HERITAGE BELT IN THE SOUTHEAST ASIA’S SEA COASTAL AREAS IN THE LINKS TO DEVELOP ISLAND TOURISM

Abstract

The Eastern Sea is located on the arterial sea route connecting Pacific Ocean to Indian Ocean, considered one of the busiest international transportation routes in the world. The ancient towns, also the ports: Hoi An, Vigan, George Town - Penang, Malacca, Semarang, deserve to be the pearls on the East coast because of their nostalgic and peaceful beauty and should be the heritage belt in Southeast Asia, the circle of towns surrounding the sea which is not only valuable in maritime and tourism but is also an invaluable cultural preservation fund, a live exhibition of "world villages". The article chooses the approaching method from urban culture study with cross-cultural comparison method, in order to show the directions for developing tourism, archeology, discovery…by linking on fundamental values of multiculture. This paper also proposes to build a new marine tourism model, combining: town - sea - ancient, three specific elements of ancient towns of the Southeast Asia heritage belt.

Keywords: port town, cultural convergence, heritage belt, tourism