Sense of place and sustainability of intangible cultural heritage – The case of George Town and Melaka

The pressure of tourism on heritage sites is threatening the cultural heritage of such places. Local community voices should be studied in order to understand what and how to preserve the intangible cultural heritage at WHSs as they are the main players of this intangible heritage. With reference to the concepts of place attachment, this study examines the elements of ‘person-place bonding’ that may contribute to the sustainability of intangible cultural heritage, and how these elements help the sustainability of heritage tourism. In-depth interviews, observations were conducted in the WHSs of George Town and Melaka, Malaysia. A total of 32 documents were analysed. The ‘Sense of Loss’, ‘Sense of Justice’ and ‘Sense of Mission’ emerged as the three main themes of ‘person-place bonding’. This bonding motivates community participation in sustaining the intangible cultural heritage they value. Besides, ‘awareness’ and ‘creativity’ are two vital codes that link the ecosystem of WHSs.