Tourism and Travel 3
Introduction
Tourism industry and the business of tourism are criticised for their dual aspect and the uneven
distribution of the associated merits and demerits upon the host destinations. Evaluating the
tourism effects for determining the sustainable ways of growth and development for the positive
implications for both the guest as well as the host nations is a major challenge for the tourism
sector. A vast data and literature also highlights the key role played by tourism in the socio-
cultural and socio-economic development of several nations. In present time, tourism is regarded
as the socio-economic and socio-cultural giant at the international as well as the domestic level.
Today tourism is not an aspect but an entire industry which regulates the social, cultural and
economic conditions of the regions1. On the other hand, the literature also throws lights upon the
negative implications upon the society, culture and the environment of various tourist
destinations. Numbers of host countries and regions have their dependency upon tourism
business as the key tool and driver for economic development2. Thus, it is still vague and unclear
that tourism has more positive or more negative implications if judged from the perspective of
social and cultural impacts. It is a set perception that global tourism can offer a faster and rapid
path for converting the societies from traditional to modern form. Numerous studies explain that
the tourist destinations take these changes and modifications in a more optimistic manner in
regards with economic affluence and modernisation. Though, the integration of cultures of two
diverse international cultures develops the change practices overtime, primarily in the Eastern
regions where the change or the process of modernisation is Western in orientation. The studies
explain and have their key focus upon the merits and demerits of tourism sector but nobody have
concerned focus from social and cultural perspective3.
Previous researches and studies undertaken on the perception and attitude towards the cultural
and social impacts of tourism recognize several associations. There are several factors that have
a direct influence on the perceptions of the societies and the residents towards the tourism
business4. These can be divided into few major categories that comprises of socio-economic and
1 Bâc Dorin, P. "The impacts of tourism on society." The Annals of the University of Oradea. 2012, pp.500.
2 Lew, Alan A., C. Michael Hall, and Allan M. Williams, eds. A companion to tourism. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
3 Smith, Melanie K. Issues in cultural tourism studies. Routledge, 2009.
4 Bochner, Stephen, ed. Cultures in contact: Studies in cross-cultural interaction. Vol. 1. Elsevier, 2013.

+13062052269

info@desklib.com