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Michelle S. Reyes July 23, 2020

Assessment Activity A: Reflection Paper 1
MBA212030 G26

CULTURAL HERITAGE

There are two classes of Heritage Tourism, first is cultural heritage with two branches, the fixed
heritage and unfixed heritage, and second is nature heritage. Tangible and intangible heritage is
subject to fixed heritage. Tangible heritage is the objects, places, or buildings that are seen and
touched it can be moved and not.  The intangible cultures are those ancient songs, dances, and
traditions that the first generations passed on to the new generations. It is difficult to preserve
two classes of heritage, whether it is tangible or intangible. (Halamy & Kibat, 2020)

Just like an earthquake in Bohol and Cebu that destroyed one of the chocolate hills and ten old
churches also considered as national heritage treasures. The people there are asking for such
churches to be restored. It takes a long time to repair, and even if it is restored, it can’t be back to
the original structure. (CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis Group & CATDAT and Earthquake,
2020) That is why it is very difficult to maintain and preserve heritage tourism because not only
people can ruin it but also natural disasters that cannot be controlled by anyone in charge of the
area. The preservation of Intangible heritage is also difficult such as oral history that is now
being ignored, so the Ministry of Tourism has taken the initiative, together with the Ministry of
Information, Communication and Culture, and other agencies. They placed the oral collection in
places where people were interested to go such as the Cultural Village and museum. This is
their way of keeping people informed about their history. (Halamy & Kibat, 2020)

As of now the biggest issue of heritage tourism is the covid19 pandemic. 89% of world heritage
has already closed due to this pandemic. UNESCO is working hard to save them. What they did
was solicit the reactions or experiences of the affected heritage tourism in each country, through
this, they will have an idea of what they will do so that heritage tourism does not eventually
collapse. (Ottone, 2020) Here in the Philippines someone responded to UNESCO, it is the Center
for Conservation of Cultural Property and the Environment in the Tropics (CCCPET) their focus
is the Quarantine practices of Bontoc indigenous communities during chono festival they have
what they called Te-re or tengao it is forced rest day during their festival. So far UNESCO have
created a virtual tour that will show people some world heritage sites in different parts of the
world even if they are just at home. It is their way to still promote tourism sites even in the midst
of this crisis. ("UNESCO - Living heritage experience and COVID-19 pandemic", 2020)

If everyone appreciates heritage tourism by enjoying government-sponsored programs even now

in times of pandemic, heritage tourism will survive.
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Word Count: 444 words

References:

CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis Group & CATDAT and Earthquake. (2020). Philippines
(Bohol) Earthquake. Report.com.
Halamy, S., & Kibat, S. (2020). Balancing Development and Sustainability in Tourism
Destinations (pp. 32-38). Singapore: Springer.
Ottone, E. (2020). UNESCO supports culture and heritage during COVID-19 shutdown.
Retrieved 3 August 2020, from https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-supports-culture-and-
heritage-during-covid-19-shutdown
UNESCO - Living heritage experience and COVID-19 pandemic. (2020). Retrieved 3 August
2020, from https://ich.unesco.org/en/living-heritage-experience-and-covid-19-pandemic-
01124?id=00088