Brainstorm and Outline

1.0 Introduction

Tourism to sites of cultural heritage has long existed since the time of Greek antiquity and it has been considered as the world’s largest and fastest growing industry in our current modern business world. In addition, tourism has also became one the world’s major international trades and also acts as a major income for a country plus it provides many jobs to revitalize and improve local economies. In tourism, heritage tourism is currently the fastest growing segment in the tourism industry. The historical and cultural traits of a heritage site are always linked with its community, giving it a sense of identity and  significance plus showing the world their own uniqueness.

Heritage tourism brings positive impacts to the local community such as preserving the local culture for the future generations, increasing a community’s pride and awareness plus visitor expenditures. However, like any other forms of development, heritage tourism can also has its own share of problems and negativity which includes social dislocation, economic dependence, ecological and cultural degradation. Through the negative impacts of tourism, it has led many people to seek more liable and competent way which includes many forms of alternative sustainable tourism. While sustainable tourism is becoming popular, it is no more an ‘alternative’ but now the ‘mainstream’ in a country’s tourism development.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how unmanaged tourism development affects the local heritage building sites and solutions to overcome this situation. The site chosen for research in this dissertation is Malacca. Although it is one of the smallest states in Malaysia, it is a place that is full of rich history and heritage which dates back to 1400AD and it also attracts millions of tourists each year.  Due to Malacca city being an UNESCO World Heritage site, the building I have chosen is St. Christ Church in the heart of the city because it is a good place to do research and gain useful information for this dissertation project with its high human traffic flow and mass amount of historical buildings.

  

2.0  What is heritage tourism

-The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines heritage tourism as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.”

-quote: tourism is like fire, it can either cook u a great meal or it can burn down a house.

-Heritage has always been a major object of travel and it plays an important role in tourism at all levels.

-has been rediscovered as an important marketing tool

-global highlights of world culture to attractions that underpin local identities

-involves visiting historical or industrial sites that includes old canals, railways, battlegrounds

-attract travelers with special interests in heritage and arts

-trend for travelers who seeks adventure, culture, history, archaeology and interaction with local communities.

3.0  The affects of unmanaged tourism on heritage sites

3.1  Over commercialization

-       commercialization occurs because the rapid growth in tourist industry

-       Heritage site is too publicly commercialized locally and internationally in the form of media

-       Attracts more casual tourists causing a disaster of too much human contact with the heritage building on daily basis.

-       Inappropriate tourists behaviors cases overcrowding and congestion

-       Too many number of tourists causes physical and social impacts

-       Rapid increased use of building causes wear and deterioration of heritage sites which including the building materials- original / after conservation(Christ church)

-       Too high traffic flow causes the soil degradation of the heritage building’s site

-       Brings in building pollutions-sound, air, land

-       Increasing the needs and cost of maintenance and conservation

-       Increases funding as well for repair but only on the main façade because it is the main factor that generates income and provide services (Christ church)

-       Back area of heritage buildings are neglected due to low attraction and attention

-       Local government tries to make the sites more comfortable for visitors by standardizing the tourist experience.

-       Heritage buildings loses their own sense of spirituality and authenticity, shifting from being a special and sacred place to another secular place

  

3.2  Over exposure

-       Heritage buildings over exposed in terms of privacy

-       All day opened and catered to the needs of tourists to venture in the building

-       No more uniqueness in the building for people to explore

-       Too many visitors causes the degradation of site quality

-       Lack of safety  in the heritage building

-       No laws, rules and regulation for heritage buildings’ privacy

-       The items exhibited in the building are not safe due to high traffic flow

-       May be damaged, lost, or stolen due to improper tourist’s attitude causing the lost of an important piece of history in our country.

-       When is place has no rules and overexposed, it  attracts small vendors (Christ church)

-       Surrounds the heritage buildings, causing a lost of respect and appreciatation of building’s importance

-       Change of attraction and attention of tourists from building to vendors.

-       Destroys the local customs and cultures due to new development to suit foreigners causing the lost of privacy of local communities

-       Land value  of the heritage building’s site and the area around it to rise

-       Well known place, more visitors, things around it increases price rapidly.

-       Local community is not able to afford a high cost living, driving out the community and affecting the heritage site and building.

-       No more human interaction locally, lost of site’s significance.

-       Community around the heritage building becomes economic dependant.

-       When there are no more business opportunity, there are no more community and  there won’t be any tourists

-       Lack of funding for building’s conservation

4.0  Sustainable Heritage Tourism

-       4.1  Responsible Planning

-       recognizing the importance of our local heritage building

-        looking after the heritage building

-       market and promoting the heritage sites responsibly

-       providing quality employment in the heritage site

-     Specific circulation routes is to be prepared to minimize impacts on the integrity and physical fabric of a place

-       4.2 Beneficial partnership

-       Developing mutual beneficial partnerships with local community

-       Incorporate heritage issues into business planning

-       Invest in people and place

-       Should be initiated with the help of broad based community

-       Getting community help to maintain control of tourism development

-       Establish linkage between local business and tourism responsibly

-       Government  and private sector participation

-       4.3 Proper Education and Facilities

-       Providing high quality visitor experiences

-    Provide proper education and training programs on improving and maintaining heritage building

-       Optimize the visitor’s understand of the building’s significance

-       Emphasize on the visitor’s need for their protection and appropriate manner.

-    Visitors are to be encouraged to behave as welcome guests, respecting the values and lifestyles of the host community

-       Rejecting possible theft or illicit trade in cultural property

-       Provide standard quality facilities for a comfortable and safe for the wellbeing of the visitor, enhancing the enjoyment of the visit but do not adversely impact on the building’s significance.

-       Encourage the training programs and employment of guides and site interpreters from host community

-       Promotes a knowledge and respect for their heritage, encouraging the community and visitors to take interests in the heritage building’s care and conservation.

5.0  Conclusion