Page 204 - sustainable tourism-- Dr.Aya

The threat to such capacity building is that it

may be motivated by the vested interests of

external market, political or conservationist

forces. Hence, the tourism industry may guide

development to some extent, but it is the local

awareness, empowerment and engagement that

can truly make a difference.

In contrast to a manufactured product, the

experience that a tourist destination offers is

dynamic, depending on multiple factors that

include the state and management of cultural

or natural resources, condition of tourist

infrastructure, available human resources, time

of the day or year, seasonal factors and extent

of commoditization of the resources and the

preference and expectation of the visitor. The

visitor or tourist experiences the environment

as a whole that includes social, physical,

cultural and economic factors. The

experiences may be ‗authentic‘ or ‗staged‘ and

this in turn brings in the debate of

sustainability of the destination that is driven

by tourist inflow. Whether the visitor accepts

or rejects the staged, commodified tourism

product is a variable, based on his level of

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