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According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “a tourist is a person who travels to a place for pleasure or culture.” Smith states that “a tourist is a temporarily leisured person who voluntarily visits a place away from home for the purpose of experiencing a change” (Gmelch 25). These two definitions may not apply to all tourists; however, they do apply to most. People travel for a multitude of reasons. Some people travel for health and recuperation, some may tour different cities to make religious pilgrimages.

There are many types of tourist destinations. Different people choose different types of destinations to meet their own needs. The beach is a popular destination with sand, sun and sea. Functioning establishments figure prominently as tourist attractions (Gmelch 68). Large cities all over the world with museums and large buildings are popular for tourists to visit. Occupational attractions can also draw tourists to visit, some might include glassblowers, Japanese pearl divers, cowboys, fishermen, Geisha girls, London chimney sweeps, gondoliers and sidewalk artists (Gmelch 70).

Many tourists seek to visit different cultures and heritages. The “tourist gaze” is explained by sociologist John Urry as the set of expectations that tourists place on local populations when they participate in heritage tourism, in the search for having an “authentic” experience (Wikipedia/Herritage). A perfect example of the tourist gaze is in the film Framing the Other. In it a group of tourists visit a village in Ethiopia where the Mursi tribe live. Thousands of tourists visit this tiny village every year to get an “authentic” look at tribal life.

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Posing for pictures with tourists is the main source of income for this tribe. The Mursi women are known for their lip plates and large earrings. When they know the tourists are coming, the women put in their lip plates which they decorate for the tourists. In their normal life, the Mursi women do not decorate these lip plates. The women and children may also wear other decorations that do not have any meaning to tribe, for the sake of the tourists. According to Nadonge, the Mursi woman in the film, she does not care if the decorations they wear are fake, she believes if they do not embellish their appearances, the tourists will not take pictures.

This film as well as the book question the authenticity of “authentic” tourist destinations.

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