ABSTRACT
As the economic impacts of tourism are more readily measurable, other types of impact tend to remain more hidden, in particular, the social and cultural effects. However, insidious social and cultural change may incur more significant costs than economic benefits in the long term. This chapter explores the nature of the impacts of tourism from this perspective. Resort development and sightseeing came about partly through fashions and social responses to the natural and built environments. Sociocultural impacts relate to changes in societal value systems, individual behaviour, social relationships, lifestyles, modes of expression and community structures. Lea outlines the dimensions of tourist–host encounters and provides a useful starting point from which to define social and cultural aspects. The nature of the host–guest relationship and community attitudes to tourism generally depends on: type of contact between host and guest, importance of the tourism industry to the community and community tolerance threshold.
