Cultural Interaction in Tourism and Hospitality Industry

This report explores the relationship between culture and tourism, tourist typologies, cultural distance between host and guest, and the role of tour guides in cultural interaction. It examines the positive and negative impacts of cultural interaction to the success of a tourism destination.

Cultural Interaction 1
Cultural Interaction
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Cultural Interaction 2
Introduction: Tourism in general.
For the majority of the twentieth century, tourism has become a major contributor to the global
economy. In fact, the UNWTO (2012) calculated that tourism has contributed more than 1 trillion
dollars. This proves the following, 1. When compared to other industries, it has more chances to create
wealth and development; 2. It has a multiplying effect and 3. Tourism has the ability to create a variety
of goods and services.
The relationship between culture and tourism is a most unpredicted one. On one hand, some
group of tourists travels and visits other places purely to participate and enjoy other cultures. Rationally
speaking, when tourists visit, they bring along their culture and the interaction between the two cultures
cannot be avoided. This is strengthened by the fact that tourists have to venture into new societies and
cultures. Thereby showcasing their differences. This interaction will eventually have an influence on
the tourist's experience and reaction to the visited area. Other influences include the host culture's
acknowledgement of the tourists. A nation's cultural practises have a great effect on a tourist's actions,
their assumptions, experience and the degree to which they consider revisiting a certain area (Urošević,
2012). Even the prosper of a tourism destination is dependent on the interaction between the two
cultures.
The influences of cultural interaction are so profound that the planning and strategy of
marketing, development and operation and future plans of the destination are based on it (Schlesinger,
Selfe & Munro, 2015). But this interaction is not always toxic, sometimes the interaction is so strong
that one culture is assimilated into another to make something new. This report intends to investigate
the relationship between cultural exchange and interaction with tourism and hospitality industry. It will
examine the positive and negative impacts of cultural interaction to the success of a tourism
destination.

Cultural Interaction 3
Tourist’s typologies
Typologies basically mean the classification of tourists. It is the mainly based on their behaviour
and intention for visit. These groupings are the tourism management's way of knowing which kind of
products or services to offer to their tourists, in fact, marketing, planning and development departments
consider these typologies their guide to the management of tourism companies and industry (Morita &
Johnston, 2018).
Different scholars and researcher have targeted the issue of classifying tourists. Stanley Plog
based his entire classification on a persons need to visit new places and their traits. His classification,
therefore, resolved to two parts: allocentric and psycho-centric types.
 Allocentric types are, more often than not, adventure thrillers, they seek new places to see
places they haven't been to before. Their courage to try new places motivates them to tour the
world. This characteristic means that they would often go for outings and picnics and are
confident of themselves (Chen & Huang 2018, p. 147). Speaking culture-wise, this group of
tourists are very excited to meet new people. They are ready and willing to learn about new
cultures and assimilate into them. While they intend to travel to an area, they pick this area,
with specificity and then just travel. From their personalities, this group is usually curious and
explorative.
 Psychocentric types-This group can be called the ' introverts' of the tourism industry. They are
generally inhibited and lack a sense of adventure. They keep on the traditions and can be very
conserved to visiting new places (Chen & Huang 2018, p. 162). For example, if a family visited
a place for vacation, this type of tourist will keep to that tradition as long as they don't have to
try a new place. They lack curiosity and will keep going back to the regular place in order to '
avoid trouble'. Their general personality dictates that they remain undisturbed, to appreciate the

Cultural Interaction 4
serenity and simply relax. If their visit goes in this manner then they are happy. They do not
change destinations much and at a destination, they order the same food and services. What
worries them the most is their safety and security.
Another scholar who attempted to classify tourists is Eric Cohen. His classification was done in
four groups. Organized mass tourist, individual mass tourist, the explorer and the drifter. If you were to
look at this classification keenly, you'd find that it is almost similar to Plog's classification in that,
psycho-centric is further divided into organized and individual type and allocentric is divided into
explorers and drifters.
That said, the organised groups are those tourists that have planned to-do lists, stops, and
destinations. They mainly favor a familiar destination and lack originality. They also travel, as the name
suggests, in a group. Someone else, usually a travels website or organization (Shoval, McKercher,
Birenboim & Ng, 2015), plans their tour plans. The individual mass tourist, on the other hand, has
somewhat a sense of control over their tourism plans. They prefer to remain within the confines of their
tour destination and have little to no interaction with the culture of the host nation. They have a
maximum familiarity bias.
The explorer is a free spirit, they do not prefer to travel to already established destinations, rather
to less known places. They enjoy interacting with the local hosts and practise in the culture. But even
when doing this they remain confined to the environment of the destination. They have originality, they
try new places although they do not completely integrate with the locals.
The drifter. These are the true tourists. They plan their own trip while doing that, they completely
ignore tour destinations and live with the hosts. They are uniques and would not visit one place several
times, meaning, their familiarity bias completely dissolves in their sense of innovation (Peter &
Anandkumar, 2016). Other classifications include the adventurer, businessperson, dreamers,

