It has been four years since George Town was placed along with
Malacca on the Unesco World Heritage Site List. A question worth asking
now is, how has the listing impacted the local economy, surrounding area
and community?
Photograph by Daniel Lee
The most obvious place to start when assessing the impact that the
Unesco World Heritage Site (WHS) listing has had on George Town over the
last four years is to look at the change in the number and type of
tourists visiting sites in the city. We decided to visit representatives
from a few sites to ask for their views. Khoo Kongsi is a very popular tourist site in George Town, prized for its beautiful and highly ornamented architecture as a Chinese clan house. Its representative, Cheah, commented that in general, the WHS listing had had little impact on its annual number of visitors.
“The flow of visitors has been fairly consistent at around 6,000
visitors during non-peak months, and around 9,000 visitors during peak
months.”
He also noted that Khoo Kongsi experienced an annual visitor increase of
15% even prior to the listing, and there was no noticeable or
significant change since the listing.
The Pinang Peranakan Mansion provided a different take. The mansion was
restored and opened to the public in 2004 but it only received greater
attention in recent years. According to administrative officer Raymond
Yeoh, the number of tourists nearly doubled after the WHS listing in
2008.
Chin Poh Chin, the president of the Penang Tourist Guides Association
(PTGA), posited that the reason for the increase could be attributed to
the fact that Peranakan culture is unique to Penang. She finds that
tourists these days are knowledgeable and do a lot of research prior to
coming to a country to visit.
Considering Chin’s opinion, it can therefore be inferred that some
tourists prefer to visit tourist sites that are unique to the country.
The data, too, supports such a view, indicating that there has been a
significant increase in tourists from China, Singapore and Indonesia
from 2006 to 2011 (see table).
While it is possible that the listing had some influence on the rise in
tourist arrivals, Yeoh pointed out that the increase could also be
attributed to another factor: the recent drama productions centred on
Peranakan culture. He gestured to the banners that were strategically
placed at the main entrance of the mansion. Hit drama productions such
as the awardwinning film “Road to Dawn” (夜明) (2007), “Little Nyonya”
(小娘惹) (2008) and “The Iron Lady” (女頭家) (2009) were produced on the site
itself.
The mansion has also attracted attention from international media such
as the Amazing Race and the BBC. Hence, there is a possibility that
tourists were also intrigued and visited these sites for this reason.
A serious weakness in the finding is the dearth of substantive data
about the demographics of those who visit tourist sites. This is largely
due to the fact that data tabulation at tourist sites is only kept
through ticketing sales. As such, more surveys need to be conducted to
see where visitors come from.
Tourist arrivals by country in Penang, 2006-2010
Source: Immigration Department of Penang.
What’s more, many of the other prominent sites in George Town lack
significant data primarily because the management does not keep tabs on
tourist flow. They do not charge or issue tickets and, as such, it is
difficult to keep track of the volume of daily visitors. Hence, not only
is it difficult to analyse where these tourists are coming from, it is
equally difficult to ascertain the increase in number of tourists since
the heritage listing in 2008.
Spillover effects
Another way to study the impact of the listing is to look at spillover effects on the surrounding area. One need not look far to see the dramatic change in the local economy at large.
The more obvious change is the escalating prices of pre-war houses.
The cost of some of these has already reached RM2,000 per square foot [1], prices that are associated with high-end luxury condominiums in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
A number of these pre-war buildings have been refurbished and
restored to their former glory. To date, George Town has seen
approximately 70 pre-war buildings being restored, with 428 more
restoration applications that have been sent to the MPPP [2]. Many of them have been restored and revamped into boutique hotels and food & beverage outlets.
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion
Photograph by George Town Festival
Photograph by George Town Festival
George Town has seen no fewer than 12 boutique hotels set up in the
core zone since the Unesco listing, and will see an additional three
hotels opening in the coming months [3].
A number of owners have cited “the rising heritage trend” as a big
influence for starting up their respective hotels, but did not cite the
Unesco listing in particular as their primary reason for doing so.
For the Cheong Fatt Tze Boutique Homestay, which began operations
much earlier than the heritage listing, owner Loh-Lim Lin Lee noted that
there was a significant change in the number of tourists who visited
the heritage hotel after George Town was awarded the listing in 2008.
“Despite the increase in tourists and since Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion
is a heritage hotel, the listing did not change the type of tourists who
are cultural travellers.”
However, it is not looking well for all parties. Teoh from Cosmorama
Sports Equipment and Stationery provided a different view on the
skyrocketing property price and the heritage trend.
“People have been moving away because the rent is too high. A lot of
shops have to close. I see fewer customers now. A lot of people are
moving away because of the heritage status. Nobody will be coming back
again.”
In addition to those sentiments, some fear the rise of
pseudo-heritage preservation in light of the new restoration projects.
This is largely because the new restoration projects may or may not
preserve the traditional trades and cultures of doing business.
Room for improvement
Even though it has been four years since the listing, PTGA’s Chin feels that the local community has not been engaged enough. “Very frankly, I think the only benefit to George Town is the increase in property prices. And even then, it does not benefit everyone.
Photograph by Daniel Lee
“You can talk to the locals. Yes, they understand that there is some
heritage hoo-ha but beyond that they don’t understand the significance
of Unesco. How many people really know where the core zone and the
buffer zone actually are? There is no actual marking at the site.”
To Chin, the upkeep of many tourist sites is quite poor at the
moment, possibly stemming from the fact that there is no cover charge
for the tourist destinations. As such, facilities such as public toilets
are not properly maintained.
“Some tourists even comment on why many of the sites in Penang are
free, unlike tourist sites in other countries. Tourists, especially
foreign ones, are actually very willing to pay!”
Conclusion
To echo the sentiments that Chin raised, the benefits of the WHS listing are not very apparent, aside from the obvious rise in property prices. It has been relatively difficult to ascertain the flow of domestic and international tourists to specific tourist sites largely because very few tourist sites keep tabs on the tourists.
Article retrieved from:
Yeoh, A. & Ling, N.H. (2012). The Mixed Impact of Heritage Listing. Penang Monthly, (10.12).
References:
[1] J. Wong, “Skyrocketing shophouses,” The Star, March 21, 2012, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/21/metrobiz/10824184&sec=metrobiz
[2] B. Cheah, X.J. Oon, “Only 3.8% pre-war buildings owned by foreigners,” The Sun Daily, June 19, 2012, www.thesundaily.my/news/410828
[3] D. Tan, “Heritage hotels in the heart of Penang,” The Star, May 9, 2012, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/5/9/metrobiz/11236253&sec=metrobiz
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