The Hidden Side of Paradise

Tropical islands and vacation destinies like Haiti are magical worlds in which international visitors could escape their ordinary lives for a bit. Guests enjoy the beauty of the geographical area, extracurricular activities, various eating options, and staff and entertainers that tend to their happiness. At times, some frequent travelers will have a favorite destination in which they fall in love with and will visit often. Some visitors even buy property in hopes that they too will live the life and culture of their adopted home. Some see this sort of recognition from affluent guests as a way in which their nation and culture is being recognized and accepted. To them, some parts of their dwindling culture will live on. Others see the influx of affluent residents and tourist as the beginning of the gentrification process, where the poor, many of who are native born, are moved out of the picturesque areas and into the ghetto. This derives from the fact that housing prices rise to the point where poorer residents can not afford the higher housing and living costs. Most tourists are aware that their host country faces poverty and corruption, but that fact is something that they push out of their minds for the time being. After all, that is the hidden side, the darker side, of their paradise.
For my research topic, I am going to examine how tourism and international influence impacts a country’s economy and culture. Many of these tropical paradises, like Haiti, share a common theme of past colonization, globalization, poverty, and unstable infrastructures. There is also the fact that these smaller nations are going through cultural evolution where the ‘old ways’ change and transform with modern ideals and technologies.