Contemporary Issuess

Introduction

After developed tourism in Lugu Lake, huge number of tourists was boosted to provide business opportunity in local as result to enhance the local economy as well as living standard of the local residents. Apart from those positive sides, though the rapid tourism development in recent years and market mechanism, negative social and culture impacts of tourism development become serious trend. Commercialization of cultures and staged culture are the common issues that lead to lose the original cultural value and some unethical conduct from some local residents after tourism development. For example, Mosuo bonfire party would be used as the dating media for male and female in tradition culture, but now local residents would operate this event everyday night and change as one party of entertainment in travel itinerary. Also some local tour guide would use "walking marriage (走婚)" as mystery selling point to attract the tourists' curiosity to travel to Lugu Lake. In addition, some unethical local residents would use "walking marriage" as business tool to earn the illegal revenue. Those unethical service providers totally distort the ethical and sacred traditional culture.

Beside, unknowledgeable tourist also show misconducts to the local culture, like unrespect "walking marriage", only enjoying staged culture etc.

Against this background, using distorting the local culture in Lugu Lake in China from service providers or tourists as a case study, this paper aims to deliberate the following ethics- related questions:

1. How relevant and significant in the case to the tourism industry in Lugu Lake in China?

2. What are the ethical issue raised by the case?

3. What are the causes of the ethical issues?

4. How can these ethical issues be dealt with or avoided?

5. What are the impacts of the issues on the respective stakeholder in the industry?

Case of scenario

Local tour guide use "walking marriage" as excuse to imprison tourists for sexual assault

Local tour guide in Lugu Lake used "walking marriage" as excuse to imprison the female tourist from Shenzhen, and want to be sexual assault her. Luckily, the other tourists discover this incident and rescued her immediately. Finally, the tour guide was detent in prison.

Paying less misunderstanding on the Mosuo's culture, Giving back peaceful to Lugu Lake

This article listed out that tour guide would introduce the information of "walking marriage" as the selling point to attract the tourists' curiosity and make the tourists happy during the travelling time to Lugu