Failed system
But most importantly, Asian societies are beginning to realize that the current global economic capitalist system has utterly failed to bring achievements in all terms. Now burdened with having to pay for the activities of unscrupulous speculators and additionally suffering from free-market-oriented structural adjustment programmes imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), people are losing faith in a globalized economy. Some experts even go so far as to say that free trade and investment liberalization is 'yesterday's story'. Malaysia in particular has recently taken decisive steps to shut itself off from global markets by strictly controlling foreign capital flows.
Asian governments are now likely to move towards greater self-reliance as they are pressured by people of all walks of life to look into economic strategies that are chiefly based on domestic financial resources and the domestic market. This involves the strengthening of the agricultural sector and local industries to protect people's livelihoods in the first place. Forces still seeking to further prop up economically risky service industries such as tourism are likely to be weakened.
Moreover, the crisis has also created considerable public debate about the impacts of global culture and lifestyle, including the issues of consumerism and the wasteful and unproductive use of resources. In several Asian countries - such as Korea, Thailand and Malaysia - outbound tourism is now being discouraged as it is seen as conspicuous consumption that has contributed to the negative balance of payments.
The issues of democracy and human rights are also gaining momentum in the region. As never before, people are making use of their civil rights and call for transparency and democratic procedures to phase out corruption and harmful government policies and development plans. The growing opposition of Thai environmentalists and villagers to the move of the government to open up protected areas for 'mass ecotourism' is just one example.
All in all, I believe, the current Asian crisis, which is likely to become a global crisis, poses a fundamental challenge - and an important opportunity - to re-evaluate the issues of globalization, sustainable development and tourism. As Asian societies begin to acknowledge that rapid economic growth under global regimes has devastating effects on people's lives and the environment, we may find that a stringent regulation of tourism, which involves a stricter limitation of tourist numbers and a halt to the unlimited spatial expansion of tourism, is better than further promoting tourism growth and hoping that this growth can be handled with 'good management', education of tourists, etc. What the current crisis really appears to confirm is - what many tourism critics have been saying all along - the global tourism industry just cannot be propelled towards sustainability under the conventional economic and political structures. That means, efforts to implement social and environmental agendas and sustainable tourism are unlikely to progress unless profound structural changes take place in the global system. (Third World Resurgence No. 103, March 1999)
Anita Pleumarom coordinates the Bangkok-based Tourism Investigation & Monitoring Team (t.i.m.-team) and publishes New Frontiers - a bimonthly newsletter on tourism, development and environment issues in the Mekong region - with support from TWN.