The Importance Of Commodification Of Culture

• Experiences - are the final events, where finished products can be consumed (memorable, transformations are effectual - mõjusad) (Pine and Gilmore, 2011).

• Flatters and Wilmott (2009, cited in Leigh, Webster and Ivanov, 2013) highlight a trend in that it seems that affluent –jõukad consumers have revealed mounting dissatisfaction with excessive consumption. Many desire a wholesome and a less wasteful life. As such, there is a desire to get back to nature, something that is tranquil, basic, rooted, human and simple (Yeoman, 2008). As a consequence, the desire for more authentic and simple luxury experiences accelerates. An example of simple luxury are tree house hotels, which offer a unique experience in a natural setting: this is a new experience

Although entertaining visitors with cultural performances and rituals is not entirely bad, some performances are presented out of context. For staged cultural performances of ethnic songs and dances, themes are often changed and abridged to suit tourists’ expectations, thereby conveying a false message to visitors. In effect, cultural performances are losing their authenticity. Moreover, cultural performances are staged even when there are no appropriate occasions to justify their performances. Agricultural rituals, for instance, are staged at the wrong times of the year, just for tourist consumption. Even though local villagers are aware of this cultural travesty, they are encouraged to perform because of the

83): Racial and gender history of the making of the female Hula dancer, from the early years of the last century to the current point where sic million visitors a year are attracted to a naturalistic Eden signified by bodily displays of ‘natural’ female Hula dancers, a place-image globally recognised and endlessly re-circulated

Conclusion

As it can be seen in present, people are willing to pay more and more for the experience, than it has been in past. So if companies are taking into consideration this new trend, the economy will benefit from it (Pine and Gilmore, 2011).

Aledda (2010) adds that if a company wants to come up with successful innovation, the have to think about how to satisfy and exceed customers’ needs and wants better than the competitors do. This can also become a motivation for one company.

It is a commonly held view that mass tourism and the commodification of attractions are a threat to the ‘uniqueness’, ‘authenticity’, ‘natural state’ (Galla, 1994) or ‘scholarly credibility’ (Goulding, 2000) of ethnicities, heritage and culture (Wang, 1999). Many people fear that these valuable assets are sacrificed for the sake of entertainment, popularity, and profit (Goulding, 2000; Lancaster County Heritage, 2002) and hence agree that the ’original’ and ‘indigenous’ has to be protected from these ‘evils of late-capitalism’ (Taylor,