Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Effect of Tourism

Cultural changes

The positive impact tourism had brought for Taiwan in term of culture is that the government has put in effort to preserve the rich culture of Taiwan indigenous group. They had set up tourists attractions such as the Taiwan Indigenous Cultural Park and Formasa Aboriginal Cultural Village. These 2 attractions showcase the lifestyle and spirits of the indigenous group in Taiwan. Cultural performances are also put up for the tourists. This helps to ensure that the culture of these groups of people will not be forgotten and also ensure that tourists do not venture into the area of indigenous group and disrupt their lives.

However, by showcasing the unique culture of these groups of people would also means that cultural significance of the indigenous group would be lost. The culture had now been commoditised into goods for tourists to buy.

Society change

Taiwan is known to be a manufacturing country with many companies base their production plant there, such as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, which is one of the main income generators for the country revenue. However, with the increase in tourism in Taiwan, it will boost the service industry, and turning it to also be one of the major generators for Taiwan economy. The industry thus will create more job opportunities in the country for the people, thus reducing the unemployment rate in the society.

Economic changes

With the growth of tourism in Taiwan, the country is earning more money from the tourism receipts. According to the tourism bureau of Taiwan, statistics shows that the tourism receipts had increase gradually through the years, the tourism receipt in 2006 is US$5.1M, 2007 is US$5.2M and by 2008, tourism receipts has break the record of all time, $5.9M. With the increase in revenue of the country through tourism, money earned could have been used to help in preserving the culture and heritage of Taiwan.Money earn would also improve the infrastructure of the country to accommodate more tourists. The government is opening up more roads within the mountainous area which benefit locals and tourist which shortened their time for travelling.

Environmental changes

The government had mark out various natural areas and make it a national park, such as Yangmingshan National Park and Taroka National Park. This helps to preserve the natural environment of the place. Specific routes would have mark out for tourists to travel along, thus they would not venture into the forest and affect the flora and fauna in there. Visitors centres are also set up to introduce the place tourists and also educate them to be responsible visitors on the national park.

However, the irony within the national park is that accommodations were built for tourists to stay in. For example, Xongxue Lodge in Taroka National Park is located at an altitude of over 3000m. This would affect the nature of the place with people moving in and out more frequently. The animals’ habits will be affects and tree would have been chopped in the process. I feel that, in the eye of the developer and government, the temptation of earning more tourism receipts is still far more important and conserving the environment.


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