity, ask participants to discuss:
- Is it ethical to travel to a place where the 12 principles on Resource 5 are not followed?
- What travel alternatives are there?

4. Being a Traveller Rather Than a Tourist

This activity raises issues of how tourists to developing countries should conduct themselves how to be a traveller rather than a tourist. It looks at the personal implications of the earlier activities and how visitors can act in such a way as to minimise the harmful impact of tourism.

The distinction is between the traveller who visits in order to learn and experience the cultures and environments of the places visited, and the tourist who visits to be entertained by images and experiences created especially for the tourist market. The argument is that being a traveller is a more productive approach for all concerned.
Use OHT 1 to explore the qualities of an enlightened traveller.
Distribute Resource 9 and ask participants to complete the questions on it in pairs. The questions explore the idea of the enlightened traveller and ask participants to use the concept to reflect on their own practice and to apply it to ideas of travel in their own area.

5. Being a Discerning Host

The purpose of this activity is to have participants consider how host countries and people see the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of tourism and tourists. It provides lists of different kinds of tourist activity and tourists, and asks participants to consider how detrimental they might be to the environment and host cultures.
Distribute Resource 10 and ask participants to consider the kinds of tourism and tourist presented.
Ask participants to answer the questions provided.

6. Conclusion: Curriculum Implications

The purpose of this concluding activity is to encourage participants to consider how they might incorporate the themes from this workshop into their teaching. This could include one or more or the following activities:
Work in small groups to brainstorm the plan for a teaching unit on 'responsible travelling'.
Adapt/translate/simplify the readings in the resource sheets used in this workshop for pupils of different languages and reading levels.
Compile a list of audiovisual resources to complement the case studies used in this workshop.
Design a 'diamond ranking' exercise based upon the principles for enlightened travellers on Resource 9 and OHT 1.
Review relevant classroom resources such as those listed in the Additional Reading section
OHT 1
Being an Enlightened Traveller

Must tourism have negative effects on the environment and people of host countries? Can it be organised to support the historical, cultural and natural heritage of an area? The World Tourism Organisation argues that with care and proper policies the cultural and natural heritage of an area can be protected. One requirement is that tourists themselves act in ways which will sustain rather than damage host cultures and environments.

Suggestions from One World Travel, a sustainable tourism agency, include the following guide to travellers who respect the places they visit:
If possible, stay with local people or in modest accommodation which does not require the expensive resource-consuming style of international hotels.
Drink and eat local food so that more of the expenditure stays in the country.
Get around on foot or by bicycle or local transport rather than tourist coach.
Avoid off-road tours which could damage soil and other aspects of the natural environment.
Don't litter.
Prepare for your trip by learning about the culture, history and customs of the people.
Try to learn some of the language of the place you are to visit.
Respect and try to fit in with local customs.
Be sensitive to the intrusion of photographing people and places.
Do not dress in ways which might offend local beliefs, especially in places of religious or spiritual significance.
Be careful that in bargaining you are not exploiting the poverty and need of sellers.
Respect the rights of people, especially when you are in the powerful position of being relatively wealthy.
Avoid relationships, especially sexual ones, that are not based on equality of respect.
Talk to local people about their country and their views of tourists.
Think about the impact of tourism on the places and people you visit.

Resource 1
Tourist Images of Asia: Singapore

We can learn a lot about tourist development by looking at the images through which destinations are marketed. The following descriptions of a tourist destination in Asia are typical of those produced for the tourism market. In reading the material, consider what it shows about the image of Asia as a tourist destination.

Fantastic Shopping!

Few places on earth have shopping as good as Singapore. Bursting with exotic treasure and futuristic gadgets, Singapore is like an enormous bazaar where you can buy anything from cameras to Persian carpets, Thai silk to European designer fashions. For a mind-blowing experience try the huge department stores with their famous brands from all over the world. Orchard Road is full of them, while the stores on the East Coast such as City Plaza tend to be less busy and often a little cheaper. Shop till you drop on our special shopping tour - tremendous value and fun!

Delicious Food!

Food is great fun in Singapore. Indulge your passion for Oriental dishes such as the famous Peking Duck. Sample superb Malaysian gado-gado or subtle flavours of India in a range of delicious dishes. There are sushi bars for fans of Japanese food and restaurants serving every type of Western cuisine from Russian caviar to American hamburgers. And like the food, the variety of restaurants seems endless - everything from five-star to outdoor street stalls. The smell of Asian foods cooking, the bright neon lights and the constant bustle are invigorating. Or why not enjoy our 'Eastern Dinner Cruise' for the romantic evening with a difference - an experience you will treasure forever.

Captivating Atmosphere!

In the cultural districts of Singapore you can mix shopping with sightseeing. Stroll down Serangoon Road (Little India) where the sights and smells of India fill the air. Visit the streets of Chinatown and see how life was in old Singapore. And don't forget Arab Street in the Muslim district. Overflowing with batik, basketware, jewellery and perfumes, it's full of charm and atmosphere. For garden lovers the Botanic Gardens offer a peaceful retreat while in Jurong, both the Chinese Garden with its pagodas and weeping willows and the Japanese Garden of Tranquillity with its fine teahouse offer hours of distraction away from the busy city. These and other attractions can be enjoyed on our island tours including 'City Experience' and 'East Coast Highlights'.

Islands of Fun!

Singapore's offshore islands offer great attractions. Visit Kusa (Turtle) Island with its sacred Chinese temple and survey the wonderful views across the harbour to Singapore. Or see Sentosa on our 'Home of Tranquillity' tour. Once a military base, it's now a pleasure resort where you can get round on the open-air monorail that lazily snakes its way to most of the island's attractions ... and no end of surprises!

In Singapore the surprises never seem to end. There is history a plenty for devotees of the past on our 'In Raffles' Footsteps' tour. There are temples heavy with incense, discos to bop in, golf courses to play on, race meetings to bet on and of course there is the unexpected - the discoveries unique to every traveller who steps out in dynamic Singapore.
Questions

1. The Description
What aspects of the places are highlighted?
What have the writers assumed the tourists want?
What kind of person is this implied tourist?
How successfully does the material stimulate your interest? How does it do this?
Are there things you might want to do in these places which are not mentioned? If so, why are they omitted?

