maldives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qCmkiLP_Jk&feature=player_detailpage

Maldives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUH7AelK8Y8&feature=player_detailpage

reflection of the place (it’s society), culture and tourism, after your research for this assignment

After I did the reflection for Maldives, I think it is a paradise for the tourists. There are 26 atolls in Maldives, the tourists only need to take 15 to 60 minutes to travel from one to another. It has around 3000 coral reefs and more than 1000 species of fish, the tourists can just diving around them. Tourists do not have to be a professional diver, because all the resorts will provide the basic training for them, so the tourists can simply enjoy the marvellous and beautiful creatures inside the sea. The most amazing part for diving is the tourists can even dive at night! For couples or families, they can enjoy their dinners along the beach and watch the stars at the same time. Tourist can choose over 100 different resorts to stay. The wide range of accommodation suit many budgets to cater for all.
Tourists can also experience the life of an ordinary Maldivian by travelling to an inhabited island. There will be the fishing villages with the tree shade and the traditional wooden holhuashi (an island-version of a gazebo, build with hollow wooden trunks tied together forming the large, bench-like seat, and often with a thatched roof). The tourists are able the see how the ordinary Maldivians live, interact with them, and learn their cultures.
Maldives is very rich is culture, they have their own tribes like Hithadhoo in Addu Atoll, Fuamulah and Kulhudhufushi in Haa Dhaalu Atoll. They will make their own handicrafts, they have their own language, rules, food, songs and dances. I like the uniqueness of Maldives, some of their festivals are very special, like the ‘Circumcision’. During this event, the houses will be decorated and music is played. Many people visit such houses mainly to enjoy a game of carom or participate in the local bodu beru and listen to a local band perform.
In Maldives, most of the revenue comes from the tourism industry. The number of tourists going to Maldives has increasing rapidly. However, it has caused some problems to Maldives, like littering and vandalism. The locals are concerning about the coral reefs and marine life due to the coral mining to build buildings and make jewelries.

7. The result of Globalisation has “Disneyfied” many cities in the world. Comment on whether some of these Disney characteristics are evident of the d

The Disney characteristics are evident in the development of this place. In Maldives, more areas of economic life are becoming themed to attract the target market. The theme for Maldives is the ‘resorts on water’. Maldives built these resorts to attract visitors like honeymooners and people who like to do water activities. The resorts put in the local handicrafts to decorate the room in the resorts. During festivals like Christmas, restaurants will have the Christmas themed meal
For dedifferentiation of consumption, many resorts in Maldives have applied this concept. In their resorts, they will not just provide the room for the guests to stay, they will include other facilities which are chargeable, and for example, they will have different types of restaurants and bars in the resorts. They will also provide packages for the water activities. They will also provide spa services and tour packages for the guests.
For merchandising, Maldives is promoting their goods through the copyright, they will sell their merchandise in the resorts, airports and the attractions. One of their good is the traditional handicrafts which made by the Maldivians.
For emotional labour, all the resorts staffs are following what the resorts have asked them to do, their service work has been scripted to include the kind of cheerful friendliness that helps distract customers from realizing that they are being captivated into an artificially constructed themed environment and pitched the sales of goods.

What is the focus of their calendar of events

Most of the events in Maldives are religious events. Most of them are based on the lunar calendar, so the dates will be different in each year.
The most important Maldives event is the Ramadan, it is a month of fasting and the religious holiday celebrated by the worldwide muslims, modern music concerts and shows will be held at the capital city of Male and other islands. People come together and sing the traditional songs, traditional dance performances and poetry recitations will also be held.

There are other events like Fishermen’s Day, it will be on the 10th December on every year. It is to emphasize the importance of fishing Maldives economy. The Christmas in Maldives will be celebrated grandly by the locals and the tourists together. Maldives will be looking so colourful and beautiful during Christmas, the natives will sing the Christmas song by taking a stroll around all over the village and the missionaries.
The most happening event will be the New Year in Maldives, it is a fantastic event to watch and attract large amount of tourist all over the world. The streets will be very crowded and full of enjoyment, fun and excitement.

5. Tourism impacts on the authentic culture of this place and the indigenous group

I think the tourism impacts on the authentic culture is only to a small extent, this is because the Maldives government is trying their best to protect their culture, tourists can only make short guided trip to the local villages and must return to their resort. They need to have a valid reason and a special permit if they want to stay longer or to travel to atolls outside the tourist zone. By building all the resorts, the government has separated the local residents and the tourists, this also helps to prevent social conflicts. The government will preserve the historical and cultural heritage and maintain the traditional knowledge and products for the tourists.

