Cultural Tourism Importance

The first thing that anyone does when they step into a new place or country is to explore their surroundings. Since the place that you are in is unfamiliar to you, you usually search for a tour guide or anyone who has more knowledge of the place than you do. Cultural tourism is a great way to learn new historical facts of the places you are exploring, whether it be a significant monument or a cave that’s been around for forever or maybe little buildings that important things happened in. I find that cultural tourism is a beneficial to Maoris indigenous tribe.

Cultural tourism provides a sense of knowledge to the people visiting the area, and sometimes is extremely beneficial to the people giving the tours. New Zealand is a popular hotspot

“Indigenous tourism professionals in Alaska and New Zealand make use of materials from bilingual and cultural education programs…”. Besides learning craftsmanship, the children take the cultural information of the products, which are then used to make a curriculum for the school system. The cultural sites are areas for educational learning when tours aren’t going on. Lectures, meetings, dance practices, and special events are practiced and held at these site for the students. The institutions are opened up to the community for social interactions and also outside education. Money and donations from tours are put back into the education system through scholarships toward the Maori students. Typically, the tour workers are the teachers in the schools and then are continued to be taught and learned to the next generations. The education taught is shown in two different ways to two different crowds, education taught to Maori tribal members and cultural education taught to tourists or non-indigenous guests. When teaching the younger tribal members, the teachers make sure they share with upmost respect the true meaning and historical significance of the Maori life. To spectators and tourists many of the Maori people don’t feel the need to show or tell historical and cultural information with the same respect as their own people. Some tour guides may give out inaccurate historical dates and details which is described as western tourism. The tours are meant to be fun, joyous and a learning experience for all, but when the government wants people to westernize the display, rituals and historical information, the Maori people don’t feel the need to express their culture as outwardly as they would for their own