Cultural Change and Tourism: Towards a Prognostic Model

The inter-relationship of cultural expressions is the basis of a model of cultural change (the cultural expression web) presented in this dissertation. The thesis and model are derived from formative case studies in developing nations of the Asia Pacific region. Cultural expressions, the 'physical' manifestation of culture, are often a 'product' for tourism. Many host communities trade cultural expressions for benefits that tourism can provide. As such, cultural expressions are a direct link between a host culture and the tourist. Modelling the change process in expressions is presented as a heuristic device as well as a prognostic tool for cultural impact assessment. The thesis proposes that cultural expressions are linked and that a change in one affects others. The magnitude of change to a cultural expression, and flow-on effect, depends on the significance of the cultural expression to the culture, the number of links and the strength of these links, determined by practice and its contribution to maintaining social structure and providing physical benefits to the individual and community. The dissertation documents thesis development from a personal construct, through analysis of formative case studies to identify conceptual categories, and formalisation of the model. The thesis and model are tested against cultural impact theory presented in the tourism literature and are found to be consistent or related. They are also tested against tourism related case studies from Indonesia and are found to explain reported changes to culture and cultural expressions. Methods to test the model empirically are presented.Submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Queensland, 2000