IN A RECENT COLUMN in another section of the Press (dated May 8, 2016), Sir Henry Fraser expressed, as he has in the past, a lament in the way in which we as a society have allowed many of our heritage treasures to fall into a state of decrepitude.
The large point of his latest discourse seems to be that many of these sites can be restored at far cheaper cost than many may argue, and can be reused and re-adapted instead of being torn down and replaced by a new and more expensive structure. These are laudable arguments, but the fact that Sir Henry and many others are still making strident calls at this juncture of our development and after so many years, may reflect an inherent lack of appreciation for our built heritage and the importance of its preservation.
To be fair, undoing long held attitudes regarding many artifacts and structures as being outdated, beyond repair and irrelevant, will not reap success immediately. However, it is incumbent on the powers that be and those with influence to buy in to the idea of the importance of national heritage and those representations that should be preserved for future generations. It is only once that is secured, that the consistent and enthusiastic messaging can be transmitted to wider “grassroots” masses to engender support in that regard.
At a time when we as a society are clearly doing some needed self-evaluation of our processes and institutions and trying valiantly to conceptualise new ways forward, we should perhaps be accepting that in the short to medium term, we will most likely continue to rely heavily on tourism and services in general as the key planks of economic sustainability and growth. Therefore, to be competitive, especially in the tourism sector, we need to diversify our product offerings as much as possible. One may argue then that Barbados’ biggest edge in that regard is its singular heritage and culture.
Our culture and heritage and the inherent assets therein must be recognised by each citizen and resident as exciting, “sellable” facets of our society and therefore be fiercely guarded and protected by every one of us. The wider community must be able to see those tangible representations of our history and our local culture as something we share and value.
It is only when this approach is engrained in the national psyche that we will see the support coming from all sectors and across all socio-economic levels. This requires a dedicated education component that should be far-reaching and deep in its intentions. This should eventuate in a widespread appreciation for the benefits of heritage preservation and heritage tourism.
Tourism is, of course, a big business activity and heritage tourism in particular equally so. Millions travel the globe every year specifically to experience the “other”, a culture, a lifestyle, an environment that is different and often markedly so. They want to see how others live elsewhere, what their development has been like. Heritage tourism implies that a society has identified features of its local culture and history as worthy of preservation and development, and to be passed on to subsequent generations.
Just as important (and this is where the “tourism” comes in), the society believes these should be shared with visitors to the economic and other benefit of the local community. This process involves governments, civic society and the private sector, and, of course, the regular citizens of the locale in which the asset(s) exist. In short, heritage shapes our societies and can contribute substantially to future stability and economic development.
However, this can only occur if the visitor is offered an authentic experience of the local culture, the local history, and this will happen if those representations of them, including and especially perhaps, the built sites, are preserved and indeed utilised. – RANDY BATSON
