Ah, the tourism industry. For years land have been “privatized” for the tourist industry. over the last decades, private beaches, forests, and mountain areas for the construction of hotels, resorts, golf course, etc. The water from public reservoirs taken to fill hotel pools and water the golf courses has gone on for years as well. Recently, however, people’s land and resources are being stolen to make this tourist areas. For example, many natural parks are being changed so they bring more tourists, which mean more money. On the negative side, more people mean more litter, pollution, and destruction to the park, making a bit of an oxy-moron. Corporates are taking over some of these tourist spots in order to make more money. Remember the picture of the Coke can on the Great Wall of China? Or when you go camping, and the first thing you see at the campground is a bunch of Pepsi soda machines next to a vending machine filled with junk food?
Tourism is a major source of income for many countries and people. A lot of people working for the tourist industry put on a fake idea of what the natives of that area are supposed to be like, certainly helping that to create that stereotype. My favorite is when I was in Egypt, and went to visit the pyramids. It’s surrounded by people, usually students, selling tourists little Egyptian trinkets. “Cultural” things and “exotic” objects, like scarab beads and those sheets that the men supposedly wear on their head. For the sake of the tourists, they all act to their “culture” and such, camel rides, outfits, all of that. I talked to one of the students, and after a while he finally relaxed, and once he found out I was from America, the topic switched to the TV shows, proving the spread of cultures. Many Egyptians have picked up the American culture from movies and TV, and there is a lot of Italian influence there when it comes to fashion. Due to globalization and the tourist industry, the stereotypical image has truly disappeared at some of these places.
