Journal of Sustainable Tourism
Editors: Bill Bramwell (Sheffield Hallam University) and Bernard Lane (Visiting Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University)
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Volume: 11 Number: 2 Page: 266–279
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Coffee Shop Meets Casino: Cultural Responses to Casino Tourism in Northern Cyprus
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Julie E. Scott
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Taking the case of northern Cyprus, this paper moves beyond a 'social impact' approach to casino tourism to focus on how the rapidly growing global casino industry connects with, mediates and is mediated
by, the existing local gambling culture. Gambling has an ambivalent place within the cultural values and traditions of Cyprus. On the one hand, it is seen as a disreputable and somewhat shameful activity
with potentially anti-social (and, particularly, anti-family) consequences. On the other hand, when viewed in terms of qualities of risk-taking, daring and recklessness, it is celebrated in some ideals
of Cypriot masculinity and the rebellious, independent and individualistic spirit of 'Cypriotness'. This ambivalent attitude produces a tension, which can be perceived, for example, in gender-differentiated
attitudes to and participation in gambling and in the manner in which social controls on gambling are exercised (both formal/legal and informal controls). The paper considers the implications for the ways
gambling is managed in the traditional and casino contexts and for our understanding of what constitutes 'cultural sustainability'.
© Multilingual Matters 2003
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