Tourists are welcome to travel and maybe observe a culture or location that is distinct from their own. This is beneficial to the preservation of culture and heritage since it expands their reach beyond their traditional boundaries.
The ideal way to learn about a culture is to get up close and personal with it, or even to immerse yourself in it. Keeping your distance from a culture isn’t always the best way to properly comprehend it. Integration and intimacy provide a more accurate impression of the culture than a distant one. It can even enhance your understanding of cultural diversity.
The preservation of a culture does not rely just on the recollections of people who possess it. It can also come through the recognition of those who are not part of the culture, through their appreciation and understanding that there is a distinct identity worth celebrating.
Secondly, outsiders’ acknowledgement might motivate people of the culture to actively preserve it out of patriotism. Others’ praise can help you discover how important it is to understand your culture.
However, if you care about cultural preservation, you should be cautious of tourists as well. In certain respects, tourism can degrade culture. It may, for example, result in an overabundance of monetization of customs and heritage.
This is always a possibility when people prioritise profit. It even allows for cultural theft and appropriation, which are becoming more common as people realise there is a market for cultural commodities.
The benefits of tourism for cultural preservation are evident. This is especially true now, when living in a bubble is no longer a viable option due to the high level of economic and social integration. It can make us aware of the perils of abandoning history in the race to go forward while simultaneously providing opportunities to use the past to grow.