The Role of Culture in Tourism
Discuss about the Cultural Events and Tourism Development.
For the majority of the twentieth century, tourism has become a major contributor to the global economy. In fact, the UNWTO (2012) calculated that tourism has contributed more than 1 trillion dollars. This proves the following, 1. When compared to other industries, it has more chances to create wealth and development; 2. It has a multiplying effect and 3. Tourism has the ability to create a variety of goods and services.
The relationship between culture and tourism is a most unpredicted one. On one hand, some group of tourists travels and visits other places purely to participate and enjoy other cultures. Rationally speaking, when tourists visit, they bring along their culture and the interaction between the two cultures cannot be avoided. This is strengthened by the fact that tourists have to venture into new societies and cultures. Thereby showcasing their differences. This interaction will eventually have an influence on the tourist’s experience and reaction to the visited area. Other influences include the host culture’s acknowledgement of the tourists. A nation’s cultural practises have a great effect on a tourist’s actions, their assumptions, experience and the degree to which they consider revisiting a certain area (Uroševi?, 2012). Even the prosper of a tourism destination is dependent on the interaction between the two cultures.
The influences of cultural interaction are so profound that the planning and strategy of marketing, development and operation and future plans of the destination are based on it (Schlesinger, Selfe & Munro, 2015). But this interaction is not always toxic, sometimes the interaction is so strong that one culture is assimilated into another to make something new. This report intends to investigate the relationship between cultural exchange and interaction with tourism and hospitality industry. It will examine the positive and negative impacts of cultural interaction to the success of a tourism destination.
Typologies basically mean the classification of tourists. It is the mainly based on their behaviour and intention for visit. These groupings are the tourism management’s way of knowing which kind of products or services to offer to their tourists, in fact, marketing, planning and development departments consider these typologies their guide to the management of tourism companies and industry (Morita & Johnston, 2018).
Different scholars and researcher have targeted the issue of classifying tourists. Stanley Plog based his entire classification on a persons need to visit new places and their traits. His classification, therefore, resolved to two parts: allocentric and psycho-centric types.
- Allocentric types are, more often than not, adventure thrillers, they seek new places to see places they haven’t been to before. Their courage to try new places motivates them to tour the world. This characteristic means that they would often go for outings and picnics and are confident of themselves (Chen & Huang 2018, p. 147). Speaking culture-wise, this group of tourists are very excited to meet new people. They are ready and willing to learn about new cultures and assimilate into them. While they intend to travel to an area, they pick this area, with specificity and then just travel. From their personalities, this group is usually curious and explorative.
- Psychocentric types-This group can be called the ‘ introverts’ of the tourism industry. They are generally inhibited and lack a sense of adventure. They keep on the traditions and can be very conserved to visiting new places (Chen & Huang 2018, p. 162). For example, if a family visited a place for vacation, this type of tourist will keep to that tradition as long as they don’t have to try a new place. They lack curiosity and will keep going back to the regular place in order to ‘ avoid trouble’. Their general personality dictates that they remain undisturbed, to appreciate the serenity and simply relax. If their visit goes in this manner then they are happy. They do not change destinations much and at a destination, they order the same food and services. What worries them the most is their safety and security.
Typologies of Tourists and Their Impact on Management
Another scholar who attempted to classify tourists is Eric Cohen. His classification was done in four groups. Organized mass tourist, individual mass tourist, the explorer and the drifter. If you were to look at this classification keenly, you’d find that it is almost similar to Plog’s classification in that, psycho-centric is further divided into organized and individual type and allocentric is divided into explorers and drifters.
That said, the organised groups are those tourists that have planned to-do lists, stops, and destinations. They mainly favor a familiar destination and lack originality. They also travel, as the name suggests, in a group. Someone else, usually a travels website or organization (Shoval, McKercher, Birenboim & Ng, 2015), plans their tour plans. The individual mass tourist, on the other hand, has somewhat a sense of control over their tourism plans. They prefer to remain within the confines of their tour destination and have little to no interaction with the culture of the host nation. They have a maximum familiarity bias.
The explorer is a free spirit, they do not prefer to travel to already established destinations, rather to less known places. They enjoy interacting with the local hosts and practise in the culture. But even when doing this they remain confined to the environment of the destination. They have originality, they try new places although they do not completely integrate with the locals.
The drifter. These are the true tourists. They plan their own trip while doing that, they completely ignore tour destinations and live with the hosts. They are uniques and would not visit one place several times, meaning, their familiarity bias completely dissolves in their sense of innovation (Peter & Anandkumar, 2016). Other classifications include the adventurer, businessperson, dreamers, economizers, indulgers and religious traveler (Liu, 2014).
Cultural difference can be defined as the similarities in respect to the shared cultural practises of two different countries. It is a known fact that different cultures are bound to clash where tourism is a factor. Culture plays an important role in human development, it is a key determinant of human traits. It also determines how people see the world (Terzi?, Krivošejev & Bjeljac, 2015). Most people are never aware of just how much influence their culture has on them until they have to interact with new cultures. New culture foreign to other people creates an uncomfortable situation, if very well studied this situation is one of the reasons people strive to understand other cultures. The main formations of cultures are languages, religious beliefs and a county’s economy (Giebels, Oostinga, Taylor & Curtis, 2017). The relationship between new and host cultures in tourism is called guest-host relationship. Tourism has the capability to bring two cultures together. There are three different classifications of guest-host relationship: tourist buying a product form a local, tourist and host being side by side for, on the beach or a national park and face-to-face meeting where these two groups have to face each other by sharing ideas and information.