2. Images
What is the dominant image of the place? Is it a narrow stereotype or does it reflect the variety of life in these destinations?
What images of the people are presented? How well would they recognise themselves in the material?
Does the image in any way enhance or demean their standing as people?

3. The Effect of Images
How would this image feed back into the construction of the environment and life in these places?
What kind of environment would the realisation of the images create?
What problems might arise from the construction of it?
What impact would the provision of these images have on the life and work of the people?

Resource 2
Tourist Images of Asia: Thailand

We can learn a lot about tourist development by looking at the images through which destinations are marketed. The following descriptions of a tourist destination in Asia are typical of those produced for the tourism market. In reading the material, consider what it shows about the image of Asia as a tourist destination.

Bangkok - The City of Angels

Bangkok beautifully illustrates Thailand's contrasts. Surrounded by the roar of the city, saffron robed monks meditate peacefully in temple courtyards. At night the temple spires on the Chao Phya River glisten in floodlight while the streets flash with neon. Parts of the city offer a night-life of dubious reputation. Bars, discos, cabarets and the ubiquitous 'massage parlours' all vie for attention. Only a short distance away, graceful dancers will entertain you with a centuries-old repertoire.

It appears that everything is on sale everywhere - from high-rise department stores to market stalls, pavement sellers to sampans plying their trade on the canals that thread the city. The beautiful Thai silk for sale is genuine but the $15 'Rolex' watch is not. In Bangkok the contrasts and contradictions of Thai life are brought home to the traveller in vivid colour. Our outstanding tours will introduce you to the city and its surrounding attractions. Tours to the city's temples and Grand Palace, to the floating markets, the delightful Rose Garden Resort and the infamous River Kwai.

The Beautiful North

North from Bangkok you can experience the legendary beauty of the mountains, where Thailand's fascinating hill tribes live out their ancient cultures. Due to their isolation, these people have kept their customs, dialects and dances. Dotted with mist-covered mountain ranges, this is also an area to go trekking and literally get off the beaten track. Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai offer fine accommodation from which to tour the area.

Thailand's Romantic Islands

If tropical islands are your thing then head for idyllic Phuket. This picturesque island is rapidly becoming one of Thailand's most popular destinations. Imagine enjoying the cool breezes off the Andaman Sea as you relax with a cool drink after a heavy day of swimming, sunbaking and beach massages. Or setting off for the day to nearby Pee Pee or Phang Nga islands.

Alternatively you can dine at the beach-front restaurants on the delightful island of Koh Samui across the peninsula in the Gulf of Siam. These islands, with their mix of perfect beaches, charming people and first class accommodation, are natural settings for restful, romantic holidays.

What's Cooking?

Western style menus are common in the tourist areas and international hotels, but while you're in Thailand you mustn't miss the local cuisine. Building on the traditions of India and China, Thailand has blended a unique style. In the south the speciality is seafood whilst in the north sticky rice dishes are staple dishes. However be warned. Thai curries can be excruciatingly hot to the Western palate, though, if you avoid the fiery sauces, you will be rewarded with a varied and subtle style of cooking that uses the freshest of ingredients.

Games People Play

If you enjoy a game of golf, a tennis work-out or a flutter on the horses, you will be delighted by a trip to Thailand. Watersport enthusiasts will find excellent facilities at the seaside resort of Pattaya or the islands of Phuket and Koh Samui. Thailand's golf courses are numerous - there are ten 18-hole courses in Bangkok alone; and you can enjoy a day at the races at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club or the Royal Turf Club. Be a little adventurous and see a bout of Thai boxing. Essentially a martial art but also a spectator sport, Thai boxing is a brutal but fascinating spectacle. Hands, elbows, shoulders, feet and knees are used to the accompaniment of traditional music. Sword fighting is another form of self defence that has, due to its high degree of concentration and skill, become an entertaining spectator sport.

Festivals for All Occasions

Thailand's festivals and celebrations are usually very noisy and always extremely friendly. The Thai New Year is celebrated with religious pilgrimages, beauty parades, dancing and good-natured water throwing. The celebrations continue throughout the year and for the King's birthday in December the whole city is decorated in his honour. If you enjoy colour and spectacle then try to time your visit to coincide with one of these intoxicating and memorable celebrations.
Questions

1. The Description
What aspects of the places are highlighted?
What have the writers assumed the tourists want?
What kind of person is this implied tourist?
How successfully does the material stimulate your interest? How does it do this?
Are there things you might want to do in these places which are not mentioned? If so, why are they omitted?

2. Images
What is the dominant image of the place? Is it a narrow stereotype or does it reflect the variety of life in these destinations?
What images of the people are presented? How well would they recognise themselves in the material?
Does the image in any way enhance or demean their standing as people?

3. The Effect of Images
How would this image feed back into the construction of the environment and life in these places?
What kind of environment would the realisation of the images create?
What problems might arise from the construction of it?
What impact would the provision of these images have on the life and work of the people?

Resource 3
Tourist Images of Asia: Bali

We can learn a lot about tourist development by looking at the images through which destinations are marketed. The following descriptions of a tourist destination in Asia are typical of those produced for the tourism market. In reading the material, consider what it shows about the image of Asia as a tourist destination.

Bali on the Beach

On Bali's popular beaches you can be as active or as idle as you wish. Cold drinks, soothing massages and tropical fruits are at your fingertips thanks to the ever friendly beach vendors. You can take to the water on a surfboard, a sailboard or hop on a local prahu for a sailing adventure with a difference. You can indulge your passion for skin and scuba diving on the island's reefs , or just play in the waves and comb the coral reefs for colourful shells.

On the Road

Jump in a bemo or a hire car, and you're off through a fanfare of lush vegetation spilling onto the roads. Banana and Pepper trees, frangipanis and coconut palms all in a hurry of wild growth. Take the road into Denpasar for lunch. Here, vendors pushing their two-wheeled carts wander the streets with all kinds of incredible edibles - spicy soups, exotic fruits, coconut icecream, roasted nuts. On the roadside, embers crackle and glow beneath the skewered pieces of meat. Satay is everyone's favourite, and special fried rice, noodles and gado-gado with delicious peanut sauce is a treat not to be missed.

