A guide to sustainable tourism in developing countries
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1274933
POSSIBLE POSITIVE SOCIAL IMPACTS: • Improved facilities and infrastructure which can be used by local communities and/or which provide enhanced experiences such as comfort and safety for tourists. • Improved understanding regarding local issues so there is wider awareness, and appreciation of these problems which can lead to a better understanding of the communities and may trigger external assistance for problems. • Improved relationships between the local community and other communities, based on the knowledge which flows when there is interaction between the two. • More things for local communities to do and increased opportunities for them to interact with others and expand their horizons to become more aware of other cultures, countries and communities. POSSIBLE NEGATIVE SOCIAL IMPACTS: • Social dislocation which disrupts the established pattern of communities and may cause changes to regular things such as where people live, how they work and changes to traditional lifestyles and values. • Potential for increase in criminal activities caused commonly by tourists stealing from local communities, or by local communities stealing from tourists. • The potential for assaults, prostitution and child sex may also be an issue. Reduced focus on and potential interruptions to traditional social interactions and activities between people in the local communities caused by: • The physical presence of tourists. • Competing pressures on time. • Stress caused by the need to accommodate tourist-related needs/demands. • Commodification of a community/society where their rituals and culture are converted into an experience to be sold, creating what they call a reconstructed ethnicity which is altered for commercial purposes. • Standardisation – meaning the unique nature of a culture/ society is standardised to meet the expectations of some tourists. • Loss of authenticity as the people adapt to accommodate the actual or perceived needs of the tourists, producing sometimes what the UN refers to as 'staged authenticity'. • Adaptation to tourist demands as local communities focus of producing artefacts and items suited to the demands of tourists rather than their own needs. 85