Turismo y Cambio Cultural: Un Estudio Comparativo

Tourism and Cultural Change in Natural Areas Destinations: A Comparative Study

I. Introduction

Tourism is considered the biggest industry of the world. According to the World Tourism Organization [WTO](2007), international tourism receipts reached US$ 733 billion generated by 846 million tourists in 2006. Regions in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Central America, and the Middle East haveenjoyed a sustainable and higher than average growth in the number of international arrivals during the past five years (WTO 2007). Regardless of the perceived threats of terrorism, SARS, oil crisis, and other negative events, the future of tourism continues to look promising. It is expected that international arrivals would reach 1.6 billion by 2020. The three top receiving regions are predicted tobe Europe (717 million tourists), East Asia and the Pacific (397 million) and the Americas (282 million), followed by Africa, the Middle East and South Asia (WTO 2007).
Due to this rapid growth of the tourism industry, academics, practitioners, and policy makers around the world are examining the dynamics and impacts of travel and tourism, especially in developing countries that are highlydependent on tourism for economic development . Tourism provides a context for studying issues of political economy, social change and development, natural resource management, and cultural and identity and expression, among others (Stronza, 2001). Of particular interest has been the study of the impacts of tourism on the host destination. On the positive side, impacts of international travel includehigher employment, foreign exchange earnings, environmental conservation, and the revival and protection of local cultures. At the same time, tourism has been highly criticized for the economic exploitation of host communities, environmental damages, social inequities, commoditization of the local culture, and conflict between tourists and local residents.
Culture is integral in tourism. Travelto foreign destinations involves face to face interactions with people from different cultural backgrounds. Different forms of cultural tourism (festival tourism, indigenous tourism, agri-tourism, pilgrimages, etc.) are becoming very popular. It is estimated that as many as 240 million international trips a year involve some kind of cultural tourism (McKercher & Cros, 2002). Travel to remote areasto see “exotic” cultures is also becoming a trend supported by improvements in transportation, educational level, higher disposable income, leisure time, and availability of information.
The study of cultural impacts of tourism is an important area that has focused on aspects such as commodification of culture, authenticity, identity, cultural survival, and heritage issues. However, thisresearch has tended to emphasize the negative impacts of tourism on local cultures, especially non-Western. Tourism research is conducted under the assumptions that tourism is imposed on the host destination and that locals are passive and unable to influence any decisions affecting their lives. Few studies have addressed positive impacts of tourism on the local culture (revival of old traditions,reinforcement of identity), how locals perceive changes in their culture, or how they decide what aspects of their cultural fabric they want to preserve and/or expose to the tourists. An important area of research should, therefore, investigate not only the changes in the local culture due to tourism but also the factors that might influence the extent of the impacts.

II. Purpose of the Study
Bycomparing ethnographic data from three natural area destinations, the purpose of this research is to examine the impacts of tourism on the culture of the host residents, determine how locals perceive cultural changes, and the mechanisms through which they adapt to tourism. Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:

• How has tourism evolved on these communities?
• What...