Abstract
Cultural tourism seems to be a buzz-word applied on a widest contexts and studies. The importance West has given to this term is linked to a new process of acceptance of diversity as never before. However, in the core of this discourse, the spirit of colonialism remains. In this conceptual paper, not only the main assumptions of cultural tourism are discussed in depth, but also its connection with colonization. One of main problems of cultural tourism is the conceptual basis on where this theory lies. For one hand, this term is strictly applied on local communities (aboriginals or ethnic minorities) that have not sustained the progress on their own. On another one, this type of new paternalism closes the door for a real opportunity of dialogue between centre and periphery. As things being, cultural tourism not only is a concept very hard to be applied on research but also follow to nourish the ethnocentrism of nineteen-century racism.