Like intellectual property rights, there is a need to take account of the cultural property rights of the people involved and to ensure that there is a mutual benefit for all. In other words, it is important to ensure that the owners of a culture are central to the process of making decisions about its use. In this way, society can benefit from cultural diversity, and minority cultures can also maintain their integrity. Recognition should also be given to the cultural knowledge of minority peoples, and how that knowledge might contribute to issues such as local resource management and local development choices. Gender Impact Women create many cultural tourism products, yet the social system and the operation of the economy often means that women are the last to benefit from the income generated.
Women are also least able to get access to credit to develop their own enterprises.
Such issues may also be a feature of the culture itself. The question therefore arises of how to ensure that the process of economic growth will address this challenge and ensure that all members of the community share equally in the benefits. An equitable policy urgently needs to address this issue. In sum, while many features of current macroeconomic policy provide a positive environment for the cultural policy, there are complex issues of ownership, distribution of benefits, supply of capital, equity and gender equality that need addressing. The growth of tourism and the commercialization of culture are responses to the growing marketization of the economy.