The Specific Benefits and Cost of Tourism in Singapore - Term Paper Example

Introduction Tourism plays a significant role in the development process of underdeveloped countries of the world. As the number of tourists grows in a country, its overall economy and standard of living also rise considerably. Rapidly developing countries Asian region with tourist attractions happen to be living testimonies to this fact that tourism serves to be a great contribution to these countries’ national income. Existence of culturally exotic places, properties and traditions in these countries attract a distinct class of tourists from different parts of the developed world. The income generated from these tourists, in turn, facilitates the countries to meet the conservation costs of these cultural assets. However, an accelerated development in the tourism leads a country to pay great costs associated with the sustainability of its national heritage. Therefore, tourism brings both benefits and costs to a country. Singapore is one of those developing countries that are benefiting a lot from the growth of tourism industry. This paper sheds light on various costs and benefits associated with the cultural tourism in the country, in particular, the costs that the country is paying for its quest to commercialise the industry in the competitive tourism market. Cultural Tourism In Developing Countries Cultural tourism is one of the rapidly growing fields of tourism that are becoming more and more attractive for travellers across the globe. Tourists’ destinations in the developing world such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, India etc are especially known for their cultural attractions for the visitors coming from the developed world. The profound importance of culture in the tourism lies in the innate quest of human beings to inquire into cultural assets and values of different countries, in particular, those that serve to be the remnants of historical traditions. There happen to two general categories associated with cultural attractions at a tourist’s destination. The first one refers to ‘tangible heritage’ that includes landscapes, physical assets and properties, whereas the other one falls into the category of ‘intangible heritage’ constituting norms, values and mixes that various cultures shares (Saunders, 2004). Developing countries, in particular the Asian region is richly endowed with cultural heritage that attracts tourists from different corners of the world to these places. This has particularly led to the enormous development of countries in the East Asian region. However, as tourism leads to modernisation, this development is highly associated with several costs and benefits it poses to developing nations. Dwyer and Forsyth (1997, p227) point out that, “unless carefully managed, tourism growth could result in negative externalities or costs such as increased pressure on fragile environments, erosion of sites, unwelcome socio-cultural effects, road congestion or the crowding out of attractions”. Hence, it is very crucial to identify and examine the effects of tourism development to the sustainability and conservation of national cultural heritage. Singapore: Costs And Benefits Of Tourism Development Singapore is one of the developing countries of the East Asian region. It is a country with a wide variety of tourist attractions, especially with respect to its cultural heritage. The tangible heritage of the country includes the cultural assets and places such as the Chinatown, while the intangible heritage involves the unique diversity and harmony of various cultures dwelling the country including the Malay, Chinese and Indian traditions and norms (Saunders, 2004). These cultural heritages attract a number of visitors from different corners of the world that add up to the country’s rapid development and national affluence. Like any other developing country, tourism benefits Singapore in the form of earning huge sums of foreign exchange, increasing employment and creating different opportunities for domestic people. With respect to culture and heritage, tourism comes as an opportunity for the country to demonstrate its wide range of cultural mix and traditional diversity to the rest of the world. This assists the government as well as the private owners of tangible cultural assets to bear the cost of conserving the country’s heritage so as to keep tourists attracted to those cultural spots. The fact that the cultural tourists are mostly educated, cultured and affluent adds to the financial benefits that the country derives out of tourism. The private owners of historical properties could recover the maintenance and conservation costs by charging the costs to the price paid by the tourists as well as to other facilities such as cafeterias, restaurants and parks etc. The government, on the other hand, could manage these costs through tax revenues gained from tourism. This suggests that tourism makes it easier for the government as well as private owners of the cultural heritage to maintain and conserve the valuable properties (Dwyer and Forsyth, 1997). The overwhelming benefits obtained from tourism have led Singapore to develop and commercialise its cultural heritage to attract more and more tourists from advanced countries. Increasing commercialisation, as expected, has played a great role in the development of tourism in the country, which is rapidly adding to the number of tourists visiting the country. Although growing tourism facilitates the coverage of conservation costs for the government and property owner, yet there are some costs that could in no way be accounted by the country in financial terms. As Timothy and Prideaux (2004, pp 221-2) illuminate that, “a danger that many communities in the region face is the rush to modernize and exploit the unique heritage and cultural elements of the destination for short-term commercial gain”. The rapid development of tourism can consequently lead to various intangible costs that are likely to affect the sustainability of national heritage. Singapore is a small country with high density of human population. Increasing number of tourists adds to the threats of overcrowding in the country, not only with respect to the population but also with regard to the rise of new restaurants, buildings, museums and parks in the country. Toh, Khan and Lim (2001, p43) say that, “Singapore’s popularity with business and leisure travellers presents the potential to compound the problems of an already high population density, such as overcrowding, congestion, pollution and crime”. Tourism comes to the country not only with benefits but also carries along with it significant harms to the domestic atmosphere. The development of tourism on the part of Singapore has led the country to encounter various costs with respect to the national heritage itself and it will continue to if it is done without proper management. Li (2003, p247) elaborates that “…any efforts to develop heritage tourism will have to deal with a series of challenging issues involved in the inherent contradictions between conservation and change associated with the development process”. The two elements of conservation and change are crucial in the discussion of cultural tourism. The cultural heritage needs to be conserved and protected from change, which might result in tangible properties mainly in the form of wear and tear due to large number of visitors, souvenir hunting on the part of tourists, (Timothy