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Some Characteristics of Tourism
By Jeremy Boissevain
 There are some general features of tourism that affect all destination communities in one way or another. These include the transient nature of tourism and the unequal relations between tourists and locals. As they can afford to buy the services upon which the local economy depends and often come from more technologically advanced societies, tourists at times think they can denigrate and abuse locals. The locals, on the other hand, because they monopolise local knowledge and services, can cheat and exploit the tourists. As the chapter by Odermatt makes very clear, there is another general characteristic of tourism: the unequal relations between the 'host community' at the local level and more powerful agencies at higher integration levels, such as the tourist industry, the state and/or the European Union. The tourist-host relation is thus potentially fraught with ambivalence and tension (see van den Berghe and Keyes 1984: 347; MacCannell 1984: 387).
A major factor affecting relations between locals and tourists, however, is the desire of the latter for a temporary change in their life situation. They seek escape from established routines, from the constraints of time and place, and the behavioural codes that rule their daily lives. They believe this change will recharge their mental and physical batteries so that they will be better able to cope with the pressures of their daily commitments.
Thus becoming a tourist, however briefly, means shedding part of one's old identity and normal behaviour. This involves adopting a new, temporary identity that necessarily incorporates some elements that are the opposite of the habitual personality and behaviour (see Graburn 1983; Lett 1983; Boissevain 1989). As Victor Turner observed, 'cognitively, nothing underlines irregularity so well as absurdity or paradox. Emotionally, nothing satisfies as much as extravagant or temporarily permitted illicit behaviour' ( 1969: 176). This process is facilitated by the masking function that anonymity provides. After all, the people visited do not know the normal persona of the tourist. Tourists can consequently shed their everyday status and, temporarily, become other persons and engage in 'extravagant' if not 'illicit' behaviour. This change of status is usually signalled by donning 'leisure' clothes. These strange, often garish, occasionally inexplicably scanty costumes unambiguously mark out the wearer as a tourist (see Leach 1964). This emblematic garb often amuses but occasionally offends locals going about their daily activities, in banks, shops, or churches. Strange dress and weakening inhibitions are not infrequently accompanied by behaviour that would be quite unacceptable at home. It can be loud, lecherous, drunken, and rude. In short, many tourists, for various reasons, are occasionally most unpleasant guests. Yet those whose livelihoods depend upon their presence must somehow come to terms with their difficult behaviour and cater to their strange needs.
There are other regular features of tourism with which host communities must deal. Among these the crowding of thoroughfares, public transport, shops, and recreational facilities feature prominently. Furthermore, along the Mediterranean, mass tourist demand and overcharging during the tourist season drive up the prices of fresh vegetables, fruit, and fish. The region's scarce fresh-water resources also come under pressure. Many local inhabitants are annoyed by this. On the other hand, others accept inconveniences and overcrowding philosophically as part of the cost of the new economy. Some even welcome crowds. Puijk, for example, observes that the inhabitants of Henningsvær, which is crowded with fishermen in winter, enjoyed the summer tourists. Locals said the many holidaying visitors livened up the community during the quiet season. This gave their community an ambience that they very much appreciated, even though they sometimes were frustrated by the numbers of tourists and the inconvenience they caused.
Obviously scale is an important factor. Discomfort caused by crowding is usually more keenly felt where the tourist mass is disproportionate to the local population. This occurs during the Andalusian pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Dew. Mary Crain describes how hordes of urbanites, media men, and yuppies crowd out local residents. But circumstances differ. Annabel Black shows that despite severe crowding, the inhabitants of Mellieha do not clash with the tourists over seaside space. In part this is because locals use space differently. Where visitors choose the limited, excessively crowded sandy beaches, Maltese prefer the (cleaner) rocky areas along the coast; moreover many use their boats to travel to remote swimming areas. Summer crowding has become part of local culture and the Maltese enjoy the lively seaside cafés, pizzerias and discos established for tourists.
In fact, it is notable that in the Mediterranean area there is remarkably little friction between tourists and natives in summer. This is because both are celebrating their leisure. Summer, for both visitors and local inhabitants (except those working directly in the tourism industry), is a time for relaxing, partying, sporting, celebrating, and romancing, if possible, near the sea. The pursuits of both natives and visitors by and large harmonise in summer ( Boissevain 1989). After the summer, the situation is often quite different. By then, local inhabitants have had to return to work, to their winter mode. The presence of boisterous holidaying strangers becomes dissonant; inconveniences are no longer overlooked and tension mounts (see Boissevain 1996). Puijk, with ethnographic data from Northern Europe, makes much the same point. The inhabitants of Henningsvaer find winter tourists more difficult to deal with than summer visitors. Summer is the light season when relatives and friends on holiday come to visit the village. As along the Mediterranean, this is the festive season. In winter the days are dark. The town is crowded with working fishermen. Then well-dressed, demanding visitors on holiday circulating among men working on boats and spattered with fish blood and guts brings out class tensions. These disrupt the egalitarian ethos so characteristic of Northern Norway.
Source: Coping with Tourists: European Reactions to Mass Tourism
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