Comment on whether tourism has been a culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions

Personally, I find Macau's culture is being commodified to a certain extent. This is because in the present, you would not be able to find a city without anything being commodified. The best example would be Paris. People now has the mindset that as long as I own an ornaments which symbolises Paris, it means that I have been to Paris and that ornament would also represent part of Paris's culture.

Hence, in Macau, people could purchase goods like the portuguese tarts or the key chain showing the casinos of Macau or Macau Tower. A good example is souvenirs. Suppliers would keep manufacture these souvenirs non-stop in order to earn revenue from these tourists. Towards the local, they do not have that much appreciation towards their culture anymore as time goes (espcially the sellers). They would search their own culture elements to produce it as a product and sell them to the tourists. The main idea for them is for survival and earn revenue. They neglect the importance and value of their own culture.

However, not a lot of things are being accomodified. There are still other goods and services that need to be experience and cannot be bought back home.

In my view, I find that it is because of tourism that is why the idea of commodification came about. In other words, it is because when people travel to another city, they would definitely wish to purchase something back home as a representation of the visit to the city. This act as a proof, a memory so that they would not find forget what they had experienced or seen during the last trip when they got back home.

REFERENCES

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