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Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

Chapter 10

Intercultural Communication in Tourism

Contexts

Study Objectives

After studying the material in this chapter, students should be able to accomplish the following

objectives.

1. Identify and describe characteristics of tourist–host encounters.

2. Understand how social and political contexts influence tourism encounters.

3. Describes variations in host attitudes toward tourists.

4. Describe the language challenges that tourists might face.

5. Identify cross-cultural differences in social norms and expectations encountered by

tourists.

6. Understand the role culture shock might play in a tourism experience.

7. Describe the tourist challenges of the search for authenticity.

8. Describe ways in which tourists can learn about the cultures they visit.

9. Describe the role of social media in intercultural tourism.

10. Understand the various environmental and political impacts on tourism.

Key Terms

• Adventure tourism

• Authenticity

• Boundary maintenance

• Cultural tourism

• Ecotourism

• Host

• Medical tourism

• Resistance

• Retreatism

• Revitalization

• Socially responsible tourism

• Staged authenticity

• Tourist

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

• Volunteer tourism (voluntourism)

Detailed Chapter Outline

Introduction

• The World Tourism Organization estimates that more than a billion people crossed

international borders by 2012—more than 2 million a day. In fact, travel and tourism is one

of the world’s largest industries.

• In 2015, international tourism receipts reached a record US$1,232 billion—the sixth

consecutive year of above average growth.

• See the world’s top 10 tourism destinations in Table 10.1.

• Many people engage in tourism within their own country.

• Experts estimate that U. S. Americans make 1.7 billion person-trips a year for leisure

purposes.

• Being a tourist may involve travel to another region of the United States.

• Tourism contexts provide rich opportunities for intercultural encounters.

I. Intercultural Communication and Tourism

A. Characteristics of Tourist–Host Encounters

• The chapter focuses on the tourist–host encounter. Experts suggest at least four fairly

unique characteristics: they are short-term and transitory, commercialized, and often

involve unbalanced power dynamics.

• Second, most host–tourist interactions are commercialized.

• Superficial interactions are predictable and ritualistic and offer few opportunities for

tourists to engage in genuine social interactions with local people.

• The final characteristic of tourist–host communication is the unbalanced nature of the

interaction.

o First, host and tourist have very different views on the meaning of tourism.

o Also, tourists, hosts, and service providers often have different socioeconomic

backgrounds, with the tourists more economically and socially privileged than

those with whom they interact.

• The end result then of power imbalances can lead tourists to be suspicious of locals and

feelings of resentment at possibly being taken advantage of. However, many factors

influence the imbalance between tourist and host.

B. Social, Historical, and Economic Contexts of Tourism

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

• As tourists, one may be stepping, unaware, into a situation where past or current social

and political events influence the interactions they’ll have with members of host culture.

The extremes of these imbalanced relationships are represented in tourism in developing

countries or in previously colonized countries where the legacy of colonialism still

lingers. Tourism can result in increased crime, traffic problems, disruption of family

life, alcohol and drug problems, crime, and sexual promiscuity.

• The United Nations has focused on tourism as one way to address the severe economic

imbalances in some developing countries (2.5 billion people live on less than U.S. $2 a

day).

o One of the projects outlined in the United Nations “2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development” is the Small Island Development States (SIDS), focusing on 52

islands in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and

South China Sea, where tourism accounts for 40 to 50 percent of annual gross

domestic product (GDP) and the number of international tourists visiting SIDS

reaches more than 40 million a year.

• However, some UN experts are less optimistic about the potential of tourism to boost

economies in poor countries. They estimate that only a fraction of the tourist money

spent actually stays in the local community.

C. Attitudes of Hosts toward Tourists

• The attitudes of residents may range from retreatism, to resistance, to boundary

maintenance, to revitalization and adoption.

• Some communities that are not enthusiastic about tourism may simply practice

retreatism or avoiding contact with tourists.

• When people feel so invaded, they may resort to forms of resistance to tourist

intrusions. Resistance may take fairly passive forms like grumbling and gossiping about

tourists or creating denigrating stereotypes about difficult tourists.

• Boundary maintenance to regulate the interaction between hosts and tourists is a

common response among certain cultures within the United States, like the Amish,

Hutterites, or Mennonites, that do not really desire a lot of interaction with tourists.

• A final response of host to tourists is revitalization and adoption. Some communities

have been revitalized economically by embracing tourism—like colonial Williamsburg

and many towns in New England that feature colonial architecture.

II. Communication Challenges in Tourism Contexts

• Being a student of intercultural communication in tourism contexts provides many

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

interesting communication challenges, including (1) rising to the challenges of a foreign

language, (2) following social norms and expectations, (3) dealing with culture shock, and

(4) searching for authenticity.