Into the Hills

Head up into the hills for the art of Bali: paintings in Ubud, Mas for wooden and sandstone carvings, Celuk for silver. Young boys merrily work away on mysterious deities and magical garudas. Enigmatic demons with fang-like teeth cast wild looks with bulging eyes. A cassette player pumps the rhythmic beat of popular western culture while nearby smouldering incense drifts from an altar where an offering sprinkled with holy water pays homage to the Hindu deities and divine spirits. And while you are there, no trip to Bali would be complete without a visit to the Monkey Forest at Sangeh. Experience the beauty of the temple and meet the resident monkeys who have made the sacred forest their home.
Questions

1. The Description
What aspects of the places are highlighted?
What have the writers assumed the tourists want?
What kind of person is this implied tourist?
How successfully does the material stimulate your interest? How does it do this?
Are there things you might want to do in these places which are not mentioned? If so, why are they omitted?

2. Images
What is the dominant image of the place? Is it a narrow stereotype or does it reflect the variety of life in these destinations?
What images of the people are presented? How well would they recognise themselves in the material?
Does the image in any way enhance or demean their standing as people?

3. The Effect of Images
How would this image feed back into the construction of the environment and life in these places?
What kind of environment would the realisation of the images create?
What problems might arise from the construction of it?
What impact would the provision of these images have on the life and work of the people?

Resource 4
The Pros and Cons of Tourist Development

This activity is an opportunity to think about issues related to tourist development. In particular, it tries to show that tourist development is not an unequivocal benefit for host countries, since, like any form of development, there are benefits but also problems which result from it.

In addition, in deciding whether a certain point is a benefit or not, we must use criteria which will reveal values about development. Therefore, the activity is aimed at identifying values by which tourist development might be judged also.
For each of the points listed, decide whether it is: a benefit, (B) a problem (P), both a benefit and a problem (B/P), or a neutral (N) effect. Circle your answer in each case.
It might be useful to consider the list individually at first, and then compare and discuss your decisions in a group.
A concluding task would be to develop a number of generalisations about the impacts of tourism.
1. International tourists bring foreign currency into the host country. Tourism is a major
export for many Third World countries. B P B/P N

2. Package holidays have become a major form of international tourism. B P B/P N

3. In 1970 the World Tourism Organisation was established as a UN affiliate. It aims at
'the promotion and development of tourism with a view to contributing to economic
development, international understanding, peace, prosperity and universal respect for
and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction
as to race, sex, language and religion.' B P B/P N

4. Entertainments based on traditional culture are often presented for tourists at inter
national hotels. B P B/P N

5. Some governments in developing countries offer investment incentives to tourist
developers and operators. These may include tax incentives, speeding up import
licences and land purchase and approvals, guaranteeing labour availability and pay
rates.
B P B/P N

6. The tourist industry generates costs for the host country, including infrastructure
(roads, power, water, etc.), interest on loans, profits to overseas operators, building and
maintenance, and imports used in tourist operations. Some forms of tourism have
greater import demands than others (e.g. international hotels compared with guest
house accommodation). B P B/P N

7. Tourist spending is multiplied as it passes through various parts of the economy,
though because of import effects the multiplier in Third World countries is less than in
the developed world. B P B/P N

8. Tourist tastes (e.g. for clothing, consumer goods, and even values) are often taken up
by local inhabitants in what is called the demonstration effect.
B P B/P N

9. Tourism increases the demand for agricultural produce and local crafts.
B P B/P N

10. Tourist development can diversify the economies of countries that may have
previously been reliant on primary or extractive industries, which are subject to the
fluctuation and, in some cases, the general decline of commodity prices.
B P B/P N

11. Tourist development is less dependent on high technology and its returns in terms of
profits and employment are more immediate than many other forms of development. B P B/P N

12. Tourism is labour-intensive. B P B/P N

13. Tourist development is usually very concentrated in a few small areas. Typically, it
leads to particularly strong growth in capital cities. B P B/P N

14. Tourist employment is often seasonal, and direct employment in hotels and the like is
mainly for the young and unskilled. B P B/P N

Resource 5
Case Studies in Tourist Development
Read one of the case studies on tourist development in Sri Lanka (Resource 6), Nepal (Resource 7) or Fiji (Resource 8).
Identify the deleterious effects of tourism in the location chosen.
The following list contains suggestions from groups in developing countries about desirable policies to minimise the harmful effects of tourism.

- Consider the suggestions and identify any which you think would address the particular problems you identified in the case studies.

- Are there other suggestions you could make to help solve these problems?

- What barriers might there be to implementing the suggestions?

Suggestions for Tourism Policy in Developing Countries
Hotels should be required to install effluent treatment plants.
No more agricultural land should be given over to tourism.
Development projects should be required by law to include local representatives on planning teams.
Tourism infrastructure development should be compatible with the needs and practices of local communities.
Labour intensive practices using locally available resources should be promoted, and minimum levels of local employment and resources should be required by law.
Legislation should regulate the imported content of tourism.
Minimum wage levels approved by independent labour unions should be required of all tourism activities.
Planning controls should ensure regional dispersal of tourism development to avoid over-concentration and regional inequality.
Levies on the tourist industry should be established to fund the teaching and development of traditional skills and art forms.
Codes of conduct should be formulated and distributed at tourist outlets.
Local employment should be provided at all levels, including managerial.
Environmental safeguards and representation of local people should be rigidly applied in the development approval process.

Resource 6
Case Studies in Tourist Development 1: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka looks upon international tourism as a solution to foreign exchange problems. In the 1970s, the official gross foreign exchange receipts from tourism grew annually by 56.2%. However, tourist-earnings expressed in Lankan rupees is misleading, since, during the decade, the rupee was considerably devalued. The real value of tourist earnings grew by 36.4%. Today tourism occupies the fourth place as a foreign exchange earner ranking after tea, rubber and petroleum products.

In arriving at the net foreign exchange earnings, deductions have to be made from gross earnings for the foreign exchange costs of servicing tourism. These costs may be broadly classified as operating and capital costs.

