Analyzing the Impact of Lau Pa Sat Building on Its Surroundings: A Study in Hospitality Management

This report analyzes the impact of Lau Pa Sat building on its surroundings in Singapore. It includes the history and current function of the building, critical analysis of its impact on its surroundings, social and economic impact, and application of Gunn's theory to analyze different elements of the tourist attraction. The report concludes with suggestions for the future of the historic building.

Running Head: HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT 1
Hospitality Management

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
History of Building...................................................................................................................................3
Current Function.....................................................................................................................................3
Critical Analysis of Impact on its surroundings............................................................................................4
Social Impact...........................................................................................................................................4
Economic Impact.....................................................................................................................................5
Theory (Gunn’s Theory)...............................................................................................................................6
A Tourist or Human Element...................................................................................................................6
A Nucleus or Central Element..................................................................................................................7
A Marker or Informative Element............................................................................................................7
Conclusion (Future of Historic Building)......................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Attractions are crucial sub-elements of an overall tourism system, and their study suffers from
lack of empirical foundation and theoretical depth. Tourism attractions are important segments in
tourism market as they play a vital role in building the tourism movement’s geography. They act
as a magnet that attracts more tourists to a particular location. It is essential to conduct the study
and analysis of tourism attractions. This report is focused on analyzing the building that is
situated in Singapore i.e. Lau Pa Sat. It includes the history and functions of the chosen building.
Moreover, there is the discussion about the impact of this building on its surroundings and
people. At the end, different elements of Gunn’s theory (1972) are applied to analyze different
elements of chosen tourist attraction.
History of Building
Lau Pa Sat is a historic building that is located within the Downtown Core in Central Area of
Singapore. This building is also known as Telok Ayer Market. This building was built in the year
1894 and it is governed by National Heritage Board. In the 19th century, Telok Ayer Market was
a wooden building that was situated on the piles over the waters of Telok Ayer Bay (Singapore
Guide, 2018). The name of this market is derived from this place. It is a Malay name “Telok
Ayer” that means “water bay” and coastal road Telok Ayer Street was situated beside the bay
before the land recovery work initiated in the year 1879. The word “Lau Pa Sat” is meant for
“old market” in Chinese language. It is the first market that is built in Singapore as fish market. It
was situated on south bank of Singapore River near Market Street’s north end (Bhati and Pearce,
2017).
Current Function
Currently, Lau Pa Sat Building is functioning as a food center. In this building, there are various
shops like 24 hours Cheers Stores, a tailor, a shoe repair shop and a laundry shop. In the
weekend’s evenings, a live band plays on the stage in middle of market. In the market, there is a
modern food court that caters tourists and workers. Cast-iron, unique and octagonal structure of
Lau Pa Sat was designed by James MacRitchie. The building has long been transformed into a
hawker center providing the best of Singaporean cuisine (Aquino, 2018).

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Critical Analysis of Impact on its surroundings
Each and every tourist attraction may have impact on its surroundings and people. There are two
types of impacts i.e. socially and economically. Social effects signify the impact that it makes in
terms of lives of local population, changes in infrastructure and changes in people’s lifestyles.
Moreover, the economic impact can be calculated in terms of financial and monetary advantages
and economic growth of overall society and its people (Anwar, 2016). In Singapore, Lau Pa Sat
building has a great history and it has both positive and negative impacts on its surroundings
areas. Critical analysis of its impacts on surroundings is given below:
Social Impact
About tourism attractions, it can be stated that they are the major elements of tourism’s economy
because they encourage the interest in travelling to that specific destination. Additionally, they
ensure the satisfaction to those people who visit these destinations. Socio-cultural effects of any
tourism destinations refer to the changes in the lives of population that is living in surrounding
areas of that tourist destination. In Singapore, social effects are the way in which Lau Pa Sat
building is contributing to the changes in people’s life style, individual behavior, value system,
safety level, religion, language, culture, family relationships and interpersonal relationship at the
destination (Aquino, 2018).
The historical importance of this building is that this is one of the oldest tangible marks of
Singapore’s marketplace from early colonial era. The building has renovated and revamped so
many times. In 2014, the latest renovation has boosted the business of people who have their
stalls in the building. It has generated employment opportunities for the local people in the city.
Now, this building is more elegant and hygienic that provides a neater environment to its
surrounding society and people. This food center has seating capacity for 2500 people with 54
stalls that offer both international and domestic delicacies (Singapore Tourism Board, 2018). With
the increased arrival of international tourists to the building, the government is focused on
enhancing the infrastructure and other related facilities like electricity, road and water facilities
in the area. The people from different countries are reaching Singapore that enable the local
people to know about different languages, backgrounds and cultures (McKercher and Koh,
2017). In order to fulfill the demands of international tourists, domestic people are making
various efforts. It increases accessibility for the local people to different products. It has positive

