EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Tourism and the commodification of urban culture

Tourism and the commodification of urban culture

Introduction

The research paper 'tourism and the commodification of urban culture' by Susan S. Fainstein, looks into the effects of globalisation on travel, the behaviour of tourists and the development of space. Fainstein mainly focuses on the economic, social and spatial impacts of global tourism on cities. The main question she tries to answer is whether the globalisation of tourism results in increased similarity or difference between cities around the world. A typology is made of three different types of cities: resort cities, converted cities and tourist-historic cities. The main question is researched along the lines of these three typologies.

Proposition

Do the institutions, rules and regulations of a globalised tourism industry increasingly reduce difference and variation in urban tourism?
Does urban tourism vary significantly from place to place because it reflects local political realities and local cultures?

Description

"Tourism is the new favourite strategy for central city planners and a central component of the economic, social and cultural shift that has left its imprint on the world system of cities in the past two decades", Susan A. Fainstein states in her paper 'tourism and the commodification of urban culture'.

The paper analyses the way in which that development of space has affected the societies and economies of cities. The main question the paper tries to answer is whether the globalisation of the tourism industry reduces diversity in urban tourism, or whether it creates a variety of different places due to increased competition. In other words, does global tourism result in the so-called 'MCDonaldisation' or the 'Disneyfication' of cities, or does it result in the development of certain niche markets?

The paper focuses on three types of cities in particular:

Resort Cities (places created mainly for consumption by visitors)
Converted Cities (places that contain an infrastructure that is built for the purpose of attracting visitors but which is insulated from the larger urban milieu)
Tourist-historic Cities (cities that apply conscious city marketing)

Conclusions

The paper looks at three different kinds of impacts of (globalised) urban tourism:

socio-cultural impacts
spatial impacts
economic impacts

Fainstein states that for most people the purpose of leisure and tourism is to escape from life's unpleasantness. Because of this, urban tourism creates areas that look appealing to people - hereby excluding certain 'undesirable' social realities. Even though many intellectuals criticise this seemingly destructive element of tourism, Fainstein shows a different approach. She asks the question whether indigenous culture can be preserved within global capitalism. Because if one preserves indigenous culture, does one not simply create a museum?

When it comes to the economic impacts of tourism, reference is made to the fact that tourism is an industrial sector with a variety of niches. There are many differences in the tourism product which means that much more empirical investigation is needed in order to really understand the tourism economy.

Lastly, the paper focuses on the impact of the tourism economy on social justice. Fainstein points out that for many low-skilled workers, the tourism industry forms an important employer. In that sense the tourism industry is very important. On the other hand, tourism jobs are often low paid and frequently seasonal, which means it does not always provide quality jobs. Tourism can however be symbiotic with many different economic sectors. Exploiting these relationships may make tourism less seasonal and more knit into the urban fabric, the author states.

Contact info

Graduate School of Design of Harvard University
Susan A. Fainstein (Professor of Planning)

Publication date

//2005

Project finished

//2007

Researcher

Susan A. Fainstein

Links

For more information, please visit the Urban Reinventors website

Click here to read the full paper 'Tourism and the commodification of urban culture' by Susan S. Fainstein

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Specific sectors