Heritage Tourism

Hyung Yu Park

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134704712
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Heritage tourism has become an increasingly significant component of the global tourism industry, particularly in countries striving to diversify away from sea, sand and sun. This growth has had profound influences on the presentation and representation of both tangible and intangible heritage within tourism context. The concept of heritage continues to evolve with its fast-changing political, economic and socio-cultural surroundings. Therefore it is essential that heritage tourism engages with the new form of globalised communities and societies, which have become more assimilated to each other but yet strive to sustain their own distinctive locality.

This book aims to offer a thorough critical examination and systematic evaluation of the unique dynamics of heritage and tourism development from both social sciences and management perspectives. It incorporates both global and local perspectives in theorising and managing heritage tourism. While focusing on reviewing and analysing key academic concepts and debates including authenticity, commodification, globalisation and heritage interpretation, this book also discusses and evaluates topical issues such as sustainable development, marketing strategies and digital technologies including social media. It theoretically locates heritage discourses in the analysis of heritage tourism development and management drawing on various perspectives, from tourism, heritage studies, sociology, anthropology, politics and geography to management and marketing studies. Including case studies of topical concerns, controversies and challenges it will encourage readers to develop a new and insightful understanding of the dialectical relationship between heritage and tourism development.

This book is essential reading for students studying tourism, heritage studies, cultural studies as well as related disciplines.

Heritage: from history to commodity

Heritage as contemporary use of the past

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The past has become a world force that ‘inhabits a complex matrix of economic, political and global processes’ (Weiss, 2007: 416). Appadurai (2001: 48) perceives the past as a ‘boundless resource, endlessly open to variety, elaboration, reinvention and social empowerment’. Heritage encompasses a wider scope of meanings ranging from cultural and historical significances, political implications, spiritual and intellectual connotations to communications. Increasingly, heritage becomes an ephemeral and vague concept, which is in a state of constant flux. The complexities and intricacies in conceptualising and con-textualising heritage are clearly pointed out by Di Giovine (2009: 91), highlighting that:

Heritage is a powerful word in its own right, for it is at once extraordinarily suggestive and ideologically charged, but simultaneously vague enough to be applied to nearly everything across any space and time. It is a word whose significance changes with its myriad invocations, designations or legislations. Depending on its usage, heritage can determine personal property, explicate unknown qualities, foster patriotism among disparate peoples, become a tourist destination, exacerbate geopolitical tensions, or call for help in the form of preservation, among other usages.

Heritage needs thus to be understood as a ‘socially produced, negotiated entity’, whose meanings vary depending on the context and over time (Williams, 2009: 237) rather than a fixed and unchanging entity. Understanding of heritage as a flexible and malleable concept is particularly applicable in relating heritage to tourism contexts. Heritage becomes a raw material that authenticates and fabricates the past and the present for touristic consumption. In this light, Samuel’s explication further stretches the remit of heritage: ‘“heritage” is a nomadic term, which travels easily… a term capricious enough to accommodate widely discrepant meanings’ (Samuel, 1994: 205).

As Hewison (1987: 32) succinctly argues, heritage means ‘anything you want’ in this new era of insatiable obsession with the past. The desire for the past has superseded the desire for the future in Western societies since the 1980s (Huyssen, 2000). This obsession with the past is inextricably bound up with post-industrial social changes in which individuals are often dislocated from families, neighbourhood and nations and even one’s former selves. It is stated: ‘Dismay at massive change stokes demands for heritage. Beleaguered by loss and change, we keep our bearings only by clinging to remnants of stability. Mourning past neglect, we cherish islands of security in seas of change’ (Lowenthal, 1998: 6, emphasis added).

