Dilemma Between Culture and Heritage Preservation and Tourist Attraction

Abstract

Comparing a site listed as UNESCO's World Heritage Site, the Tower of London, with the site of Tanah Lot Temple in Bali presents several interesting, namely that both these places have similar strength in their uniqueness, but have a discernable difference in terms of universality. Whereas the Tower of London has a feature of universality accepted by the international community, Tanah Lot Temple has yet to share such features. Both are visited by large numbers of tourists, thus creating a threat to the mitigation or conservation efforts for the sites, in terms of physical and cultural value preservations. Both sites have been commoditized for public purposes even have entered a significant commercialization phase, but the Tanah Lot site has created a management conflict because it is yet to have a long-term planning scheme, while such conflict has yet to arise in the case of the Tower of London because the site has been nationally and professionally managed. The existence of the Tower of London has been recognized by UNESCO while Tanah Lot Temple has not. The interpretation of the Tower of London has been nationally recognized as a mandatory site for UK students, while Tanah Lot has yet.

Keywords: Tanah Lot Temple; Heritage; Culture; Tourism Attraction; Management