hellotouristgaze-blog

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Inner Mongolia

    Inner Mongolia is in the north of China, and it is a very special place for tourists to visit because that is not a place for people to go shopping. There are no any theme parks or Disneyland; people do not stay in fancy hotels. People go there just to experience Inner Mongolian culture by eating their food, staying in their “house”, and engage in their lives. Actually, I went there once with my family in 2014, and that is the most unforgettable trip that I have been to before.

    A trip to Inner Mongolia is regarded as Cultural Tourism, and people who participate in Cultural Tourism do something that they do not usually do in their daily lives. For example, people would be able to experience a welcoming ceremony by the Mongols when they arrive there. They give each of the tourists a small cup of liquor, what they need to do is to sip some of it and spill the rest on the ground which actually has a meaning of worshipping the sky and the land. For the meal, tourists would eat lamb meat, steamed bread, ostrich meat, ostrich eggs, and drink goat milk. They will get a chance to see their traditional Inner Mongolian dance. The Mongols wear long dress gowns and headdresses dancing with a dynamic and energetic music. At last but not least, they will be invited to visit their “home” which is called yurts. Yurts are in cylinder-shaped supported by wooden pillars. The ancient Chinese kings lived in yurts many years ago, and the Mongols always have gathering with their families and fellows in the yurts. They eat, drink and dance together in it.

    In fact, there are urban areas in Inner Mongolia, but in the other area of Inner Mongolia, there are still many Mongols choose to live in the prairie. Moreover, it is a “place in play” because people continue to live in an Inner Mongolian way and tradition.

    Tourism always has its power because they have to achieve economic or political purposes. For your more information, there are 56 ethnic groups in China, and Inner Mongolia is one of them. China's minority groups have lasted for many years, but due to urbanization, many ethnic groups have become less concerned and recognized by people. Therefore, cultural tourism is a way to introduce and promote local culture to foreigners and the locals by providing them a chance to experience living another lifestyle. In addition, cultural tourism is usually in ‘packaged” tours that tourists are able to participate in a series of activities that are designed by the Tourism Board in order to get to know more about the local culture.

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[hellotouristgaze-blog]

A clear example to illustrate something quite the opposite to inner Mongolia is the music festival named “Sziget: Island of Freedom” that occurs every summer in Budapest. Back in the 1990s when local musicians dominated the stages, the entire festival was geared towards an audience interested in learning more about Hungarian culture. What is special about Sziget is that it isn’t simply a music festival. It is filled with local cultural traditions for people to experience, and although commercialized and capitalized, still lets those on a quest to seek authenticity fulfil their wishes. Here, they can make handicrafts with older Hungarians, listen to folklore, participate in traditional Hungarian dancing, all the while musicians take the stage to perform. So, even though music festivals are now mainly considered to be a form of mass tourism, Sziget was definitely one of the few festivals that purely tried to remain as a form of cultural tourism by infusing lots of local acts, activities and performances.

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[hellotouristgaze-blog]

However, today it is not exactly the case. There has definitely been a shift from this form of cultural tourism to mass tourism as can be seen in Sziget. Not to say that people attending this festival now cannot find traces of Hungarian culture, but that it has been changed and altered to cater to a much larger group of audiences from a much larger demographic across the world. Last year alone, almost half a million people attended this 7 day festival from over 100 countries - going to show how globalization and the convenience of tourism has allowed for this change. If the event organizers of Sziget had decided to remain a more local festival, then the numbers of attendance must be very different. It is the fact that Sziget has become more like an “all inclusive package” that people are willing to spend money to come. For those camping, everything you ever need to live and survive can be found within the venue, you don’t even have to leave. There are small grocery shops for food, snacks, showers, bathrooms, places to sleep, rest etc. Although not as luxurious as five star hotels, it can also be seen as a form of an “all inclusive package”. In this way, it is similar to inner Mongolia and the tour, where everything is provided and all you needed to do was to follow the predetermined guide.

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[hellotouristgaze-blog]

In this way, it is a place to play, quite literally because of everything that is going on in the area and all that you can do. You are open to so many different types of people, cultures, foods, and activities that you engage you different forms of “playing” so to say. But it is also a place in play, because it is constantly changing from year to year. The shift from a more cultural festival to this mass festival took years to become the way it is now. It is constantly in play because of the different types of people that come every year, of the small changes that are made to cater to its audience. And in this aspect, I would say that this type of mass tourism for festivals is extremely receptive to sociocultural forms. The event organizers will try their best to invite artists and acts that people find popular that year, because now it has become so much more than just spreading cultural knowledge and information. Therefore, I would say that it has become a lot more political because of all the different things they have to consider, such as brushing up a little on the artist and potentially political involvement, as they may not want someone too controversial as it may be damaging to the festival or country’s reputation and stir up dissent.

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“Do you think cultural tourism is becoming like mass tourism that is also aiming for profits?”