Politics, power and indigenous tourism

Despite its common consumer association with pleasure and leisure, perhaps as far away from politics as one can get in the popular mind, tourism does not occur in a political vacuum. In fact few subjects better illustrate the political dimensions of tourism than the issues associated with indigenous tourism. Whether it be decisions as to where tourism development occurs or more humanistic concerns associated with commodification and representation of heritage and identity, tourism is political. For example, given that heritage is a symbol of the values and ideology of states, societies, communities and cultures the development of heritage interpretation and associated tourism is not the result of a value-free process. Decisions affecting the location and character of tourism development and the recognition of what actually constitutes heritage grow out of a political process. Politics is about power, who gets what, where, how and why (Lasswell, 1936). Decisions affecting all aspects of indigenous tourism: the nature of government involvement in indigenous tourism; the structure of public agencies responsible for indigenous tourism development, management, marketing and promotion; the type of tourism development; participation in policy formulation and implementation; and the identification and representation of indigenous tourism resources and attractions, such as heritage, within indigenous communities all emerge from a political process. This process involves the values of actors (individuals, interest groups and public and private organisations) in a struggle for power.