However, because of the tourist inflow, there might be a exposure to undesirable problems like child labour. The locals might be unhappy over the local beach, water resources and transportations, and the tourism for Maldives only concentrated in a few regions, so these regions will be developed faster than the other regions, this will cause the shift in population and traditional occupations. Some of the heritage might be removed to build ‘artificial’ tourism attractions.

4. Appraise the authenticity of the culture from the point of view of a tourist.

Overall, I think Maldives is trying their best to preserve their culture and their culture is quite authentic. This can be seen from foreigners are banned from bringing symbols of other religions into the country, alcohol is prohibited on non-resort islands and modest dress is necessary for island tours.
The Maldivians will still practise their traditional dance and music. When they perform for a local audience, they may incorporate elements of bodu beru in their music, with lots of percussion and extended drum solos. The Maldivians will also make their own handicrafts to sell and the local organisation will make sure the handicrafts are authentic by put on a ‘Authentic Maldivians Handicraft’ logo.
They will still celebrate different culture festivals like ‘Art and Culture Festival’, the objective for this festival is to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the island to the visitors and the international media. They will still cook their authentic dishes like bajiyaa (pastry stuffed with fish), masroshi (small pancake stuffed with fish) and many more. The Maldivians also seldom travel out of their country, because the transportation in Maldives is not very convenient as it is surrounded by sea. Therefore, they will stay in Maldives and follow the culture.

3. Research into the culture and traditions of an indigenous group

One of the indigenous group in Maldives is the Giraavaru people, they believed that they were the ancient owners and rulers of Maldives. Giraavaru island was bigger than some of the other islands, it is on the western side of the lagoon of North Male Atoll. The Giraavaru people were not allowed to divorce. Their dialect was unusual from the rest of the Maldivians and they put accent on different syllables. Their folklores were preserved in songs and dance.
The women would tie their hair in a bun on the left side of their head while the other Maldivians would tie theirs on the right, they also wore unique jewelleries compared with others. The normal Maldivians had to address the Male’s nobility in a different level of speech, but the Giraavaru people did not practise the custom. Other Male’s citizens would see the Giraavaru people as an inferior race and they believed that the Giraavaru people were scared of frogs, so others always threw frogs at Giraavaru people in order to tease them.
Sadly, the Giraavaru people were forced to leave their island under an Islamic regulation.

What represents the culture of the place I have selected

The people, the language, the food, the beliefs, the arts and the attitudes represent Maldives. The Maldivians may look different in different atolls, their ancestors came from different parts of the world like Middle East and Southeast Asia. Their language is Dhivehi, differs in dialect in some regions in the South of Maldives and the religion for most of them is Islam. The Maldivians like to play the big drum, bodu-beru, it looks like the African drums. Some of their local music and dance resemble African influences, sometimes they will sing the songs in a language that is not known to anyone but the locals. The craftsman will build their own sailboat, dhoni, it is an art of Maldives. Their geometric design in mats woven from the local material, their ornaments and the wooden beams in the antique mosques represent the culture too.

My perception of the place you have selected before you embark on the research

My perception for Maldives is that it is a beautiful and clean country which made up of some small islands and surrounded by water! The population should not be so many, because it is a small island. It has the crystal white beaches with all the soft sands, and blue lagoons with different types of corals.
The weather should be like Singapore, because it is a tropical country, it is full of tropical plants like coconut trees and orchid flowers and the air should be very fresh. There should be a lot of tourists wearing bikinis when you are walking on the beaches and a lot of water activities are going on. Maldives also gives me the feeling of Hawaii, it is a great destination for those honeymooners and those who want a peace environment, because the place is so romantic!
The locals in Maldives will be very friendly, open-minded and enthusiastic. I think there will not be any tall buildings in Maldives, because the building will sink if they build it too high. Therefore, all the tourists will be living in the resorts and all the furniture in the resorts is made of wood. Most of the locals will be either work in resorts or go fishing to earn a living.

Introduction about Maldives

The official name for Maldives is Republic of Maldives, also referred to the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. Maldives is the smallest Asian country in both population and land size. With an average ground level of 1.5 metres above sea level, it is the planet's lowest country. It consists of total 1,200 coral islands. The population is around 313920 in the year 2010.

The weather in the Maldives is affected by the large landmass of South Asia to the north. The temperature of Maldives ranges is between 24 °C to 33 °C throughout the year. Even the humidity is quite high, the constant cool sea breezes will keep the air moving and the heat mitigated. Maldives has two seasons, the wet and the dry season. The rainy season will brings strong winds and storms, the dry season will be associated with the winter north-eastern monsoon.