|
|
|
| RESIDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF BARKHOR HISTORIC DISTRICT IN LHASA |
| WANG Mu, WU Bi-hu |
| Center for Recreation and Tourism Research, College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China |
|
|
|
|
Abstract The far-reaching local history and culture of historic sites always leads to the rise of tourism industry in the modern age. However, the conflict between historic and cultural preservation and tourism economics is always recognized as the most significant challenge in the course of regional development. In Tibet, preserving traditional culture in historic districts has been greatly emphasized by the local government for long, and the proper tourism development is beneficial for the sustainability of local development as well. Especially, the Barkhor district is the most important traditional district and famous tourism attraction in Tibet. This paper mainly focuses on the analysis of the case of Barkhor district in Tibet, which was authorized as the "national historic and cultural street"in 2009. Just as mentioned above, recently Barkhor district has also been confronted with the challenge to achieve economic growth from local tourism development and protect the traditional environment at the same time. Based on the methods of field work and questionnaires on the residents' perceptions on tourism impacts in the Barkhor district, the role of tourism on the development of the historic district as well as culture conservation is discussed. The conclusion of the case indicates that tourism industry promotes local economy, while negative impacts of tourism on social and cultural aspects in the district are demonstrated as well. For the whole district, tourism development has not been mature enough yet, and the specific effects of tourism vary from area to area in Barkhor district. Therefore, residents' attitudes on negative impacts were differentiated according to the survey, and those who were dependent on tourism industry were more likely to agree with the negative impacts, which is different from the conclusion in the previous researches. Furthermore, some helpful suggestions about tourism industry development are discussed in the paper.
|
|
Received: 22 March 2011
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2012, Vol. 27 