Operating costs include imported food, beverages, tobacco, fuel, expenditure abroad on advertising, publicity, and sales promotion; commissions paid to travel agents and tour operators abroad, maintenance costs of tourist offices abroad, servicing of foreign debts, management fees paid to foreign organisations, foreign travel of locals engaged in the tourist industry; payments to foreign consultants, architects and interior decorators, outflows of funds on account of interest, dividends, and capital repatriation on foreign investments in tourism.

Capital costs include costs of infrastructure, hotel accommodation and transport. Infrastructure development brings with it the foreign exchange costs of providing roads, railways, seaports, airports, electricity, water service, telecommunications, sewage disposal, etc. Hotel accommodation requires the foreign exchange costs of constructing hotels, motels, restaurants, rest houses; and purchasing lifts, air-conditioning plants, furniture and fittings, kitchen equipment, bathroom fittings, electrical equipment, crockery, cutlery, linen, etc. Transport equipment generates the foreign exchange cost of purchasing planes and helicopters, tourist buses, limousines and railway coaches.

As a result, the net foreign exchange earnings from tourism are only some 59% of gross.

The tourist industry generates a variety of employment opportunities in diverse fields. Direct employment in the servicing sectors include jobs in hotels and restaurants - receptionists, waiters, room-boys, cooks, laundrymen, gardeners, maintenance staff, store-keepers, clerks - and jobs in travel agencies, tourist shops, sports and recreational establishments. Indirect employment is created in the supplying sectors like handicrafts, jewellery, batiks, curios and souvenirs, food and beverages.

The figures indicate that 20% of the employees in the hotel industry are hired on a temporary basis. These casual workers are employed on a 'contract' basis or a daily wage-rate. They often get only a percentage of the service-charge paid to permanent employees and they join the ranks of the unemployed for half the year. This is a standard feature of hotel employment.

There is a heavy demand for jobs in hotels and restaurants, which account for about two-thirds of the total employment in the tourist industry. Hotel jobs are rewarding not because of the salaries and wages, which are relatively low, but on account of the service-charge, tips and occasional gifts given by tourists. This makes hotel jobs glamorous and attractive and draws even upper middle-class recruits to service jobs that would be considered 'menial' or low prestige, servant-type jobs in Sri Lanka's traditional social system.

In the larger hotels it is quite common for unskilled and semi-skilled workers like gardeners, bell-boys, taxi drivers and kitchen-hands to earn a four-figure income especially during the high season. This helps to promote egalitarianism by undermining class differences based on income. However, when uneducated, unskilled labourers earn higher incomes than skilled and qualified professionals, then the entire system of rewards and incentives for work within the country is called into question.

Tourism contributes to National Income (GDP) directly through tourist expenditure and indirectly through the operation of the 'multiplier effect'. Although tourism's contribution to the GDP is quite small, the growth rate has been very strong.

However, the multiplier effect itself and its use in assessing the impact of tourism in developing countries, has been criticised. The multiplier effect does work favourably in developed countries, but in countries like Sri Lanka where resources are scarce and even some essential commodities are imported, the multiplier effect is slight and leads to a transfer of resources from needier sectors of the economy. Tourism can help in dispersing economic development in regional areas. In Sri Lanka, where most of the non-agricultural production is confined to the Western Province and about 90% of the industrial production is concentrated in and around Colombo, the growth of tourism can help to diminish regional inequalities in development.

The relationship between tourism and local economies is problematic. For instance, in the case of tourist hotels, their output is irrelevant to the surrounding village economies, since it is absorbed by the foreign tourists and the local affluent elite. The only potential links are the inputs of labour and materials which the hotels must purchase from surrounding villages if the rural economies are to benefit. But this does not happen. As for labour, hotels prefer to employ English-speaking recruits from Colombo schools rather than Sinhala and Tamil-speaking youths from village schools. As for materials, village produce such as vegetables, fruits, fish and eggs are purchased by hotel suppliers and wholesalers who stand between the hotels and the producers and earn high profits. This point, combined with the small size of production units and the seasonality of the industry, means that the claim that dormant villages are led to greater economic prosperity by the regional effects of tourism is largely a myth.

Tourism development involves the provision of infrastructure facilities, goods and services, which mean the provision of food, beverages, lodging, transport and recreation for visitors. This can mean the diversion of much needed scarce resources from people's needs to visitors' consumption. This transfer of resources takes place in a wide range of economic activity associated with tourism. Some examples are: •
Food - Lobsters, crabs, prawns, fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, etc. are available for tourists, but not for local people.
Water - It is estimated that the average consumption per tourist is more than 10 times that of a Colombo resident.
Building Materials - Used lavishly for hotel-construction, these are scarce for house-construction.
Transport - Ceylon Transport Board buses are badly overcrowded while tourist buses and coaches go half-empty.
Electricity - One small hotel has more electric lights than an entire village in many areas.
Land - Taken up by hotel complexes especially in beach-resorts, denying access to traditional economic pursuits like fishing. In areas like Hikkaduwa and Beruwala local fishermen have been edged out.

Local commentators have argued that Sri Lanka has been subsidising the low-cost holidays of the affluent industrial countries. From 1967 onwards, the exchange rate moved progressively in favour of tourists, with a four-fold drop against the US dollar from 1967 to 1980. The depreciation of the rupee makes holidays in Sri Lanka cheaper for foreigners while making foreign travel and stays abroad exorbitant for Sri Lankans themselves. This makes it easy for a lower-middle-class foreigner to enjoy a first-class holiday in Sri Lanka, while making it difficult for a rich Sri Lankan to have a third-class holiday abroad.

Sri Lanka promotes tourism by making it cheap for visitors through the exchange-rate and profitable for investors through fiscal incentives. The subsidies and concessions given to the tourist industry include a 5-year tax holiday on construction and operation of tourist hotels, with a tax rate reduced by 50% for 15 years after the 5-year tax holiday, lump-sum depreciation and development rebates by way of capital allowances, investment relief, and income tax exemptions granted to foreign experts and executives and on profits arising to foreign contractors from the construction of tourist hotels.

