The ethnic tourist is the one who actively searches for the ethnically exotic, in as untouched, pristine, authentic form as he can find it . . .The native is not merely a host, a provider of creature comforts, a servant, but becomes, quite literally, the spectacle. The native becomes what I have called the "touree." As an object of curiosity, the touree is on show, whether he wants to be or not; he must make a spectacle of himself. But he remains authentic only as long as he does not consciously modify his behavior to make himself more attractive to tourists. Therein lies the great irony of ethnic tourism: it is self-destroying. The presence of tourists spoils the tourees. The tourist must forever push beyond the waves of spoilage created by their intrusion, in search of more and more remote Shangri-las, just beyond the reach of the bulldozer (p. 9).

The tourist and the touree have a very interesting and problematic relationship; it is one premised on presuppositions from both sides. For example, the tourist gets a sweeping general idea of the touree through popular magazines such as National Geographic. National Geographic is a perfect example of how the unknown gets promoted as exotic. The other is illustrated through photographs of remote island and jungles, "traditional" dances and festivals. The everyday life is often bypassed in favor of the ultimate exotic otherness. The reader hardly stops to wonder just what the photographer was doing in this pristine and uncivilized environment, or how (s)he even got there in the first place.

Just as the tourist have impressions of the tourees ("those noble savages"), the tourees have impressions of the tourists based both on the tourists before them and the images projected by television. The most watched television show in the world is Baywatch . This, along with shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place , do not exactly show American men and women in a flattering light. And one later naively wonders where the touree gets these warped ideas about Americans. The irony here lies in the fact that the touree's reaction to these television shows is similar to the tourist's reaction to National Geographic. Hence the ridiculous images and questions: "Do they always run around naked and chanting in the forest?" or "Do American men and women spend all their time skimpily clad in bikinis and Speedos?" Whether it be National Geographic or Baywatch , both serve to project and reinforces false images.

"Tourism is always, in some sense, a form of ethnic relations, for it puts into contact people who are strangers to one another, and who invariably belong to different cultures or subcultures" (Van Den Berghe, p. 8). The tourist interacts on a short term basis with the touree. Yet it is almost always true that the tourist has a significantly higher economic status than the touree. From the start, tourist and touree are on different ground. Because tourism is primarily a luxury of developed nations, among which America is included, it is seen as a novel trip back in time to a more "primitive" lifestyle. And how devastated we are when we discover a McDonald's or an air-conditioned mall that places us in spaces devoid of meaning and culture. We wonder where the primitive natives have gone and lament and resent the glaring possibility that they are lost to the forces of modernity.

Both tourist and touree have imagined lifestyles of on another that are based on a combination of myth and reality. How refreshing it is when the myth is uncovered and the real people are discovered on both sides. There exists an amazing world outside the confines of National Geographic and Melrose Place !!

Owning Modernity
The Ambiguity of Tradition
The Effects of Tourism: Indonesian Dance
Shopping For Culture & Bringing It Home
Bibliographic Materials on Tourism