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International Tourism And Culture Change In The Western Caribbean: Temporary And Non-Acculturative Systems, William V. Davidson

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The few studies on international tourism and culture change have emphasized the direct effects of tourism on the host society. Recent research on western Caribbean islands indicates that under the stimulation of economic developments arising from tourism, in-migration from adjacent mainlands has effectively stifled, at least temporarily, the onslaught of acculturation by North Americans. On Cozumel Island, Mexico, Mayan-speakers from the Yucatán Peninsula have fortified Cozumeleño culture; in the Bay Islands, Honduras, Spanish-speaking mainlanders are the primary change agents.