Changes that have been brought about by the growth of tourism

Tourism growth in Taiwan

Last year, in terms of tourism growth, Taiwan’s tourism grew faster than anywhere else in Asia. It is reported that the number of visitors came to Taiwan in 2009 was at 4.395 billion which was a 14% increase as compared to year 2008. This shows that Taiwan’s tourism industry is growing rapidly despite recession.

According to Taiwan Tourism Bureau, their plan’s aim is to attract 4.8 million tourists in 2010. On November 26 2010, Taiwan tourist arrivals reached 5 million! This means it exceeds its target! And the tourist arrival for this year is expected to reach 5.4 million. This clearly shows that tourism industry in Taiwan is growing at an astounding rate!

With the continuous rapid growth of tourism in Taiwan, there have been lots of changes brought to the country. One of the changes is the technological advancement on infrastructures, transportation and communication systems due to the influx of tourists. For example, more facilities, hotels, resorts, transportations are developed and built for tourism. This can benefit both the tourists and locals. However, the negative side is there is a need to clear lands and use resources for these tourism developments.

As for the indigenous people, tourism has also brought numerous changes for them. In the past, agriculture is their source of income. However, with tourism, it provides them with alternative ways of earning money such as selling tribal carvings to tourists. This shows that tourism may change their ways of live. 

Positive impacts caused by the growth of tourism

Job Creation

The growth of tourism has created numerous jobs opportunities and increases the household incomes for the locals such as the indigenous people in Taiwan. Over the years, ecotourism and cultural tourism has gain tremendously popularity in the world. As most indigenous areas are surrounded by natural beauty in Taiwan, it’s a great opportunity to mix both of this tourism to gain economic profits. For example, in Hualien, whale-watching tours from Shihtiping and white-water rafting tours from Rueisuei are both operated by local aborigines and sometimes include packages where tourists are invited to nearby villages for dinner and other activities. This example shows that jobs are created for the locals and thus this will help to contribute to the local economy.

Preservation of Local Culture

Today, many indigenous people in Taiwan are moving away from their homeland on mountain or rural villages to cities in search of better work and educational opportunities. Hence, this will slowly lead to the loss of culture if the trend still continues to rise. To tackle this problem, the government build tourist attractions to preserve and sustain the local aboriginal culture and also invited the locals to work in these attractions. For example, the government established Taiwan Indigenous Cultural Park in Pintung County in 1987 so as to preserve the aboriginal culture and resources. The park showcases 9 aboriginal tribes and their characteristics. This example shows that the government spend money to preserve the aboriginal culture and use the culture as tourist attractions to showcase the rich culture of Taiwan. Hence, not only the aboriginal culture is preserved and sustained, the local aborigines have jobs too.  

Negative impacts caused by the growth of tourism

Loss of Cultural Identity

As more tourists are coming to Taiwan to learn and experience the local aboriginal culture, it may exceeds the carrying capacity of the destination, hence leading to environmental degradation Furthermore, these tourists may not practice responsible travel at the destination. At the same time, the local aborigines, especially the younger generations may get influence by the tourists easily because they are not highly educated and they may adopt the foreign culture as they think it is better and cooler than their own culture. In addition, the local aborigines need to change their ways of live because of tourism development. For example, instead of farming to earn income, they now earn income by either selling souvenirs such as handicrafts or performing at cultural attractions etc. Thus, this may ultimately leads to the change or even loss of local cultural identity and values in the long run.