The Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Heritage Tourism in Malaysia: A Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/bej.v21i1.474Keywords:
Heritage tourism, Crisis management, COVID-19 pandemic, Cultural tourism, UNESCO world heritage siteAbstract
Over the past several decades, the tourism industry centered on cultural sites has evolved into one of the most active and rapidly increasing economic sectors across the globe. This is especially true in countries that are home to a large number of heritage monuments. According to reports provided by the Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, the cultural tourism industry contributed 551 million Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) to the country's economy over the course of the preceding three (3) years prior to the COVID-19 epidemic. In addition, more than seventeen (17) million individuals participated in cultural tourism events during that period. However, ever since the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the tourism heritage business in Malaysia has undergone a big economic collapse economically. As a result, the earnings of a great number of individuals have suffered as a result of this. This article presents a brief investigation of how the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted Malaysia's heritage tourism industry by doing a thorough evaluation of existing studies and statistics from the local government and offering an analysis of the findings. According to the findings of this study, the revenue generated by the heritage tourism industry in Malaysia dropped by an amount equivalent to 50% in the year 2020 compared to the previous year. In addition, there was a decline of more than one hundred thousand (100,000) jobs in sectors of the economy that are directly connected to tourism. It is common knowledge that the COVID-19 outbreak has caused enormous losses for the economy of the country; despite this, the findings of this study shed light on the extent to which these losses damage the economic viability of the heritage tourism sector.
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