Sociocultural Issues Related to Tourism

At its core, tourism is a social phenomenon, which facilitates connections between members of different societies and cultures. Tourism has been found to impact society and culture at both a local and global level. The phenomenon of tourism has the power to shape social structures, representations of culture, and the relationships between individuals and groups, in both positive and negative ways. Additionally, tourism and its requisite development efforts hold the potential to influence both the tourists themselves and their hosts, the residents of destination communities, and employees within the industry. The complex connections between tourism, society, and culture result in the need for careful planning and strategic development to ensure the potential positive social and cultural impacts outweigh the negative social and cultural impacts. This ...