Step 3: The Advisory Bodies
3.4 Cost of living
3.4.1 Changes
Section 1.6 argues the associations between tour- ism and an increase in living costs. Section 3.4.1
examines this point more specifically on WHSs.
It is suggested by researchers that tourism can increase local people’s cost of living (e.g. Choi and Murray, 2010). In principle, the higher the demands become, the higher the prices of prod- ucts become. Both tourism development and WH status can enhance the popularity of the sites, and it can lead to higher cost of living for local people living in or around WHSs. Recently, anti-tourism movements have become conspicu- ous at tourist destinations, mainly in the west, and these destinations include WHSs and desti- nations holding a WHS. Typical examples of such movements are anti-tourism marches held in 2017 in Venice (Venice and its Lagoon (cul- tural WHS)) and Barcelona, which boasts two cultural WHSs (Works of Antoni Gaudí and Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona). Some local people living in such popular tourist destinations with WH status must be fed up with the inflow of visitors and suffer negative tourism impacts, including an increase in the cost of living.
3.4.2 Local people’s views
Local people’s views towards the changes in the cost of living at WHSs after WHS designation have been studied by researchers. Sue and Wall’s (2014) survey examines this theme at WHS Mutianyu, and 61% of the respondents agree with the statement, ‘Tourism development leads to the increase of local prices’; whilst 22% disagree with it. This result fits the finding from the sur- vey at WHS Ha Long Bay (Long, 2012): overall, local inhabitants agree with the statement, ‘The prices of many goods and services in Ha Long Bay have increased because of tourism.’ Vareiro et al.’s (2013) research on WHS Guimarães shows that almost 50% of local people involved in their survey think that tourism has increased prices of local products; whilst Jimura’s (2007a) resident survey in and around WHS Ogimachi reveals that 85.3% of the respondents feel that the cost of living has not changed since WHS designation. In WHS Saltaire, 52% of the re- spondents think that the cost of living has in- creased after WHS listing, although 47.3%
think that it has not. From these studies, it could be stated that an increase in the cost of living does not always occur in and around WHSs. The author assumes that the differences in local
communities’ views towards the changes in the cost of living among three WHSs in China, Ja- pan and the UK stem mainly from the dissimilar- ities in the historical inflation rates between these three countries. In the past 20 years, over- all, the inflation rates of China and the UK have been much higher than those of Japan.
In summary, it could be stated that like many tourist destinations, WHSs may also ex- perience an increase in the cost of living. In the case of WHSs examined in Section 3.4, howev- er, an increase in the cost of living does not seem to be common to all of these WHSs and does not appear to be obvious. Hence, the im- pact of tourism after WHS listing and WH sta- tus on the increase in the cost of living seems to be limited.
4 Conclusion
The economic impacts of WHS listing should be examined at international, national, regional, local and individual levels to achieve comprehen- sive understanding. Furthermore, such impacts should be discussed along with the economic impacts of tourism, because most WHSs are pop- ular tourist destinations or visitor attractions.
There is no automatic funding for being a WHS.
Theoretically, every WHS can seek financial support from the WHF. However, the WH Com- mittee assigns the funds in accordance with necessity and the most endangered WHSs are prioritized.
Tourism can diversify local businesses and/
or strengthen the local economy, and this effect can be advanced by having WH status. Tourism can be a new main industry for an area where its traditional main industries have been declin- ing. Regarding this, the impact of WHS inscrip- tion can be immense if the destinations are obscure among visitors before WHS designa- tion, relatively small and/or situated in a remote area. WH status and tourism can also increase employment opportunities for local residents, including women and elderly people. The nega- tive characteristics of tourism-related jobs, such as part-time or seasonal, tend to be criticized;
however, these characteristics could fit the life- style and working hours these people may prefer.
Additionally, WH status may encourage young people to return to their home town as employ- ment opportunities can be increased thanks to WH status.
There is also a downside in the economic im- pact of WHS designation in relation to tourism.
Case Study: Economic Impacts of Tourism on Natural WHSs in Africa
Kilimanjaro National Park is a natural WHS located in Tanzania. Mount Kilimanjaro is a key attraction factor of the WHS. Tourism activities at the national park, such as trekking and hiking, generate around US$50 million revenue annually. The WHS’s revenue through tourism supports local people’s life finan- cially, as many work as guides, cooks or porters. Moreover, a considerable amount of the tourism revenue is spent to improve the living standards of local people residing near the mountain. In fact, local people in this area enjoy the highest school enrolment rate and adult literacy rate in Tanzania.
This means that, in and around the WHS, the amount of leakage of tourism revenue is relatively low and tourism at the WHS makes a fair contribution to poverty alleviation in local communities.
