Tourism And Cultural Exchange: Positive And Negative Impacts On Host Community Values And Norms

This paper aims at establishing the socio cultural implications of tourism and cross-cultural interaction on the host community in Himachal Pradesh particularly in Kullu-Manali, Chamba and Lahaul-Spiti regions. Temporarily, cross-sectional quantitative data were obtained from 600 participants including resident, tourists and stakeholder through structured questionnaires, and qualitative data through purposive semi- structured interviews. The results therefore show that cultural tourism involvement, perceived cultural tourism, and tourists’ perceived satisfaction are determinants of the tourism experience. This paper reveals the opportunities of tourism including socioeconomic benefits, culture valorization and intercultural exchange as well as the impacts encompassing cultural encapsulation and socio-economic reliance. The data revealed a high positive link between the level of tourist satisfaction, cultural activity and perceived authenticity hence the need to preserve culture. Cultours, cultural values and Cultural involvement come out as prominent determinants of Tourist satisfaction in regression analysis pointing to the essence of culture in influencing favorable tourist behaviors like word of mouth and repeat visits. The findings of this research provide policy makers and other stakeholders in the tourism industry with information necessary for the formulation of successful cultural tourism policies that can foster the growth of the industry while at the same time promoting the cultural integrity of African communities. Therefore, applying the cultural resource theory and hinging on the cultural resource profile of Himachal Pradesh, an important premise for branching out tourism that will be inclusive of the tourists and hosts is presented in the paper.