UNIT 4 TOURISM AND CULTURE REVISION NOTES

 Introduction to Tourism and Culture: Anthropological Perspectives

Understanding Culture in Anthropology

• Anthropological Definition:
  • Culture as a way of life: How people behave, think, interact, and live daily.
  • Culture is inherent in every human being and a crucial part of daily experiences.
  • Singer (1968): Culture consists of patterns of behavior, acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting human achievements, and including values and traditions passed down generations.

Dimensions of Culture

• Ideational Aspect: System of meanings and symbolic expressions.
• Material Aspect: Assemblage of material goods, artifacts, and norms related to their production and circulation.
• Interrelation: Both aspects are interconnected and essential for understanding culture.

Culture as Process and Product

• Richards (1996):
  • Culture as Process: Behavior and meaning-making by individuals within a group.
  • Culture as Product: Activities with attached meanings.
  • Integration in Tourism: Tourism transforms culture from a process to a product, promoting cultural products and experiences as tourist attractions (Prentice, 1997).

Key Elements in the Interrelationship Between Tourism and Culture

1. Acculturation:

   • Culture contact between tourists and host populations.
   • Exchange and influence of cultural traits.

2. Manufactured Tourist Experience vs. Authenticity:

   • Tourists often seek authentic experiences, leading to the creation of 'manufactured' authenticity.
   • Authenticity in tourism is shaped by tourists' expectations and perceptions.

3. Commodification of Culture:

   • Culture as a commercial resource.
   • Unique or unusual cultural traits are marketed to attract tourists.
   • Culture is often packaged and sold as part of the tourism experience.

4. Image Formation:

   • Developing a place's image to attract tourists.
   • Marketing strategies to highlight cultural uniqueness and appeal.

Reflection on Culture and Tourism

• Sir Edward Burnett Tylor: Defined culture as a complex whole including knowledge, belief, arts, morals, laws, customs, and other capabilities acquired by humans as society members.
• Interrelationship: Tourism impacts and is shaped by culture and society, influencing both in various ways.

Cross-Cultural Interaction: The Acculturation Debate

Introduction

• Tourism and Culture: Tourism facilitates interactions between different cultures, impacting the lifestyle, history, arts, and traditions of host communities.
• Acculturation: Defined as the process where elements of one culture are borrowed by another due to contact between societies (Burns, 1999).

Key Concepts

1. Acculturation Theory

   • Definition: Cultural borrowing due to contact between two societies.
   • Example: Locals in tourist areas (e.g., Agra, Jodhpur) learning foreign languages to cater to tourists.
   • Power Dynamics: Stronger cultures tend to influence weaker ones, leading to changes primarily in the host society's traditions and values (Petit-Skinner, 1977).

2. Homogenisation and Cultural Drift

   • Homogenisation: Host cultures gradually assimilate into the dominant tourist culture, losing their unique identity (Nunez, 1989).
   • Cultural Drift: A concept suggesting that tourism leads to temporary and phenotypic changes in both host and guest behaviors, which may revert after tourist seasons (Collins, 1978).

3. Permanent vs. Temporary Changes

   • Phenotypic Changes: Temporary behavioral adjustments by the host to accommodate tourists.
   • Genotypic Changes: Permanent changes in norms and values that are passed on to future generations.
   • Duration and Intensity: The extent of cultural change depends on the duration, permanence, and intensity of interaction between hosts and guests.

4. Demonstration Effect

• Definition: Local residents adopt behaviors and lifestyles observed in tourists, leading to cultural homogenisation.
• Implications: Potential disruption of social fabric and intra-generational conflicts, with younger generations aspiring to western lifestyles while older generations aim to preserve traditional ways.

The Tourist Experience and the Debate on Authenticity

Introduction

• Tourism and Authenticity: A key debate in anthropology of tourism is the notion of authenticity. The concept has been prominent since Boorstin (1961) and MacCannell (1973).

Key Theories and Concepts

1. MacCannell's Theory

   • Primary Motive: Tourists travel in search of authenticity, hoping to find genuine experiences and authentic culture (MacCannell, 1976).
   • Modern vs. Authentic: Modern urban lifestyles are seen as artificial, leading to romanticization of rural, less industrialized cultures.
   • Staged Authenticity: The tourism industry creates "constructed tourist spaces" to present a semblance of authenticity.

2. Examples of Staged Authenticity

   • Maori Culture: Performances and traditional food for tourists, which do not reflect real Maori life (Taylor, 2001).

3. Tourist Types and Preferences

   • Cohen's Typology: Not all tourists seek authenticity; some prefer tourist ghettos and familiar environments (Cohen, 1988).
   • Boorstin's Argument: Modern tourists often seek inauthentic experiences, such as shopping malls and amusement parks, to escape their superficial lifestyle (Boorstin, 1961).

4. Ambiguity of Authenticity

   • Changing Cultures: Cultures are not static, making the concept of authenticity ambiguous.
   • Tourism Language: Marketing uses phrases like "authentic holiday experience" to attract tourists, emphasizing the value of perceived authenticity.

5. Types of Tourism Involving Authenticity

   • Ethnic, Historical, Cultural Tourism: These forms of tourism often involve presenting or representing the "Other" (host community).
   • Scholarly Attention: Received widespread attention in works of Brown (1996), Cohen (1988), McIntosh and Prentice (1999), Salamone (1997), and Pearce and Moscardo (1986).

