INTRODUCTION
Socio-cultural can be easily understood by anyone because it only defines the interaction of people and different kinds of culture and tourism is one of the reasons there have been a generation of socio-cultural impacts. Socio-cultural impacts of tourism are described as the effects on the host communities of direct and indirect interaction with the tourists and the relation with the tourism industry. The impacts arise when tourism brings about changes in value systems and behavior and thereby threatens indigenous identity.
Furthermore, changes often occur in community structure, family relationships, collective traditional life styles, ceremonies and morality. But tourism can also generate positive impacts as it can serve as a supportive force for peace, foster pride in cultural traditions and help avoid urban relocation by creating local jobs. As often happens when different cultures meet, socio-cultural impacts are ambiguous: the same objectively described impacts are seen as beneficial by some groups, and are perceived as negative – or as having negative aspects – by other stakeholders.
OBJECTIVE This case study aims to address the socio-cultural impacts of Tourism on researcher’s chosen host community which is Baguio by going on the place, doing observation, information gathering and interviewing indigenous people. Another reason is to generate or create possible strategies in giving solution to the negative impacts and to strengthen the positive impacts that has been observe in the area. This case study also aims to explain this issue with our fellow Tourism Students that will help in giving better understanding with the subject.
OBSERVATION
From the long span of time that we have spent in observing the changes happened to the “summer capital of the Philippines”, we have determined positive and negative impacts of tourism in the socio-cultural aspects of Baguio. These are the results: POSITIVE NEGATIVE Cultural Preservation Congestion of Residential Construction and Overpopulation Preservation of Man-Made Attractions Prostitution Strengthening Communities Production of Prohibited Drugs Generating Work for Local Communities Pollution and Waste Development of Facilities Traffic Peace Undergoing Transportation infrastructure Increasing Crime Rate Cultural Diversity
Figure 1. Positive and Negative Impacts of Tourism in Socio-Cultural ANALYZATION By going personally at Baguio city, we’ve been capable of analyzing positive and negative impacts of tourism in socio-cultural aspects and to fully understand the identified impacts. Here are the explanations: On the positive impacts: Cultural preservation – Tourism helped boost the preservation and transmission of cultural and historical traditions, which often contributes to the conservation and sustainable management of natural resources, the protection of local heritage, and a renaissance of indigenous cultures, cultural arts and crafts.
Preservation of Man-made attraction – Aside from preservation of cultural arts, they also become aware of making different places in Baguio beautiful and well preserved for a long time because these are one of their ways in facing the demands of the tourists Strengthening communities – Tourism can helped in adding vitality in the city of Baguio in many ways. One example is that events and festivals of which local residents have been the primary participants and spectators are often rejuvenated and developed in response to tourist interest.
Generating work for local communities – To fulfill the needs of the tourists, tourism created jobs for the local residents that gave answer also to the needs of the community and the economy. Local residents also don’t need to be away from their families to look for a job. Development of facilities – the development of the tourism in the city of Baguio gave benefit to the local residents because tourism helped in the improvement of infrastructures, health, and transportation facilities.
Also, new sport and recreational facilities, restaurants, and public spaces as well as an influx of better-quality commodities and food bringing Baguio to a higher and better standard of living. On the negative impacts: Congestion of Residential construction and Overpopulation – Baguio is very blessed in natural resources specially the weather and because of these one of a kind asset that can’t be found in other places, a lot of people wished and moved to Baguio to experience and enjoy the gifts of God to Baguio but because of that interest.
A lot of people are already congested in the mountains of Baguio and they are the reason why some of the natural resources are already destroyed. They keep on building housing infrastructure in Baguio that we can’t even find an open space. Prostitution – we can’t change the fact that in most of the famous destinations in the Philippines that had been fully affected by the changes of this generation and influenced by the liberation of other culture became prone to prostitution. This kind of impact lowers the morality of the community which is not good for the residents of Baguio.
Production of Prohibited drugs – from what we have heard, drug dealers can produce good quality of prohibited drugs because of the convenient weather and to think of it, it has also the same impact of prostitution. It lowers the morality and drives the younger residents of Baguio to this unlikely nature. And it also brings criminal rate of the city to a higher scale. Pollution and waste – there are ton of people visiting and living in Baguio and that gives a ton of waste to land and air.
Hotels and other establishments assessing the needs of the tourists is the primary contributor of these waste but it can be solve with the participation of the residents and tourists in Baguio. Traffic – it doesn’t really concern in the cultural aspects that Baguio have but it does concern in the society. The primary mode of transportation going to Baguio is by car and since there are hundreds of people with cars are going to Baguio, it causes traffic and congestion that also results to the inconvenience of everyone.
Undergoing transportation infrastructure – In relation to the traffic, we have observe as we travel going to Baguio, there are a lot of roads that are either wrecked or under construction making the travel time a lot longer. Baguio is a famous destination and it is much better if the roads are fixed and there are lights on the side of the roads that can give safety to the visitors travelling to Baguio. Cultural Diversity – Cultural diversity has a different case, it has both the positive and negative impacts in the socio-cultural aspects.
Baguio always faces different kinds of culture for a long period of time already and as everything is improving, Baguio also improves with it. Local residents learned how to make their lifestyles much better and try to be in with the current trends today but because of that, some of the cultures in Benguet are already fading and almost forgotten which is the bad side of the improving society. Some of the local residents are already socialized and the number of pure natives is decreasing fast due to the time and the influence of tourists that has different cultures.
Increasing Crime Rate – with a lot of tourist, we can’t really be sure that all of them have good intentions and some of them became snatcher and holdapers. With these incidents, it became a threat to some tourist and this gives them the reason not to go to Baguio. It lessens their security and safety CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION We concluded on the end of our observation that Baguio still has rich cultural arts that should be seen by more future generations and the local residents of Baguio are very good at preserving their cultural heritage.
Even the society is being more into the current trend, it is nice that they still treasure their culture and they are also proud of it. It terms of finding solution and suggestions to the problems and to improve their strengths, the only possible answers we can get are these: More support from the Government in implementing further rules and regulations Participation and Discipline of both Local Residents and Tourists Cooperation of the Hotels, restaurants and other service facilities in Baguio Awareness of everyone to the environmental issues Promotion of cultural preservation in Baguio Strengthening of Police Power