On the contrary, the situation of Okavango Delta, natural WHS in Botswana, seems to be less ideal. The WHS is home to more than 100,000 people; however, they have been suffering from limited employment opportunities, poor harvests and low incomes. The national government has been keen to develop tourism, and nowadays it is the country’s second-largest industry. However, tourism at the WHS is seen as enclave tourism; hence, benefits of tourism for local communities are limited. For in- stance, most tourists arrive at the Maun airport and come directly to accommodation facilities in the Delta by air or road. They do not spend much money in the villages of the Delta. Moreover, most tour- ism services and facilities are owned by foreign companies, and this signifies that the amount of leak- age of tourism revenue is relatively high. In addition, tourism creates more employment opportunities for local people; however, these jobs tend to be low-skilled and low-paid, including maids and drivers.
Generally, managerial posts with better salaries are occupied by foreign workers from the west or South Africa.
(Sources: Mbaiwa, 2003; World Bank, 2013)
Tourism development after WHS listing can be too fast and/or too vast for local communities and a WHS to cope with. Furthermore, local government and organizations related to tour- ism must develop services and facilities to meet visitors’ needs and to accommodate an in- creased number of visitors. Consequently, the local economy may rely greatly on tourism, and the services and facilities they develop can become an economic burden. Tourism can be affected by external factors beyond the control of WHSs or tourist destinations owning a WHS.
This implies that tourism-related businesses at WHSs can be negatively influenced by global or national economic downturns, changes in for- eign exchange rates, terrorism or natural disas- ters. The influx of outsiders facilitated by WHS inscription may result in limited positive impacts on employment opportunities for local commu- nities and on government and household in- come. Moreover, if many local businesses are owned and managed by outsiders, it could lead to leakages of tourism income. Local communi- ties at WHSs might struggle with an increase in the cost of living, although the impact of WH status and tourism after WHS listing on this matter seems to be limited.
Local people’s views of various economic changes in and around WHSs are discussed through several studies in Section 3. Overall, local communities deem that WH status and tourism since WHS listing have created new busi- nesses and changed existing ones; however, such businesses are mainly for the needs of visitors
rather than local residents. Local inhabitants tend to feel that employment opportunities in and around WHSs have not changed or have somewhat increased, especially in tourism- related businesses, whilst local specialists such as the tourism department of local government are likely to have a more positive outlook. WH status and tourism after WHS designation could also give women and elderly people more job oppor- tunities that suit their needs. WH status also has an ability to encourage young people’s home- coming, since the status could lead to more job opportunities and allow them to realize the val- ue of their home town. Hence it is natural that this inclination is more salient in the WHS than its surrounding areas. In and around WHSs, lo- cal people who are engaged in tourism-related businesses can obtain economic benefits of tour- ism through an increase in their income, al- though other people do not seem to recognize the financial advantages they receive thanks to WH status and/or tourism after WHS designa- tion. Said differently, indirect economic benefits such as public investment in local facilities would be difficult for local people to acknowl- edge. This trend seems to be common to most WHSs and tourist destinations, and there would not be distinctive differences in this inclination between the east and the west.
The author proposes a model that eluci- dates the important interrelationships among WH status, tourism, and local people’s views to- wards economic changes in local communities (Fig. 6.2).
WH Status Tourism
Extrinsic Factors Impacts
Impacts
Views towards Economic Changes
Intrinsic Factors Economic Changes in Local Community Impacts
Local Community
Each Local Resident Views towards Economic Changes
Fig. 6.2. WH status, tourism and local people’s views towards economic changes. (From: the author)
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7
The Sociocultural Impacts of World Heritage Site Designation on Local Communities
1 Sociocultural Impacts of Tourism 1.1 Introduction
The sociocultural aspect of the triple bottom line of sustainability and tourism development is
discussed in Section 1.3 of Chapter 3. Section 1 explores the sociocultural impacts of tourism on local communities and sociocultural changes in local communities instigated by tourism. Social impacts of tourism include changes in individual and collective value systems, behaviour patterns,
community structures, lifestyle and quality of life (Hall, 1995). In local people’s everyday lives, changes may occur in traffic, shopping, privacy and overcrowding. ‘Culture’ is difficult to define since it encompasses numerous complex ideas (Cohen, 2009) and is used in many different contexts (Nash, 1996). For example, Nash (1996), an anthropologist, claims that culture signifies actions of human beings, whilst Giddens (1989), a sociologist, states that culture consists of people’s way of life. The term ‘way of life’ is also referred to by Griffin (2002) and he argues that culture represents the way of life, benefits and values of a certain group of people. There are also more informative definitions of culture.
According to Yosso (2005, p. 75), ‘culture refers to behaviors and values that are learned, shared, and exhibited by a group of people. Culture is also evidenced in material and nonmaterial pro- ductions of a people.’ This definition is in the context of her study on race and education.
As stated by Zald (1996), a sociologist, and van Gorp (2007), whose areas of expertise involve media studies, culture refers to an organized series of beliefs, codes, myths, stereotypes, val- ues, norms and frames that are shared in the collective memory of a group or society. As seen from the above, social and cultural matters are intimately connected. Therefore this book adopts the term ‘sociocultural’ impacts of tourism.
Sections 1.2–1.10 explain the primary sociocul- tural impacts of tourism.
1.2 Quality of life and social