Almost all people at least once in his/her life went abroad to see the way people live there and how they differs from others. That is the ethnicity that distinguishes those differences (Jafari, 2013). There are many forms of tourism: cultural tourism, religious, health, educational tourism. Despite this classification tourism, in general, is a form of ethnic relations, culture and identity in the world today.
Ethnicity is a social process of group identification that depends on active self-definition by members and large social forces that structure interactions between different groups (Jafari, 2013).
Very often when people use words “ethnicity” and “tourism” in one sentence, they mean ethnic tourism. This is when tourists choose to experience first-hand the practices of another country. Usually, such form of tourism involves different kinds of performances, presentations or attractions portraying. If there is a tribe in the country, a traveler can follow lifestyle of small, isolated community (“Using Rainforest Research”, 1999).
Comparison between ethnic and cultural tourism will give better understanding of the former. The distinction can be blurry, but still, each form has its own features. Firstly, ethnic tourism is focused on a particular community or group of people in the country whose exoticism is the main attraction for travelers. Secondly, instead of just viewing historic places and natural wonders, the aim of the ethnic tourist is to see other people with completely different ways of living (Jafari, 2013).
Nowadays, tourism has developed very fast. It has become as a strategy for economic development by many countries. However, there are positive and negative aspects of this.
As for benefits of ethnic tourism for a country in general, tourism development brings large sums of foreign currency and it would not be a deficit of it (Wu, 2000).
Some communities have limited option for development (Clift, 2000). The higher number of tourists comes, the higher demand in consumption. This leads to the development of many new economic activities. There can be a division of labor in villages, in which tourists are interested. Also, new forms of production would be developed and the service sector will be prior (Wu, 2000).
The amount of investments in infrastructure improvement increases. The roads to the tourist destinations would be built; the electricity would appear in villages (Wu, 2000). Consequently, their quality of life grows.
Besides, if more travelers visit exotic places, some of them may become interested in language, ethnic people use. The result of this can be popularization of community language and make it more used among not only ethnic people, but also, citizens of the whole country (Wu, 2000).
Regarding negative impacts on ethnic group, there will always be a danger of losing traditional production skills. People start to run business in the tourism industry rather than farm or do what they did before, as tourism is easier way to earn money. As a result, ethnic people can lose their land and property. When the tourism begins to prosper, the land is taken from people to build restaurants, shops, roads. The compensation is too small to cover all the costs (Wu, 2000).
However, the main disadvantage for people is the change of traditional values, because both the state and some people from communities would do everything to attract more people, to be exactly, more money. The aim of living of these people can be changed significantly. It can be to make a fortune, not to live in peace with neighbors or lead a usual lifestyle (Wu, 2000).
It is important to understand the ethnicity as a social process to be able to interpret the connection between tourism and ethnic identity. Tourism has a great impact on the process of ethnic self-definition. Sometimes, locals can even manipulate ethnicity in order to meet the tourists’ expectations, seeking something unique and exotic in the country. In this way, tourism becomes a strong social force which can change cultural attributes of ethnic people. Still, it would be premature to say, that these changes represent inauthentic version of ethnicity, as it is not anything extraordinary for ethnicity to change or gain new attributes in this rapidly growing world (Jafari, 2013).
References
Jafari, J. (2013). Encyclopaedia of Tourism. London: Routledge.
Understanding ethnic tourists : the Tjapukai experience. Cairns, Qld.: Rainforest CRC, 1999.
Xiaoping Wu (2000). Ethnic tourism – a helicopter from “Huge graveyed” to paradise? Retrieved from http://hmongstudies.com/HSJv3_Wu.pdf
