Socio-Cultural Impact of Tourism

Making tourism more sustainable is not just about controlling and managing the negative impacts of the industry. Tourism is in a very special position to benefit local communities, economically and socially, and to raise awareness and support for conservation of the environment.

The social and cultural processes are also significantly impacted. Tourism has helped develop and keep up the unique culture of the island, it has helped revive artistic traditions, and has provided an economic justification for preserving them. But tourism has also led to importantly behavioural impacts, for example; nude sunbathing by tourist is widely disliked by the locals, as well as that lack of respect is shown by tourists in scared places such as temples. Another negative impact is the social development of Bali. There are constant conflicts between local villagers and developers who want the land for hotels and attractions like golf courses. These social impacts have led to a loss in culture and heritage. Another significant impact is the turning of Balinese culture into a commodity. The major influx of tourists has plagued Bali’s culture. Dances, ceremonies and arts and crafts are all now adapted to tourists timetables and tastes, and are mass produced to reduce cost. Also because more people are choosing to work in the tourism industry, this has meant that fewer are available doe traditional ceremonies and communal tasks, placing more pressure on traditional community organisations.

South Carolina is known for many of its historical customs and treasures, one of them being the Gullah language and culture which has become a consistent characteristic of the Carolina coast and low-country. Gullah is identified as a language, culture, and way of life by many of the coastal residents who still identify and participate in it, and the presence of Gullah is a center of interest for those who travel to the sea islands of Charleston and Hilton Head to observe and learn more about it. While Gullah is spoken by at least 300,000 African Americans in coastal regions across South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, it has been, and remains, a distinctive and important part of the history, language, and culture of South Carolina (Taylor and

The Gullah/Geechee people are a group of Black Americans from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The Gullah/Geechee people are a distinctive group of African Americans that have been the most successful in preserving customs and traditions from their Africa culture. This group has maintained their native tradition and customs in America more than any other African American group. According to National Geographic ”An environmental impact statement published in 2005 estimated that 200,000 people of Gullah and Geechee heritage live along the southeast coast” (Otterbourg, 2014, p 11). They speak a creole language similar to Sierra Leone Krio, tell African folktales, make African-style handicrafts such as baskets and carved walking

Gullah (or Geechee or Sea Island Creole English) formed separately on the Sea Islands off the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida throughout the 18th and 19th centuries among enslaved Western Africans. They developed a language that combined grammatical, phonological, and lexical features of the non-standard English varieties spoken by white slaveholders and farmers in that region of the United States along with those from numerous Western and Central African languages. According to this view, Gullah developed separately, or distinctly, from African American English and varieties of English spoken in the South.

The black experience, as seen in the existence of the Gullah-Geechie community in the Georgia Lowcountry, stands as proof of the existence and preservation of Africanism in the New World. Cultural artifacts of that preservation include an active and surviving language, as studied by Lorenzo Dow Turner, the private use of “basket” names, the making and use of fanner baskets as objects of art and function, a continuance of the knowledge and skills required for growing and harvesting rice, oral transmission of that knowledge, and the use of rice and greens in both African and the Lowcountry Gullah-Geechie cuisines. The documentary, Family Across the Sea (1991), recognizes these similarities as direct links to the significant impact of 18th century slave trade on African Americans, with emphasis on its documented connection to the Lowcountry.

Tourism has greatly increased over the years and has brought people of different cultures closer. There are many places to go explore and learn about how other live in different countries. Tourism has allowed travelers to the world around them, however the impacts from tourism on the host country are not known by many of the travelers. Some of these impacts from tourism can be negatively affecting the host country and those travelers who do not educate themselves on where they are going are most likely contributing to the negative impact. The Kayan people are one of the societies that are greatly affected by the tourism that comes to their village. The women are the main attraction of the village due to the rings that they wear around

Britain has been over the news due to the British exit the European Union, which this event is known as Brexit (Hunt, 2016). This decision brought a large impact on every country in Britain, but the Britain has not started negotiate with European Union about adapting regulations to minimize their negative consequences. Before people can list potential impacts of Brexit on Britain’s tourism, it is important for people to understand how well the Britain was doing in the tourism industry. In addition, it is important to analyze and understand what type of tourism impacts on Britain. So, people would know how Brexit will change its policy and what impacts will bring to their current life. It will provide an idea of how the changes of regulations will impact different countries and the region. Thus, it provides an understanding of how tourism helps to develop the Britain in terms of environmental impacts, socio-cultural impacts, and economic impacts.

There is also the impending problem that with the increase of tourism in Machu Picchu there will also be an increase in the crowding and congestion on the roads, footpaths, and in the narrow streets of the site. In addition, tourists also compete with residents for available services and facilities (a prime example of this is the local train service in Peru, in which many backpackers tend to use the local train service rather than the much more "luxurious" and expensive tourist train). An increase in visitors to the area will also lead to an increase in the crime in the area. Finally, a big social/community impact from tourism has been the desecration of burial sites and the removal and display of human remains from Machu Picchu to further stimulate the tourist industry, which has ultimately led to the destruction of the Indian spiritual heritage. (Barcelona Field Studies Centre S.L., Machu Picchu: Impact of Tourism)

The current research paper covers the main effects of global tourism, both positive and negative. International tourism is a significant sector of business. For some countries it is one of the main sources of national income. The most important positive economic effects of tourism are as follows: increase in budget revenues, production expansion, stimulation of investments, and improvement in the population’s welfare. Tourism influences social and cultural lives of people in a positive way by stimulating the development and revival of local cultures and encouraging intercultural exchange.

From an environmental perspective, it is apparent that the world is starting to realise that increases in tourism are having a negative impact on the environment. This is due to increases in energy consumption, which in turn heightens the effects of global warming (Neto, 2002). There are many controls that governments are trying to put into place, such as flight rationing (Liverpool Business School, 2009). However, it can be argued that these have not really begun to have a significant effect on tourism, as they are still insufficient to dampen demand. It may become a problem in future years, as the number of controls is likely to increase. Perhaps the largest environmental factor would be natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina (Cashell, 2005) and the tsunami that hit Asia in December 2004 (Birkland, 2006). These will impact negatively on people’s confidence in visiting places that have been hit severely by such disasters.

However, some studies indicate that tourists might have cultural, social, economic and environmental impacts on the local residents. In fact, these recent studies have awakened

At last, the ecological element is also important when investigating the business environment and the CSR has gradually ended up coordinated in numerous associations' business goals. For a hotel industry to be socially, dependable it must finish numerous approaches, for example, submitting to the energy consumption laws, lessening carbon footprint, and connecting with the local community. Then again, the natural disaster has turned out to be incessant. Subsequently, numerous destination spots are intensely influenced and sustainable tourism must be practiced to save natural resources (Levonsky & Conley, 2004).

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry

Planning and development are both extremely important factors within the tourism industry and can have both positive and negative effects on the environment, local communities and tourist destinations. “Destination planning aims to limit the negative impacts of cultural tourism upon the history and lifestyles of the local community. An understanding of sustainable tourist development allows for the development of culture without loss of its authentic identity” (Maidment. T. 2012). This statement discusses the importance of planning to avoid having any negative impacts on environments and communities. Because the effects of tourism are so severe to destinations, many natural and cultural resources have been destroyed, therefore tourism planning is vital to preserve and maintain these places for future generations.