Tourism and Indigenous Communities: Implementing Policies of Sustainable Management

Culture is a key resource for tourism. Any destabilisation of a local culture makes a destination less attractive for visitors. It is therefore in the interest of tour providers to protect and re-stabilise culture. There is great need for such efforts with regard to indigenous cultures, which are endangered worldwide. In this chapter, it is being elaborated why tourism needs to employ policies that ensure the maintenance of indigenous cultures. In their idiosyn-cratic physical appearance, which, in tropical areas, is often unclothed, indigenous persons would have a slim chance to be acknowledged as citizens. This situation contrasts sharply with some basic claims of the global culture.