Davydd J. Greenwood on the complexities inherent in cross-cultural tourism

“Are we correct that all cultural values are being destroyed? Or are they once again changing, under the press of circumstance and from their own internal dynamics, while we, the anthropologists, disapprove of the changes or at least do not comprehend them? To argue globally against cultural change is a startling position; to accept all change as good is mindless and cruel. The challenge, as yet unmet, is to conceptualize communities as a complex process of stability and change, and then to factor in the changes tourism brings. To this end, the evaluation of tourism cannot be accomplished by measuring the impact of tourism against a static background. Some of what we see as destruction is construction. Some is the result of a lack of any other viable option; and some the result of choices that could be made differently. Which is which is by no means an easy matter to decide, but is clear that anthropologists have not yet met these problems head on.”
–Davydd J. Greenwood, from Valene Smith’s Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism (1977)