In the context of Britain, the relative economic decline since the late nineteenth century has been attributed to its anti-industrial and anti-business culture, which has propelled British society to generally become ‘rooted in the past, pre-modern and anti-modern in most respects, and ill-equipped to deal with the modern world’ (Rubinstein, 1993: 3). Collective longing for the past emerged from the 1970s as a reaction to the onset of economic recession, the demise of manufacturing industry and the subsequent mass unemployment and social instability. In the 1980s, heritage was important in the urban restructuring of British cities. Wright (1985) claims that newly developed capitalist and industrial society is future-oriented and evolves around progress, whereas pre-capitalist society was past-oriented and cherished a sense of stability. Present-day concerns over the disconnection with the past affect people’s sense of security and identity. Therefore, it is inevitable for people to develop a collective longing for the past in the midst of turmoil and change, as a means to consolidate a sense of security and belonging. As a consequence, heritage serves as ‘islands of security’ that people can cling to amidst the economic crisis of contemporary society. In a similar vein, Horne (1984) claims that the growing obsession with the past reflects the crisis of contemporary reality. The incessant search by tourists for ‘discarded dreamlands’ (1984: 1) is one rather conspicuous illustration of a process of harking back to the past in order to evade the reality of the present. He maintains:

Why should tourists be seeking the past? Why should the past have any particular resonance?… Throughout the age of industrialism there has been a nervousness in finding valid expressions of modernity. The tourist experience, with its seeking for an authentic (and well-researched) past, has been part of the same crisis in reality that has produced so much scholarship, so much sociology and so many experiments in art forms… Uneasiness with the present was so great that. the past was nostalgically plundered to provide a modern sense of dignity and meaning.

(1984: 21–2)

Here, a sense of nostalgia plays an important role in enhancing the appeal of heritage as a secure and stable platform. Nostalgia implies a sense of homesickness and sentimental yearning for the past. In growing dissatisfactions of everyday life, nostalgic past becomes appealing and ever present. Accordingly, Shackel (2003: 3) highlights: ‘Heritage creates a useable past, and it generates a precedent that serves our present needs. and we live in a society that has an unquenchable thirst for nostalgia.’

Nostalgia exerts a strong influence on how certain elements of the past are symbolically constructed and reconstructed in present contexts. Increasingly, heritage becomes the nostalgic expressions of a recent and lived past. Knudsen (2010: 150) explicates:

Nostalgia is a storing feeling of longing triggered by a sensation, a material thing, a place, an encounter or an experience. Nostalgia is a feeling arising due to sensuous stimuli. For the memory to become nostalgic longing, a qualitative change has to happen. The memory transforms into an idyllic image of the past, a utopia of the past. Nostalgia does not have to be conservative and something that only reactionary people experience.

The recognition of the reactionary nature of nostalgia in people’s experiences is significant in understanding how the appeal of heritage is steadily sustained in present contexts. It can be argued that heritage tourism encourages people to react to and experience nostalgia. Hewison (1987) attributes the burgeoning of the heritage industry to individual and collective fears over severance from the past. He emphasises that the rapid transformation of the urban environment, resulting from industrial and technological change, poses a threat to traditional ways of life that are nostalgically perceived to be authentic, stable and secure. It is claimed: ‘In the face of apparent decline and disintegration, it is not surprising that the past seems a better place. Yet it is irrecoverable, for we are condemned to live perpetually in the present’ (Hewison, 1987: 43).

The idealised and beautified perceptions of the past underpin the growing popularity of heritage in tourism development (e.g., the heritage industry). Heritage is an essential re-enactment of the past, which is largely conditioned by the concerns and needs of the present and future. Recent literature increasingly focuses on elements of the present and future in enhancing the understanding of heritage. Heritage is thus conceptualised as the ‘contemporary use of the past’ (Graham, 2002: 1004). The past is constantly adapted and modified by present demands, in which the creative side of culture, history and tradition plays a crucial role in facilitating and maintaining the process of symbolic construction. Therefore, the study of heritage should carefully consider the present-centred nature of heritage which is created and shaped by, and in response to, the demands of the present in which tourism is an essential part. Heritage can be viewed as a symbolic embodiment of the past, reconstructed and reinterpreted in the collective memories and traditions of contemporary societies rather than being perceived as a mere apotheosis of bygone times (Park, 2010a). Inevitably, heritage is open to constant change and revision, thereby leading to multiple interpretations, usages and purposes.

Democratisation of heritage?

