Authentic, Culturally Appropriate and Unique Tourism: Does it exist?
19. Nov, 2009 
16 Comments
We were having dinner with Ian, one of the owners of Ka’ana, a luxury spa resort in the Cayo District of Belize. He was talking about his vision of transforming not only the food, but every detail—to the tours offered (more culture, less glitz), to food sourcing (think local), to community involvement (replanting an important area), even to the type of soaps they offer to their customers—to become not just a fancy spa resort that attracts well-heeled foreigners (although that is the intent) but to actually define the authentic Belizean experience.
He used those words again and again, “Authentic, culturally appropriate and unique” and it’s hard not to share his excitement. One of the things that had disappointed me in my first visit to Belize, eight months prior, was the distinct lack of “Belizean” flavor. Of course, I had spent my time on Caye Caulker, not exactly the least touristy place available, but when I went into restaurants, it was more American/Italian/French food and none of those local dishes I had hoped to find. The activities were mainly water sports. I had come from Guatemala, where you lived the culture, to Belize, where they produced this tourist experience for you.
This time, at Ka’ana, we ate cochinita pibil tacos, a pulled pork taco with spicy sauce and pico de gallo. It was the first time I had anything in Belize that I couldn’t find back home. There were no expat waiters, nearly everyone seemed (at least to my eyes) to be local. As Ian described his long term plans, I wondered… is this type of tourism possible? 
Can you have 500 thread count sheets and learn how to make Mayan chocolate, like you would if you stayed with a local family? Can you spend the day at the spa, but know that the products used support local businesses and profits are helping to restore a forest?
As an independent traveler, these values appeal to me, but would someone paying full price for the Ka’ana experience want something more than to be rubbed down and pampered?
Is the only way to go “authentic” to forgo comfort? Can luxury and culturally appropriate go hand in hand?
After the tacos, I had the sere, a coconut based soup with plantains and fresh fish. I was taking notes about the food. I was listening carefully to Ian. I love the idea of it, to give people both worlds. In a few years, I’ll have to check in with the folks at Ka’ana to see how it has worked out.
Right now they’re offering a 2012 doomsday package (visit now and visit again in 2012 when the Mayan calendar runs out) which includes: “The immersion into the Mayan culture will include intimate interactions with the people of a village in Southern Belize. Guests will become familiar with the age-old practices of washing clothes in a local river, cooking a meal on an open fire hearth, learning to play the Marimba or Mayan harp, tribal dancing, basket making, and story-telling with a village elder.” How many luxury hotels offer packages like that?
If it works and gets adopted by others, can you imagine? Instead of San Pedro being a smaller version of Cancun, you’d have the families learning about Mayan culture and reef ecology. Luxury hotels would focus on products produced locally. The best way to make money wouldn’t be to sell knick-knacks on the beach, but to become an artesian.
Truly, it would define sustainable tourism.
I’m curious, have any of you seen this model in action? Any ideas about how well this works, or what it takes to be successful and local?
(Disclosure: I didn’t pay for my stay at Ka’ana, I was a guest of the Belize Tourism Board as part of last week’s blogger trip)
All you have to worry about, I guess, is people’s likely reluctance to perform daily tasks like clothes washing in a river in front of a busload of tourists with $4000 digital cameras stuck to their eyeballs.
james
James Martin´s last blog ..Barolo: Food as Art
When I first visited San Pedro in 1972, I believe there were only two hotels on the island. We went there for many years, and watched as the island grew. Now, as you note, it’s a smaller version of Cancun. There’s probably not much left of the local fishing industry today. When I was a kid visiting San Pedro, a local fisherman would take a day off and take us out on his boat. At the end of the day, back at the dock, we watched him or even helped him clean them, and then that night for dinner our hotel cooked our catch for us. In the evenings my parents might find themselves in a local bar while us kids ran up and down the sandy street or the beach with the local kids. Maybe we’d go to the “Teatro Arenas” to see a Spanish language movie or to a dance in the center of town.
