Box 9.3. Experience: Life around Tourism

I’ve lived in different parts of the country over the years, but most recently, life brought me to a small town in Alabama. It’s a one-stoplight town with a dollar store, and that’s about it. It was a good location for us, since my husband’s commute to Mobile in one direction was about the same amount of time as my commute to Gulf Shores in the other. The town itself is definitely not on any tourist map, but the county it’s in is very much shaped by tourism, with destinations such as Gulf Shores and Fairhope.

Gulf Shores is the primary destination with its location on the Gulf of Mexico. I work for a local real estate company that manages approximately sixteen hundred properties in the area, mostly houses and condos that are used for vacation rentals. It’s a pretty laid-back, warm-weather destination, where the beach is the main attraction. It is far less commercial­ized than other popular southern coastal resorts, like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There isn’t much in the way of big hotels. In fact, there are only a handful of hotels on the beach at all. Most of the restaurants are independent and locally owned as well. Tourists who want to eat at one of the well-known chain restaurants have to drive ten or twelve miles north of Gulf Shores to Foley.

Fairhope is a very different type of destination in the county, located just off Mobile Bay. It’s an attractive small town that has become a center for the arts. A local committee is dedicated to making works of art available to the public by placing them around town along a walking trail. The downtown business district is made up of art galleries, high-end boutique shops, and nice restaurants. Some tourists will visit for the day just for these things, but the town also attracts visitors for the monthly art walks and the many different art shows, fairs, and festivals that they host over the course of the year.

You quickly learn the in’s and out’s of living and working around here. Summer is the big season, when we get a steady supply of families coming for a week. During this time, I know it’s a good idea to leave for work early in the morning and to take back roads. I definitely avoid State Route 59 on Saturdays from late morning on; most tourists come Saturday to Saturday so traffic is always heavy. If I want to go out to eat for lunch, I need to make a reservation. Otherwise, it’s going to take longer than my lunch hour with the increased wait times to get a table and to be served. In the winter, Gulf Shores sees a smaller number of snowbirds who come down from the north and stay for maybe a month, maybe three or four. Because of these tourists, the place doesn’t “shut down” like some other summer destinations. Business is obviously slower, and some stores and restaurants change their hours of operation. A few places close their doors for a while: Jake’s Steakhouse and Grill puts out a sign that reads “Gone fishing, eat at Bubba’s (Seafood House),” which is next door and has the same owner.

Some of these things associated with the tourism industry can be an inconvenience when it comes to living in and around this area. But, in the end, I like life here. I appreciate the type of destinations we have; they are places I would like to visit if I were a tourist. I’m able to enjoy the same amenities as the tourists who visit for a week or a winter, whether it is the beach, the nature trails, the art galleries, the shopping (even if it’s just window shopping when I can’t afford the upscale boutiques), the fresh seafood, and more. I would actually prefer to live in Gulf Shores. Since much of my time is spent there with work and other daily activities, I would love to be closer and cut down on my commute time. There’s not much difference in the cost of living across the county. In fact, the primary disadvantage to living in Gulf Shores is not related to tourism at all: the cost of home ownership is considerably higher due to its coastal location and risk of hurricanes.

I had a friend who grew up in Gulf Shores once point out to me that they—the locals— had done something amazing with the tourism industry. They somehow managed to convince tourists to come in large numbers during the most uncomfortable (hot and humid) time of the year. This means that the locals are able to make a living off of the tourists during the season when they didn’t really want to do anything outside anyway. Then, once the summer ends, the masses go home, and the locals are free to enjoy the beach, the town, and all of the other tourism resources during the best parts of the year!

—Nancy

acculturation is used to describe the process of exchange that takes place when two groups of people come into contact over time. Yet, this is rarely an equal exchange. One group is likely to have more of an impact on the other, and the second group will experience the greatest changes. Tourist-local interactions present an interesting case in acculturation. Although the potential exists for tourists to be influenced by what they experience at the destination, they are less likely to be affected and experience any real changes to their daily lives because each individual tourist experiences only short-term exposure to the destination culture. In contrast, local people experience sustained (at least for a portion of the year) exposure to tourists and their patterns. As a result, the local community is more likely to adopt these patterns and to experience more signifi­cant cultural changes.

