Cultural Tourism. Blessing or Curse for Cultural Celebrations?: With a Focus on the Holi Festival in India

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Tourism, grade: 1,7, International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef - Bonn, language: English, abstract: In connection with globalization and the increasing willingness to interact interculturally, people are travelling more frequently, not only for business reasons or simply for holidays, but also to get a cultural insight into different parts of the world. Every culture has its own habits and observances, including everyday occurrences and of course special occasions. Cultural tourists try to look into those occasions, for example by taking part in the Holi Festival in India. On the basis of this theory, online questionnaires as well as expert interviews were conducted to find out whether the participation is harmful or beneficial to the given cultural celebration. Both research methods were solely distributed among Indians to get their perception. The results of the two different research tools clearly showed a positive impression towards cultural tourism in general, as well as tourists who participate in the Holi Festival. In fact, the cross-cultural interaction in form of celebrating the Festival of Colours together with foreigners predominantly is seen as a blessing for the celebration and everyone involved. Even though many limitations occurred to this study, the results are conclusive and built a basis for further research in the field.