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impact on the nearby attractions of Lau Pa Sat such as Marina Bay, Fear Peak and Monster Day
Tours etc.
Apart from above positive impacts, there are some negative effects of Lau Pa Sat building in
Singapore. Arrival of visitors from different countries is increasing the cultural diversity in the
area. Due to this, the area is losing the identity of its local culture and traditions. Thus, it is
making the surrounding areas culturally unstable. Before June 2014, this building was closed for
so many times that has affected stall owners. They were unhappy about the delays in opening as
they needed to pay during the closure period (Singapore Tourism Board, 2018). Due to heavy
crowd at Lau Pa Sat, local people are confronting traffic related issues. In this way, this historic
building in Singapore has both positive and negative social impacts in area.
Economic Impact
It is evident that tourism industry is the major contributor to country’s economy. It can be seen in
the case of Singapore as well. The contribution of tourism to GDP is estimated to increase by
3.2% per annum to SGD24.9 billion i.e. 4.4% of GDP by 2028. It was SGD43.5 billion in the
year 2017 that was 10.2% of Gross Domestic Product and it is forecasted to increase by 3.5% to
SGD45.0 billion in the year 2018 (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2018). It indicates that
tourist attractions have some economic impacts along with the social impacts. In Singapore,
tourism attractions have changed the economic structure of the destination. Lau Pa Sat building
has economic effects on its surrounding area and people in two ways. One is generally positive
whereas other is negative. This building is functioning as a market where there are more than 54
stall and other shops which is the major source of income and capital to the local population
(Marin, 2015).
This building provides various economic benefits to the domestic population of the country. It
assists the society and its people to create job opportunities, earn foreign exchange, generate
return on the investment for developing economies, bring new technologies and enhance the
living standard of people in surroundings area. Considering the past tourist arrival and tourists’
backgrounds, people are opening their stores in the market and it is increasing for lower class
people and revenues of shopkeepers as they are selling products on increased prices to foreign
customers. Also, it is providing shopping facilities to domestic population (Boniface, Cooper and
Cooper, 2016). Additionally, government is providing significant support to the economic

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development of the destinations. Due to this building, there is generation in the job opportunities
in resorts, hotels, parks, transport operators, travel agents, collages and entertainment businesses.
Along with the positive economic impacts, Lau Pa Sat building has some negative impact on the
other individual sellers and restaurants. It affects their sales and revenues as people prefer to
have food at this market. The reason behind this is that they can find variety and different
cuisines of food at Lau Pa Sat. Moreover, there is increase in the competition so people are
compromising on quality of food. It has impact on the revenues and profits of sellers in the
building (McKercher and Koh, 2017).
In this way, it can be stated that this historic building in Singapore has both social and economic
impacts on its surrounding area and its people.
Theory (Gunn’s Theory)
According to the Gunn’s Theory (1972), there are three major elements of any tourist attraction
i.e. a tourist or human element, a nucleus or central element and a marker or informative element
(Roura, 2011). This theory defines that a tourist attraction comes into existence when these
elements are linked to each other. The creation of attraction is the part of process by which these
elements come together. If one element is not connected then there will not be attraction. The
author suggests that every element is vital for attraction system. For example, a place with no
tourists would not be considered as tourist attraction (Backer and Hing, 2017). Here, the
existence of historic building in Singapore i.e. Lau Pa Sat can be understood by applying three
elements of Gunn’s theory. In context of Lau Pa Sat, these elements of Gunn’s Theory are
analyzed below:
A Tourist or Human Element
The first element of Gunn’s theory is tourist or human element that has increased in the
popularity and it consists of the people travelling away from home in search of economic
activities (Yusof, Shah and Geok, 2012). This element defines the connections which occur
between the tourist with the requirement and a place where that requirement might be fulfilled.
In Singapore, people are arriving for leisure purposes and its natural heritages are able to satisfy
leisure related needs of tourists. At Lau Pa Sat, the human or tourist element is diverse as tourists
in Singapore are arriving from different countries like Indonesia, China, Philippines and