Sri Lanka is advertised as the 'pearl of the Indian Ocean', and a 'charming tropical paradise with beautiful natural scenery'. What sells best and hence what is pushed hardest is the exotic imagery. The artificial image projected by the tourist industry contrasts sharply with the harsh reality of a poor Third World country struggling along the path of development.

In a sense, we are compelled to create these tourist enclaves since we are obliged to fulfil the expectations of our visitors who come here to sample a taste of paradise. We must make it possible for them to enjoy the sun and the sea and if we do not insulate them from the stark miseries of our country, they may be nauseated or conscience-stricken, and not visit us again. Hence the strenuous efforts at window-dressing, camouflaging the squalor, and sweeping the dirt under the carpet, take the form of rounding up beggars, keeping the cities clean, and planting colourful flowers on our roundabouts. We cover up the sores with bright raiment and present to our visitors a cheerful, smiling Lanka who in reality is nothing but a sick and anaemic lady with a painted face.

Resource 7
Case Studies in Tourist Development 2: Nepal

The Himalayas have long been a tourist destination, sought out by pilgrims and hermits to whom the mountains were sacred ground. Moghul emperors of the early seventeenth century sought paradise in the Kashmir hills during the hot season, and their British conquerors continued that tradition. Since Indian independence, these hill stations have seen growing Indian tourism by an increasing Indian middle class.

In addition, relatively low cost jet travel to South Asia and an increasing interest by Europeans and Americans in ethnic and environmental tourism, along with a continuing depiction of the Himalaya as 'Shangri-la' in books, magazines, films and travel advertisements, have led to mass tourism in places such as Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim. Nepal is the one most actively encouraging tourism, and, as a result, experiencing its benefits and disappointments.

By all international standards of comparison, Nepal is one of the very poorest and least developed nations in the world. It is 90% agricultural but food production lags behind population growth. Its systems of land tenure produce widespread inequality in ownership, tenancy and indebtedness. Life expectancy and adult literacy are very low; less than 10% of the people have access to electricity, and a similar proportion have safe drinking water. Over 50% of Nepal's population is considered to be living in absolute poverty in the early 1980s.

Amidst such dismal development results, tourism has emerged as one of the few encouraging sectors of the Nepalese economy, and has become Nepal's number one source of foreign exchange.

Government policies played an important part in this growth: by loosening visa policies; opening of previously restricted mountain areas to trekking; developing a national park system; investing in the creation and improvement of an international airport; loans for hotel and restaurant development; and the permitting of gambling in a Kathmandu international hotel.

Evaluating the impact of tourism is made more difficult by the unavailability of basic information on foreign investment in Nepalese hotels and trekking agencies or on government subsidisation policies such as tax holidays. The Nepalese case is complicated by different sociocultural, economic and environmental effects generated by different sorts of tourism, interacting with diverse ethnic groups living in varying environmental circumstances.

In the mid-1960s, Nepal introduced the idea of completely catered hiking tours, on which native porters carried all the clients' gear and supplies, set up the camps, handled the cooking and acted as general personal servants. It opened up the hills to an adventurous but tamed travel that insulated the tourist from Nepali languages and customs and the problems of route-finding and procuring food and places to sleep. Its combination of comfort (e.g., large tents, thick foam mattresses, tables and chairs, Western food, camera-only carriage of gear) and exoticness, coupled with the worldwide fame of destinations like Mount Everest and Annapurna, made such organised treks a booming activity at a time of great Western interest in environmental and ethnic tourism and backpacking.

Today, group trekkers are looked down on by independent trekkers. They rarely stay in local tea-shops or homes or dine in the local style, and their interaction with the local folk is narrowed. Although the demonstration effects of the sophisticated gear, cameras, watches and tape recorders may be substantial, and though group trekking places natives in extremely servile positions, the relative lack of interaction makes for perhaps a less profound culture contact than that between natives and independent trekkers, who attempt to maximally interact with locals.

The economic impacts of group trekking are also limited. The bulk of supplies for the group's trip are bought before departure in Kathmandu, because many of the Western-style camping foods (e.g. canned juices, chocolate bars) are available only there. It has been found that not more than 5% of the group trekking food budget is spent locally. Purchases of firewood and the hiring of porters are the major local economic impacts, but porter hiring often has little effect on the communities trekked through, since arrangements for porters are made predominantly in Kathmandu and at the trail head.

Although organised group trekking may affect local food shortages and inflation very little, it has relatively few economic benefits for the depressed economies of the remoter hill regions. Thus, group trekking offers small recompense for the disruption of daily life that it may cause and the damaging environmental impact it often has on popular routes.

For instance, the Sherpa people of the northeast region of Khumbu have seen a shift of economic power from older men of established families to young and middle-aged men, many of whom were not of traditionally high-status families. Other effects include prolonged absence of a large number of males, inflation of agricultural day-labour wage rates affecting the ability of many families to maintain their farms, and a monetarization of the economy.

Financial support of the Khumbu monasteries has dwindled, as has entrance into the monkhood. Several monks had abandoned the monastery for tourist employment, and young men whose high intelligence might once have led them to become lamas were now entering the tourist trade. Some commercialisation of arts occurred, the foremost religious painter of the area having turned to producing work for sale to tourists.

Not all of these changes were due to tourism, however. Changing attitudes to religion and the decline in polyandry, for example, had also been affected by the introduction of secular schools by a foreign aid group led by Sir Edmund Hillary and by the Nepalese government.

By 1980, tourism had become the source of 90% of the area's cash income, and on average one member per household was involved in trekking tourism. The other side of this increasing Sherpa cash income was inflation. While porters' wages tripled between 1964 and 1978, the cost of rice increased fourfold, until by 1978 the price of rice in Khumbu was double that in Kathmandu. Inflation of food and fuel prices took a good deal of the comparatively high income Sherpas were receiving from trekking, and, as independent trekkers began to bargain for food-stuffs in the Saturday market, this was aggravated further.

Another economic side effect of the trekking tourism boom was increasing economic hierarchies, with families involved in the inn business making considerably more profit than those involved only as porters.