Cultural Interaction 5
economizers, indulgers and religious traveler (Liu, 2014).
Cultural distance between host and guest
Cultural difference can be defined as the similarities in respect to the shared cultural practises of
two different countries. It is a known fact that different cultures are bound to clash where tourism is a
factor. Culture plays an important role in human development, it is a key determinant of human traits. It
also determines how people see the world (Terzič, Krivošejev & Bjeljac, 2015). Most people are never
aware of just how much influence their culture has on them until they have to interact with new
cultures. New culture foreign to other people creates an uncomfortable situation, if very well studied
this situation is one of the reasons people strive to understand other cultures. The main formations of
cultures are languages, religious beliefs and a county's economy (Giebels, Oostinga, Taylor & Curtis,
2017). The relationship between new and host cultures in tourism is called guest-host relationship.
Tourism has the capability to bring two cultures together. There are three different classifications of
guest-host relationship: tourist buying a product form a local, tourist and host being side by side for, on
the beach or a national park and face-to-face meeting where these two groups have to face each other
by sharing ideas and information.
People usually think that the interaction between two cultures is supposed to be peaceful, that
all the participating groups will be fascinated by simply the difference in their two different cultures.
But the interaction is usually affected by factors such as economic difference, social and the same
cultural factors (Lyons & Wearing, 2012). The bigger the rift between the factors between these two
cultures, the more likely their interaction will be unproductive. The main restraint for cultural
integration is mainly noticed when the tourist has little regard and appreciation for the cultural customs
and norms of the hosting locals. The dispute between two cultures is inevitable and occur on a personal
level and can happen even if the tourists stay in their tour destinations (Ivanovic & Saayman, 2013).

Cultural Interaction 6
Conflicts happen as a result of cultural differences and they later lead to poor interactions and lack of
understanding and poor interpretation.
Visitors take their cultures to other places and are unaware of the impacts that their new culture
has on the local residents (Spencer & Jessa, 2014). This is mainly evident in developing countries
where the image they have of developed countries is adapted from movies and TV series which raises
the expectations of the local residents and sometimes cruelty.
Cultures are peoples way of life, they, therefore, contain their own rules and behavioral
expectations. Different cultures have different rules and the interaction of these cultures create conflict
(RYOTA, 2017). The meaning of the rules is not similar, meaning, the rules that apply in one culture
might not apply in another and even if does, they might translate to a completely different thing. The
guest (Casey, 2013) translates a misinterpretation of any sort of rule by the visitor as disrespect. This
regularly results in tensions and fights or disagreements between host and guests. But in some cases,
the interaction between two cultures can lead to a good thing even the integration of one culture into
another to form a new set of rules. This is a good thing for tourism because its success under those
kinds of favorable conditions is undeniable. In fact, in a bid to create cohesion between two cultures,
the government of the host culture provides guides and lessons to attempt to smooth things over for the
tourists. In some countries disrespecting the host, culture is a criminal offence and is punishable by law.
The temporal and spatial context of the cultural interaction
Knowledge
Human cultures have existed for thousands of years. Imagine this scenario, one big society is
suddenly divided into two different societies, the two societies will develop different cultures. If these
two societies meet later in time, they are bound to be curious about each other however similar they
are. The interaction between cultures can be done via knowledge, one culture fascinated by the other

Cultural Interaction 7
will learn about that culture, gaining as much knowledge from them as possible. The passing of
knowledge happens on several different avenues for example innovation, reproduction and formations
(Schlesinger, Selfe & Munro, 2015).
Business
Another avenue for the interaction of cultures is business (Gandin, 2015). A tourist intends to
buy from a local host has to overcome the language barrier first, then they have to understand the
meaning behind the product being sold. Most souvenirs are a part of history or the natural environment
of the host country. It might not mean much to buy something just because it felt right. The tourist
fascinated by this attraction will inquire to know the origin story of this product. This process of
learning provides a perfect avenue from which cultural interaction happens, the tourist shares a part of
their culture as well as the host.
Provision or offer of services
In a hotel room when the tourist has finally settled, there are guidelines put in place to serve
these guest. A host service provider has to follow these guidelines (Walton, 2015). These guidelines, as
discussed earlier are based on the typologies of the tourist. And as stated earlier, the types of tourist is
also influenced by the culture of their home country. Therefore, in the provision of these services, the
tour guide or hostess have to acquainted with the cultural practices of the tourist. For example, a tourist
from a Muslim country will require not to be disturbed during prayer and will also eat just a specific
type of food.
Role of tour guide
Selection-The tour guide provides the route and plans for the tour. Meaning that in a sense they
are responsible for the cultural parts a tourist get to learn. But on the bleak side, tour itinerary also
shows the places not selected, in other words, when you pick a place to go, you also pick where to not

Cultural Interaction 8
go. This way, the tour company has the chance to show only those sectors of the culture they consider
to be appropriate. This can be misleading (Le, De Urioste-Stone & Holmes, 2016).
Information-Tourists are yearning to learn new things, it is basically one of the reasons they
travelled. The duty of providing accurate and truthful information falls on the tour guide. Meaning,
they pick what to say, for example, a tour guide in Australia might decide not to tell tourists that up
until 1960, there was a law banning immigration into Australia by non-Europeans. This is an important
part of Australian history that the tourist might want to know about. The choosing of the kind of
information to deliver is very crucial to the interaction between two cultures.
Interpretation-It is the job of a trained tour guide to interpret information to tourists. Active
tourists willing to learn, ones that ask questions are given their view of a certain culture by the tour
guide (PR 2017). Meaning, the way that a tourist views a culture is majorly based on their
interpretation of that culture. The tour guide is then transformed into a broker for the two culture, the
host culture and the guest culture, the bridge that connects this two cultures. The harmony between
these two cultures partly rests on the hands of the tour guide.
Conclusion
Cultures are bound to interact; this interaction can either be fruitful or hostile. In terms of tourist
satisfaction, it has been shown that the comprehension the host culture is a key factor in the satisfaction
of the customer. This is also a sure way to ensure tourist retention. The most significant medium for
tourist for getting any kind of information is the tour guide. It has been since hypothesized that tourism
can lead to world peace, but the diversity in cultures cannot be ignored. Two cultures have to first exist
in harmony before any peace is achieved. It is the duty of the government to train and regulate tour
guides to provide the best most accurate information to tourists.

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