Exploring Northern Thailand's Unique Cultural & Heritage Tourism - Research Paper

Introduction

Cultural and heritage tourism is used in most parts of the world for tourist attraction. Northern Thailand is one of the parts of the world that has unique cultural and heritage tourism, which has caused an impact on the region and other parts of the county. Northern Thailand is a green mountainous misty, and cool with spectacular ruins, and fertile valleys with an endowment of cultural and heritage tourism. The area is inhabited by the long neck communities that comprise of seven tribes namely the Akha, Lahu, Karen, Hmong, Mien (or Yao), Palaung, as well as Lisu. These tribes are referred to the long neck communities because their women wear golden rings around their necks which make their necks to appear long. The lifestyle of the long neck communities where women wear spectacular golden rings around their necks coupled with their activities of curving wood, as well as having unique tourist village markets has created cultural and heritage tourism which has impacts to both the long neck tribes and in entire Thailand. As seen in the discussion of this essay, the cultural and heritage tourism among the long neck tribes in Northern Thailand has impacts both the communities and to the entire nation; therefore, there is a need for understanding the underlying effects for appropriate mechanisms of managing and controlling tourism in the region.

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Historical Background of the Long Neck Communities

The long neck tribes originated from Myanmar which was formerly called Burma. In Myanmar, these tribes were members of the Kayah group which was a marginalized ethnic minority group with unique traditions, culture, and lifestyle (Ashworth, 2015). They fled to Northern Thailand following the war that occurred in the early 1980s. Violence and war caused insecurity, poverty, and killings of people led to the influx of the long neck tribes in Northern Thailand. The long neck tribes flew to Northern Thailand for security purposes as well as to seek a livelihood. The majority of them are illegal immigrants that have not gained Thai citizenship in spite of their long stay in the country. Women from the long neck tribes sought to tourism for a livelihood through the use of their traditional wearing of rings around their necks, decorations on their faces, and wood carving (Duarte, Sakellarios, & Pritchard, 2015). The activities of the long neck women have led to the establishment of tourism villages in the hilly and cool spectacular vicinity of Northern Thailand.

Because of their unique traditions, people from different parts of Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia started to tour Northern Thailand. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the long neck tribes had no access to public services like education because they were considered as refugees (Broomley, 2019). Though they contribute to the Thai tourism industry, the government was reluctant to provide them the necessary support. These communities also were regarded as objects of tourists' attraction with no rights to access public services. In the early 21st century, organizations like the United Nations Refugee agency became against tourism attraction provided by the long neck communities as it was unethical because it had created a human zoo scenario (Ashworth, 2015). The involvement of international organizations in fighting for the rights of these communities led to the issuance of work permits and visas as well as allowing them to access services like schools. Since they are treated as refugees, they are not supposed to work beyond the restricted areas.

Persecutions and Hardships Faced by the Long Neck Communities

The history of the long neck tribes indicates that these communities have experienced persecutions and hardships. One of the persecutions is having regard as refugees (Duarte et al., 2015). These communities were allowed to stay in restricted areas in the inner parts of Northern Thailand. Some of them have lived in Thailand for more than 30 years while the majority of them have been born in Thai, with no citizenship. They live as people without rights whose function is to attract tourists in the Northern part of the country. Being treated as refugees and not having citizenships has led to other persecution as a threat to security. Since they came to Thailand, they are perceived as criminals who threaten the security of Thailand (Foote, 2019). Their practice of tourist attraction is only as a way of their attempts to make a living in Thailand because of war in their home country.

Long neck tribes are also restricted to engage in development programs. Men are only allowed to farm within their villages while female engage in tourism attraction which has led their areas of residence to become human zoo (Kim, Whitford, & Arcodia, 2019). The restricted movement has hindered these communities from empowering themselves in education, business, political participation, sports, and other ways of improving status. Even the educated people from these tribes are not supposed to move to some parts of the countries to seek employment opportunities. Analysts and activist have found out that the Thailand government is restricting the movement of these tribes for a maintained system for them to boost the tourist industry. The activities of the long neck tribes are mainly making money through tourist attraction. They as well find it challenging to take their children to school because of low income. A higher portion of the tourist revenue is channeled to the government leaving them in poverty (Foote, 2019). Their villages which are a significant tourist attraction sites are made of leaves and wood without proper sanitation or electricity which is an indication of poverty.