During the 1970s, minor friction between tourists and hosts began to occur. Theft and begging grew, and some Sherpas resented the servile nature of porter work and even tourists' attempts at photography. Work for mountaineering expeditions also presented conflicts at times between subsistence wage work and religious values, as several peaks in the area were considered sacred by the Sherpas. Finally, exposure to Western values and material goods began to lead to the adoption of Western-style clothing by the men, and such items as cassette tape-recorders became highly sought after.

As the numbers of trekkers in Khumbu grew, ecological impacts from tourism also appeared. Water springs became contaminated, and inns made large demands on local water supplies. A growing litter problem and vegetation damage were also noted. The most serious problem, however, was the deforestation of the Khumbu region. The local climate makes a fairly slow forest regeneration period of about 60 years. Sherpas traditionally looked on the local forests as community property and conserved them through restrictions on the cutting of green wood and the appointment of forest guardians to monitor use. This traditional system of controlled use of forest resources for local fuel and building needs broke down during the 1960s and 1970s.

As trekking parties seldom carried their own fuel, the supply of wood for tourists became profitable. Most of this wood was sold to the organised trekking groups which, with their large numbers of porters, open-fire cooking and customary evening bonfires, had a considerable impact. The presence of over 4,000 trekkers per year, plus at least 5,500 supporting porters (most of whom were not Sherpas but residents of lower hill areas), led to a scarcity of wood along the main trekking route. Forests became confined to the more inaccessible areas, and protected stands appear as islands in some valleys where scarcely a bush remains.

The Nepalese government has tried to alleviate some of the growing environmental problems in the Khumbu region. In 1976, the Khumbu area was declared a national park (one of four in Nepal), to be administered with New Zealand advisory aid for the dual purpose of maintaining the environment and promoting tourism. Measures were discussed to establish fixed camping sites in an attempt to: (1) contain vegetation damage; (2) develop a network of toilet facilities to cut down water contamination; and (3) decrease the litter problem. In 1979, a ban on the purchase of firewood within the park by trekking groups was put into effect, and the government placed army guards in the area to patrol the forests.

However, the creation of the national park and government attempts to manage resource use led to conflicts with the local people, who resented the logging to construct the park headquarters and were concerned, despite assurances otherwise, that the park would prohibit their access to lumber and firewood. Local people were seldom involved in planning to minimise overgrazing, deforestation and wildlife loss, and policy decisions in other Nepalese national parks gave Sherpas strong reason for alarm: government concern with environmental preservation was so strict that, in two of Nepal's four national parks and in one of its four wildlife preserves, the inhabitants were removed and resettled.

It is difficult to assess the tourist impact on Khumbu. Economically, the Sherpas have been probably the most successful of all the Nepal hill people in adapting to and exploiting ethnic and environmental tourism, with positive consequences for standards of living. Tourism-generated goodwill toward the Sherpas has led to fundraising for schools, hospitals and scholarships to continue children's education in Kathmandu.

However, such benefits must be weighed against the effects on inflation and differentiation in wealth, as well as a range of changes in social structure, culture and environmental quality. Certainly, many of the environmental problems hastened or initiated by tourism in Khumbu are remediable, and it can also be argued that other modernisation and development measures are likely to lead to equally great economic and socio-cultural changes in Khumbu. Western medicine, nationalised secular education and nationally structured local government already contributes equally with tourism in affecting, for example, the erosion of traditional roles and the place of Buddhism.

Ultimately, the judgement must be made by the Sherpas themselves. Here, there is an occasional division of the communities and a strong joint displeasure over some specific touristic impacts, such as the original plan to site the Everest View Hotel airstrip on cropland and the tourist littering of a community water supply. But, overall, there appears to be an eagerness to participate in tourism, and investment in local inns, tea-houses, restaurants and shops is probably greater than in any other mountain region of Nepal. Whether the famed Sherpa hospitality and the apparently smooth transition to a tourist-based economy will continue with even higher visitation levels and commercialisation of the society will be interesting to see.

Resource 8
Case Studies in Tourist Development 3: Fiji

Pacific island tourism is dominated by the package tour. As with most tourism in developing countries, because peripheral tourist industries rely on foreign capital and material imports, a relatively high degree of foreign exchange leakage occurs. Package tours aggravate this situation since the costs of international airfares, travel agency commissions, bank charges, insurance, car rental, even meals, accommodation and some shopping is paid for by tourists before leaving the metropolis. If, as often happens, the tourist purchases a tour oriented around foreign-owned airlines, tour companies and hotels, the host country will have little opportunity to retain income from tourist expenditures. Where tour packages consist of a foreign airline, but with local hotel and other services, host countries receive on average 40-45% of the tour retail price paid by the tourists in their home country. If both the airline and hotels are owned by foreign companies, a mere 22-25% of the retail tour price will be forwarded to the destination country.

This restriction of tourists (and their spending) to an organised, formal travel experience tends to confine the industry itself as an enclave. Many tourists enjoy their vacation only from a base of familiarity, and are unlikely to venture outside the formal tourist industry environment provided by packaged tours. The tourist is in effect being transported to a new place but in a familiar 'environmental bubble'.

As an export industry, tourism generates income for the purchase of imported commodities and services. From 1963 to 1979, gross receipts from tourists increased by a factor of three, and tourism boosted Fiji's foreign exchange earnings with an average contribution of over 32% of gross export income since 1968.

This helped the Fiji economy to overcome one of the most serious aspects of the colonial era - a dependence on a narrow range of export commodities. Up until the early 1960s, at least 60% of total export receipts were generated from the sugar industry. By 1986, tourism was Fiji's largest single source of foreign exchange.

From gross tourist receipts in 1975, 56% of the total $67 million was directly lost through payments for imports, foreign staff salaries and profit repatriation. Of the $29.3 million remaining in Fiji, another $9.3 million, or 13.9%, was lost through the consumption of imports by tourism. Thus 70% of tourism-generated foreign exchange was lost. Tourism's leakage factor is higher than any other industry except mining, due largely to a reliance on imports which is in turn caused by the inflexible taste preferences of tourists in accommodation, food and transport, and the high degree of foreign ownership in the industry.