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As a socially constructed and negotiated concept, heritage evolves through time and across space. Heritage has significantly expanded its base and market appeal over the recent decades. Heritage was once exclusive to the elitist group as part of high culture. In this regard, heritage was a symbolic embodiment of power and hegemony and geography of heritage was confined to the sites of power, including palaces, stately homes and governmental buildings. The era of the ‘Grand Tour’, for instance, was a testimony of the rights of social elites to travel to places for the purpose of acquiring cultural knowledge and intellectual advancement (Towner, 1985; Black, 1992; Timothy and Boyd, 2003); see Case study 1.1. Until the 1960s there existed clear demarcations between two realms of culture, reinforced by stringent class divisions: high culture and low culture. Germane to this demarcation between high and low culture is the understanding of culture as properties that belong to specific individual groups. However, these divisions became less clear as a result of rapid socio-economic changes in the 1960s (see Williams, 2009). Throughout this period, the appeal of heritage spread to a wider section of society. A growing popularity of encountering and experiencing the realms of the past among the general public is perceived as one clear manifestation of democratising heritage. Lowenthal (1998: 11) explains the pervasive appeal of a nostalgic past:

In times past, only a small minority sought forebears, amassed antiquities. Such pursuits now lure the multitude. No longer are only aristocrats ancestry-obsessed, only the super-rich antique collectors, only academics antiquarians, only the gentry museum visitors; millions now hunt their roots, protect beloved scenes, cherish mementos, and generally dote on times past.

However, this idea of democratising heritage can be contentious since it is difficult to demonstrate that heritage has been democratised in a real sense. Obviously, heritage

Case study 1.1: Grand Tour

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Most of the people on the Grand Tour were aristocrats for whom a trip to continental Europe such as Italy, France and Germany was a part of their classical education. The trip involved visiting sites connected with classical culture, in particular the cities of Italy. The Grand Tour was originally initiated under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as a form of refined education for young men who sought positions at court. They were encouraged to travel to mainland Europe to study classical culture and antiquity of arts. At that time Italy saw the culmination of Renaissance and it was admired for its vast cultural assets and refined arts tradition. Unlike the medieval period, the main focus was placed on human creativity and inspiration, leading to the culmination of such areas as arts and literature. The tradition of travelling to Europe soon became a trend that was followed by young aristocrats and clergymen who aimed to acquire cultural knowledge and intellectual advancement. This new breed of grand tourists undertook the Grand Tour from several months to several years, travelling through France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Holland. The Grand Tour reached its peak in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and its tradition was firmly established as a form of travelling with educational and cultural purposes. In the latter decades of the eighteenth century the focus of the Grand Tour shifted to nature with more people travelling but taking shorter trips. Nature and scenic landscapes became a major force of attraction, largely stimulated by the growth of the Romantic Movement which highlights the force of nature as an artistic imagination. Visits to countryside destinations became extremely popular, including the Alps, the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands. By the mid-nineteenth century, the Grand Tour as an opportunity to explore European antiquity and culture became popular among early American tourists. The most popular cities such as Florence, Venice and Rome on the Grand Tour still remain popular for contemporary cultural and heritage tourists.

Sources: Towner (1985); Black (1992).

in contemporary contexts has become part of mass culture which produces different products to serve different audiences. Forms of high culture have been changed and transformed to meet the newly developed interests and demands of the mass market. But the products consumed by the mass market are often new and different inventions and modifications of heritage. It would thus not be wrong to assert that the manifestation of cultural differences is still palpable in certain heritage sites and practices. Heritage as connoisseurship or scholarship is predominantly linked with the elitist groups, which is not necessari...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of case studies
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Heritage: from history to commodity
• Chapter 2 Heritage tourism supply and demand
• Chapter 3 Managing heritage tourism
• Chapter 4 Authenticity and commodification in heritage tourism
• Chapter 5 Politics of heritage tourism
• Chapter 6 Heritage tourism, nation and identity
• Chapter 7 Heritage tourism and globalisation
• Chapter 8 Heritage marketing
• Chapter 9 Heritage tourism and sustainable development
• Chapter 10 Heritage tourism and cities
• Chapter 11 Museums and heritage tourism development
• Chapter 12 Contemporary issues in heritage tourism
• References
• Index