"Globalisation creates homogenous businesses often unconnected
with a region's locality or cultural identity. You can see it
increasingly in our city and town centres - everywhere is in danger
of becoming the same as everywhere else.." Writes Nick
Stewart.
Waking up in a chain hotel, eating in a chain restaurant or
wandering through your average modern shopping precinct, you'd be
hard-pressed to identify whether you were in Brighton or Brussells.
In an economic term known as 'leakage', businesses owned by foreign
interests cause money spent to literally leak out the local economy
into the hands of outside ownership, not dissimilar to pouring
water into a hole-ridden bucket. Local businesses, artisans and
entrepreneurs are undermined becoming disempowered as they lose
control over their own livelihoods.
Trade liberalisation and deregulation, the two planks of
globalisation are the culprits. In these times of economic
depression, these issues are especially pertinent. Rural areas, in
particular, face economic hardship with declining populations and
disappearing traditional landscapes. This requires careful economic
restructuring to strengthen their economies and protect their
landscapes, cultural identity and traditions.
Why does all this matter? Responsible and sustainable tourism is
all about diversity; natural and cultural - a celebration of what
makes us different not identical! The proliferation of sameness
threatens both host communities in a destination and an enjoyable,
sustainable visitor experience. A responsible approach to tourism
and local economic development makes better places for people to
live, and for people to visit. A place's uniqueness is a potential
asset for enterprises to develop distinct products and services
that really reflect the characteristics of the local area in which
they are produced. Europe has a unique selling point: its cultural
diversity and heritage.
A good example of a joint initiative between the public and private sector and with clusters of businesses is seen in the Newquay web site!