Tourism accommodation and shopping accounted for 80% of tourism receipts, and the linkages of these sectors are the key to understanding the limited multiplier effect of tourist spending. After 70% of shopping sector receipts were returned overseas, the multiplier effect of tourist shopping was limited almost entirely to the service sectors of the economy (particularly transport, retailing and wholesaling firms). Apart from small quantities of handicrafts, few local goods were sold to tourists. The accommodation sector made greater use of local products including food and beverage purchases. 47% of these hotel purchases were from local producers, and 53% were from imports. The local benefits of hotel food and beverage purchases were further boosted with the taxes, duties, and distributors' margins gained by food imports.

However, the picture is more complex than would first appear. Local food industries have a high import demand (dairy products, beer) and/or extensive foreign ownership (beer, tobacco, soft drinks). Hotels rely on supplies from large wholesale-retail companies operating in Fiji. Specialising in imported brand names, the largest of these companies are foreign (Australian) owned. Although local producers supplied 47% of hotel foodstuff purchases, most of this came from large 'formal sector' companies, particularly for meat, tobacco, bread, liquor and dairy products. In addition, hotels relied on large wholesalers for fruit and vegetables because of the inability of rural small producers to supply produce regularly in the required quantity and quality. Finally, the chance for locals to supply hotels is further limited by the largest companies growing foodstuffs on their own land. In recent years two hotel companies supplied most of the fruit and vegetables for seven of their eleven hotels (eight of which are in rural areas close to potential indigenous suppliers).

Turning lastly to the construction and outfitting of hotels, the inability of local enterprises to supply hotel requirements becomes more apparent, although Fiji fares better in this respect than some other underdeveloped countries. Of the materials needed for a fully operational standard class hotel in 1976, 68% came from overseas. Nevertheless, the construction of new tourist accommodation provided the major force for growth in the economy in the 1970s. However, there have been adverse side effects.

The concentration of construction activity in the tourist industry hindered government attempts to develop secondary industry. Tourism construction reinforced the tertiary sector rather than making inputs available to agricultural producing and processing industries.

As the most dynamic industry over the last decade, tourism has played a key role in maintaining, but not increasing, the proportion of wage earning jobs available in the economy. Tourism's propensity to stimulate employment was lower than for all primary and secondary sector industries. Except for consumer spending and communications, tourism also had a lower employment potential than other tertiary sectors. And employment in the hotel sector has been falling in recent years. Furthermore, the cost of providing tourism jobs is high. An investment of at least $25,000 is needed to create one hotel work place. In this respect, tourist shopping and handicraft vending may be better avenues to promote employment, although they probably offer less security. But tourism did have a very high demand for labour during the building and outfitting phases of hotel development, and the hotel sector had a higher labour demand than tourism as a whole.

The connection between ownership (and size) of tourism enterprises and their use of different financial sources is important in understanding indigenous participation in tourism. Because of low initial capital resources, low levels of management skills, inexperience in the tourist industry and the requirements of foreign tourists, Fijian and many Indian entrepreneurs have not been able to obtain adequate finance through normal commercial channels, or develop viable tourism enterprises. By contrast, banking, insurance, and government agencies have been established directly to serve foreign, European and other formal sector companies.

The Fiji Government is the single most important local beneficiary of tourism. However, over a third of tourism-generated public revenue was spent by government on administration and infrastructural development directly related to tourism. In a country which has been unable to achieve balanced development, let alone adequate infrastructure for its own population, this expenditure is a serious distortion in the distribution of public funds. It has not necessarily been compensated for by the other benefits from tourism.

The advantages enjoyed by foreign, European and formal sector companies generally, as opposed to the barriers faced by most Indian, Fijian and smaller enterprises, is the single most important feature of the Fiji tourist industry.

Given the racial ordering of Fiji commerce and society generally, it is important to identify the extent to which each of the major racial groups benefits from tourism. Foreign companies have accounted for over 60% of retail turnover, with local European, Indian and Fijian enterprises accounting for a steeply reducing proportion. Indian and Fijian enterprises accounted for only some 15%.

The introduction of tourism to Fiji can be seen as the result of two mutually reinforcing sets of factors. Colonialism created economic and political stresses in the original agricultural economy, necessitating the further introduction of similar economic forces. Tourism was one such means of alleviating these stresses. Yet tourism was itself part of the colonial system, leading to a series of problems in a post-colonial context.

On the one hand, tourism brings obvious economic benefits: the generation of foreign exchange, the attraction of foreign capital, the creation of jobs, and the diversification of exports. It has also helped provide an extensive international transport and communications network, and facilitated the upgrading and expansion of local infrastructure.

On the other hand, these benefits have been gained at considerable cost. The most concrete of these have been the administration of tourism, the provision of investment incentives and the public construction and maintenance of tourism infrastructure. More important have been the intangible costs. The tourist industry, with its dominant metropolitan interests, its technological and political requirements and its spatial characteristics, has exacerbated the adverse conditions typical of a dependent capitalist social formation. The distribution of tourism income aggravates already serious class and racial tensions in Fiji society, and reinforces the regional inequality evident in the country's spatial organisation.

Foreign capital, the main force behind tourism development, has been the main beneficiary of the industry. Except for the government, Fiji's European business community gained most from tourism. On the other hand, Fiji's non-white indigenous groups were confined to relatively unprofitable activities. While they provided the labour requirements of tourism enterprises, their control of tourism capital was minimal. Only in handicrafts and entertainment groups (both having very low rates of remuneration) were locals the main beneficiaries.

This pattern followed the parallel concentration of commercial resources, power and expertise in the hands of large overseas firms. Three corporations provided more than 90% of international airline seating capacity (excluding regional carriers) and five companies accounted for all Fiji cruise-ship operations. Within Fiji, hotel chain companies operated 65% of the country's total accommodation stock and 58% of turnover.

The 1987 coup had a dramatic effect on the Fijian tourist industry, especially in Australia where 43% of Fiji's tourists originate. While the decline in visitors was soon arrested with large savings on cut price Fijian tours, the Fijian people suffered major effects. Widespread sackings, a 15% cut in public service salaries, currency devaluation and inflation all resulted, further heightening poverty, inequality and racial tensions.

