Anthropology and Tourism

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about the culture clash that occurs between tourists and the locals. The article discusses the growing number of international tourists visiting New York City.

The dollar is cheap. The shopping is endless. And about seven million foreign visitors are expected in the city — the highest number since before 9/11 — mainly from Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Germany.

Later in the article we find this tip of the hat to Anthropology (is there anything it can't do?):

Is it time, at least, for retiring the term “ugly American” from the dictionary of foreign phrases?

The answer, according to experts in the rarified field of tourism anthropology, is a possible yes.

“Ugly” behavior in tourists is almost always in the eye of the people being toured; and Americans are no longer the only, or even the dominant group of tourists out in the world. We are now as often toured as tour-ing.

And New Yorkers, it turns out, are just as likely to be exasperated being toured by tourists unfamiliar with their local mores about tipping or standing in check-out lines, say, as the Achuar tribesmen of Ecuador are to be offended by tourists who sit on certain sacred rocks.

I never get tired of watching and learning from other humans. Despite all of our great advances (not the least of which that you're able to read this collection of keyboard strokes), sometimes I think we aren't much more than a giant ant colony going about our daily tasks completely oblivious to the larger realities around us.

But all in all, I think we've done alright as a species. Given our humble origins, who knew we would come this far?