Cruise Tourist Dress Behaviors and Local–guest Reactions in a Muslim Country

Abstract

This article examines the ethics of tourism and cross-cultural communication between Western tourists and the local community in a Muslim country. Communicating with people who have different value systems and communication styles can contribute to various "culture shock situations" and to an increase in stereotypes and "stigma." The main goal of this research is to analyze the dress behavior of cruise tourists, applying the concept of "mindfulness" and secondly to analyze the voices and values of the resident community and of other tourists. Any apparent contradictions will be identified between local values, pretravel information, media social constructions, and tourist dress behaviors, and suggestions will be proposed about how to avoid culture shock situations. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted with German-speaking cruise tourists visiting two different destinations in the Sultanate of Oman during 2012 (N = 830) and 2013 (N = 235). In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with members of the local community and cultural brokers as well as with tourists, onboard tour guides, and an onboard pastor. Moreover, government officials and the Assistant Grand Mufti were interviewed and pretravel information was studied. The results indicate that a mindless dress behavior has been facilitated by the type of information that is provided prior to travel and by cultural brokers, both on shore and on board, who do not make explicit reference to local dress codes. This approach promotes a concept of tolerance towards the tourist and an "accommodationist" and "laissez faire" attitude. On the other hand, tourist dress behaviors can be seen as a reflection of the posttourist, who is seeking individual authenticity and freedom. For the local community the increase in the number of mindless cruise tourists exceeds the level of acceptable tolerance in both places and has created "culture shock" situations. This research fills a major gap in applied research on the cruise tourist behaviors in a Muslim country and on crosscultural communication.

‘In a rush’: Time-space compression and its impacts on cruise excursions

“…This would require a slower mode of travel, involving more time, money and resources as well as more active involvement of the local community. Given the large number of cruise tourists, an enclosed ‘tourist bubble’ may relieve social pressure from the host community and their culture (Gutberlet, 2016a; Williams and Lew, 2015).…”

“…This research is part of an extensive field-study in two tourist attractions in Oman, one urban attraction in Muscat and one in the periphery, examining the construction of space, tourist experiences and sociocultural impacts (Gutberlet, 2016a(Gutberlet, , 2016b(Gutberlet, , 2017(Gutberlet, , 2019. Qualitative methods including participant observation, travel ethnography, photography and in-depth interviews were conducted during nine cruise excursions.…”

“…The overall fast pace of growth of mega-cruise tourism creates challenges to the sustainability of the tourism industry, to ports and local communities (Klein, 2011: 114). For instance, through power relations (London and Lohmann, 2014), sociocultural impacts and culture shock situations are enhanced due to different moral and value systems (Gutberlet, 2016a). To minimize the social contact between tourists and port communities, there has been an increasing focus on the ship as the main destination, which is ‘secure, comfortable, and tightly controlled’ (Jaakson, 2004: 57), forming a ‘temporary, exclusive community’ (Minca, 2012a: 703) or even ‘an independent nation’ (Vogel and Oschmann, 2013) where the goal is to ‘encapsulate individuals’ (Weaver, 2005c) in order to maximize containment and profits (Larsen et al, 2013; Weaver, 2005b; Weeden et al, 2011).…”

“…Jaakson (2004) studied cruise passengers’ behaviour patterns in a port in Mexico, conceptualizing a ‘tourist bubble’. Similarly, Gutberlet (2016a and 2016b) analysed sociocultural impacts of mega-cruise tourism in a market opposite the port in Muscat. Vanolo and Cattan (2017) investigated visual representations of cruise experiences in promotional brochures, focusing on gender and mobility.…”

British tourists’ adjustment to cultural expectations in Muslim-majority countries

“…Previous studies have, indeed, identified specific cultural aspects of Muslim-majority countries to which non-Muslim tourists often struggle to adapt. These include, inter alia, gender roles, dress codes, modes of greeting, the consumption of food and drink (including the taking of alcohol), gambling and bargaining conventions (Brown and Osman, 2017;Ghaderi et al, 2020;Gutberlet, 2016;Henderson, 2003). While these cultural aspects have been identified, however, it is acknowledged that more sophisticated research is needed to understand them more fully (Reisinger and Moufakkir (2015).…”