Impacts with Specific Examples

The effect of cultural and heritage tourism within the long neck communities has effects to both the tribe and Thailand government. The effect on the communities is adverse while the ones to the Thailand government are positive. First, it has led to poverty within long neck communities (Sangchumnong & Kozak, 2017). Having the inability to engage in other development activities apart from tourism attraction and small scale limits their capability of making money. Young girls and women only know of tourist attraction activities through their dress code, caving of wood, and embroidery while young boys and men know of small scale farming in their villages. Majority of their children do not go to school as they grow up knowing that their core agenda in Thailand is to attract tourists. The other impact on the long neck communities is lack of exposure (Wall, 2018). The life of restriction causes them to stay within the limited jurisdiction with less interaction with other people except for the tourists who come to see their unique culture and tradition.

The effect to the government, on the other hand, is increased revenue by getting the money collected from the tourists who visit the villages within long neck tribes. The government gets 85% of the funds obtained from tourism in the communities of these tribes (Ashworth, 2015). The department of tourism is well-organized with both the public and private tour companies to ensure that the collected revenues get to the national treasury. Researchers, on the other hand, have found out that the cultural and heritage tourism within the long neck tribes in Thailand is also affecting the government negatively. Using people as tourist attraction objects is unethical, a situation which creates conflicts between Thailand and international organizations dealing with human rights and the protection of refugees. For example, in 2015, the United Nations Refugee agency declared the practice as unethical and urged tourists to avoid visiting tour market villages in Northern Thailand (Sangchumnong & Kozak, 2017). Other than the UN, non-governmental organizations and agencies that support human rights are also involved in fighting for the rights of long neck communities in Northern Thailand. They include human rights watch, human rights action centre, and Amnesty international.

Cultural Appropriation versus Appreciation

Understanding the cultural appreciation and appropriations are ideal in tackling the challenges and effects related to the lifestyle of the long neck communities of Northern Thailand. First, cultural appreciation refers to the understanding and learning the culture of other people to broaden the perspective for the learned lifestyle for a robust cross-cultural connection (Whitehead, 2017). Cultural appreciation leads to respecting the cultures of other people. For the case of the long neck communities, cultural appreciation occurs when the tourists understand and learn their way of life, why they engage in such traditions, and its history. Having more information about a culture leads to a healthy relationship because of a broadened perspective. Studies about the culture of the long neck communities in Northern Thailand had led to a deeper understanding of their traditions, history, and custom. There are no stereotypes about the culture of these tribes because of people gaining more knowledge of their way of living (Duarte et al., 2015). The outcome has been respecting their culture and strong cross-cultural interaction with the people from long neck tribes.

Cultural appropriation, on the other hand, is when one aspect of a different culture is used for a personal interest. For example, buying souvenirs from the long neck women or taking a photo with them for personal benefit is an indication of a cultural appropriation (Broomley, 2019). Unlike cultural appreciation, cultural appropriation hinders cross-cultural relationship because of misuse of some culturally embedded items, symbol, or language. Regarding, the culture and heritage of long neck tribes, there is more cultural appropriation that appreciation. Tourists are concerned with the long golden necklace in their necks which they use for personal interests like sharing on social media photos taken with women and young girls wearing long necklaces. Most of the people who purchase cultural items from these tribes or take pictures with the women wearing long necklaces have little knowledge of the culture leading to cultural appropriation (Whitehead, 2017). As a result, for strong cultural connection with the people from long neck tribes, there is a need for avoiding appropriation of their culture to allow for an appreciation.

Authenticity and Cultural Preservation

Authenticity and cultural preservation are among the main agendas debated on the listing of the villages for the long neck communities as world heritage sites. Some argue that the cultural and heritage of the long neck tribes meet the level of authenticity for listing as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Some researchers deny that the communities are not authentic in matters of cultural conservation (Broomley, 2019). Particular aspects of cultural preservation are left out because of the need for attracting tourists in the current tourism market. The tribes have tried to modify their cultural customs leading to a low level of authenticity (Ashworth, 2015). For instance, young girls and women are using make-ups to add beauty on their faces instead of decorating their faces using fine wet clay.

Researchers have found out that the long neck communities are among the few communities that have preserved its culture. One way in which these tribes have preserved its culture is having a maintained cultural language (Foote, 2019). The tribes discourage the learning of other languages as a way of maintaining their lifestyle. Another way of ensuring cultural preservation is holding onto traditional...