Ethnic tourism: revisiting conceptual terminology and its significance in the context of interethnic relations in conditions of globalization of the society

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of foreign and national researchers’ approaches to definition of the concept of ethnic tourism. The majority of existing studies devoted to ethnic tourism in America and Europe concentrate on describing it as trips to exotic and often isolated ethnic groups (Smith V., McIntosh R., Goeldner C., Van den Berghe P., Harron S., Weiler B.). Some scientists regard that ethnic tourism includes trips to forefathers’ homelands with the purpose of learning the own ethnic belonging – nostalgic tourism (King B.). Along with the term of ethnic tourism, the concepts of aboriginal tourism (Getz D., Jamieson W.) and native tourism (Butler R., Hinch T.) are widely used, though the same phenomenon is meant. Russian researchers use the concepts of ethnic tourism, ethnographic tourism and nostalgic tourism. No unanimous opinion as to definition of ethnic tourism is found with Ukrainian scientists (Kyryliuk L., Parkhomenko T., Kyfiak V., Bochan I., Kulakovska I., Orlova M, Chubrey O., etc). We understand the concept of ethnic tourism to be a type of tourist activity that satisfies the consumers’ interests in cognition of material and spiritual culture of certain ethnos (ethnic group, ethnographic group) that inhabits (or previously inhabited) a certain territory. While on excursions, tourists get acquainted with architecture, clothes, folklore, rituals, folk traditions, handicrafts, everyday life, ethnic cuisine, historic events, known persons, and monuments of certain ethnos or its part (sub-ethnos or ethnic group). The author discloses functions of the present-day ethnic tourism (cultural-cognitive, social, communicative, worldview, integrative) in the context of interethnic relations in conditions of globalization processes, those functions that are essentially important for the development of individuality, broadening of knowledge of the surrounding world, people, trends and regularities in the development of society with regard to the formation of value and worldview orientations.