The Challenges of Cultural Difference in Tourism
People usually think that the interaction between two cultures is supposed to be peaceful, that all the participating groups will be fascinated by simply the difference in their two different cultures. But the interaction is usually affected by factors such as economic difference, social and the same cultural factors (Lyons & Wearing, 2012). The bigger the rift between the factors between these two cultures, the more likely their interaction will be unproductive. The main restraint for cultural integration is mainly noticed when the tourist has little regard and appreciation for the cultural customs and norms of the hosting locals. The dispute between two cultures is inevitable and occur on a personal level and can happen even if the tourists stay in their tour destinations (Ivanovic & Saayman, 2013). Conflicts happen as a result of cultural differences and they later lead to poor interactions and lack of understanding and poor interpretation.
Visitors take their cultures to other places and are unaware of the impacts that their new culture has on the local residents (Spencer & Jessa, 2014). This is mainly evident in developing countries where the image they have of developed countries is adapted from movies and TV series which raises the expectations of the local residents and sometimes cruelty.
Cultures are peoples way of life, they, therefore, contain their own rules and behavioral expectations. Different cultures have different rules and the interaction of these cultures create conflict (RYOTA, 2017). The meaning of the rules is not similar, meaning, the rules that apply in one culture might not apply in another and even if does, they might translate to a completely different thing. The guest (Casey, 2013) translates a misinterpretation of any sort of rule by the visitor as disrespect. This regularly results in tensions and fights or disagreements between host and guests. But in some cases, the interaction between two cultures can lead to a good thing even the integration of one culture into another to form a new set of rules. This is a good thing for tourism because its success under those kinds of favorable conditions is undeniable. In fact, in a bid to create cohesion between two cultures, the government of the host culture provides guides and lessons to attempt to smooth things over for the tourists. In some countries disrespecting the host, culture is a criminal offence and is punishable by law.
Human cultures have existed for thousands of years. Imagine this scenario, one big society is suddenly divided into two different societies, the two societies will develop different cultures. If these two societies meet later in time, they are bound to be curious about each other however similar they are. The interaction between cultures can be done via knowledge, one culture fascinated by the other will learn about that culture, gaining as much knowledge from them as possible. The passing of knowledge happens on several different avenues for example innovation, reproduction and formations (Schlesinger, Selfe & Munro, 2015).
Cultural Integration in Tourism: Benefits and Opportunities
Another avenue for the interaction of cultures is business (Gandin, 2015). A tourist intends to buy from a local host has to overcome the language barrier first, then they have to understand the meaning behind the product being sold. Most souvenirs are a part of history or the natural environment of the host country. It might not mean much to buy something just because it felt right. The tourist fascinated by this attraction will inquire to know the origin story of this product. This process of learning provides a perfect avenue from which cultural interaction happens, the tourist shares a part of their culture as well as the host.
In a hotel room when the tourist has finally settled, there are guidelines put in place to serve these guest. A host service provider has to follow these guidelines (Walton, 2015). These guidelines, as discussed earlier are based on the typologies of the tourist. And as stated earlier, the types of tourist is also influenced by the culture of their home country. Therefore, in the provision of these services, the tour guide or hostess have to acquainted with the cultural practices of the tourist. For example, a tourist from a Muslim country will require not to be disturbed during prayer and will also eat just a specific type of food
Selection-The tour guide provides the route and plans for the tour. Meaning that in a sense they are responsible for the cultural parts a tourist get to learn. But on the bleak side, tour itinerary also shows the places not selected, in other words, when you pick a place to go, you also pick where to not go. This way, the tour company has the chance to show only those sectors of the culture they consider to be appropriate. This can be misleading (Le, De Urioste-Stone & Holmes, 2016).
Information-Tourists are yearning to learn new things, it is basically one of the reasons they travelled. The duty of providing accurate and truthful information falls on the tour guide. Meaning, they pick what to say, for example, a tour guide in Australia might decide not to tell tourists that up until 1960, there was a law banning immigration into Australia by non-Europeans. This is an important part of Australian history that the tourist might want to know about. The choosing of the kind of information to deliver is very crucial to the interaction between two cultures.
Interpretation-It is the job of a trained tour guide to interpret information to tourists. Active tourists willing to learn, ones that ask questions are given their view of a certain culture by the tour guide (PR 2017). Meaning, the way that a tourist views a culture is majorly based on their interpretation of that culture. The tour guide is then transformed into a broker for the two culture, the host culture and the guest culture, the bridge that connects this two cultures. The harmony between these two cultures partly rests on the hands of the tour guide.
Conclusion
Cultures are bound to interact; this interaction can either be fruitful or hostile. In terms of tourist satisfaction, it has been shown that the comprehension the host culture is a key factor in the satisfaction of the customer. This is also a sure way to ensure tourist retention. The most significant medium for tourist for getting any kind of information is the tour guide. It has been since hypothesized that tourism can lead to world peace, but the diversity in cultures cannot be ignored. Two cultures have to first exist in harmony before any peace is achieved. It is the duty of the government to train and regulate tour guides to provide the best most accurate information to tourists.
References
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