Whatever the costs of tourism, Fiji has not been in a position to reject large-scale foreign tourism capital. With balance of payments deficits and low domestic savings, foreign capital eased some economic problems. But it has only sidestepped the serious structural, political and racial distortions in the country's social organisation. Tourism in Fiji, therefore, operates in two contradictory directions. It helps to alleviate problems derived from Fiji's colonial past, but is itself a product of this colonial structure and acts to exacerbate many features of this original condition.

Resource 9
Being an Enlightened Traveller

People visit other places for a variety of reasons. Among them are:
to escape the stresses of everyday life, to relax and be happy;
to be entertained by the spectacular and different;
to meet people and make new friends;
to learn about other cultures, develop understanding and empathy with other peoples;
to have a wild social time in a place far from the strictures and routine of home;
to experience personal challenges and adventures.

In groups, complete the following tasks and share the outcomes with other groups:
Which of these purposes is/are assumed by the advertising copy in Activity 1 (Resources 1-3)? What is the likely relative impact of these different kinds of tourism?
Following is a list of recommendations from One World Travel (a sustainable tourism agency) for how an enlightened traveller should plan and conduct a visit. Consider and evaluate each recommendation. What is your view of each recommendation?
Given these recommendations, what kind of enlightened travel programme would you be able to suggest for a visitor to your own area? Write a tourist 'blurb' for visitors to your area similar to those in Activity 1 above, but one which would promote enlightened travel as outlined in the 13 points below.

Recommendations for the Enlightened Traveller
Where possible, stay with local people or in traditional accommodation. This will reduce the need for expensive, resource-intensive hotels and facilities.
Eat local food and drink where possible, to reduce import costs and litter from packaging, and to support local producers.
Walk, cycle or use local buses to get around.
Don't hunt or buy souvenirs made from native animals.
In visiting an area, carry out your rubbish, leave only biodegradable material.
Learn as much as you can about local language, customs and history before arriving at the destination.
Be sensitive to local customs, observe carefully, treat people with respect.
Be sensitive in using cameras. These can be intrusive and offensive if used too conspicuously.
Dress modestly, especially in and around temples, mosques, churches and shrines.
Think about the sexual relationships you might form there and the position of power you hold in that relationship.
Think about the effects of bargaining on the incomes of the people you are dealing with, and whether it is a fair thing to do in different situations.
Talk to the local people about their country whenever possible.
Think about the impact of tourism on the community you are visiting, and how you might avoid making harmful impacts yourself.

Resource 10
Being a Discerning Host

People travel for various reasons, and these different purposes have different advantages and disadvantages. Thus we cannot look on tourism as a single activity, but need to consider what kinds of tourism and tourists should be encouraged. This is illustrated in the following comment from a report into tourism on Bermuda which concluded that:

We recognise that the attraction of this Island is reduced by overcrowding. As traffic multiplies, attraction lessens (tourists add to traffic); as noise increases, attraction decreases (tourists contribute to noise); as social and cultural instability rise, attraction falls (tourism shakes our cultural stability). As we have greater numbers of tourists, we may be repelling the very tourists that would be our ideal: the long-staying, high-spending, committed to quality visitors.



Activity

The following descriptions outline some kinds of tourism and tourists.
Read the descriptions, consider the differences among them, and decide which types of tourism and tourists would have the least detrimental impact on host cultures and environments.
Suggest three strategies which host countries could use to attract the tourists who are most valuable to the host country but who have the least detrimental impact?
Kinds of Tourism

Ethnic Tourism

Marketed in terms of the quaint customs of the indigenous and often exotic people. The tourist is invited to buy primitive wares and curios, pay to see dances and ceremonies and visit native homes.

Cultural Tourism

Dwells on the picturesque aspects of local culture, such as traditional housing styles, horse or ox driven carts, and crafts. Sites of this kind of tourism are often near tourist resorts and subject to the influence of large numbers of tourists.

Historical Tourism

Includes the glories of the past, monuments and museums, attracting mainly education-oriented visitors. Usually concentrated in or near major urban centres.




Environmental Tourism

Primarily oriented to geographic interests and education, including trips to wild remote areas. Often associated with ethnic tourism.

Recreational Tourism

Sun, sand, sea and sometimes sex are the chief attractions of this variety, which appeals to people who want to relax and commune with nature.
Kinds of Tourists

The Explorer

Seeks adventure, discovery and involvement with the local people. May be sympathetic to local environments and attempt to accept local lifestyles, though can also have considerable impact on areas not organised and prepared for such visits. Unlikely to return a second time, but will tend to look for new areas to explore.

The Elite

Individually tailored visits to exotic places. Likely to be small in number but to spend high sums. Can be destructive depending on purpose of visit (e.g. hunting). Usually looks for accustomed luxuries in accommodation, food, etc.

The Mass

Package tours leading to tourist enclaves and standard Western facilities. Considerable sources of income and employment. High demand for Western facilities, foods, services and entertainment, but also for local souvenirs and entertainments. Often a standard demand for sun, sand, sea and sex.

The Alternative

Similar to the explorer in many ways, though less intent on adventure and more interested in the environment, local contacts and specific features of the host culture. Can be attracted in reasonable numbers, but is likely to spend less than the mass tourist.



























ADDITIONAL READING

Butler, R. (1991) Tourism, Environment and Sustainable Development, Environmental Conservation, 18(3), 201 - 209.

Contours (various issues).

Gamble, W. (1989) Tourism and Development in Africa, John Murray, London.

Harrison, D. (ed.) (1992) Tourism and the Less Developed Countries, Bellhaven Press, London.

Hayward, S., Gomez, V. and Sterrer, W. (1981) Bermuda's Delicate Balance, Bermuda National Trust, Nassau.

King, V. (ed.) (1994) Tourism in Borneo: Issues and Perspectives, Borneo Research Council, Williamsburg, VA.

Lea, J. (1988) Tourism and Development in the Third World, Routledge, London.

Mason, P. (1992) Tourism: Environment and Development Perspectives, World Wide Fund for Nature, Godalming.

New Internationalist (especially December 1984 and July 1993)

Purdie, H. and O'Connor, D. (1990) Tourism: The Total Picture, Jacaranda, Milton.