Tourist Enterprise Concentration and Old Order Amish Survival: Explorations in Productive Coexistence

Abstract

It is theorized that effects of tourist enterprise on Old Order Amish lifestyle, if any, would be most visible in the Amish community where commercial tourist development is most concentrated. Tourist enterprise concentration appears not to have altered patterns of Amish life to the extent tourism critics and conventional wisdom assert. Little or no case is made for tourist enterprise creating land use problems not shared by the total Amish community. Traffic volume in the community may be attributed as much to close proximity of a city as to tourist concen tration. Nontraditional Amish male employment is no more in evidence in the area of tourism concentration than in the larger community. Further professionalization of tourism development and management is suggested as a wise course of action to guarantee sustained yield of economic product and protection of the indigenous culture.