RR Tourism by Chang Xiao Qing

I agree with the writer that mass tourism threatens to destroy the country's architectural heritage. In order to build more facilities and services for tourists to enjoy, many historic building and sites are destroyed or damaged in the process. This would result in the country losing much of its cultural identity and heritage as these old buildings and sites contain many memories and significance in the countries history and heritage. An example from the passage is of the demolishing of historic buildings in Manila, so as to make way for hotels to provide accommodation for tourists visiting "Historic Manila". In Singapore, the Bukit Brown Cemetery was cleared to make way for an eight-way highway in 2013 despite various petitions and complaints against it, resulting in nearly 4000 graves being dug up. This shows that the country is sacrificing their heritage and culture to enable mass tourism and this has severely affected the cultural practices of many local people, up to the fact that now, many people are unable to visit the tombs and graves of their ancestors to pay their respects during tomb sweeping day or to give them a peaceful resting place. Locals in Manila are now unable to enjoy or visit these historic buildings and sites that were torn down, and hence unable to pass down these memories and heritage to the next generation. Hence, I agree with the writer that mass tourism threatens to destroy the architectural heritage of the country as many memories, heritage and cultural were lost with the tearing down of historic and buildings and sites, affecting the cultural of the locals.