6. Tourist Experience

• Cohen's Insight: Modern tourists are interested in sights, customs, and cultures because they offer a mix of familiarity and strangeness (Cohen, 1972).

Destination Image Formation

Introduction

• Technological Advances: Improved technology, transportation, and communication have brought people closer.
• Increased Disposable Income: Enhanced opportunities for people to engage in tourism.
• Tourism as an Experiential Product: Tourists seek pleasurable experiences and maximum entertainment value.
• Competitive Marketplace: Destinations compete globally to attract tourists.

Key Elements in Promoting Tourist Destinations

1. Use of Images: Increase the symbolic value of the destination.
2. Effective Communication: Focus on semiotics to communicate these images.

Image and Image Formation

1. Definition and Characteristics of Image

   • Image: An artificial imitation or representation of an object or person.
   • Characteristics:
     • Vivid and concrete
     • Visual components
     • Social with an audience
     • Simplified and partial representation
     • Manipulated and biased
     • Ambiguous
     • Communicated via social media

2. Destination Image

   • Crompton (1978): "Aggregate sum of beliefs, ideas, impressions, and expectations about a destination."
   • Gartner and Hunt (1987): "Impressions held about a destination."

3. Importance of Destination Image

   • Central to tourist's selection process (Hunt, 1975).
   • Positive image leads to increased visitation and impacts destination selection.
   • Studied as an independent variable influencing choice, decision-making, and satisfaction.

4. Factors in Image Formation

   • Image Formation: Construction of a mental representation of a destination based on information cues from image formation agents.
   • Promotional Efforts: Marketers and advertising agents use advertising and publicity to create a positive image.

5. Mediums of Communication

   • Brochures, Billboards, Newspapers, Magazines, Television: These mediums highlight certain visual components while excluding others.

6. Principle of Visual Inclusion and Exclusion

• Visual Inclusion and Exclusion: Certain visuals are highlighted while others are excluded to create a profitable and attractive image.
• Symbolic Transformation: Even ordinary places can be transformed into extraordinary destinations via advertising, turning them into commodities.

Semiotics and Tourism

Introduction to Semiotics

• Definition: Study of signs and how meanings are generated from signs.
• Key Scholars:
  • Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913): Linguist, focused on the relationship between signifier and signified.
  • Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914): Philosopher, expanded to non-verbal signs.
  • Roland Barthes (1915-1980): Advanced semiotics in marketing, particularly in advertisement images.

Key Concepts

• Signifier: The physical appearance of the sign.
• Signified: The mental concept to which the signifier refers.
• Denotative Sense: Common sense meaning understood by people of the same culture.
• Connotative Sense: Additional meanings influenced by the reader’s emotions and cultural conventions.

Application in Tourism Marketing

• Tourism Advertisement:
  • Representation: How advertisers depict the destination.
  • Interpretation: How potential tourists perceive these representations.
  • Symbolic Experience: The imaginative and emotional benefits offered by the destination.

Example: "Kuch Din Toh Guzaro Gujarat Mein"

• Tagline: Invites tourists to Gujarat.
• Verbal Text: Narrated by a famous Indian actor.
• Visual Text: Highlights rich cultural heritage, e.g., Somnath Temple.
• Impact: Creates an imaginative and appealing image of Gujarat in the minds of potential tourists.

Language of Tourism

• Graham Dann's "The Language of Tourism":
  • Special Language: Promotional materials use specific language to appeal to tourists.
  • Key Words: ‘Authentic’, ‘raw’, ‘indigenous’ promise unique lifestyle experiences.
• Morgan and Pritchard (1998):
• Stereotyped Images: Brochures and billboards often show idealized, pleasant scenes.
• Idealized Images: Represent a ‘tourist paradise’ to match tourists’ expectations.

Summary of the TOURISM AND CULTURE

• Tourism and Culture:

  • Tourism is multi-dimensional, involving cultural, economic, and social aspects.
  • It affects both tourists and host communities, having positive and negative impacts.

• Impacts on Host Communities:

  • Positive: Economic gains, job creation, infrastructure development.
  • Negative: Loss of cultural values, traditions, and norms due to acculturation and homogenization.

• Acculturation:

  • Defined as the process of cultural borrowing between two societies.
  • Often, the stronger (tourist) culture influences the weaker (host) culture.
  • Can lead to the homogenization of cultures and loss of local identity.

• Cultural Drift:

  • Alternative concept to explain cultural changes due to tourism.
  • Suggests temporary changes in host behavior that revert back once tourists leave.
  • Different from acculturation, which implies permanent changes.

• Authenticity in Tourism:

  • Tourists often seek authentic experiences, but not all tourists value authenticity.
  • Staged Authenticity: Cultural performances or experiences presented to tourists that may not reflect the true local culture.
  • Debate on whether tourists are satisfied with commercialized, pseudo-experiences.

• Destination Image Formation:

  • Critical for attracting tourists in a competitive global market.
  • Images and representations are created to position destinations in tourists’ minds.
  • Positive destination images increase visitation and influence tourist satisfaction.

• Semiotics in Tourism:

  • Study of signs and meanings; applied to tourism marketing.
  • Signifier (physical appearance) and Signified (mental concept) are core elements.
  • Advertising uses visual and verbal elements to create compelling destination images.