SOCIAL-CULTURAL TOURISM IN BUKHARA

Through visits on the ground, cultural tourism allows locals to discover traditional cultures, craftsmanship, and engage in local restaurants and the like, as the tourism sector provides jobs for people and promotes smaller enterprises. However, too much tourism activity not only infringes laws and regulations on planning but also severely destroys local properties and negatively affects public land with families' cultural practices. This essay discusses ideas of the future, eternal potential of cultural tourism of the World Heritage site Bukhara and protection of its heritage community. Bukhara has been recognized as a World Heritage site located along the historic Silk Road. The current study focuses on three foundational theoretical aspects for the analysis conducted, including the concept by MacCannell (1973) on staged authenticity, Doxey’s (1975) Irridex model, and the theory of social exchange. Current studies on sociocultural tourism reveal that this form of tourism benefits from three components responsible for its sustainability: control over cultural representation within the respective area, earning ratio and control over tourist flows.