Challenges In Managing Heritage Tourism Destinations

The term heritage tourism has been increasingly used to align to a number of phenomena ranging from art and architecture of historical sites or buildings to culture, religion, history and natural beauty (Prentice 1993). Heritage is an essential part of the culture of individuals upon which the sense of belonging within a nation is built. In the same vein Macdonald (2006, p. 11) states heritage is a “material testimony of identity” which could be interpreted as a substantial collective identity by the help of a continuous and persistent set of practices. However, heritage tourism cannot be put down to just the tangible assets of the past. Intangible heritage is present within the tangible and material remains of the past in terms of spiritual interpretation and symbolic meanings. Therefore, heritage tourism can be better viewed as a tangible attraction as well as socio-psychological identity of the community.

This essay is primarily focused on the management challenges of World heritage Sites from different continents. Machu Picchu in Peru, Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Maasai Mara in Kenya are the three chosen destinations for the study. Each destination is affected in various ways and brings about specific problems unique to the location and the type of conservation required. The common factor among the destinations is the increase in the number of tourists that has led to a severe strain on achieving sustainable tourism.

Machu Picchu is a 15th century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 2430-metre mountain ridge. The influx of tourists has been on a considerable rise in the last few years and the management faces several challenges to maintain the upkeep of the world heritage site. The number of tourists has considerably increased from around 400,000 in 2000 to about 1,600,000 by 2018 (Perutelegragh.com). This increase threatens the cultural authenticity and ecological integrity of the World Heritage Site and the surrounding areas, including the Inca Trail. Machu Picchu has been ranked as one of the most rapidly deteriorating WHS because of threats arising from unregulated use, insufficient planning and a lack of adequate monitoring mechanisms (Hawkins, Chang, & Warnes, 2009).

There are a variety of economic, social and environmental challenges associated with tourism management in and around Machu Picchu. The major cause for concern is the extremely fragile ecosystem. Damages to cloud forests on the mountain slopes of the site are believed, by scientists working with Peru’s Institute of Natural Resources, to be due to the noise from helicopters and other vehicular traffic (Collyns, 2006). The continuous growth of human settlements with the ever growing tourism infrastructure threatens to obstruct the migration corridor of various animals that are considered endangered by the World Conservation Union (Peyton, 1980).

Another challenge faced is the limited accessibility to the site. Even with an ever-increasing tourist influx the inadequate transport system to the remote location of the site has hindered tourist development (O’Hare & Barrett, 1999). The only mode of transport to get to Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu, is by 4 hour train ride from the city of Cusco. In a bid to increase tourism the Peruvian company Inkaterra was granted permission to open a helicopter service from Cusco to Aguas Calientes but the service was later stopped due to complaints from environmentalists and archaeologists (O’Hare & Barrett, 1999).

The biggest problem faced by the local people is the fear of losing out on their local culture to the push for increased tourism activity. A Peruvian movement known as incanismo has raised concerns on the use of sites such as Machu Picchu as the Andean people believe the sanctity of the sites are threatened by international tourism (Berghe & Ochoa, 2000). The need to satisfy tourist demands has also brought about a concept of staged authenticity due to which the life and culture of the Peruvian people is slowly changing.

The susceptibility of the site to frequent landslides also raises major concerns of its safety and upkeep. These slides mainly affect the tourist paths or the access roads but avoiding the archaeological site itself. A study analysed by (Klimeš, 2013) states that there were about 59 slides since 1963 and 29 of those post 2000. The authors consider that future slides would lead to damages to the site.

Angkor Wat, a World Heritage Site in Cambodia, was first built as a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu by king Suryavarman II. However its religious practices changed to Buddhism under Jayavarman VII in the late twentieth century. Cambodia has gone through significant destruction in the last few decades of the twentieth century and what stands today at Angkor Wat is a shadow of its actual self. The status of World Heritage Site was inscribed on the list in 1992. And since then the increase in the number of tourists has been quite astronomical at 10000% in just over a decade (Winter, 2008).

The major concern for local communities living around the site has been the restricted use of their ancestral properties either for farming or grazing sheep. They were never briefed about the significance of the area surrounding the site and thus its management based on heritage values had severe consequences for the locals (Gillespie, 2009). There has been resentment among the locals as well as the management and these issues left unresolved poses a real threat to the long-term protection of the monument, for which restrictions were primarily created. The International Coordinating Committee, that was created and tasked with a sole purpose of conservation, had overlooked uncontrolled development in its early years and focused primarily on the archaeology and restoration of the site. This led to major deficiencies in infrastructure and human resources. This has led Siem Reap into an enclave of wealth and development whereas the majority of the country suffers in rural poverty.

