ABSTRACT
It would appear that tourism is one of the major means through which globalized capitalism brings about the end of traditions, especially insofar as they have been bound up with differences among locales and place-responsive practices. As often is argued, modernity’s tendency to homogenize local environments and ways of life is exaggerated and hastened in the recent unfolding of globalization. 1 And, within globalization, as we will see, it is tourism that now leads the way in physical, economic, and social change. Hence, in tourism, where the empirical and theoretical issues are writ large, it is easier to discern and understand the critical features and complexities of our subject matter. Because global tourism is often seen as destructive of local place and tradition, those who would honour and protect the latter, but who still want to visit and experience the remaining distinctive locales of the world, seek alternative modes of tourism. Currently, the chief among these is ecotourism, which aims to touch places and traditions lightly and to leave most of the economic benefits of and control over tourism in the hands of the local population. Hence, by examining and comparing the impacts of mass tourism and ecotourism we can gain considerable insight into whether or how global flows of people, money, and cultural norms end, preserve, or transform traditional environments and practices.
