Anthropology and Tourism (0)

Anthropology of Tourism
Madli Tuvike
Anthropology and Tourism
Female Adventure Tourism
This essay will explain what significance culture has in adventure tourism. There are five paragraphs in this essay, where definitions of adventure travel and human culture are given . First , paragraph will look and define what culture, anthropology and adventure tourism are. Second paragraph will examine how different cultures impact female adventure travel. Third paragraph will point out the problems in adventure tourism. The forth paragraph will give recommendations for the future and some of the possible future problems in female adventure tourism will be looked at. The last paragraph will be a summary of the key findings and recommendations.
Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries (Tisdell, 2000, Swarbrooke et al. 2003, Buckley, 2003). According to UNWTO , international tourist arrivals have reached 1,087 million in 2013. Nash (1995) noted that any human subject of such magnitude should be analysed by anthropological studies , rather than economical. Anthropology is human studies – that investigates the past, the present and the future, culture differences and similarities. Haviland, (1999). Nash (1996) also describes that tourism, including adventure tourism, is a part of socio- cultural anthropology studies. These studies are using the term of culture to refer to various activities as tourism does not take place in a vacuum. Nash (1996) highlights, that anthropology of tourism includes in itself linkages or shortcomings between social life and culture.
Taylor (1871) defines culture as a whole complex , which includes knowledge, belief , art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Nash (1996) summarized that culture is a system of activities for a group. It can be argued that, for adventure tourists, the adventurous activities are the culture and lifestyle itself. This can be illustrated on examples of some adventure tourism activities, such as snowboarding, surfing or climbing. People who practice these will dress similar , associate with people who are participating in the same activities, listen to the same music and have similar interests and are likely to spend time together with people who have similar lifestyles– they have their own social groups, culture and lifestyles.
Swarbrooke et al,. (2003) and Buckley (2006) define adventure to be different thing to different people, it includes risk and is highly uncertain. For some activities, motivation is the key driver. For example: trekking in high altitude demands motivation, good level of fitness and thorough preparation . For a long time, female adventure tourists were seen as a rare type of tourists. Lately, this stereotype is starting to change thanks to a more understanding and flexible society (culture) attitude towards adventure tourism and the growing female interest in tourism. This is illustrated by travel operators, like Explore having around 60% female customers (Mintel, 2010). Nowadays , women seek more thrill and self-fulfilment from their leisure time. They want to have more personal challenge to overcome fear and increase confidence , but also to experience a natural environment ( Myers , 2010). Interestingly, many women are willing to go to an adventure holiday alone : they account for 60% of small group or solo adventure (Mintel, 2010).
Culture differs across the human groups, and such difference in cultural backgrounds affects tourism behaviour. According to Pizam & Sussmann (1995), national culture influences local residents’ perceptions of international tourists. Locals in more restricted countries might be disappointed in female tourists, who may be seen s a breaking traditions by dressing and behaving differently to local women. When speaking about culture, there are different views upon the notion. Usually , culture helps people to develop a recognizable identity (Harris & Moran, 1991). For instance , western tourists are likely to do more research about the destination country and expect more freedom in their trip. They can freely travel alone, and experience new activities and local food as much or little as they want to. Then eastern ( Middle - east , developing countries etc.) tourists will often want to have tighter schedule , and will prefer if the facts and history about a destination are delivered by tour a guide – they believe in high quality customer service and good value for money . Eastern tourists will more likely participate in short holidays in Europe. In seek for comfort they would like to have more familiar food which is similar to their home cuisine. These two types of tourists can be looked at as the “new tourist” and the “old tourist” types (Singh, 2004; Swarbrooke et al, 2003; Buckley 2003). Western society has already seen the phase of “old tourism” in 1980-90 when mass tourism started booming. That is the main reason why they are seeking new experiences from travel. In some time eastern will go through the same phase. Therefore tourists are making decisions to travel based on their cultural mind-set and environment.
Depending on culture norms, in some societies gender roles are part of traditional values and have an impact on women’ ability to travel. As an example of this, women mostly in Arabic and Islam countries are expected to stay at home and raise children, while being dependent from their husbands or other male family members . Coming back to female adventure travel, travelling in these countries is not considered as an activity for women. For instance, in Saudi Arabia women need permission for travel, education or even healthcare (Reuters, 2013). This makes women more constrained in their travel than men ( Jackson & Henderson, 1995). On the contrary, in the USA it is estimated that 32 million single American women have travelled at least once in 2012 (The Gutsy Traveler, 2013). Moreover, America sees a growing trend in adventure travel: the average adventure traveller is not a 28- year old male anymore, but a 47-year-old female (The Gutsy Traveler, 2013). When relying on these examples, then female adventure tourism is clearly influenced by cultural trends. As a result , the western society is afraid to travel to Middle East, and female in Middle East cannot travel abroad, creating a cultural wall between the two worlds.
Despite being a growing trend, both female/adventure travellers have some problems. Many female travellers love the thrill of going to exotic places and discover new environments. The number of female solo business travellers has quite recently gone up from 23% to 30% in 2013, it shows that adventure travel is not the only travel, where females are making progress (Mintel, 2010a; Mintel, 2013a). The Government of Canada (2014) in independent female travel guide, states that men and women love to travel equally, but when it comes to safety in a foreign country, then women are more affected by religion and culture than men. Moreover, women face greater obstacles, especially when travelling alone. Nevertheless, the numbers of female who choose to travel alone are growing increasingly (Mathew- Sawyer et al., 2002; The Gutsy Traveler, 2013).
