Green Tourism

Specialist Reports Special Interest Holidays Green Tourism Impact on Local Culture 

The material comforts along with the apparent freedoms of the First World can be extremely attractive to those who don't have enough and feel trapped in a traditional way of life. At the same time the money tourism brings can be de-stablising, even where locally controlled. This is particularly so when the benefits are not equally shared in the community, for example going only to those who work directly with the tourists.

This is bad enough but for certain types of eco-tourism local people are evicted from their lands. In Botswana for example the remaining few hundred Bushmen of the Central Kalahari are reported to be being forced off the land they have lived on for centuries by the government and wildlife officials. In East Africa Maasai and Samburu people have been evicted to facilitate tourism development. Mark Mann also points to the success of the Taj group of hotels which managed to persuade the Indian government to serve compulsory purchase orders on 17 villages which had previously refused to sell their land for redevelopment.

Where tourism has been allowed to become the only source of income there are further problems. Tourists demand that nothing is modernised and create a kind of live theme park. Then, without access to other sources of income local people can come to prey on their visitors, producing a culture of hustling, and in some places prostitution and the sale of drugs.

However, this is only possible where the visitors treat the local people as either non-existent - notably anywhere where the main draw is wildlife - or fail to see them as people whose opinions and lives are as valid as their own.

Tips

• Respect local customs and traditions. Not only is this polite, it can help convince younger generations, potentially seduced by alternatives, to see the value of their own.



• Be aware of the feelings, values, customs and beliefs of other people, particularly when it comes to dress, photography and religion. Note also that different cultures often have time concepts and thought patterns different from your own. Children adapt to this with ease. Adults less so.



• Match local standards for greeting, dress, body language etc (a good guidebook will inform you of these and children might find them interesting).



• Find genuinely local-made souvenirs, particularly items made by traditional methods which helps place a value on the skills required to produce them.



• Choose traditional food, accommodation etc which maintain cultural identity.



• Don't hand out gifts and sweets. This creates "give me" expectations and attitudes of dependency or inferiority. However, do pay a fair amount for any service rendered.



• Don't take part in tourism projects or activities that undermine the local culture or value system.



• Don't expect special privileges.



• Research your destination with your children beforehand so they get as much out of it as possible and help them discover it when there, possibly by talking to local people.



• Travel in a manner that doesn't create barriers between you and the place you came to experience; walk, cycle and use other available forms of non-motorised transport. (Taking children with you is however one of the best ways of breaking down barriers.)



• Only bring necessary technological gadgetry. ‘Be especially wary of video and camera equipment (especially Polaroid), and electronic equipment that produces noise.' Warns the International biking Fund.



• Always ask first before photographing or videoing people. Send them back copies of photos to help make it a two-way exchange.



• Remember that saving face is very important in many cultures. If you want to criticise it will be more effective couched in positive comments, and open displays of anger may well be highly embarrassing/unacceptable.



• Help your children listen and observe.