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14 / 07 / 2004
Doudou Diène (United Nations): "Tourism favors nationalist identity and creates ghettos"
The afternoon session of the Dialogue "Tourism, cultural diversity and sustainable development" has defended tourism that is environmentally friendly and respectful towards regional values
The special rapporteur for the United Nations, Doudou Diène, has explained that the main conflicts of our time have a cultural backdrop and that, "in this case, we consider how countries and cultures see themselves". Tourism has enormous challenges in this sense, since at the moment it doesn’t show the true reality of a country and is indifferent to the conflict between civilizations, "when it doesn’t have to be like this", said Diène.
The special rapporteur for the United Nations stated that tourism "is the only human activity that brings population masses into contact. And at the same time these masses ignore each other intensely and culturally". In addition, tourism has a time limit that results in its economic factor being valued more than its cultural factor. In addition, for Diène tourism is based on a closed identity, centered on unity and, therefore, "it favors nationalist identity and causes ghettos".
Another of the factors that Diène emphasized is that tourism brings economically unequal populations into contact. In fact, "the only tourists who we found are those traveling from North to South".
In relation to culture, Diène explained that tourism shows its nicest, more visible facet. He suggested a notion of culture not only from its esthetic dimension, but also ethically and spiritually. Diène put forward the example of heritage: we often forget all those countries, which, throughout history, have transformed and enriched society. Diène went on to remind participants that it is vital to bear in mind heritage management, otherwise “the Venice scenario could be repeated; a scenario that has left its population to one side in the interest of the restoration of its historical monuments”.
For Diène it is important to get rid of concepts like destination and product, concepts that are very much linked to tourism, given that this is implicated in cultural and religious tensions.
The honorary president of the Club of Rome, Ricardo Díez Hochleitner, also remarked on the importance that tourism not only has in terms of economic development, but also in terms of social, political and cultural development. In this sense, Hochleitner said, “tourism can contribute to the culture of peace and freedom.”
Hochleitner has called for quality tourism and for the World Tourism Organization “to urgently set up a code of conduct for tourists, so that they respect not only heritage but also local inhabitants.
The member of the Club of Rome explained that tourism must consider the diversity and sustainable development and has pointed out that rich countries have to help the underdeveloped countries so that they can generate their own wealth and succeed in developing.
“Tourism can and must set an example of sustainable development, mainly considering that in twenty years between 75% and 80% of the world’s population will live in urban centers”, concluded Hochleitner.
The mayor of Calella, Josep Basart i Pinatel.li, explained how since the start of the year 2000 this population has undergone a constant reduction in tourists numbers, given that “a source of low-cost airline companies have started up”. Basart has claimed that this situation arose precisely when tourists were beginning to take an interest in culture “and not only in sunbathing, beaches and nightlife, as was the case in the sixties and seventies”. It is precisely this new interest in cultural tourism that Basart recognized as having “had a lot to do with the Olympic Games of 1992, which attracted a lot of people”.
Basart added that it is only necessary to look for ways to attract tourists: now, we have to go out and look for them, unlike before, when they arrived of their own accord. The mayor of Calella has added that these policies must be respectful towards the environment, heritage and the past. “We need to get the involvement of the private sector in this tourism process so that culture is an invigorating factor”, concluded Basart.
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