Global Tourism Impacts
What Role Does Tourism Play in the Globalization of Pacific Island Countries?
Tourism brings ‘Disneyfication’ and modernization, both of which mean change for traditional cultures.
By Denis Tolkach and Stephen Pratt
Globalisation is a term used to describe how trade and technology have made the world into a more connected and interdependent place. Globalization also captures in its scope the economic and social changes that have come about as a result.
— National Geographic
Globalisation
Travel and tourism are among the major drivers of globalisation and cultural change. Others drivers of globalisation include migration, geopolitics, technology, and popular culture. All of these are essentially shaped by the movement of people, goods, money, and information.
Globalisation is often perceived as a threat to the preservation of traditional cultures. This is because it erodes cultural and economic differences that make cultures and places distinct from one another.
To understand the impacts of tourism globalization, we interviewed tourism stakeholders in Fiji, Tonga, and the Cook Islands. These included representatives from communities, schools, government agencies, businesses, and non-government organisations. Our goal was to understand how tourism has impacted the cultures of these Pacific Island countries.
Some aspects of culture in the Pacific that are common across national boundaries. However, many customs and traditions are unique to a particular island state, geographical area, or even a single tribe. These unique cultures evolve under different geographical, historical, and social factors. Today their uniqueness is under constant pressure from a variety of external forces, including tourism.
The Tourism Culture Clash
Tourism can result in a “clash of civilizations” between locals and outsiders. This occurs when the dominant global tourism culture displaces the traditional, local host culture through the process of acculturation.
One example of acculturation is the demonstration effect. This is when local residents adopt new behaviours by imitating what they see tourists doing. These new behaviors may clash with and erode the local, traditional lifestyle and culture.
Pacific Islanders who work in tourism jobs are more likely to experience a ‘clash of civilisations’ and acculturation because they are more exposed to attitudes, behaviours, and lifestyles that are different from their traditional ways.
For example, tourism jobs require working on a regular time schedule with a set number of hours each week. This can make it difficult to fulfill certain traditional obligations, such as attending a funeral of a distant relative.
Another clash between the culture of Pacific island countries and the demands of the tourism sector is religion. Residents of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, for example, protested flights arriving on Sundays because of their belief that no work should be done on the Sabbath.
Similar issues are prominent in Tonga. Culture clash occurs when tourism businesses demand full operation every day, while cultural practices demand not working on Sundays.
Disneyfication
Global, multinational retail and commercial brands bring another form of globalization. This form includes the McDonaldization of business practices, and the Disneyfication of culture. Both of these refer to:
— homogenization and standardization (making everything the same),
— rationalization (basing success on efficiency and money), and
— commodification (turning everything into a salable product)
Tourism stakeholders who we interviewed expressed considerable concern for the preservation of their authentic cultures. This has been especially challenging following the release of an animated Disney film Moana.
Critics of the film say that it has reduced and degrades the diversity of Polynesian cultures to a single monoculture. For example, the movie’s trailer shows Fijian music, Tahitian drumming, and Samoan tattoos as representing a single Polynesia.
The Disneyfication of Polynesian stories results in an inaccurate, incomplete, and simplified account of complex indigenous myths. Moana is, nevertheless, used by local entrepreneurs to promote their products because it works with international tourists.
Hybrid Glocalisation
Globalisation is not an entirely one-way process. In most instances, what emerges is a mix of global and local influences. Cultures travel and evolve, interact and create hybrids (which are sometimes referred to as “glocalization”).
The tourism stakeholders we interviews had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, they do not want to lose their traditions and to some extent, they are nostalgic about the past. But they also want to embrace modernisation and connectedness to the world.
Pacific Islanders themselves are often well-travelled with personal connections overseas through their education, work, family ties, and other personal networks. Technological advances, especially the Internet and air transportation, have made the world smaller for Fijians, Tongans, and Cook Islanders.
Technological advances provide many new opportunities, but they also contribute to the modernisation of traditional societies and their cultures.
Participants from all three countries raise concerns over younger people’s declining interest in their culture and a resulting loss of local knowledge.
It is true that tourism often contributes to the decline of traditional cultures. But tourism can also stimulate interest in traditions among younger generations. This is because some tourists are willing to pay more to experience authentic traditional skills and knowledge.
Pacific Islanders do not think of themselves as “victims” of globalisation and modernisation processes. They have a choice on which aspects of globalisation to adopt and how to adapt to our changing world.
The Pacific Islanders that we spoke to acknowledge that cultures evolve and that cultural change is positive in the long run.
They believe that integration into the globalised world benefits Pacific Islanders as long as:
- the change is managed,
- the change occurs with Pacific Islanders control over it, and
- the pace of change is not too rapid.
Our interviews were pragmatic on the issue of maintaining cultural authenticity. Even though they see cultural expressions becoming less authentic, it is still better than losing their traditional skills and knowledge entirely.
This article was based on:
Denis Tolkach & Stephen Pratt (2019): Globalisation and cultural
change in Pacific Island countries: the role of tourism, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2019.1625071
See the original article for additional references.
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— All photos in this article are copyrighted by the authors, Denis Tolkach & Stephen Pratt © all rights reserved. Please obtain written permission from the authors to use those photos.
About the Authors
Dr. Denis Tolkach is a senior lecturer at the College of Business, Law and Governance, James Cook University, Australia. Dr. Tolkach has been teaching subjects related to destination management, sustainable tourism and tourism futures. His main research interests are in tourism and development, community-based tourism, and nature-based tourism.
Professor Stephen Pratt is the deputy head of the School of Business & Management at the University of the South Pacific. His research interests include sustainable tourism development (economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts of tourism), tourism in small island states, and film tourism. He is a co-creator of the popular YouTube channel, The Travel Professors.
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