and Boyd, 2006), and to intangible cultural properties in the form of acculturation and diminution of original traditions (Toh, Khan and Lim, 2001). Growth of tourists in the country also adds up to the number of visitors in the historical and cultural places, whereas these places built many years ago are generally not capable to endure such a great number of visitors. Fyall and Garrod (1998, p216) also mention that, “most historic properties are simply not designed to accommodate hundreds or thousands of visitors each year, having originally been constructed either as family homes or working buildings”. As the cultural heritages are not meant to bear visits by a great number of people every year, “this accelerates a destination’s social/cultural and economic changes, causes potential erosion of cultural heritage authenticity, and makes any conservation strategies difficult to form and implement” (Li, 2003, p250). Changes in the form and wear and tear and damages caused by visitor impacts are not easy to overcome, because renovations and reconstruction of cultural assets are likely to result in transformation of original image of these properties. One of the most evident examples could be found in Singapore’s Chinatown where the government carried out renovation process owing to the deteriorating condition of this popular cultural heritage. Renovation and conservation practices on the part of government led to the gradual diminution of the spirit involved in the original historic Chinatown. Modernisation and facility provision in the Chinatown enhanced the tour experience for the visitors but affected the originality of the historical place (Li, 2003). Although the country would have recovered the conservation costs out of price paid by the tourists, yet the cost that was incurred on the intangible diminution of this cultural heritage due to overuse or high number of visitors would have been unrecoverable. The cost that the country paid for the tourism development was the loss of original spirit associated with the heritage. If such things continue to happen, the country would gradually lose the originality of its cultural heritage in the quest of modernisation and commercialisation. One of the greatest backlashes of tourism development is that countries intentionally become over enthusiastic about attracting more tourists. Host countries, in particular the developing countries, tend to project the image of cultural assets and heritage as colourful and attractive to the visitors. In this process, nations tend to re-create their cultural heritages and diminish their original zest. The governments endeavour to reach the extremes in marketing and commercialising their tourism products as per the needs of the tourists. Hence, not only that the nation paid a high price in its pursuit to the development of tourism but also the “tourists end up paying what they expect to see, rather than what they ought to see” (Toh, Khan and Lim, 2001, p45). Another example of heritage modification is apparent in Singapore in the form of the Cultural Theatre, which demonstrated cultural dance performance including Malay, Chinese and Indian elements. However, the dance does not demonstrate a true reflection of Singapore’s cultural heritage as the performances have become more colourful and show people growing rice, which originally is never grown in the country (Timothy and Prideaux, 2004). Besides the national heritages in the form of properties and assets, tourism also has its effects on the intangible cultural values of the nation that are referred to as the “demonstration effects”. Toh, Khan and Lim (2001, p45) comment that, “affluent tourists usually exert a strong influence on local resident’s speech, behaviour, attitude, attire, values and thinking”. Developing nations confront with threats of acculturation with the development of tourism in the country. People who come across foreign and modern tourists norms on a regular basis tend to be influenced by their cultural norms and hence acculturation takes place. The effects of acculturation are gradual and not immediately visible. The visitor’s lifestyle tends to affect a nation’s domestic life such as their dressing and eating habits. In the developing countries, people are easily attracted by western gleam, which seriously affects the uniqueness of national culture. In Singapore where the cultural tourists are mostly Western as well as affluent are very likely to impact on the cultural values of the domestic population. It is therefore evident that tourism leads to rapid development in a developing country but the costs associated with are also undeniable. Ho and McKercher (2004, p255) illuminates that the stance of “…exploiting heritage for tourism consumption, if not managed properly and cautiously, may commercialise, trivialise, and standardise the intangible cultural meanings born by the physical manifestations”. This is apparent in the case of Singapore where constant modifications and attempts to commercialisation have led to the diminution of cultural and traditional image of the national heritage. Conclusion This paper discusses the benefits and costs of tourism development in Singapore, which is a developing country in the East Asian region. The country is home to several historic and cultural attractions that have led to the rapid growth of tourism. Due to tough competition from its neighbours the country is constantly striving to modernise its tourism facilities and the cultural places. Tourism, like any other country, generates high income for Singapore, which is easily utilised for the conservation of these tourist attractions. However, the costs associated with the increasing number of visitors to these cultural places are beyond the price paid by the tourists. Government can and have carried out renovation practices with respect to the conservation of cultural heritage but to the loss of the original spirit involved in those cultural attractions. Increased commercialisation on the part of the government is also leading to the modification of cultural heritage in the country in order to make these places more oriented towards tourists’ expectations and facilities, rather than the preservation of unique gift from history. Hence, the costs associated with cultural tourism are always greater than the benefits obtained from the tourists if the government fails to manage the sustainability of its cultural heritage in the pursuit of rapid development. References Dwyer, L. and Forsyth, P. (1997), “Measuring The Benefits And Yield From Foreign Tourism”, International Journal of Social Economics, 24(1/2/3), pp. 223-236 Fyall, A. and Garrod, B. (1998), “Heritage Tourism: At What Price?”, Managing Leisure, 3, pp. 213-228 Ho, P.S. and McKercher, B. (2004), “Managing Heritage Resources as Tourism Products”, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 9(3), September, pp. 255-266 Li, Y. (2003), “Heritage Tourism: The Contradictions Between Conservation And Change”, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 4(3), pp. 247-261 Saunders, K.J. (2004), “Creating And Recreating Heritage In Singapore”, Current Issues in Tourism, 7(4&5), pp. 440-448 Timothy, D.J. and Prideaux, B. (2004), “Issues in Heritage and Culture in the Asia Pacific Region”, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 9(3), September, pp. 213-223 Toh, R.S., Khan, H. and Lim, K. (2001), “Singapore’s Tourism Industry”, Hotel And Restaurant Administration Quarterly, pp. 42-49 Read More