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The Readiness of Rickshaw Pullers as Informal

Tourist Interpreter: A Case Study of Malacca World

Heritage Site

Nurbaidura Salim1, Shida Irwana Omar

1, Badaruddin Mohamed

1

and Hairul Nizam Ismail2

1Sustainable Tourism Research Cluster (STRC) and School of Housing, Building and

Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, MALAYSIA

2Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor,MALAYSIA

Appropriate interpretations and quality of tourists experience in historicalcities is crucial in ensuring revisit by historic tourists. This researchexplores the ability and readiness of rickshaw pullers as informal touristinterpreters in helping to enhance the quality of tourists experience inMalacca. This study intends to identify whether the nature of tourist guide suit the characteristics of rickshaw pullers to become a good informaltourist interpreter. Data collection involved survey among 250 registered

rickshaw pullers from four trishaw associations. This study has indicatedthe path travelled by the rickshaw pullers around Malacca. Result fromthe analysis has produced several maps such as trishaw trail and food trailsuggested by the respondents to the tourists. Based on the findings, most ofthe respondents suit the characteristic of tourist guide and ready tobecome an informal interpreter. Several suggestions have been made toimprove their skills in becoming a good informal tourist interpreter whichinclude attending self improvement courses and enhancing theircommunication skills. Implication of this study will contribute to thedevelopment of tourism industry especially in heritage and food tourismwhile improving the quality of tourists experience in the historical cities.

Key words: tourists experience, tourist interpreter, tourist guide, Malacca

Introduction

Malaysia dreams of making its country as one of the top ten most visited destination by year 2015. According to the Ministry of Tourism (MOTOUR) in its statistical

statement of year 2010, tourist arrival as of January 2010 increased 1.4% to 1.9million tourists compared to 1.87 million in year 2009 of the same month. Visiting

cultural and historical sites is one of the most popular activities among tourists,

nowadays. Malaysians, as well as, international tourists choose frequent historicattractions when on vacation. As a result, destinations are paying attention to heritage

1Email: baidura88@gmail.com

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tourism; one of the fastest growing niche market segments in tourism industry.

Heritage tourism as defined by National Trust for Historic Preservation as travellingto experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories

and people of the past and present (Ham, 1992; Hangrove, 2002). Palmer inSrensen and Carman (2009) states that heritage tourism enables people to conceive

imagine and confirm their national imagination. Visits to heritage places mayencourage visitors including locals to take pride in their nations history. People whoengage in historic and cultural activities tend to spend more, do more and stay longer

in the historic destinations. Good interpretation is important to spur repeat visitationamong locals and international tourists. Tourists experience in historic cities is

important in helping the visitors understand the existence of the heritage attractions.

Interpretation in Enhancing Tourists Experience

A heritage interpreter is an individual who interacts with participants (tourists) to provide interest, promote understanding and encourage a positive experience of a

natural, historical or cultural theme (Heritage Interpreter, 2007). According to Tildenand Craig (2007), interpretation is an educational activity which aims to reveal

meanings and relationships through the use of original objects, by illustrative media,

rather than simply to communicate factual information. Interpretation is a form ofmediation that conveys ideas and helps individuals to learn about themselves and their

surroundings. Route of the best return is the best expression in describing touristssatisfaction, expectations and their perceptions while visiting heritage destination.

Visitors should be promised with interesting attractions and good services by the hostto increase tourist arrivals to heritage tourist destinations. They should be facilitated

with proper accommodations and services such as good interpretations and heritagetrail to improve the quality of tourists experience. Good interpretation will not only

improve tourists experience but also encourage repeat visitation by the tourists as it

will generate sustainable economy to the local community.MacCannell (1976) describes interpretation as a representation of a living

history. For most individuals, information that they receive during their visit is anopportunity for them to learn about the history or culture of a place. Uzzell (1998)

portrays that through narration, there is understanding and beliefs, throughunderstanding, there is an appreciation and through appreciation, there is protection.

This situation proves that the aspect of heritage protection can be nurtured amongtourists through their understanding of the importance of heritage existence. Cheng

(2005) on the other hand believes that interpretation from the story teller or so called

interpreters determine the quality of interpretation and thus affect the quality oftourists experience. It influences them to revisit the place. Interpretation is abouthow to communicate, not just to convey information to individuals (Tharam, 2006).

This informal way of education can be employed to enhance awareness amongindividuals towards historical values as it also influenced tourists behavior (Hall &

MacArthur, 1998). In the context of Malacca city, a good and clear presentation of

heritage history is essential to heritage tourists for a better understanding of themeaning of the existence of historic buildings. Thus, individuals will appreciate and

manage to preserve the historical heritage more.

