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Plese put tourism in perspective
Tourism Management 1994 15 (2) 171
Editorial Please put tourism in perspective Frances Brown It is often said (by practitioners) that academic research is years behind industry practice. While this may be true where, say, marketing techniques are concerned, in the case of the exposure of the negative impacts of tourism, it certainly is not. The reluctant recognition by governments and planners that tourism may destroy environments, contribute to cultural homogenization and fail to deliver economic benefits to host communities is almost entirely a result of the work done by academics, and it is a good thing. What is not so good is the way a notion of tourism as only slightly less evil than eating babies is taking hold in educational institutions. It has become the new orthodoxy; whereas 10 years ago students would have been regurgitating an (over-optimistic and simplistic) line about the economic benefits and regenerative properties of tourism, now they repeat 'carrying capacity', 'cultural imperialism' and 'low wages' like a mantra. It is impossible to go to a conference without hearing the same phrases over and over again. At a recent one a delegate provoked outrage for daring to suggest that mass tourism might have i m p r o v e d some p e o p l e ' s lives and that non-
0261-5177/94/030171-01 © 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd
Westerners might enjoy aspects of imported culture. 'What's so good about Benidorm?' cried a listener. 'What's so great about living in a poor (but 'unspoilt' of course) fishing village with two shops and no amenities?' one might respond. The new orthodoxy is too naive. To many who live in places - both North and South - where jobs are scarce and often backbreaking, the view that tourism will blight their traditional way of life must seem as patronizingly imperialist as the idea that beefburgers and pin-striped suits are the epitome of civilized living. Nor, indeed, is the prevalence of these items solely attributable to tourism. What about TV, films, communications - including advanced transportation - in general? Does anyone lament the availability of curry, kilims and Fela Kuti records in the UK? The world is not as simple a place as the green groupies would have it and tourism is but one facet of the global economic order. There are ample grounds for describing this as inequitable but, until tourism researchers make serious attempts to locate the tourism phenomenon squarely within it, their mantra will not be credible.
171
Editorial Please put tourism in perspective Frances Brown It is often said (by practitioners) that academic research is years behind industry practice. While this may be true where, say, marketing techniques are concerned, in the case of the exposure of the negative impacts of tourism, it certainly is not. The reluctant recognition by governments and planners that tourism may destroy environments, contribute to cultural homogenization and fail to deliver economic benefits to host communities is almost entirely a result of the work done by academics, and it is a good thing. What is not so good is the way a notion of tourism as only slightly less evil than eating babies is taking hold in educational institutions. It has become the new orthodoxy; whereas 10 years ago students would have been regurgitating an (over-optimistic and simplistic) line about the economic benefits and regenerative properties of tourism, now they repeat 'carrying capacity', 'cultural imperialism' and 'low wages' like a mantra. It is impossible to go to a conference without hearing the same phrases over and over again. At a recent one a delegate provoked outrage for daring to suggest that mass tourism might have i m p r o v e d some p e o p l e ' s lives and that non-
0261-5177/94/030171-01 © 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd
Westerners might enjoy aspects of imported culture. 'What's so good about Benidorm?' cried a listener. 'What's so great about living in a poor (but 'unspoilt' of course) fishing village with two shops and no amenities?' one might respond. The new orthodoxy is too naive. To many who live in places - both North and South - where jobs are scarce and often backbreaking, the view that tourism will blight their traditional way of life must seem as patronizingly imperialist as the idea that beefburgers and pin-striped suits are the epitome of civilized living. Nor, indeed, is the prevalence of these items solely attributable to tourism. What about TV, films, communications - including advanced transportation - in general? Does anyone lament the availability of curry, kilims and Fela Kuti records in the UK? The world is not as simple a place as the green groupies would have it and tourism is but one facet of the global economic order. There are ample grounds for describing this as inequitable but, until tourism researchers make serious attempts to locate the tourism phenomenon squarely within it, their mantra will not be credible.
171