Linking Culture and the Environment

178 Community Perspectives in Sustainable Tourism
Tourism ‘catalysts’ or ‘mediators’ can serve to inspire and motivate local residents.
As Zorn and Farthing (2007) note, alliances with ad hoc advocate
mediators undoubtedly facilitated Taquileans’ retaining control over tourism
as long as they did, and play an important role in determining the shape that
community-based tourism takes. The downside is that local tourism opportunities
may attract outsiders that may not have the community’s best interests
at heart, such as external tourism agencies. Moreover, increased
individualism and consumerism may erode community harmony and
weaken local control. But tourism is a double-edged sword. While bringing
community and individual benefits, it could also weaken or destroy local
traditions, and in so doing undermine the very social and ecological environment
upon which people depend. Again, however, those affected must
decide if such changes are acceptable.
This chapter has demonstrated that those rural communities more thoroughly
involved, i.e. integrated, in their local tourism sector, from the early
planning and development stages to the day-to-day administration, stand a
much greater chance of enhancing overall tourism sustainability and reducing
negative impacts. Factors such as social unrest and globalization in previously
isolated communities may cause tensions and disharmony as
opportunities for revenue generation increase. This chapter has also shown
the importance of encouraging community integration at the onset of tourism
development, perhaps by the support of facilitators or local tourism champions.
This may avoid an unpopular redistribution of wealth afterwards if long
implementation delays occur in the integration process. In this scenario, integration
potential may dissolve as local entrepreneurs and power holders
solidify and augment their personal stakes.
Recommendations for sustainable tourism
In summary, these two case studies have crucial implications for sustainable
tourism in developing nations. Taquile Island shows more positive socioeconomic
impacts related to tourism than Chiquian largely because of three
factors, described below.
The first has to do with community size. Taquile is smaller and more homogeneous,
with controlled entry points for anyone arriving on the island. Their
isolation functions as an advantage: ‘Taquileans’ continued practice of traditional
arts and customs combined with their remoteness attracts backpacking
tourists, while their distance from the mainland kept outsiders at arms’ length
(Zorn and Farthing, 2007, p. 683). Its manageable size and scale enables better
cottage-style group decision making. Local sites offer smaller, therefore more
practical, venues for direct participation by citizens or direct democracy.
Second, this sense of ‘localness’ also led to solidarity among residents
and encouraged cooperative decision making, with a shared tourism
vision. Some cultures in developing countries have a shared tradition of
strong cooperative relationships and organizational practices, collective
land ownership and management and well-engrained cultural patterns
that reinforce long-held local decision-making mechanisms (Cohen, 1999).