Indigenous Day at ITB 2009

How to share their culture and at the same time preserve its authenticity is one of the challenges confronting indigenous people involved in tourism. At the "Indigenous Day" event at the International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in March in Berlin, indigenous representatives from North America and Asia provided insights and solutions.

"We have been involved in tourism since 1492 when our first tourist, Christopher Columbus, showed up and asked for directions," said Brian Zepeda, a representative of the Seminole of Florida. When more visitors started coming in the 1920s, the Seminole built villages near the roads to keep people away from their sacred ground. Kevin Eshkawkogan, Manager of the "Great Spirit Circle Trail" in Northern Ontario, Canada, pointed out that his people were willing to share some of their knowledge, but they were not putting a price tag on it. I Gde Pitana, professor at the University of Udayana in Indonesia, stressed the focus on balance in the Balinese way of thinking. Development of any kind must consider the religious values of the island. He can see traditional values eroding, but at the same time he observes an "indigenisation" of culture in Bali.