Welcome to video number 15 in my series of presentations, Double Attempt 2, Demystified Tourism. I'm Dr. Stan McGay, the creator and narrator of the videos. Their content is based on my experiences worldwide as a professor, consultants, writer, manager, and tourist in more than 80 countries on six continents. Society can be defined as a group of people who share a distinct way of life by virtue of their common traditions, interest, ideals, norms, and institutions. Culture can be defined as an mentality, practices, customs, spokeways, and values of a society that have been developed over generations and defined who they are as a people. Whenever people interact, they impact each other, whether it's two identical twins living in the same house or a group of tourists from one corner of the world, interacting with locals in another corner of the world. As the African proverb states, as I go, I am wearing you. Tourism interactions have many potential outcomes, and many of its sociocultural impacts can show up on both positive and negative lists, depending on how they are managed. Cultural distance is a degree that shared values and norms in one society differs from those in another. Culture gap is the difference between two cultures that creates a problem, such as preventing them from understanding each other or getting along well with each other. Tourists interact with a variety of local service providers, other tourists, and locals going about their daily lives. Differences in culture are inevitable. Some tourists attempt to stay within their own comfort zone as much as possible, and any cultural distance for them may seem like an insurmountable culture gap. Other tourists seek rich cultural experiences and enjoy visiting destinations with the widest possible cultural distance. To them, the culture gap is an exciting challenge, one that makes a destination even more enjoyable. Tourism's positive sociocultural impacts include keeping culture and traditions alive as tourists demonstrate their value to locals through the interest and appreciation they show. This can be done by supporting festivals, performing and fine arts and handicrafts, and by providing the motivation and funding for the preservation of monuments, shrines, and other historic buildings and sites. Since tourism encourages the preservation of unique ways of life and might otherwise be lost, it helps create and sustain civic pride within the local community. On a more personal level, tourism provides the opportunity for visitors to mix with locals and sample their way of life, and doing so it brings people together who would normally not meet and if facilitates or interactions which can help raise global awareness for critical issues, such as poverty and human rights abuses. At its least, tourism is a medium for personal understanding and social exchange, and at its best, it serves as an agent for world peace and universal brotherhood. The improvements to infrastructure and new recreational facilities that are developed to satisfy tourism demand can also benefit the local community and provide places for meaningful host guest interactions. Its ironic that tourism is people visiting other people and other places which is socio-cultural impacts and environmental impacts, yet the primary concern is neither, its economic impact. The wonder our efforts to squeeze the last drop of economic value from tourism products and experiences relegates people in the host community to a lower priority. And even one negative socio-cultural impacts are known to exist, we cannot eliminate them unless we interfere with priority number one. On the other hand, sociologists spend most of their time looking for problems to solve. They find them everywhere and coincidentally, tourism also takes place everywhere. Tourism tends to get blamed for creating many endemic socio-cultural problems, such as crime, when it often just provides more victims for the unscrupulous or more people with the time and money to participate in the unsavory activities already available. Picture-esque villages and historic old towns and popular cities often suffer from visual clutter and attackingness of tourist traps and even when they are on the must-see list, they are not much fun to visit and often disappoint tourists. Another ailment that sometimes splegs popular destinations is disnification, which transforms them into something staged solely for tourist consumption, regardless of their true sense of place. Unfortunately, when a community sacrifices its authenticity for tourist dollars, the local people can lose their cultural identity, dignity, and sense of belonging. Tourist behavior can have a detrimental effect on the quality of life in a community. For example, crowding and congestion and to decline in morality with drug and alcohol problems, prostitution and promiscuity, and increased crime levels that range from pickpockets to petty thieves. Sometimes locals are displaced from their home or ancestral land to make way for tourism development, or they are barred from beaches at front new resort properties. Locals who begin imitating or aping the actions and consumption patterns of tourists who often act much differently once they are free from the constraints of their own society can fall into bad habits to lead to the erosion of their culture and values. This is known as the demonstration effect. The most hideous of all negative social cultural impacts associated with tourism is sex slavery and a human trafficking that turns people into commodities. Many of its victims are very young girls and boys who are kidnapped or bought from their parents and forced into performing sexual acts in brothels, massage parlors, and strip clubs by criminals who profit from them. Corrupt politicians and police accept payoffs to turn a blind eye. Not too many years ago tour companies advertise sex tours to these destinations, but international pressure from NGOs such as Eckpat, in-child prostitution, child pornography, and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, and various tourism industry associations such as the Code, which is short for the Code of Conduct of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, have worked to combat these evil practices that destroy young lives and increase the risk of AIDS and the number of abortions an unwanted children. The Culture Gap, the sense of superiority displayed by some tourists, and the disrespect for local traditions such as inappropriate dress and improper behavior in areas of religious significance, offend residents, and create a dislike of tourists and a resentment towards them. The Irritation Index, or Iridex for short, was developed by George Doxie to explain how these feelings can develop within a community in four stages. The first stage is Euphoria among locals, as tourists discover their community and are welcomed into it. Second is apathy, as contact with visitors becomes more formal in business like. Third is annoyance, as too many visitors detract from the local quality of life. Fourth and last is antagonism, as locals blame tourists for problems and begin to treat them with verbal and even physical abuse. Even as tourism overwhelms a destination, many components of the tourism industry want more, but too much success can breed failure in both the economic and socio-cultural realms. When too many tourists control by too many outside interests, continuously overwhelm a destination, it begins to lose its identity, even its language, as it becomes subsumed by the invading tourist. The degree to which this happens depends on many things, such as how well the most appropriate markets have been attracted, and how well the subsequent tourists adhere to the local norms. Too much tourism creates a demand for excess labor, which encourages urbanization and immigration, as well as harassing actions, such as begging and touting by locals and newcomers. Seasonality, which is normally discouraged, sometimes serves as a respite for the destination during which it can reset and regain its true character. In summary, tourism exposes local people to a variety of new and different mentalities, behaviors, and social norms. What they observe in wave after wave of tourists can affect their outlook on life and lead to changes in their own cultural identity, traditional values, family relationships, and sense of morality. Cultures are not stagnant, but when outside agents cause them to change abruptly, traditional societies can be harmed. Now I invite you to watch video number 16, Environmental Impacts of Tourism. Thank you.