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...development. interplay between "hosts" "guests" and the impact of tourism on host communities have been recurring themes in the anthropological literature on tourism, but scholars recognize that these categories have several limitations. The terms gloss over the wide variation that exists in the tourist experience for both guests and hosts, and ignore the important actors known as mediators. This article examines the role of mediators in two post-Soviet Central Asia states: Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Mediators there are particularly important because neither country is well known in Western countries, and neither country inherited a well-developed tourist infrastructure from the Soviet state. These mediators are cultivating a positive image of Central Asia as a new tourist destination, developing tourist accommodations, and lobbying government institutions to support and regulate tourism. However, the industry is rife with conflict and competition. (Tourism, development, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan)
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Within the past century, international tourists have increasingly sought distant, "exotic" destinations in their pursuit of relaxation, escape, and adventure. Recognizing the opportunity to earn valuable foreign currency, most developing countries have catered to these desires by encouraging international tourism development. Some countries, such as Nepal and Jamaica, have gone so far as to make international tourism a top priority in their national development strategy. The anthropology of tourism emerged in the 1970s as tourists started to appear in places "off the beaten path," such as Inuit communities in Alaska and Kuna communities in Costa Rica (Graburn 1976; Graburn 1983; Nash 1981; Smith 1989). The interplay between "hosts" (locals) and "guests" (tourists) and the impact of tourism on host communities have been recurring themes in this growing body of literature. While the twin concepts of hosts and guests are routinely cited, scholars recognize that these categories have several limitations. The use of these terms glosses over the variation that exists in the tourist experience for both guests and hosts, and unfortunately ignores an important group of actors, known as "mediators," who actively promote and develop tourist destinations. "Neither hosts nor guests in any tangible way," the category of mediators includes government officials, tourism planners, travel agents, tour guides, and travel writers (Chambers 2000:30).
This article examines the role of mediators in the development of international tourism in two post-Soviet Central Asia states: Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. As the former Soviet republics make the awkward transition from socialism to capitalism, tourism development stands as one possible solution for their cash-flow problems. Tourism is definitely at the forefront of development in the Kyrgyz Republic, a country with exceptional natural beauty but limited trade resources. (1) Tourism is also important in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a country with vast oil and mineral wealth but a need for a more diverse economy. The role of tourism mediators in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan is particularly important because neither country is very well known in the Western tourist-generating countries, and unlike neighboring Uzbekistan, neither country inherited a well-developed tourist infrastructure from the Soviet state. This study of tour operators, an understudied yet important group of mediators, provides a new angle for understanding what Nash (1981) refers to as the "touristic process." In addition to cultivating a positive image of a new tourist destination, tour operators in Central Asia work hard to develop adequate tourist accommodations, create tourist itineraries, and influence government institutions that support and regulate tourism. These mediators, however, interact with each other in an industry that is rife with conflict, competition, and co-operation.
HOSTS, GUESTS, AND MEDIATORS
Anthropologists did not start writing about tourism until the 1970s, when the discipline was transforming in new directions that no longer viewed cultures as discrete entities bound in time and space. This transformation in the field led anthropologists to consider more seriously the effect of historical processes (and foreign visitors) on local communities. Simultaneously, the tourist industry was experiencing phenomenal growth into regions of the world where anthropologists typically worked (Chambers 2000:2-3). A collection of essays published in a pioneering volume, Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism (Smith 1989), critically analyzed the impact of guests on host communities. It established tourism as a valid subject for anthropological study and introduced a framework for understanding tourism development as a dichotomy between hosts and guests. One essay described tourism as a "form of imperialism" (Nash 1989), and the volume as a whole suggested that the negative aspects of tourism outweighed the positive.
Since then, an interdisciplinary literature on tourism has continued to emphasize the host/guest dichotomy and comparisons between benefits and costs. But studies of guests do not focus on the same aspects of tourism as studies of hosts (Stronza 2001). Studies of guests examine the historical origins of tourism (Enloe 1989), the motivations behind travel (Bruner 1996; Graburn 1989; MacCannell 1976; Urry 1995), the different types of tourists and tourism (Cohen 1972, 1985; Smith 1989), and the varying experiences of tourists (Bruner 1996; Pearce 1982; Ryan 1991). In contrast, studies of hosts, including the bulk of the anthropological literature on tourism, concentrate on the consequences of tourism. Rarely does the tourism literature consider the ways in which tourism affects tourists or the reasons why locals engage in tourism (Stronza 2001).
Anthropological studies of host communities have been biased by cultural anthropologists prone to conducting research among marginalized social groups in developing countries because it is relatively easy to support an argument that members of a host community are the passive recipients of undesired processes (Chambers 2000; see also Kincaid 1988; McLaren 1998; Nash 1989; Young 1973). For example, Daltabuit and Pi-Sunyer's (1990) study of Cancun, Mexico, showed how tourism increased the economic dependency of the indigenous Mayan population on the outside world and fostered social and cultural dislocations. In this case, the Mayans have no voice in the political decisions that relate to tourism development, and they gain access to jobs only as unskilled laborers.
Tourism development in the tourism literature is generally described as a mixed blessing. It can create new service jobs, provide people with greater income, and help develop the local infrastructure. Some communities, such as the Sherpas of Nepal, have received significant economic gains from tourism development (Adams 1992; Ortner 1999). However, tourism can also have negative economic repercussions, especially when there are large numbers of tourists (Smith 1989). Freitag (1996), for example, demonstrates how tourism in the Dominican Republic brought an inflation of land and food prices, and Belisle (1983) argues that much of the potential profit from tourism in the Caribbean is "leaked" back to industrialized countries that export food for tourist consumption in hotels and resorts.
Tourism development affects local cultures in multiple and complex ways. Cultural authenticity is compromised when performances are staged for tourists (Greenwood 1989) and when artistic objects are created with tourist interests in mind (Graburn 1976). For these authors, the commoditization of culture is equated with cultural loss. Cultural disruptions may also occur when there are wealth disparities between tourists and their hosts; members of a host community may begin to resent their relative poverty and seek ways to emulate the lifestyles of the tourists (Gmelch and Gmelch 1997; Goering 1990; McLaren 1998). Goering (1990:21) explains how this affects the Ladakhis of northern India: "By observing foreign tourists on vacation, the Ladakhis--the young Ladakhis in particular--easily come to believe that all Westerners are rich, that they work very little, and that the West is a paradise of consumer goods. Young people begin to despise the thinking of their parents and rush to embrace whatever is seen as modern." In situations where there are also significant cultural differences between guests and hosts, tourism development can be humiliating for those who are sought by tourists for their "exotic" cultural practices. Intrigued by the film, The Gods Must Be Crazy, tourists in southern Africa want to see "real" Bushmen engage in "traditional" practices of hunting and gathering (Gordon 1990). Similarly, visitors to Thailand wish to see the Padaung "giraffe women," whose necks are elongated by brass spirals (Mirante 1990). In both cases, the tourists photograph...
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