Knowledge and Education

In comparison to the economic and environmental effects of tourism, there is relatively little knowledge about the social effects. Because the private sector is typically most concerned with economic effects, it has traditionally done little in the way of assessing the potential social effects of tourism development. If a private sector developer does undertake any form of assessment, it is most likely mandated by the public sector at the local, regional, or national scale.³ The public sector may have a greater stake in ensuring the social well-being of its population; however, it too has often neglected to consider the social effects.

Although these social effects may seem to be distinct from the economic ones, they are interrelated. In particular, a successful tourism destination, which is often judged on economic criteria, depends on the support of the local community. These are the people who will have to deal with the consequences of tourism. If the local community is con­cerned about the negative social effects of tourism, they will not support its development. Moreover, if the local community experiences these negative effects, they may actively undermine or sabotage the tourism industry. While it is extremely difficult to predict what will happen as tourism develops at a particular destination, there is nonetheless a clear need for both the public sector and the private sector to investigate and understand what consequences might emerge from tourism in that place.

As there are traditionally few efforts to assess potential social effects, these effects are generally poorly incorporated into the planning process. Yet, a better knowledge of the social geography of the community under consideration can be used by both the public and the private sector to maximize the social benefits of tourism and to mini­mize the costs. This can contribute to general public policy decisions that protect local people and their rights, such as landownership and access to public lands, resources, or sites. It might involve destination policy decisions that seek to manage both the numbers of tourists and the circumstances in which interaction between visitors and locals takes place. Likewise, the destination might seek to establish policies that will control tourists’ behavior (e.g., dress codes, codes of conduct, etc.) to fit within the cultural norms of the resident population.

Education can go a long way in preventing the negative outcomes of tourist- local interactions at a destination. One of the most common complaints levied against tourists is ignorance of the place, its people, and their customs, which con­tributes to the process of culture clash. At the same time, this ignorance can be one of the key contributors to culture shock. Tourists are almost always encouraged to learn about a place before they visit. This helps ensure that the tourists are able to make an informed decision that their chosen destination will meet their expecta­tions. Moreover, it helps the tourists understand what is expected of them so that they do not generate undue hostility toward themselves or cause offense to people in the local community. In addition, they should be willing to learn about the place through their experience of it. Although the situation is a bit more complicated for local people, education about tourists can help reduce misperceptions that also have the potential to contribute to culture clash.

Conclusion

Although the tourism literature has increasingly recognized the sociocultural im­pacts of tourism, there has been relatively little interface between social geography and the geography of tourism. While there may be some exceptions of tourism in extremely remote wilderness areas with little to no population, tourism will impact the local community in a multitude of minor and major ways. As is often the case, the worst examples of tourism—ignorant tourists, hostile locals, poorly planned developments—and their negative consequences typically get the most attention. Yet, these consequences are not necessarily unavoidable. Concerted efforts can be made by both tourists and tourism stakeholders to ensure that the negative social effects of tourism are minimized.

Key Terms

• acculturation • lingua franca

• commodification • social geography

• demonstration effect

Notes

1. Susan Homer and John Swarbrooke, International Cases in Tourism Management (Burl­ington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004), 22.

2. Stephen Williams, Tourism Geography (London: Routledge, 1998), 156.

3. Michael C. Hall and Alan Lew, Understanding and Managing Tourism Impacts: An Inte­grated Approach (New York: Routledge, 2009), 58.

Sources

Del Casino, Vincent J. Social Geography: A Critical Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2009. Hall, Michael C., and Alan Lew. Understanding and Managing Tourism Impacts: An Integrated Approach. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Pain, Rachel, Michael Barke, Duncan Fuller, Jamie Gough, Robert MacFarlane, and Graham Mowl. Introducing Social Geographies. London: Arnold, 2001.