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Characteristics of Informal Tour Guides

A tourist guide is a person who renders services to tourists or any other persons by

guiding them on tours for remuneration (Tourism Industry Act, 1992). Federal ofTurkish Tourist Guide Association defines tourist guide as a person who introduced

the country in the best way to locals and foreign tourists, help them during their tourand give them right information about the country (Koroglu, 2008). In this study,

rickshaw pullers can be considered as a person who has a potential to become aninformal tourist guide. An informal interpreter needs to be creative in delivering their

stories (Alberta Occupational Profile, 2010).The interpretation given should be logical, narrative and able to encourage

tourists to listen to the presented narrative. Informal interpreters usually act

voluntarily and present narrative in historical places such as museums, galleries,monuments and heritage sites. However, to become a good interpreter, an individual

must attend courses and training programs namely language and communicationcourses to improve their confidence levels. In Malaysia, tour guides must attend

certain courses such as Basic Seminar of Tour Guiding, Friendly Malaysia Program,Eco-Host Training Program and pass the qualification exam before being issued a tour

guide license (Tourism Industry Act, 1992).

Tour guides are the backbone to the tour group. A good tour should beinterpretative, should present meaningful information and must be well organized

around a central theme with five or fewer ideas (Ham, 1992). Aside from that, goodtours are dynamic as there is always something going on; where the interpreter is

talking and at the same time, the audiences are actively thinking, searching anddiscussing something. Tours that cannot retain audiences attention are lacking of this

dynamic quality. The skill of storytelling is essential in shaping or ruining any tourgroup. For instance, if a tour guide delivers information in a form of informal

storytelling, it may encourage tourists to listen and feel interested to share the

information given. Thus, it can be said that a good tour guide needs to have the skillof dominating his listener and should be able to control the situation (Hall &

MacArthur, 1998). Success or failure of tour guiding depends on the tourist guidewho acts as a reference point to the tourists (Khalifah, 2007). In determining the type

of narration during each stop in every historical site, a tourist guide should know howto get attention from the tour groups by focusing his interpretation to an object, event

or idea. Besides that, tourist guides often include some funny jokes to avoid touristsfrom feeling bored during their tour. Pop-up questions and involvement of tour group

members in group activities are the best way to get responses from the tourists.

Therefore, Ham (1992) categorizes tourist guides into four different groups namelyCop, Machine, Know-it-all and Host. In this study, we will compare thecharacteristics of rickshaw pullers and categories introduced by Ham (1992) as in

Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Type of tourist guide

Source: adopted from Ham (1992)

Research Methodology

The heritage city of Malacca was awarded the status of World Heritage Site by

UNESCO on the 7th

of July, 2008. Malacca City can be divided into three main areasnamely Core Area, Buffer Area and Heritage Village. However, this study only

focuses on the core area of Malacca city which covers Civic Area and Old Quarter

Area. This is because all three heritage trails are located within the study area.These include American Heritage Trail, Dutch Trail and Melaka Heritage Trail.

Heritage trail is designed as one of the best ways to represent the legacy of heritage.Heritage trail was created to ease the tourists movement so that they have the

opportunity to enjoy the wonderful experiences in every sight of the trail. In thecontext of this study, rickshaw drivers are seen as the local people who are capable of

telling stories to the tourists in every attraction within the heritage trails.

In this study, sample selection is determined to facilitate researchers whileconducting the field study. Data collection involved 250 registered rickshaw pullers

from four trishaw associations namely Persatuan Beca Kota Melaka, Persatuan

Beca Pelancongan Negeri Melaka, Persatuan Beca Warisan MelakaandPersatuan Beca Kebajikan Melaka. All these associations are actively movingsurrounding the Malacca City. The purpose of these associations is to encourage the

use of trishaw as a mode of transportation for the tourists to travel along the heritagetrails. Trishaw is the most sustainable transportation as it does not require the usage

of diesel compared to other public transportations. Each of these associations has their

own mission in pursuing the existence of heritage legacy so that it is not forgotten bythe young generations. 250 sets of questionnaires were distributed among the

respondents during the field survey.

COP

Perceives visitor activity as threatening tolocal environment

Tolerates audiences by issuing many rules forvisitor behavior

MACHINE

Regurgitates the same performance withoutmodification

Not spontaneity, personal input or adaption toaudience variationDisapproves of client questioning or requestto change format

KNOW-IT-ALL

Focused on imparting information to suggestsuperiorityCannot admit lack of knowledge; prefers to

attend

HOST

Perceives audiences as guestsOfficers all clients the opportunity to speakand contribute to discussionsHappily take questions, chats and jokesRespond to audience needs, even if it meansdeviating from planned

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Findings

Trishaw Trail and Food Trail in the Study Area

This study finds that all registered rickshaw pullers follow the paths in the existing

heritage trail in the study area. According to the respondents, each of the paths inheritage trails has their own uniqueness and interesting stories behind it. Map 1

shows the routes travelled by the respondents and rank given by them while bringingthe visitors strolling around Malacca City. They gave the ranking 2 and 3 to all tourist

attractions in Melaka Heritage Trail. Respondents are also able to suggest famouslocal cuisine in the study area to the tourists. This finding contributes to the food trail

within the study area since all the food places recommended by the respondents are

within 500m walking distance. Most of the food places in the study area are within 5minutes to 20 minutes walking distance. The distance among these food places also

promotes low carbon tourist movement in the study area. Comparison between timetaken by the respondents and pedestrians to reach at suggested local food places is

shown in Map 2.

