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paper 4

TOURISM AND PROSTITUTION

In the present Asian context, prostitution is an inevitable offshoot of the huge build-up of the tourist industry. Quick profits which can be gotten from unprincipled and ruthless exploitation of the Asian people benefit only the capitalists who are engaged in these ventures. Thus, they would not limit the ‘attractiveness’ of tourists packages by stopping prostitution, drug abuse or anything similar. In the Philippines, for example, because of the promotional activities of the government ag-

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ency on tourism, a vast number of unemployed women, mostly coming from the rural areas, fall prey to the tourist ‘package’ industry.

ECONOMIC ASPECT. In a country’s economy there are generally two factors: the productive sector and the service sector.

The Productive Sector. As the well-being of a human society is totally dependent on production, the productive sector takes priority over the service sector. But the well-being of the productive sector is dependent on the service sector in no uncertain manner. The productive sectors are industry, agriculture, fishing, etc.

The Service Sector. These are comprehensive public health, education, transport and cultural programmes. One can generalise that a service programme is justified only as long as it compliments the production sectors. For example, the transport service is directly linked to the productive sector as the workers must travel to their work places. If the transport service is not efficient, production suffers from factors like absenteeism, late arrivals, workers’ fatigue, etc.

Tourism as Service. The only gain to a country through tourism is in the foreign exchange. This factor is countered by negative factors like: a) most of the foreign exchange goes right back to buy goods for the consumption of the tourists, b) thousands of people employed in an unproductive sphere, c) cultural aspects outlined below.

CULTURAL ASPECT. The culture of a country is affected and nobody has any control over the process. The behaviour problems and consumption levels create impressions in the minds of the people. Although tourism from developed countries can maintain super-levels of consumption due to the neo-colonialist relationships between the developed country and the under-developed country, the native population have no understanding of that neo-colonialist, exploitation process. They tend to judge the “success” of the developed countries by the level of consumption which the foreigners maintain and tend to aspire to such levels. In other words, the developed countries are considered as paradises just across the ocean. For example, in Sri Lanka, many orthodox Sinhalese families which would never permit their daughters to marry outside their caste, marry off their daughters to foreigners regardless of the fact that they know nothing of the foreigners’ background, environment, job, etc. Many Sri Lankan women have been exploited after such marriages. Another aspect of tourism is in the proliferation of

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prostitution which treats women as objects of pleasure. Women are debased by such sexual exploitation, but men, who form an integral part of such exploitation, debase themselves, too. In this situation, then, people become tools and women become objects doubly.

Another common phenomenon under this aspect is the systematic ‘robbing’ of the Asian countries of objects of .cultural values. For example, there are more Indian archeological objects in the museums of the USA, UK, etc. than in the museum of India itself.

ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITAL INTENSIVE TOURISM

Capital is being invested in tourism. Cannot this capital be invested in more productive ones? Although figures are not available, it is quite certain that in the long-run, a country can earn the same/more amounts of foreign-exchange by exporting finished goods and/or raw materials, etc. And these productive ventures will not have any counter-productive effects.

CONCLUSION

In the present Asian context, the only reason why practically the whole country is prostituted is to milk the foreigners of all the money they have. The industry is geared to raise the level of consumption through every considerable means. Thus a genuine type of tourism can exist only when there is a world environment where all peoples respect the culture and dignity of each other.

Moreover, a country’s development should benefit the vast majority of the people. We see no point other than for the few capitalists and racketeers in destroying the integrity of the people to get money to develop the country, ostensibly to benefit the very same people.

Therefore, the slogan should be Development for the People and not People for ‘Development’.