Challenges in Safeguarding Traditional Festivals Facing Tourism Pressure: A Case Study of Macao SAR

Introduction

In 2003, UNESCO put forward guidelines for the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in order to implement and enhance awareness in safeguarding living heritage (UNESCO, 2011). Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) includes a variety of living expressions inherited from generation to generation such as traditional customs, rituals, festivals, craftsmanship, and other social practices that carry the shared beliefs and heritage values. In particular, traditional festivals are living heritage that foster social cohesion and also cultural tourism products that may attract tourists. However, it also found that rapid tourism growth generates various social impacts on collective lifestyles and cultural expressions (Ap, 1990). Traditional festivals tend to be transformed into tourist attractions to promote a destination’s unique culture and image, but its interpretation and commercialization place the safeguarding process at risk and may significantly impact its authenticity and integrity (Laing, 2018). Consequently, many studies have discussed the conflicts that may arise between traditional festivals and tourism development (McKercher et al., 2002; Huibin et al., 2013; Kaplan, 2015; Guo et al., 2017; Imon, 2017; Su, 2019; Mokgachane et al., 2021). For instance, rapid tourism growth may lead to failure in understanding the meaning of traditional festivals, and the spirit of a place (Imon, 2017). It was found by Xing et al. (2013) that different objectives from the organizers, government agencies, and other stakeholders are one of the crucial factors that influence the transmission of traditional festivals. Thus, it must be recognized that to protect live history and its socio-cultural significance, inherit cultural diversity, sustain cultural authenticity, and advocate community engagement are some of the essential components that can ensure the sustainability of traditional festivals. In addition, Choi et al. (2020) pointed out that, the reasons people participate in traditional cultural events are more socially and culturally driven. Therefore, the organizers and other stakeholders have to carefully consider how to avoid commercializing traditional festivals in order to protect the meaning, as well as its original forms of expression. In contrast to the negative impacts, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) advocates that tourism works closely with countries economically such as increasing job opportunities for locals as to achieve the Sustainable Development: Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth; and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals (UNWTO, 2021). As a fact that sustainable tourism requires a long-term commitment to a balance of environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of development. In other words, to protect the past, there is a need to connect with the community. Therefore, the stakeholders should place tourism development appropriately where tourism activities such as tourists’ misbehavior and mass tourism pose a threat and may be viewed as hostile to our treasured cultural heritage. Otherwise, an imbalanced situation is likely to arise and further threaten the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

As such, the current study investigates two of Macao’s and China’s nationally recognized ICH traditional festivals, namely Macao’s: 1) Feast of the Drunken Dragon and the Lion Dance Gala; and 2) the Beliefs and Customs of Na Tcha. Based on the findings, some recommendations are formulated which adopt a community-based approach to safeguard traditional festivals which are facing pressures from tourism. As noted by Su et al. (2020) organizers’ attitudes directly influence their behavior and the survival of traditional festivals. Thus, this study seeks: 1) to examine the perceptions of the festival organizers and participants toward the sustainability of traditional customs; and 2) to compare how these festivals are interpreted and transmitted by the host communities, as well as by government agencies.