A. Language Challenges

• Language is often the first challenge encountered by tourists. One cannot learn all the

languages of the cultures where one might visit in a lifetime, and it can be frustrating

not to be able to understand what is being said.

• The expectations of various host cultures regarding language also may differ.

Sometimes tourists are expected to get along using the host language, but other cultures

provide more language assistance for travelers.

B. Social Norms and Expectations

• There are many cultural norms that have implications for intercultural communication

between tourists and hosts. Some of the most relevant are norms about public social

behavior and shopping.

• Norms regarding nonverbal behavior vary dramatically from culture to culture. And

expectations about public behavior are no exception, ranging from very informal, as in

the United States, to more formal, as in many countries. Sometimes the norms are

related to religious beliefs and traditions.

• In some cultures, strangers are expected to greet each other and interact in the streets.

o For example, in Egypt and many North African countries, there is a great deal of

interaction in the streets, with shopkeepers greeting everyone and children

interacting with strangers, especially tourists.

o In the United States, strangers may interact in some public contexts, such as in a

line at a checkout counter, on an airplane, or at a sporting event. And people may

smile at strangers.

o However, in some countries, such as those in Europe, there is much less smiling at

strangers.

o In Japan, there is very little interaction, verbal or nonverbal, among strangers in

public.

• Communication norms involved in shopping vary from culture to culture. One shopping

norm has to do with touching merchandise.

o In the United States, shoppers are expected to touch the merchandise and try on

clothing before making a purchase.

o However, in many cultures, one does not touch merchandise and tries on clothing

only if one is almost certain to buy. This is true in most countries in Europe.

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

o Similarly, in Japan, the relationship between customers and shop clerks is very

businesslike. People speak only when necessary.

• A second shopping norm has to do with bargaining. Expectations about bargaining also

vary from culture to culture.

o In most transactions in the United States, for example, the price for the

merchandise is set and is not negotiated.

o However, in many countries, shoppers are expected to bargain; through the act of

bargaining, people are connected.

o Some tourists find this very challenging and, given the differences in resources

between tourist and host, confusing.

C. Culture Shock

• Being in a new cultural context can often lead to culture shock—feelings of

disorientation and distress.

• Language challenges and differing social norms can trigger these feelings, of course, but

sometimes seemingly mundane challenges like dining norms can also do it.

• Of course, sometimes tourists have so little contact with the host culture that there is

little opportunity for culture shock.

o The degree of culture shock may also depend on how different the host culture is

from the tourist’s home culture.

o On short-term trips, one’s body doesn’t have the time to adjust to new climate

conditions or new foods or eating customs. And feeling fatigued or under the

weather often can affect communication with others.

• One should bear in mind that it is the tourist who is experiencing the culture shock; the

problem is not the culture itself.

o However, tourists who experience culture shock often take it out on the host

community.

o Perhaps it is not just the tourist who experiences culture shock, for the host

population can suffer the same shock. The encounters might be stressful for both

because both tourist and host are being confronted with new values and behaviors

and uncertainty.

o Both hosts and tourists probably experience more shock when they have limited

previous intercultural experience.

D. The Search for Authenticity

• The issue of authenticity is often a challenge in tourist–host encounters, particularly for

those engaged in cultural or heritage tourism. Tourists can mistakenly believe that they

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

have seen the authentic culture—when in fact the locals have altered their cultural

traditions in order to please tourists—presenting what some scholars call staged

authenticity.

III. Cultural Learning and Tourism

• Some tourist–host encounters do go beyond the superficial confines of the tourist role, and

learning something about cultures is a goal of many tourists.

• This may happen unexpectedly when sharing food, holding a long conversation, or simply

participating in a meaningful slice of the local culture.

o And one can learn something about the local culture even in a short time, by using

many of the communication guidelines that has been covered in the textbook so far:

being observant, being more conscious of one’s own and others’ communication, and

being flexible and open to other ways of living.

• A type of tourism that fits nicely with culture learning and ethical intercultural

communication and that emphasizes positive economic, social, cultural, and environmental

impacts in the tourist industry is called socially responsible tourism.

IV. Tourism, Intercultural Communication, and Social Media

• What is the role of social media in intercultural tourist encounters? There are at least three

answers to this question:

o In gathering pre-departure information

o In tourism marketing

o During the tourism experience

• First, tourists can be much better prepared for intercultural encounters with the vast amount

of online information, especially produced for tourism marketing campaigns.

• Social media and the Internet make travel preparation easy and efficient, with useful info

and recommendations about currency, lodging, language, transportation, and what to

expect in terms of food and local cultural customs. However, people also need to think

about how destinations are “packaged” and marketed.

• A third consideration is how tourists use social media while visiting other countries and

cultures.

• However, some tourists may use social media to such an extent that they have little

interaction with host-country nationals.

V. Political and Environmental Impacts on Tourism

• The political, health, and environmental impacts on tourism also needs to be considered.