The influx of tourists has caused a threat to the long term survival of Angkor Wat. In 1994, the number of international visitors to the site was around 8000 and by 2005 the number has been a staggering 830,000. This rise was expected due to the increase in the prestige of Angkor Wat and its central location in South East Asia. Siem Reap has an acute water shortage in the last few years and research says that irreparable damage could threaten the foundations and structural integrity of Angkor Wat as its moat lost more than 10 million litres of water during this year’s drought alone (The Phnom Penh Post, 09.09.19).

Imperfections in the legal framework is undermining the potential of the protection process. Franscesco Bandarin, director of UNESCO in 2005, said that there are a number of frailties in the existing framework and the most important being a lack of appropriate enforcement and remedial regulations (Gillespie, 2009). The effectiveness of management is called to question when there isn’t any mandatory provisions for enforcing regulations. In Cambodian law, Article 44 states that there be ‘fair and just’ compensation provision but the tailored local regulatory provisions seem to overlook any compensation procedure and is flawed for residents and managers alike (Gillespie, 2009). It ends up that the protection of the site is met but it weakens the existing framework by inadequately addressing local resident issues.

Maasai Mara National Reserve is a large area of preserved savannah wilderness in southwestern Kenya, along the Tanzanian border. It is widely popular for witnessing the annual Wildebeest migration. The area nearby is occupied by villages of the Maasai people native of Tanzania. The African Tourism sector was initially dominated by safari’s focused on wildlife and wilderness but over the years a potential for stand-alone cultural based tourism was recognized. Cultural tourism helps to diversify the tourism industry and also provide economic and rural development (Melubo & Carr, 2019). There are significant factors limiting indigenous cultural tourism in the area but in addition the reduction in wildlife cover seems to put a burden on the quality of the safari.

Tourism and conservation have deprived Maasai people of their pasture lands as the cultural landscapes have favoured conservationists, tour operators and hunting outfitters. The Maasai people are displaced from their ancestral lands and are also worried that it would happen in the future (Goldman, 2011). However investors are given permission to build hotels and other facilities for tourists. According to Snyder and Sulle (2011) a majority of the Maasai people in the North of Tanzania have lost trust in any conservation policy as this term has been used to take away their lands and water sources. One case in particular is the Loliondo in Ngorongoro in which the community have lost major parts of their lands to foreigners who initially came in as tourists but later became investors who pushed the locals away with the help of the Government (Gardner, 2016).

Kenya adopted new land use policies at the start of the decade which provided great incentives like tax exemptions and subsidized facilities and equipment to encourage the locals to switch to agriculture. This move encouraged people to settle down in group ranches adjacent to the Maasai Mara Natural Reserve that was in migration corridors or dispersal areas. The effect of these policies was that wildlife was greatly affected in their space for search of water and food (Larkin, 2014). An increase in agriculture in turn reduced lands available for grazing of livestock. This forced the Maasai to illegally venture into the Protected area to feed their cattle and thus drastically reduced grazing land for wildlife and causing a human wildlife conflict. Approximately 50-60% of animals in the protected area are expected to be in dispersal areas at any given time and this increases the risk in competition with local settlements (Larkin, 2014). Human conflicts with wildlife would not only result in the loss of wildlife species but also affect the tourism sector in the country and the livelihood of a large group of people. Larkin (2014) argues that wildlife population in Kenya has declined between 50% and 80% in the last 30 years.

The effect of drought on tourism in Kenya has been quite significant in the last few years. Droughts reduce the attractiveness of natural parks because of a loss in wildlife, desertification and other disasters that in turn reduce tourist numbers (Scott, Jones, & Konopek, 2007). Droughts limit traditional livelihood activities such as farming and livestock keeping and thus cultural tourism is a major source of income. Cultural tourism benefits a majority of Maasai people because of the opportunity of selling cultural tourist products made in the local area. Raw materials for products such as mats and baskets are usually found in swamps and during times of drought the quality of the product made isn’t great or fake materials like plastic is used for its making and thus the former results in inadequate supply of products and the latter ensures quality products aren’t made (Lwoga & Asubisye, 2018).

This essay revealed that there are a number of challenges involved in individual destinations. The issues discussed on Maasai Mara are focused on damages to site due to the nature of the site, limited transport facilities to access the site and a loss of local culture because of the importance on tourism demand. In contrast Angkor wat faces problems such as over tourism due to its easy access, restrictions on property use by the local residents near the site and imperfections in the legal framework of the government. Maasai Mara though is a unique case where the Maasai people are deprived of their lands for development of tourism, the loss in wildlife numbers are quite astronomical and the chief factor being available land utilised for agriculture and the effect of drought on the tourism sector in the area. Managing destinations have unique challenges based on individual limitations and better planning could prevent future complications and also provide the desired results of all parties concerned.