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204 ethnic tourism
internal means or external forces, the development
should still be sustainable if negative consequences
of tourism are to be minimised.
References
Kraas-Schneider, F. �1992) BevoÈlkerungsgruppen und
MinoritaÈten. Handbuch der ethnischen, sprachlichen und
religioÈsen BevoÈlkerungsgruppen der Welt, Stuttgart:
Franz Steiner. �Charts various populations
worldwide.)
Further reading
Abram, S., Waldron, D. and Macleod, D.V.L.
�1996) Tourists and Tourism:Identifying with People
and Places, Oxford: Berg. �Articles discuss the
relationship between tourism and ethnic questions.)
Smith, A.D. �ed.) �1992) `Ethnicity and nationalism',
International Studies in Sociology and Social
Anthropology, 60. �Articles discuss relationships
between nationalism and ethnicity.)
Sollors, W. �ed.) �1996) Theories of Ethnicity:A
Classical Reader, Basingstoke: Macmillan. �Interpretations
on theory and concepts of ethnicity.)
ethnic tourism
AUVO A. KOSTIAINEN, FINLAND
Ethnic tourism may be defined as a form of
tourism in which the prime motivation of the
tourist involves a desire to experience and
interact with exotic ethnic peoples. While this
definition highlights the perspective of the tourist, a
comprehensive approach to ethnic tourism necessarily
includes in addition to tourists the local
suppliers of this exotic experience, as well as the
brokers �see culture broker) who facilitate the
interaction between tourists and these local suppliers.
Taking into account these different groups
leads to the conclusion that ethnic tourism is not
simply a particular form of interaction between
`hosts and guests', but is more fundamentally a
complex process of ethnic relations, with significant
implications for changing expressions of ethnic
identity among locals.
The distinction between ethnic tourism and
cultural tourism can be rather blurry, but there
are two key issues which should be considered in
separating them. First, the former tends to be more
narrowly focused on a particular group of people
whose exoticism is clearly marked as the prime
attraction for the tourist. Second, ethnic tourism
more fundamentally involves placing local people
themselves `on stage' for the tourist to view, rather
than simply serving as background players facilitating
the experience. Rather than viewing
historical monuments, natural wonders or even a
local `cultural milieu', the ethnic tourist comes
specifically to view other people whose ways of life
differ greatly from that of back home. Thus, ethnic
tourism most importantly depends upon the
relationship between tourist and native, an encounter
which is generally brokered by some third
party as it becomes incorporated into the broader
tourism industry �see also natives).
There are two aspects of this relationship which
are very important from the tourist's perspective.
First, the need for an exotic encounter necessitates
that the relationship between tourist and native be
one which bridges a vast socioeconomic divide.
Ethnic tourists typically come from highly urbanised
and industrial places; local suppliers, on the
other hand, tend to be `Fourth World' minorities
who occupy a marginal economic, political,
cultural and geographical position within the
countries in which they are found. Often, ethnic
tourists consider themselves elite travellers who
shun the mass resorts whose affordability depends
on the income gap between developing and
developed worlds. Yet the encounter between
ethnic tourist and native perhaps even more
fundamentally depends upon such a divide, since
this visitor is primarily looking for exotic difference,
even if one chooses to travel frugally on a limited
budget in order to mask the income gap as much as
possible. Second, the success of the relationship
between the host and guest often depends on
maintaining authenticity in the eyes of the
former. That is, the relationship should appear to
the tourist to be unmediated and spontaneous.
Paradoxically, such an experience is impossible
to develop as a `tourist attraction '. Indeed, many
ethnic tourists would be loath to be referred to as
`tourists'. Nevertheless, the ethnic tourist impulse