A Religious and Ethnic Tourism Profile of Europe

Abstract

The distinction between ethnic tourism and cultural tourism, though blurry at first sight, can be clarified with the help of two key-elements: ethnic tourism tends to focus on a certain group of people for whom exoticism is, obviously, the main tourism attraction; ethnic tourism turns the natives rather into performers on a special “stage” for tourists than background performers facilitating “exotic experiences”. Instead of looking for historical monuments, for nature wonders, or for a local “cultural environment”, the ethnic tourist needs to see people whose way of life differs considerably from their own way of living. Thus, ethnic tourism depends, mainly, on the relationship between tourists and the natives, an encounter that is mediated by a third party that represents the tourism industry.