ITM BA 2. Sem. 8035: Special Tourism Management
- Tourism Politics, Globalization, Sustainable and Responsible Tourism -
           Tu 11.45 - 13.15 h, Audimax II

TOURISM AND POLITICS IN ASIA AND AFRICA
 

‘When the tourists flew in’ by Cecil Rajendra Bones and Feathers (Hong Kong: Heinemann 1978)

The Finance Minister said
“It will boost the economy,
the dollars will flow in.”

The Minister of Interior said
"It will provide full
and varied employment
for all the indigenes."

The Minister of Culture said
“It will enrich our life...
contact with other cultures
must surely
improve the texture of living.”

The man from the Hilton said
“We will make you a second Paradise;
for you it is the dawn
of a glorious new beginning!”

When the tourists flew in
our island people metamorphosed
into a grotesque carnival
- a two-week sideshow

When the tourists flew in
our men put aside their fishing nets
to become waiters
our women became whores

When the tourists flew in
what culture we had went out the window
we traded our customs
for sunglasses and pop
we turned sacred ceremonies
into ten-cent peep shows

When the tourists flew in
local food became scarce
prices went up
but our wages stayed low

When the tourists flew in
we could no longer
go down to our beaches
the hotel manager said
'Natives defile the sea-shore'

When the tourists flew in
the hunger and squalor
were preserved
as a passing pageant
for clicking cameras
- a chic eye sore!

When the tourists flew in
we were asked
to be 'side-walk ambassadors'
to stay smiling and polite
to always guide
the 'lost' visitor...
Hell, if we could only tell them
where we really want them to go!

 Remember from last semester? - Updated version

 Tourism in most Asian and African countries went through these stages in a few decades, mostly starting after gaining independence (1960s).

 Example: Maldives
 Independence from British rule 1965
 UN experts saying "Maldives not fit for tourism development"
 1972 first resort
 direct flights since 1980s
 1980 40,000 visitors (11,000 Germans)
 1986 tourism main foreign exchange earner, 110,000 visitors (30,000 Germans)
 1989: Maximum no. of tourists according to government: 160,000, avoidance of "pollution" of Islamic culture by tourism
 2000: 470,000 visitors (of which 170,000 Italians and Germans)
 2004: 616,000 visitors, after Tsunami reduction in 2005, back to 602,000 in 2006

 300,000 inhabitants, 300 qkm Rügen 1,000 qkm

 TOURISM YEARBOOK MALDIVES 2007

 Economic development but no political progress:
 President still the same as elected 1965
 Feudal islamic structures remain intact
 Coup attempts in 1980, 1983, 1988 (1988 intervention by Indian paratroopers)
 "Cold civil war" since 2004, fighting in 2004, 2005, 2006 including Tourism Ministry
 Tourism development mostly undisrupted
  

 Tourism development policy goals different from Europeans:

 - Nation Building
   Example Japan
   Example China:

"Another important basic force supporting the increase of domestic tourism in China can be found in the production of the imagined community China. Following Benedict Anderson’s (1991; 1998) classical analysis of nationalism as a form shaped by a collective imagining enabled by modern technology, the People’s Republic of China and their citizens had to invent themselves again after 1978 as a nation based on a thousands of years of history. The end of the official Maoist rejection of the cultural past and the attempt to replace it with a new Chinese socialist culture as well as the end of the reduction of nature to a tool for production alone gave rise to the need of the reassessment of the Chineseness of China.

In 1982, the National Heritage Conservation Act ‘provided the foundation for tourism to embrace heritage in its development’ (Sofield, Li 1998a:371). Not only could foreign tourists visit the highlights of the achievements of Chinese civilization, but also overseas and domestic tourists could see with their own eyes and relate to what they were proud of as part of their national – or, in the case of overseas Chinese, transnational – identity.

‘The conservation and presentation of traditional culture were also approved because of its perceived contribution to enhance national unity and to develop the country’s tourism product’ (Sofield, Li 1998a: 363). In the same year, the CNTA Director Han Kehua announced that China would employ in future a ‘Chinese’ architectural style for the construction of hotels and restaurants (Han 1982; Gee 1983), newly embracing heritage also for the tourism infrastructure.

.. Beside the obvious attributes of nations, such as the national flag, anthem, border or frontiers, hidden aspects, such as national recreations, the countryside, popular heroes and heroines and fairy tales, all connected to touristical experiences, are shared by the members of a community (Smith 1991). They act as signifiers of the nation as a community with common beliefs, an historic homeland and as a common culture. This common culture was strengthened during the course of the modernization of China by stronger economic relations between the provinces of China, the spreading of Putonghua as standard Chinese language through schooling and television, improvements in transport infrastructure, etc. By travelling throughout China – or at least to the next bigger city – domestic tourists reinforce the imagined community spatially. ‘Tourism plays a vital part in both the “imagining” – i.e. bringing into awareness – and the “re-creation” of national cultures in Asia and Oceania’ (Graburn 1997: 201)." (Arlt 2006: 90-92)

 Contact:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt arlt@fh-westkueste.de, Office 2.018, Tel. 0481 8555-513
Consultation hours: Tuesday 10.00 - 11.00 h in my office