The life cycle of a tourist destination is interesting. Once a destination becomes “discovered” it follows a trajectory to becoming a more homogenized tourist attraction (which is of course good for the local economy), but something of the culture is lost. The “local” feeling might even have to be manufactured to get some semblance of it back.
About 10 years ago my wife and I went to Maruba, a spa resort on the mainland of Belize. They were doing a good job of keeping an emphasis on “local”. The products they used in their spa, in their building construction, and in their restaurant, were all local. They’re still in business. Maybe it’s working for them?
I love the concept of locally biased and sustainable tourism. It sounds like Ka’ana is working hard to get it right — to make it authentic. When done wrong it can feel like Disneyland.
Bob Redpath´s last blog ..You Say Porridge, I Say Oatmeal
I am currently in Italy, the “agriturismo” here are places that offers genuine food with ingredients from their backyards: basically the agriturismos are also farms.
Some agriturismos also offer tours where you can visits farms and see how the locals run the family business the same way as years ago.
In this way they are self efficient and they involve locals in the family business.
Chris´s last blog ..How to go RTW when you hate flying?
it would truly be great to join both worlds!
I´ve heard of some small simple accomodations in CHapada Diamantina, in the state of Bahia, Brazil, that try to offer a lot of the local things, not sure if it´s all of it – from soap to food…
very interesting package the spa is offering!! I would totally do it!
Adriana´s last blog ..Ergates, Cyprus part 1
In Ecuador and Peru we heard from other travelers of eco lodges in the Amazon that were started by foreigners but the business plan included a handover of the entire business to the local community in 20-30 years time. This meant that in addition to hiring the locals as service providers, they also set up training programs in management and critical business skills. Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to visit these places ourselves, but this also sounds like a great model for sustainable tourism development where the local community not only benefits in jobs but eventually owns the lodge. I’m curious to see how it works in practice…perhaps I’ll need to return to the region.
We also found a good model for community based and “authentic” tourism in Kyrgyzstan through an organization called Community Based Tourism. Offices all over the country connected travelers with families for home stays and home-cooked meals. There were different levels of comfort and services with the home stays, so all kinds of travelers could be accommodated. Additionally, you could book horse treks or hiking guides through the organization. The great thing is that tourism money stayed in the communities instead of going through travel agents in the capital city. A great model.
Audrey´s last blog ..From Ecuador to Turkmenistan: 10 Border Crossings We Have Known
I have experienced sustainable, authentic cultural travel in St. Lucia and Jamaica, it can be done but tour operartors have to be committed to showcasing their culture and not just money. Not all, but many tourists are genuinely interested in learning about a destination’s culture but don’t know how. I stayed in a small hotel on the non-touristy south coast of Jamaica in Mandeville. I ate with locals, went to dances with locals and rode buses with them. The program also offers the option of staying with a local family. In St. Lucia, there is a big push toward authentic tourism. I stayed on Fond Doux Estate, a locally run cocoa plantation run by a local family and turned into a bed and breakfast. I ate locally grown, fresh food and listened to traditional folk music in people’s homes. For me, these are the most valuable and ethical travel experiences.
Fly Girl´s last blog ..Bom Dia From Brazil
Authenticity is so important to me when I travel, I like to feel that I am experiencing the culture, the food, everything as it shoud be in that place. But with places becoming more and more “touristed” this is becoming hard.
C, this is a great post, and your thoughts on where San Pedro tourism could go really gelled for me; I’d hate to see an authentic place like Elvi’s Kitchen get swallowed up by slick resorts and chains.
At Ka’ana, on the other hand, I learned more about Belize than almost anywhere else we went — indigenous plants, foods, music, Mayan culture, etc. I left with the curious feeling that I’d visited the landed estate of everyday Belizeans.
Happily, Ka’ana’s focus on sustainability and creating a sense of place isn’t so unique amongst newer luxury resorts (Terranea in Southern California springs to mind), but I believe one thing makes the real difference here: Ian himself is Belizean.
