Analyse the change brought by the growth of tourism in Taiwan

The number of tourist arrivals in Taiwan hit the peak of more than 5.4 million this year, with the 5 millionth visitor expected to arrive in 27 November 2010. With the growth of tourism in Taiwan, more tourism receipts are generated as more tourists are visiting. These tourists would eat, sleep and play in Taiwan which would pump money into their country’s economy. Additional hospitality jobs would be created to support the tourism structure as the demand for accommodation and other activities increases, thus reducing unemployment in Taiwan.

Tourism Growth graph

Revitalisation of culture

The growth of tourism revitalise the culture of the indigenous people as the tourists demands to see the local culture of Taiwan, pressurising the government to aid the aborigines in preserving and displaying their culture to the tourists. With the government intervention to preserve the indigenous culture, aid would be provided to these groups, Taiwanese youth would get the chance to study the aborigines and the aborigines would get their chance at education. However the government’s involvement is a double edge sword as these indigenous youth who receive public education might lose their interest in their aboriginal roots and fancy the modern popular cultures.

Loss of indigenous identity and values

Tourist wanting to view the aboriginal culture may cause the loss of indigenous identity and values when the indigenous people’s performances becomes standardised and staged just for the benefit of entertaining the tourists. The cultural essence is lost when the cultural performances are adaption to meet tourist demands such as the length of performance, their traditional dance could take the whole night to perform but due to the time constrain in the tourist travel plans, and the indigenous people would have to shorten their performance to accommodate the tourists. Another effect is on their cultural costumes, due to the tourists demanding for rich cultural performances, there would be a frequent change of costumes, leading to the aborigines coming up with new and more colourful costumes which are not authentic to their culture.

When tourist interacts with the indigenous people, they might get influenced by the the foreign mindset, habits and dressing such that they would prefer leaving the tribe for a better life in the cities. Taiwanese aborigines are approaching a cultural crisis whereby young people from the villages are venturing into the urban areas in search of work and study opportunities, which made it difficult to pass on languages, traditions and history, leading to further deterioration of their culture.

Due to tourist initial demand for phototaking with the aborigines, most destination, including Taiwan have either rest out costumes or provide it free for tourist to wear and capture the moment. These costumes provided may be tweaked to be more colourful to look more attractive in the photos, thus it may not be authentic and can damage the culture when the aborigines decides to wear those instead as well.

Force for peace

Tourism works as a force for peace between Taiwan and China. The China government considers Taiwan as part of its country therefore tourists from China are reckoned to be domestic tourists. Both domestic and international tourist demand for direct flights between the two countries and the economical decision was made to start the first direct journeys between China and Taiwan in 60 years, marking a new era in relations between the rivals. That means that tourists will no longer be required to transfer flights at a third destination which is usually Hong Kong or Macau, before proceeding into the two countries. With domestic tourism increasing sharply after the availability of direct flights, there is hope that it would improve Taiwan's waning economy.

Physical influences are causing social stress

Physical influences are causing social stress with the growth of tourism. With the increase of tourist, conflict of resource use would occur in Taiwan. Taking money as an example, the government would have to decide whether to use the funds to educate the aboriginal children or building of tourist attractions which are more profitable. Conflict of traditional land-uses would arise which forces the government have to make a choice between the development of land for tourist facilities or infrastructure such as the Taiwan 101, or use it for local traditional use for such as agriculture. Cultural deterioration such as vandalism, littering and illegal removal of cultural heritage items would be rampant especially if the venue exceeds its carrying capacity when there is an influx of tourists.

Ethical issues : Prostitution

Geisha houses and brothels had been approved to operate in certain regions of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era. Eventually the geishas became hostesses and in late 1950s, went into prostitution for financial reasons out of filial piety to support their parents. The Japanese recruited and intimidated many Taiwanese females into serving as comfort women during the war. After the defeat of Japan, the Chinese government banned hostesses and prostitutes, deeming prostitution as an immoral phenomenon linked to the Japanese. In any destination, there would be tourist demanding for sex and once tourism grows, the demand would increase, pushing the supply up too.

Under existing regulations, prostitutes face three days in jail or a fine of roughly $980 once caught providing sexual services, whereas their clients could go off scot free. However recently in 24 June 2009, Taiwan began legalizing prostitution, making the island the latest place in the world to permit the world's oldest occupation. Though there is no official statistics for the size of Taiwan's sex industry, observers approximate it to involve hundreds of thousands of people and generates annual revenues of up to 60 billion Taiwan dollars. Now with the legalisation of prostitution, it gives tourist the perception of Taiwan as a possible sex destination and with the demand for it, more people would get into this messy industry for the sake of earning the money.

Ethical issues: Crime

The crime rate in Taiwan is moderately low with theft being the most common form of criminal activity at 14.35 per 100,000 people. However foreigners, have fallen victim to residential burglaries, thefts and purse snatching by thieves on motorcycles which occurs more frequently in the southern and central areas. This is due to the growth of tourism because tourists have a higher purchasing power and are known to carry more valuables compared to the locals. Thus locals who have been persuaded by greed would target the tourists to get the quick cash.

The banner warns people to becareful of theives and happy shopping. Thus this banner found at one of the night market when I was in Taiwan, substantiates my point of theft being the more common form of crime.