Has tourism been a culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions?

Tourism has been a culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions as it has make the indigenous group an “attraction” for tourists. Tourists such as students or cultural tourists would be interested in the way of life of these indigenous groups of people and would probably visit Taiwan just to take a look at these tribes. In this way, the indigenous groups are being used unknowingly as an advertisement for Taiwan tourism. Also, the people of the tribes would switch their attention from daily lives and practices to booming the tourism market by “selling” their culture to these tourists. As income can be gain from indirect tourism jobs such as selling handicrafts, performing traditional dances and songs to these tourisms, there is a chance that these indigenous groups do it for the same of monetary gains, instead of preserving their culture.

On the other hand, it can be seen that Taiwan government have the will to preserve the old traditions and ethnic cultures of the indigenous groups. This will then be able to preserve the traditional practices, way of life and the culture of the indigenous groups.

This can be proven from the language education of Taiwan as it makes it a requirement for students to take one of the language Holo, Hakka and indigenous language. This would then helps in preserving the culture and traditions as the youths are being exposed to the usual traditions and languages.