Tourism has great economic and social importance. More than 720 million tourists spend $480 billion each year in places outside their home country (WTO, 2004). It is one of the most important items in global foreign trade. The importance of tourism has been recognized in both developing and developed countries. This can be seen in the creation of sophisticated and well-resourced government tourism departments, the widespread encouragement and sponsorship of tourism developments, and the proliferation of small businesses and multinationals contributing to and benefiting from the tourism industry. In 2005, the tourism sector accounted for 3% to 10% of the GDP of developing countries. Tourism's contribution to economic growth and development is reflected in the form of exports as it accounts for 40% of all service exports, making it one of the largest categories of international trade (UNWTO, 2006). There is widespread optimism that tourism can be a powerful and beneficial agent of both economic and social change, with some even arguing that it could be a force for world peace. Indeed, tourism has stimulated employment, investment and entrepreneurial activity, changed land use and economic structure, and made a positive contribution to the balance of payments in many countries around the world. At the same time, the growth of tourism has prompted keen observers to raise many questions regarding the social and environmental desirability of encouraging further expansion. Do tourists' spending benefit residents of the destination areas? Does tourism encourage prostitution, crime and gambling? Tourism rejuvenates or erodes the traditional arts and crafts of the host culture……middle of paper……or contains a mixture of both positive and negative elements and influences both hosts and guests (Opperman, Chon 1997; Cooper et al . 1998). Consequently, although some researchers consider socio-cultural change as one of the evils of tourism development, any form of economic development will, by definition, bring implications on the social structure and cultural aspects of the host population. (Cooper et al. 1998) Although originally most research tended to look at rural areas in the English-speaking world (e.g. Long et al., 1990; Murphy, 1985) and subsequently with reference to the impact of tourism on communities and indigenous peoples (e.g., Ryan & Aicken, 2005), more recent research has examined the impacts of tourism in the non-English-speaking world among cultural representatives of those countries (e.g., Eraqi, 2007).