the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

ound sunshine, magnificent beaches and lakes, pristine natural sites and wildlife
populations, and rich cultural heritages (Meethan, 2001).
The spread of tourism and the rise in globalisation have also been subjected to
heavy criticism. It is argued that the tourism industry creates dependency for the
host countries on a fickle and fluctuating global economy beyond their local control.
Local economic activities and resources are used less for the development of
communities and increasingly for export and the enjoyment of others. Very few
international policies and guidelines exist which restrict and control tourism and
hence it has developed throughout the world (Ugarteche, 2000).
According to the Balik Kalikasan Editorial (2000), globalisation leads to
homogeneity, which is the single greatest threat to sustainability. They view the
continued growth of globalisation as eventually leading to the development of a
situation where food, names and products will be the same the world over, defeating
the very purpose of tourism.
3.4.2 Global Culture
The historical development of capitalist economies has always had significant
implications for cultures, identities, and ways of life. The globalisation of economic
activity is now associated with an additional wave of cultural transformation, with a
process of cultural globalisation. At one level this is about the manufacture of
universal cultural products, a process which has been developing for a long time,
and in the new cultural industries there is a belief in 'world cultural convergence'.
This is a belief in the convergence of lifestyle, culture, and behaviour among
consumer segments across the world (Robins, 1991).
As in the wider economy, global standardisation in the cultural industries reflects the
drive to achieve ever greater economies of scale. More specifically, it is about
achieving both scale and scope economies by targeting the shared habits and tastes
of particular market segments at the global level, rather than by marketing on the
basis of geographical proximity to different national audiences. The global cultural
industries are increasingly driven to recover their escalating costs over the widest
market base, over pan-regional and world markets (Robins, 1991).
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