Impacts

Introduction

Cultural heritage sites are important tourist attractions for many tourism-oriented countries worldwide. As for Sarawak in Borneo, the traditional longhouses have been one of the key selling points of the in-bound tour operators nationwide and worldwide. Many tourists go to Sarawak to gain the unique experiences with these longhouses. 

Economic

With the presence of World Music Festival happening in July, visitors whom are keen in staying in the longhouses during that period had to make advance booking. The booking must be done as early as one year before the event to secure a stay in the longhouse. Furthermore inhabitant of Sarawak could sell their handicraft product to the visitors. This would result in a direct economic benefit for the locals at cultural village. It would also serve an alternative source of income for them apart from their traditional agriculture plantation.

Looking at Sarawak as a whole, it used to depend strongly on the mining and manufacturing sector in the past. But from Year2005 onwards, the sector that dominates the GDP in Sarawak would be the tourism sector. Currently it generates about 31% of the GDP annually.

This would increase the living standards of the locals as they are getting wealthier. With more income and increase buying power, they could afford to upgrade their current household facilities and allow their children to pursue further study. The ultimate goal would be the economic growth as a nation, and help the locals to escape from the poverty cycle as an individual.

Social Cultural Impact

The residents residing in Sarawak Cultural Village would have clearer self-conscious and understanding of their culture. This will encourage them to engage in tourism related activities within the SCV and take pride in their culture. The reason was simple and straightforward because most tourists were drawn from all over the world to the site due to their unique culture. It could motivate the locals to learn and attain better understanding about their traditional culture first, so as to effectively promote their culture to the tourists.

This could also serve as a learning opportunity for locals. During their interaction with the visitors from foreign places, they would gain addition knowledge and information of the visitors. It’s like a Win-Win situation as both parties gained from acquiring information and better understanding of opposite’s culture and language.

On the other hand, there would be a loss of indigenous identity as some locals try to change some of their tradition to make it more appealing to the tourists. This could be one of the negative impact that globalisation could bring about. As the villages are clearly aware and attracted to the amount of money they could earn by participating in the tourism industry, most would foregone their traditional lifestyle.

Some of the longhouses are being deserted as young adults migrate to live and work in Sarawak’s burgeoning cities and towns. The longhouses are left with only the young children and elderly. To worsen the situation, under the influences from western culture, most of the young adults prefer to stay in individual houses instead of their traditional longhouses.

There would also be conflict for the use of land. Land which was once used for agricultural might need to convert for building of infrastructure for the tourists. The Iban and other tribes have frequently blockaded logging roads to try to protect their forest. It caused much unhappiness for the tribes because the government’s decision was one sided. In recent decades much of their rainforest has been cleared by logging and plantation companies.

The whole community is reduced to an exhausted past, and an uncertain future.
Naturally, without the younger generations to inherit their rich cultural legacies, there would be great difficulty to sustain their culture. The ancient crafts of making boats, building longhouses, weaving, dancing, tattooing, and native art are now dying fast. Even the whole oral tradition of telling tales and myths is disappearing.

Environmental

As there are increases of environment awareness in recent years, most of the visitors travelling around are more conscious on protecting the Mother Nature. They are generally better educated and would help to reduce the pollution and destruction one could cause to destination.

But in reality it will be a different case. There was incident reported in 2009 that the beaches of Sarawak had been heavily polluted. Since then, there are debates between profit and environment.

“Everything that needs to be said has been said, and by the very people affected by these decisions, to no avail,” said a council member of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), who wished to remain anonymous. 


In their pursuit of development, Sarawak is depleting some of their natural resources. One such resource is the rainforest. Large tracts if the rainforest are being cut down for timber and fuelwood or to make way for farming (e.g commercial cultivation and cattle ranching), transportation, housing, mineral extraction and dam construction to generate electricity.