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Frontstage and backstage
Local communities can adopt various measures in order to minimise the negative impacts of the commodification process. One of these strategies, as identified by MacCannell (1976), is the implicit or explicit establishment of frontstage and backstage distinctions within the destination. The frontstage is an area where commercial and possibly modified performances and displays are provided for the bulk of visiting tourists. The backstage, in contrast, is an area set aside for the personal or in-group purposes of local people. This potentially could include selected interactions with VFR or business tourists.
It is within the backstage that the 'real life' ot the community is carried out, and 'authentic' culture maintained. As long as the distinctions are maintained and respected by the tourists and local residents, then the community can theoretically achieve the dual objectives of income generation from tourism and the preservation of the local way of life.
The distinction between frontstage and backstage can be implicit, but more usually some kind of overt barrier is used to differentiate the two spaces. These barriers can range from the crude canvas screens that are erected by Alaskan limit to shield their backyards from the gazing eyes of tourists, to walls, ditches and 'do not enter' signs that attempt to confine tourists to the frontstage. It is possible that the very same space can be differentiated on the basis of time, so that, for example, the area is opened to tourists only during certain hours of the evening and reserved for locals during the remainder of the time. In some cases, the frontstage/backstage principle is applied as part of a comprehensive countrywide strategy for regulating contact between local residents and tourists (see 'Managing the sociocultural impacts of tourism: Bhutan and the Maldives').
The distinction, however, can have unexpected consequences. In some native Indian communities in North America, the frontstage space is occupied by traditional cultural artefacts that have long been abandoned by the community as items of everyday use, but are of great interest to tourists. The backstage, in contrast, is occupied by a cultural landscape that is similar in many respects to that found in non-indigenous communities of a similar size and location. It is also important to note that the frontstage/ backstage distinction is by no means confined to traditional communities. Most local governments in Australia and other Phase Four countries use zoning by-laws to prevent the incursion of tourism-related activities and businesses into residential areas, thus effectively demarcating the latter as backstage territory.
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