Map 1. Paths used by rickshaw pullers

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Map 2. Famous local food places in study area

Flexibility in Trail Selection

Respondents are flexible to any trail chosen by the tourists. The tourists are free tochoose the places they wish to visit. Packages offered to the tourists are 30 minutes

(RM20) and one hour (RM40) for a trishaw ride around the study area. However, they

may request the rickshaw pullers to bring them around the heritage trails for morethan one hour. Respondents will provide a pictorial map to the tourists which cover alltourist attractions in the study area. The interpretation given is different according to

the type of trail requested by the visitors. Interesting tourist attractions experienced bythe respondents are shown in Table 1.

Characteristics of Informal Tourist Interpreter Based on Ham (1992)

Based on the findings, researchers have identified the characteristics of rickshaw pullers as in Table 2. Rickshaw pullers have the potential in becoming a good

informal interpreter to the tourists. By referring to Table 2, 72 % of respondents areclassified in Category A. Based on Ham theory (refer to Figure 1), most of the

respondents are Host who are capable to interact with the tourists. This study proves

that most of the respondents are able to increase the quality of tourists experiencethrough their good interpretations. Most of the respondents not only suit the

characteristic of tour guides but act as a local expert with high local knowledge. Thisis because 90% of the respondents are from Malacca who knows all the ins and outs

of roads within the study areas. Besides describing about matters of history of thestudy area, they are also able to interpret about architectural, cultural and physical

interpretation in the study area. They are able to enlighten tourists about architecturaldifferences of Baba and Nyonya, Dutch and British buildings. Rickshaw pullers are

also capable to notify the historical facts such as important dates clearly. Therefore, itcan be said that rickshaw pullers are living museum to the tourists.

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Table 2. Criteria of Informal Tourist Interpreter

CRITERIA OF INFORMAL TOURIST INTERPRETER

CATEGORY A CATEGORY B CATEGORY C CATEGORY D

Local expert(local people of

Malacca)

Local expert(local people outside

Malacca)

Local expert(local people of

Malacca)

Not local expert

Active biker(always tell stories to

visitors)

Active biker(always tell stories to

visitors)

Semi active biker(only tell stories by

request from visitors)

Passive biker(do not tell stories to

the tourists)

Master more than

two languages

(English, Tamil,Chinese, Japanese)

Master more than twolanguages

(English, Tamil,Chinese, Japanese)

Master more than twolanguages

(English, Tamil,Chinese, Japanese)

Do not master morethan two languages

Respond to

audience needsRespond to audience

needs_

Ready as informal

tourist interpreter

Ready as informaltourist interpreter

Not ready as informaltourist interpreter

Not ready asinformal tourist

interpreter

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Table 1. Delivered interpretation based on the packages offered

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Discussion

Based on the analysis performed, rickshaw pullers have the potential and are ready to

become informal tourist interpreters. Although, some of them did not attend anyspecific programs or formal training as tourist guide, it does not mean that they are

not qualified to become a good interpreter to the tourists. Rickshaw pullers are alsocapable of interpreting stories in their own style and some of them are even more

talented than licensed tour guides. All respondents used the existing roads and pathsin the study area because they believe all paths in the study areas hold their own

unique stories that would be interesting to share with the visitors. This research showsthat trishaw acts as a sustainable mode of transport and the free carbon movement also

makes it more environment-friendly. Also, rickshaw pullers are flexible to every trail

chosen by the tourists depending on the offered packages. There are some limitationswhile conducting this study as majority of the respondents are Malays. Relatively, few

number of rickshaw pullers are Chinese, Indians and Portugese. Therefore, relativelymost of the questionnaire survey was answered by the Malays. Out of the total

respondents, only some of them (28%) are not yet ready to become informal touristinterpreters but this number can be reduced if they will be exposed to various skills

courses and seminars that might help enhance their confidence levels while

communicating with visitors. Their role as tourist interpreters is seen as one of the keyelements in enhancing the quality of tourists experience in historic destinations. As

tourists obtain valuable experience during their trip to historical sites, this will create asense of appreciation and responsibility to protect its valuable heritage.

In conclusion, it is hoped that this study will assist relevant parties to enhanceheritage tourism in Malacca City and recognize the role of rickshaw pullers as

informal tourist interpreter in enhancing the quality of tourists experience. Morevarious skills courses and seminars should be held by the concerned parties so that the

interpretation delivered will be more understood and valued by the tourists.

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