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

How political events can impact the tourism industry dramatically has been seen.

• Terrorist attacks and political instability can have devastating consequences for tourism.

o For example, Turkey has been a very popular tourist destination for Western tourists

and Istanbul—one of the best travel destinations in the world.

▪ However, the 2016 attacks on busiest airport and other Turkish sites severely

damaged the tourism industry there—already suffering from the impact of the

Syrian war on its border.

o Likewise, tourism in the North African countries of Egypt and Tunisia has also been

hit hard and has seen sharp decline in tourists.

o Egypt experienced the passenger jet loaded with a bomb in the beach resort of Sharm

el-Sheikh.

o Gunmen opened fire at holidaymakers in Sousse, Tunisia; and in another incident,

terrorists killed 22 people at the Bardo museum in Tunis.

• The enormous effect of natural disasters on travel and tourism also needs to be mentioned.

In addition to devastating loss of life and human suffering, the 2016 earthquake in Nepal

and the extensive flooding in Chennai, India caused widespread economic distress.

• Experts have estimated the relative impact of various disasters on tourism. In general, it

takes approximately 13 months for a place to recover from a terrorist attack, according to

research from the World Trade and Tourism Council (WTTC).

Discussion Questions

1. Why is it important to study tourism in an intercultural communication class?

2. What are typical intercultural encounters in tourist contexts?

3. How do cultural differences influence communication in these contexts?

4. How do societal structures influence tourist encounters?

5. How do politics and economic events impact tourist encounters?

6. How can communication be improved in these contexts?

7. When you travel, what attitudes toward tourists do you think are held by members of the

host culture? Why?

8. How are boundary maintenance and retreatism alike? How are they different?

9. Have you visited a tourist destination where the locals engaged in revitalization? What did

they do? How did you respond?

10. Have you visited a tourist destination where the locals engaged in retreatism? What did

they do? How did you respond?

11. How can the unbalanced nature of intercultural interaction between members of host

cultures and tourists affect communication?

12. How might travel to other places affect cultural self-awareness? Can you think of any

examples?

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

13. How might experiencing culture shock affect interactions with the local culture?

14. How have you dealt with language challenges either as a host member or as a tourist?

15. After language, what is the most difficult aspect of intercultural communication when

traveling abroad?

16. What is the role of new media in intercultural tourist encounters?

Classroom Exercises and Chapter Activities

1. Guest Lecture Exercise: Invite someone from a country that has a high rate of tourism to

speak to the class. Ask the person to speak about both the positive and the negative effects

of tourism. If possible, also ask the person to discuss the ways in which the locals have

responded to the increased tourism. Speakers may be found by contacting local chambers

of commerce, language clubs on campus, faculty, and so on. The person does not need to

come from a different country; he or she could be from a U.S. community that is

considered a tourist destination.

2. Researching a Destination Exercise: The purpose of this small-group exercise is for

students to consider what they may need to know prior to encountering another culture.

Place students in small groups, and ask them to decide on a place they would all like to

visit. Have them create a list of things that would be important for them to know about the

culture of the place prior to taking the trip. After about twenty minutes, bring the class

together and have each group share one thing on its list. Depending on the time, you can

continue to have students share their items. The items will be surprisingly similar

regardless of where the students chose to visit, and you may want to point this out to the

class.

3. Researching a Destination Assignment: After they have completed the previous exercise,

have students, individually or in small groups, pick a place that they would like to visit.

Students should research their chosen destination and write a three-page paper about that

place, focusing on issues raised in the previous exercise and any others they deem

important. Students can gather useful information from tourist bureaus, travel books, books

that focus on the relevant culture, history books, and so on. The students may even choose

to interview someone from the location itself (a student from that culture, or a friend who

has been there), if possible. If class size and time allow, have students present what they

learned about the culture to the rest of the class.

4. Simulation Exercise: One of the most effective ways to help students identify with the

experience of being a visitor or a host culture member is to involve them in a simulation in

which they must interact without knowing the proper rules for communicating and

Chapter 10: Intercultural Communication in Tourism Contexts

Martin, Experiencing Intercultural Communication, 6e

accomplishing tasks. Two popular simulations that achieve this are “BaFa BaFa” and

“Barnga.”

5. Rate the Guide Book Exercise: Acquire different guide books to the same location. Let’s

Go, Frommer’s, and Lonely Planet guides are good choices. These may be acquired at used

bookstores or from travelers in your department. They do not need to be exceedingly

current. Have as many groups as you have locations and guides. Break students in groups

of 3–4 and ask them to read or skim through the guides and then answer the following

questions:

• To what kind of traveler (age, economic status, or culture) is each guide directed?

• How are the relative strengths of each guide book series represented?

• Rank the guides in terms of how well they facilitate intercultural communication.