Respecting Cultural Diversity by Understanding and Reducing Inappropriate Tourist Behaviour

Hilary du Cros (Institute For Tourism Studies, Macao SAR)

Bob McKercher (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR)

This speech examines how tourists justify inappropriate behaviour at contested, and therefore, morally ambiguous cultural heritage sites through an analysis of weblogs of people who climbed Uluru, Australia.  The climb is increasingly seen as being inappropriate, culturally insensitive and socially unacceptable. Yet it remains open and up to 150,000 people a year participate. Park managers and traditional owners are trying to de-market it, with the hope that falling consumer demand will ultimately result in its closure. The study revealed three types of climbers: those who reject the Aboriginality of the place; those with different value sets who see nothing inherently wrong with their actions and; a large group who are aware that their actions may be inappropriate and who, therefore, need to invoke some sort of neutralization technique to rationalize their decision. This latter group is more likely to respond to behaviour modification messages and should be the main target of future demarketing activities and signage.