Tourism has an impact on people and minority and these impacts can both be positive or
negative . The purpose of this essay is to discuss the impact of tourism to indigenous people
and minority groups in Africa both negative and positive impacts . Impacts on tourism are
societal ,environmental ,economical and empowering and the impacts that are mentioned are
above are both positive and negative .
Tourism has an impact to indigenous people and minority groups in Africa starting with the
environmental impact. Tourism has an environmental positive impact on indigenous people and
minority groups in Africa because it provides environmental protection , a place where there is
a tourist attraction that area is well kept and protected so that it keeps on attracting many
tourist and this helps people in that area to live in an environment that is clean with less
pollutions but according to Bravi M tourism is conventionally considered as substantial
contributor to environmental problems rather than a vehicle for environmental protection and
to support this view one can see that through tourism there are activities such hiking by foot
versus ridding all terrain vehicles can cause soil erosion in any area and this has a negative
impact on people in the area. Soil erosion can lead to land degradation affecting be it farming
or any other activities in the area. Newly constructed roads ,parking lots and facilities if not
carefully planned can affect local people in a bad way for example people will be forced to
relocate to other places so that they don’t disturb tourists. Tourism also weakens the
environment resilience to natural disasters such as land slides. Environmental pollution due to
increased tourism such as littering and noise which greatly affects the daily lives of people in
the community so one can see that tourism has both positive and negative environmental
impact on indigenous people and minority groups in Africa.
Furthermore on the impact of tourism on indigenous people and minority groups in Africa
,there are economic impacts both positive and negative .Starting with the positive
impact of tourism on indigenous people and minority groups in Africa is that tourism
through many researches on economic impacts has centered on the effects of the
income and employment because tourism gives many job opportunities to the locals
that they can do and also chances to make money through selling be it crafts and other
indigenous things that will attract the tourists and other people even make their homes
bed and breakfast places for tourists to stay in when they visit ,tourism also creates
employment for people in the area especially the youth as they be working as tour
guides or other jobs . Tourism also brings in new money which boosts the local economy
,tax revenues and even businesses which is a positive impact to the indigenous people
and minority groups in Africa however though tourism has a positive economic impact
to the indigenous people it also has a negative economic impact on the indigenous
people and minority groups in Africa through aspects such as high inflation because
through tourism foreigners brings their foreign currency which has more value
compared to the African currency and this will cause inflation in an area affecting the
local people so one can see that tourism has an economic positive impact to indigenous
people and minority groups in Africa because it boosts the economy through
employment and it also has a negative impact as it causes inflation in an area.
To add on the impact of tourism to indigenous people and minority groups in Africa
,Tourism has a societal impact on indigenous people and minority groups in Africa .According to
Barros C 2007 research has empirically documented the links between tourism and changes in a
group of people ,their interactions ,attitudes and behavior patterns ,as well as impacts on
cultural aspects which involve knowledge ,values and art .The positive impact of tourism is that
there is preservation of traditional architectures and historical remains which interests many
tourists and because they want to keep on attracting many tourists they make sure that these
areas are protected thereby preserving heritage for future generations ,also effects on the
renaissance of traditional activities in the local area ,scenic landscapes are protected and also
provides opportunities to promote greater cultural understanding however societal impact can
also be negative for example cultural authentication ,local community disturbance as the local
are sometimes prohibited from doing certain things as they will disturb tourism ,it also disturbs
the culture as the locals may end up copying the foreigners culture and also adversarial
relationships between the locals and the tourists which can cause loss of social control and
identities among host communities therefore one can see that tourism has both negative and
societal impact on indigenous people and minority groups in Africa.
Furthermore on the impacts of tourism to indigenous people and minority groups in
there are also empowerment effects of tourism , identifying the transformation of local
residents self identities as one important socio-cultural impact .According to Hensher D the
process of identity transformation involves the interactions among tourists ,local residents and
external forces that affect the presentation and conversion of local identity ,through these
interactions with the foreigners residents get empowered to do better for themselves as they
are sometimes given career guidance by the tourists .Residents participation and attitudes
towards the tourist are the foundation whether tourism will boost in the area . Tourism also
empowers the youth and women to do better as they will be proud of their area and also
through this indigenous people will build connections with people from the outside the
community which contributes to reconciliation so one can see that this is also a positive impact
of tourism to indigenous people and minority groups in Africa.
To wrap it all on the impacts of tourism to indigenous people and minority groups in
Africa there are positive impacts which are economical like creating employment , societal like
cultural boost and environmental like land preservation and also negative impacts for example
economically inflation and environmentally causes land degradation