Heritage and Tourism in a 'Living Cultural Landscape': Role Perspectives of Multiple Stakeholder Groups in the Conservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras World Heritage Site

Abstract

Recognised for their unique characteristics that are considered of outstanding universal value, World Heritage Sites (WHSs), which usually constitute a primary tourism resource in their geographical locations, are generally faced with interlocking sustainability challenges. A collaborative approach to their conservation is sought due to their complex features and sustainability issues, which often involve a broad range of stakeholders. Nevertheless, involving a multitude of stakeholders is also challenging due to their often varied interests and socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. ‘Stakeholder Analysis’ provides an important method to examine and understand the diverse perspectives of stakeholders. It allows critical issues to surface thereby facilitating the implementation of more effective strategies, which may enhance their involvement and collaboration. Using qualitative and interpretive research approach, which maximised the researcher’s ‘insider’ positionality, this research investigated the role perspectives of seven key stakeholder groups involved in the conservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces (IRT), a WHS destination in the Philippines described as a ‘living cultural landscape’. Through its adaptation of stakeholder analysis, this study examined the stakeholder groups’ perceptions of their own roles and one another’s roles in relation to the underlying constructs of stakeholder collaboration theory and sustainable tourism. This study’s findings indicate complementarities in the stakeholder groups’ perceptions of their respective roles, resembling different parts of a jigsaw puzzle. Nonetheless, there are contentious aspects in their perceptions, which may need to be addressed to promote their role alignment. Furthermore, the reciprocity of their perceptions revealed some misconceptions of one another’s roles, conflicts of interests, and tensions between them, indicating critical weaknesses in the IRT’s collaborative conservation. This research provides a stakeholder analysis framework for concurrently investigating perceptions of multiple stakeholder groups. It also contributes to our understanding of the complexities involved in the interplay of the roles of a broad range of stakeholders operating in a WHS destination. Critical insights can also be drawn for the conservation and management of a complex ‘living’ cultural WHS, inhabited by indigenous peoples.