I recently did an entry on "tourism" for the new Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Here's a quickie excerpt, if you're interested.
...The paradox of the authenticity-seeking traveler is that the more tourists vacation in a given place, the more a tourism infrastructure is developed, and the more the place comes to resemble the tourist's home, causing local cultural (and environmental) deterioration. Pico Iyer (1989), among others, has written about the unusual juxtapositions and hybrids of different cultures one finds across the globe due to the forces of globalization and tourism. The paradox creates a dilemma regarding whether or not to visit a place or to tour at all. The question for anthropologists and environmentalists alike is whether it is appropriate to visit a fragile culture or a pristine environment for which one's visitation contributes to its alteration. Furthermore, as the tourist destination becomes more developed and attracts increasing numbers of visitors, many tourists may look elsewhere for less-traveled destinations. They may, as a consequence, continue the same cycle, and some of the overdeveloped areas may ultimately witness a decline in the number of visitors on which their economy depends. From the perspective of those welcoming tourists, the local tourist industry may provide much-needed income and infrastructure development, but the cycle of unmanaged tourism development ultimately places these economic benefits at risk. While income is generated locally from the industry (and for many countries tourism is the most important industry), distribution of benefits is notoriously uneven, and there may be severe damage to local cultures, other parts of local economies, and natural environments. Such considerations have generated anti-tourism and pro-tourism positions, with the former generally concerned with environmental and cultural impact and the latter with economic development....
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