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Malaysia etc. Considering this diversity, this building provides variety of products which are
related to different cultures and backgrounds (Singapore Tourism Board, 2018). At food stalls,
food from different cuisines and varieties is available so that they can enjoy their tradition food.
Additionally, the government has supported the tourists by developing the local transportation
services and infrastructure in the city. In this context, content theory is introduced that tourists
are motivated by the range of needs. Lau Pa Sat is able to meet the needs of tourists by offering
products and food for culturally diverse people.
A Nucleus or Central Element
The second element of Gunn’s Theory is Nucleus or central element that describes as the
characteristics of any tourist destination. It shows any feature of tourist place which a tourist
anticipates visiting or really visits. The author defined this element in terms of motivations which
increase visitation. Primary nucleus is an attribute, for example cultural element, sight and
location of a destination influential in visitation decision. At Lau Pa Sat, there are various
characteristics and attributes which attract more tourists (Ngwira and Kankhuni, 2018). For
example, this building is situated in the prime location and central area of Singapore. In the
central of financial district, Lau Pa Sat is surrounded by tallest buildings in city and famous as
the most popular food markets in city. This building blends the history, outstanding architecture
and delicious domestic food. At this building, the major attraction is its signature clock tower
that crowns the beautiful landmark. The building is gazetted as a national monument Singapore.
This shape of building is the major attribute that attracts more tourists towards it (Mason, 2015).
Considering the tourist arrival in the city, the changes are made in the building and food offering.
A Marker or Informative Element
Marker is the last element of Gunn’s theory that refers to the way how the information about a
tourist attraction and sight is conveyed to the people (Nowacki, 2013). The communication
between sights and tourists consists of information or markers about the place that are majorly
acoustic, visual, chemical and mechanical. Apart from this, the information can be provided in
the form of brochures, interpretation symbols and plaques. These elements also have a
significant impact on the visitation decision of tourists. For Lau Pa Sat building, Singapore’s
Heritage portal and its website are the major markers which can give the information about
building. The tourists can match their needs with the building’s specifications (Henderson,

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2016). In addition to this, brochures of travel agents and hotels can act as the markers for the
chosen building.
Conclusion (Future of Historic Building)
Thus, it is hereby concluded that Lau Pa Sat includes all the three elements of Gunn’s theory. It
shows that it is a perfect tourist attraction in Singapore. It has both social and economic impacts
on its surrounding areas and people. In the future, Lau Pa Sat market will consist of Singaporean
heritage via enactment of domestic weddings covering the diverse racial material of city.
Currently, the major functions of this historic building are focused on the food offerings. In the
future, the place should be available for other activities like sports event, wedding and other
events. A timely revitalization will add more attraction in this building and the building will be
able to increase the tourist arrival in Singapore.

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References
Anwar, S.A., (2016) Emerging issues in tourism system in relation to the people and their
environment. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 7(2), p.56.
Aquino, M. (2018) Dining at Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, Singapore, Available from
https://www.tripsavvy.com/lau-pa-sat-festival-market-1629836 [Accessed on 10 September 2018].
Backer, E. and Hing, N., (2017) Whole tourism systems: an academic portrait of Neil
Leiper. Anatolia, 28(2), pp.320-325.
Bhati, A. and Pearce, P., (2017) Tourist attractions in Bangkok and Singapore; linking vandalism
and setting characteristics. Tourism management, 63, pp.15-30.
Boniface, B., Cooper, R. and Cooper, C., (2016) Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel and
tourism. UK: Routledge.
Henderson, J.C., (2016) Local and traditional or global and modern? Food and tourism in
Singapore. Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism, 2(1), pp.55-68.
Marin, D., (2015) Study on the economic impact of tourism and of agrotourism on local
communities. Research Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 47(4), pp.160-163.
Mason, P., (2015) Tourism impacts, planning and management. UK: Routledge.
McKercher, B. and Koh, E., (2017) Do attractions “attract” tourists? The case of
Singapore. International Journal of Tourism Research, 19(6), pp.661-671.
Ngwira, C. and Kankhuni, Z. (2018) What attracts tourists to a destination? Is it attractions?
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 7 (1), pp. 1-7.
Nowacki, M. (2013) The Determinants Of Satisfaction Of Tourist Attractions’ Visitors, Available
from http://otworzksiazke.pl/images/ksiazki/the_determinants/the_determinants.pdf [Accessed on 10
September 2018].

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Roura, R.M. (2011) The Footprint of Polar Tourism: Tourist Behaviour at Cultural Heritage
Sites in Antarctica and Svalbard, Netherlands: Barkhuis Publications.
Singapore Guide, (2018) Lau Pa Sat Food Hawker Centre in Singapore, Available from
http://www.singapore-guide.com/food-dining/lau-pa-sat.htm [Accessed on 10 September 2018].
Singapore Tourism Board, (2018) Lau Pa Sat, Available from http://www.visitsingapore.com/en_in/see-
do-singapore/architecture/historical/lau-pa-sat/ [Accessed on 10 September 2018].
World Travel and Tourism Council, (2018) Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2018 Singapore,
Available from https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2018/
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896-900.