Exploitation of cultural expressions of peoples, whether in the form of handicrafts, dances, ceremonies, or music, with complete disregard for authenticity and preservation, contributes to what has been termed the prostitution and degeneration of cultures.
This is especially severe in the case of indigenous peoples whose cultures are vulnerable for other reasons. Taiwan's native tribespeople have adapted their dance shows to the perceived tastes of tourists, who seem to be more interested in spectacle than tribal culture. Tribal dances and songs are adulterated by combining features of different tribes together and adding modern songs to performance programmes. In one instance, female dancers wore hardly any costume and the rhythms of the songs had been changed to fit Japanese preferences.
In North America, Indian rites and traditions such as sweat lodges, sun dances and vision quests are now basic to courses offered in self-exploration. Artefacts associated with Indian culture are widely sold. Some American Indians consider that the exploitation of their sacred rituals by non-Indians, hucksters, cultists, commercial profiteers and New Age shamans is a form of cultural robbery. As such it constitutes a final phase in the process of ethnocide whereby the whites first took their land.
Sacred traditions are now used as fashion statements by a bored middle class in search of the exotic.
Tourism helps preserve native tribal cultures, albeit in a debased form, e.g. the use native motifs to decorate modern concrete buildings. Even when they perform strictly for themselves, tribespeople frequently dance to modern pop songs.