Underdeveloping And Modernising Tourism

In the wake of the Cold War most Western European countries' economies became highly industrialised with the most just-in-time technologies and infrastructure. The trade policies of these countries brought untold hardships to the countries of the Third World whose economies depended heavily on the export of primary raw materials. Such unfair trade relations led to unfair terms of trade and fluctuations in the prices of these exports, thus, affecting the balance of payments of the exporting countries.

The Arms race between the Eastern and Western blocs led to the utilitarianisation of the Soviet industry. While the West grew more and more industrialised the East built up masses of weaponry to the detriment of the other sectors of the economy where production was geared to serving utilitarian purposes. This led to references being made to the Soviet Union as being backward. The truth came out at last on the demise of the Soviet Union when most of the member states could hardly survive on their own as independent economies. Although most of these economies were industrialised, some scholars regarded them as being underdeveloped in relation to the level of modernisation of their counterparts in the West.

Underdevelopment

Underdevelopment has been associated with most countries of the Third World that still remain less industrialised since the two world wars. Gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the criteria that are used to measure the level of development of a country although it fails to measure the actual distribution of wealth within a country. Others include the level of industrial productivity, level of capital formation and savings, external debt loans relative to GDP, inflation, levels of unemployment and underemployment, widespread application of high-tech production techniques, among others. Even apart from industrialisation, some organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for Reconstruction and Development (WBRD) use other indicators to determine which countries are underdeveloped from those that are developed.

From the foregoing relationship, several development theories have emerged and been the core of debate among scholars: the Modernisation Theory (MT) and the Underdevelopment Theory (UDT). Other approaches include the Political Economy Approach, which is closely linked to the Dependency Theory (DT).

Underdevelopment Theory seeks to explain underdevelopment by relating it to the level of development in the West. This is a situation where the law of the jungle operates. In other words, development occurs in the advanced countries at the expense of underdevelopment through exploitation and unfair terms of trade within the world system. This means that changing 'modern values' and 'conservative tradition' are out of the question.

Alternatively, UDT considers development and underdevelopment to be linked elements of the same process, developed regions transferring value from less developed regions to themselves. Underdevelopment theory advocates a move away from capitalist notions of development as an important first step in achieving real development. Both paradigms are intrinsically Eurocentric and essentially "ignore the wants and ambitions of those about to be developed". The move away from modernisation paradigms of tourism development in developing countries is part of a larger modulation in the development paradigm to encompass "the sum factors that make mankind happy and contented".

This new conception of development allows the process of tourism development to be assessed in the framework of the environmental and cultural dimension of life and society, rather than in purely economic terms.

Viewing Ghana's Tourism in the light of the underdevelopment theory of tourism development, a few observations could be made.

Culture and Underdevelopment

Firstly, is Ghana's tourism development being couched in environmentalism and the promotion of culture? The answer obviously highlights the promotion and development of elements that bring very little economic benefit to the local population. The promotion of authenticity in the Third World as their strength and Unique Selling Point (USP) appears to be a camouflage in keeping this part of the world away from the tenets of modernization. Culture as authenticity in the Third World is a derogative expression of primitive attraction that will keep the West coming back for more as long as it remains primitive.

The catch is, if you modernize to the same level as the countries from where the tourists are originating, you are no less touristic as their own environs and, thus, does not make you any more attractive than their own backyard. As a result, these primitive-adventure-hungry-seeking tourists will not come all the way to add up to the unachievable-one-million-tourists propaganda. Huh, have you heard the Hon Jake has renounced his claim to conjuring one million tourists to Ghana in this bald and unsexy also run coming out party family-run-Ghana@50 2007 year? He just woke after that dream; there are no beds to lay them in! The hotel at the center of the world is not ready and neither the floating one at Nzulezu! So the wanton promotion of culture has got more to it than commoditization: UNDERDEVELOPMENT

Ecotourism and Underdevelopment

Secondly comes the promotion of environmentalism- precisely Ecotourism. The advent of genetically modified culture has made it possible to create all the flora and fauna in the Third World in the West; just pay a visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in winter. It is always summer there and your wild guess will lead you any flora you ever dreamt of. Winter is just a state of mind. Summer can always be created anywhere on demand. Sycophancy appears to be the opium of the Third World and not religion. The other way to keep people backward and underdeveloped, it appears, is to praise them on their 'sane' 'untouched' 'pristine' environments which are unpolluted as compared to the West and which the West is arduously seeking to pollute as was the case in la Cote d'Ivoire. So how much money has ecotourism brought to Ghana since its inception? The last time I checked, Ecotourism raised GHC 231,813,000 (equivalent to about USD$25,200) (2002), Wildlife Conservation GHC??? Apparently, the zoos still appeal to school kids that are in the process of receiving tutorials on Bushmeat Tourism. Very soon we shall be expecting bushmeat-resistant varieties of wildlife, trust me.

Link to allAfrica.com: Ghana: Underdeveloping And Modernising Tourism (Page 1 of 1)