Ph.D. Candidate
Mr David TANTOW

Heritage Tourism in Singapore

My research focus is on heritage tourism in Singapore. I work on the cultural heritage of the Malay-Muslim minority community. My field site is the Kampong Glam historic district, which was declared a conservation area for said Malay heritage in 1989. Refurbishments there have only very recently been completely, hence my interest in the recent representations of Islamic heritage Singapore.

For previous research, I worked on heritage tourism in my home country – my Master’s thesis was on tourism development at a regional UNESCO world heritage site – the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. Since then, I wanted to shift my regional focus away from Europe and North America in order to gain new perspectives. Discovering Asia has been a great new experience. NUS with its English – speaking working environment allowed for a relatively easy start in the ‘new continent’. I also liked the variety of research areas and the focus on both urban planning and tourism, which is in line with my previous research areas.

I started the main stage of my field work at the end of 2007. The second half of 2008 consisted mainly of data analysis, mostly with MS Excel plus a basic evaluation in SPSS. Currently, I am writing up what I learned from the shop owners, tourists and local visitors in Kampong Glam. My thesis on Singapore's Malay and Muslim heritage is expected to be completed by autumn 2009.