People see space and place as a social and physical construction , shaped by the complex gendered, cultural, racial and power relations that lead people and their actions (Crouch, 2000). Women’s desire to travel is related directly with the search of some space and place (time away from kids, work and every day responsibilities), they seek the ways to challenge themselves and to express their feelings by putting themselves out of their comfort zone (Jordan & Gibson, 2005; Wilson & Little, 2005; The Gutsy Traveler, 2013).
Therefore, the first problem for tourism while dealing with female solo travellers would be lack of space and place for female tourists, especially in male dominated countries, for instance, like Egypt . To provide these specific criteria’s would be easy only in the one half of the world, where the other half would be abusing female presence.
In Egypt, females (locals and travellers) are abused verbally as well as physically (The New York Times , 2013). The reason for that is behind culture norms, many female travellers have written countless blogs about how they felt harassed while their trip in Egypt. How they tried to be polite and follow local customs, but they were still followed at the streets by Egyptian men (Young adventuress, 2012). Local women need permissions/escorts for even walking in the streets (The New York Times, 2013). In western world, female tourists can be as free as they want to be. Some of the countries with advanced tourism has gone a step forward and created female-only tourist attractions. For instance in Estonia, in one of the most famous beach resort, they have separate female only beach, where this place and space has been guaranteed (Eesti Päevaleht, 2013).
However , it can be said that world has become more international and global – they have had an impact upon cultural value system (Kinnaird & Hall, 1994). When Arabic female tourists are visiting western countries to learn their culture, it is nearly impossible to identify the actual culture of the country. For instance, in England, women from Islamic countries do not need to dress according to their religion, it is optional, but many of them choose to do so. From tourist point of view, England has a mix culture society and it is impossible to classify it as a genuine culture.
The second problem would be generating enough tour companies who would deal with only with female travellers who would meet female specific demands. Or who would adapt their tours for them, to make the holidays more female- friendly . USA and Canadian adventure tour operators already focus on female-only tours (The Gutsy Traveler, 2013). Mintel (2013) is stating that pure solo travellers are more likely to be male, but female tourists are more likely to classify as a group travellers. There has been a low tide among tourists in Egypt. According to Mintel (2014), international tourist arrivals were affected by Arab Spring in 2011, when visitor numbers had dropped to 9.5 million arrivals. It recovered in 2012 to 11,2 millions , but dropped again in 2013 back to 9.5 millions. These figures show that the country is not stable for travelling, which in turn means that it is not a safe place for females to travel (females are seeking comfort and security , Mintel 2013). Therefore, if Egypt would like to (receive more tourists) generate more profit and tourist friendly profile , then local tourism agencies should promote and expand female friendly tourism idea in country.
There are some solutions for cultural problems in female tourism. Cultural differences can cause problems in social interactions between participants from different cultural backgrounds. Tourists always experience difficulties when interacting with hosts. One’s usual behavioural norm is not necessary normal for others (Reisinger and Turner , 2003). These differences might have an impact for traveller’s preference of choosing a destination. For instance, Americans are most likely to travel in their own country or choose a destination similar to their cultural values, such as resorts in Europe or well developed holiday destinations in one of UK’s past colony like India. However, when one decides to travel to a different culture environment, then a possible cultural shock might occur (Reisinger and Turner, 2003). In order to prevent these problems, it is necessary to raise traveller’s awareness. For instance, through travel magazines and travelling TV. These media canals would educate female travellers (tourists) more about different destinations and their customs and uncomfortable barriers between tourists and the host culture would disappear or communication would get easier.
Jameson (1994) names key factor for effective cultural interaction: better planning and management . The tourism strategies should be linked with community or economic development plans . This means that one should complete another , unlikely so many destinations, where tourism and community live their own separate lives. Like in Bali , where the island is struggling to cope with tourist numbers, and due to that, the paradise island is drowning in rubbish ( Surfer , 2014). It is, a tourism board’s mission to communicate with both the governing bodies and with tourists. There cannot be a real cultural interaction between tourists and hosts, when one is destroying another.
Another way to deal with cultural interaction between tourists and hosts would be for a host country, to integrate their culture norms, beliefs and landscapes to be a tourism attraction. In other words , turn their “weaknesses” into strengths. Sometimes differences in culture can attract adventurous and educated market segments (Reisinger, 2009), one of those segments would be female adventure tourists - adventure tourists, who are natural experience seekers. Small (2007) lists key factors of female adventure tourist embodiment. Female adventure tourists like physical activities, while travelling they like to experience new sounds, smells, tastes and nice weather. A good example of adventure tourism destination, that is using its cultural background to attract tourists, is Bhutan . In Bhutan, every tourist needs to spend around $200 as a daily tariff fixed by the government (Lonely Planet , 2014). In 2012, annual number of visitors reached 105,407, where 99, 26% of main reason for visit this country were cultural, and 13.04% visits activity-based. Activities included adventure sports and trekking (Bhutan Tourism Monitor , 2012). These numbers and activities are suggesting that Bhutan is ideal country for female adventure tourists to get a cultural experience as well as get involved with adventurous activities. According to Lonely Planet (2014) Bhutan is also a good example for government collaborating with tourism companies tourists are seen as major boosters for local companies..
To sum up, culture has a big influence on female travel, it can limit their whole lives, like in Arabic countries, where women’s role is mainly to take care of kids and raise a family. Culture can also scare women from travelling, like in western world, where information can be misguiding or wrong about eastern world, therefore, there are some cultural barriers between the two worlds. Fortunately, female adventure tourists are not frightened to test themselves in new environments and to break those barriers. This means that adventure travel has the significance of breaking cultural barriers.
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