Tourism and culture

Culture consists of behaviour learnt as members of a social group. And the knowledge, values and traditions so acquired are passed down through generations. Richards (1996) argued that culture is a complex whole and is both a process and a product. Culture as a process includes the behaviour of the individuals of a specific group through which people make sense of themselves and their lives. Culture as product includes the individual group activities to which certain meanings are attached. Richards further argues that in tourism both these overlap and are integrated. The tourist who engage in cultural experiences in search of authenticity are provided with culture developed specifically for their consumption. Thus, tourism as such transforms ‘culture as a process’ to ‘culture as a product’. Or it may be said that tourism itself is a culture industry in that cultural products and experiences are promoted as tourist attractions (Prentice 1997).

There is a strong inter relationship between tourism and culture. Tourism impacts both culture and society and is shaped by cultures and society. There are a few basic elements when we study the inter-relationship between tourism and culture. Let’s outline the elements below for a better understanding:

• 1.      acculturation i.e. the culture contact between the tourist and the host population
• 2.      the ‘manufactured’ tourist experience versus authenticity
• 3.      commodification of culture i.e. culture is seen as a commercial resource (culture is perceived to be unique or unusual by the tourists and marketing specialists).
• 4.      image formation of a place to convert it into a potential tourist destination.

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