Blog 1: Race, Ethnicity, Culture, or Religion

 As an American traveling to a non-western country for the first time, something that really interests me is the impact centuries of aggressive imperialism and colonialism affect the attitudes and experiences of locals living in countries like Morocco. Before gaining their rightful sovereignty, Morocco experienced colonization efforts at the hands of France, Spain, and Portugal. The marks of these events are evident, as people here speak French, Spanish, and Arabic. While English may be regarded as a kind of universal language, it does carry a negative connotation in some aspects due to the international behavior of the United States and European nations. As tourism continues to grow, I can only imagine the difficulties that may arise in natives as they witness large influxes of tourists from places that have historically not respected their own cultures, or may act in unintentionally disrespectful ways. Tourism is a valuable industry for many of the local economies, but it is not without it faults. Poverty can lead these nations to embrace tourism more than they maybe would otherwise, and I find myself grappling with my own difficult feelings as someone who desperately wants to experience and respect the culture but also recognizes that my own cultural background may not always be perfectly congruent with that. The World Economic Forum's own research on Overtourism, an issue becoming larger after the COVID-19 pandemic as travel rebounds, notes these frictions: "Overtourism must also have cultural drivers that are intensified when tourists' culture is at odds with that of host communities – this might manifest as breaching of public norms, irritating habits, unacceptable behaviors, place-based displacement, and inconsiderate occupation of space" (Cheer & Novelli, 2023). While it is often not intentional, it does still create problems it is something all tourists can pay more attention to. I myself felt badly the other day when we visited a market by the beach; I took a couple photos of a produce stand and the shopkeeper was not very happy with me and asked me to please purchase if I wanted to photograph. I didn't mean to upset him, I simply didn't know, but the interaction had negative effects on both of us. I believe globalism is a beneficial force, and understanding the nuances that come with the interactions of a myriad of cultures will unlikely cease to be important. 

SOURCE: 

Cheer, J. M., & Novelli, M. (2023, October 17). What is overtourism and how can we overcome it? World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/10/what-is-overtourism-and-how-can-we-overcome-it/.