In the higher-end of my travels, I’ve sometimes felt a massah-and-plantation vibe from the management/staff relationship and a real disconnect between what a resort offers and what you could easily find outside, just down the road. At Ka’ana, the road is pretty much right there for the taking.
I’m happy to hear that Ecuador, Peru, Kyrgyzstan, Jamaica and St. Lucia are also on the local-experience bandwagon, seeking to benefit their own communities. Excuse me, I have to go research some flights…
In the meantime, I’d throw the Balinese mini-empire of Australian expat, chef and hotelier Janet De Neefe into the Ka’ana ring; married to a Balinese man, immersed in Balinese culture, and living in Ubud for the past 20+ years, her B&B, restaurants and cooking schools offers a balance of luxury, local experience and home cooking.
Melanie@TravelsWithTwo´s last blog ..Images of Belize
I love that concept. As James noted, it can be difficult to combine a genuine cultural experience with mass tourism. But if a resort, hotel, or even city decides to place an emphasis on sustainable and cultural experiences, I think it is possible to find a happy medium. Some people do have the patience or skills to go find lesser-known spots that retain more of the genuine culture, but for people who still want more of a resort experience, it is nice to know that they can still enjoy true ethnic food, use local products, etc. I think Ian is definitely on to something.
Emily @ Maiden Voyage´s last blog ..Why Cheap Cruises Are Not Cheap
Interesting question posed. I think that it is possible to offer both (as your post documents), but it is up to the traveler to decide to experience both authenticity & luxury or to have less/more of one or the other.
MsTravelingPants´s last blog ..First Year in Review – Best stories, insights & posts by Ms Traveling Pants
great post, poses a very interesting and important question
I really like that, “authentic, culturally appropriate and unique.”
One of my biggest fears is missing out on many parts of the world as they get westernized. From shopping malls in Hungary to bungee jumping in Bali, the world is turning into a big tourist dump much faster than I anticipated.
I always marvel at how much Kao San Road is transformed every time I visit. Real and authentic travel experiences are disappearing. Future travelers will have limited opportunities for authentic travel experiences.
Hopefully, there will be more Ians in the future preserving small enclaves of authentic culture.
The time to see the world is now.
John Bardos – JetSetCitizen´s last blog ..Interview with China Expat, Gordie Rogers
i´m so glad i found this article. I was looking information exactly about this subject, about this “authentic tourism” i´m so concerned about (the lack of it)
I want to start something like this in my country, Uruguay, specificaly in the capital, Montevideo.
I had the chance to travel a lot, and i love it. One day -that time i was living in Barcelona- i saw a group of english young friends wearing “mexican hats” they just had bought in a pakistani shop. They were taking pictures with the hats, and then i thought: “they will show this back home, and more people will get confused about Spain, spanish language, the mexican hats, and even Gaudí. it´s a wierd mixture, not fair to the country or the city”
I mean, that moment made everything clear to me.
Montevideo doesn´t have yet too many tourists, maybe is the case of Punta del Este in the east coast, but i already saw this “mexican hats” issue here. After all, what tourist see and how they live the city is absolutly fake. Is like a new reality, fake one, where nothing is authentic. Nothing seems to show the real uruguayan experience.
Of course we can ask to our selves: “what is the uruguayan experiencia anyway?” At least, i think is more interesting and less predictible to take the bus that every uruguayan takes (by every i mean middle class and less), eat the food that every family could eat, visit that church (even if uruguay doesn´t have a religion) that anybody remembers but gives the name to the neighborhood.
Of course this kind of tourism is not for everybody. But i want to give the chance, the alternative, to those who cannot stand a “go shopping and take pictures” kind of trip.
I hope i was clear -english is not my language! but spanish… hehe- and i would love to have the contact of this person in Belize, to be able to talk some more about this subject. Thanks a lot, and welcome to Uruguay!
my email is vikafleitas@gmail.com