The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Tourism

Melanie Smith, Greg Richards, Melanie Smith, Greg Richards

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136324680
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Business

The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Tourism explores and critically evaluates the debates and controversies in this field of Tourism. It brings together leading specialists from a range of disciplinary backgrounds and geographical regions, to provide state-of-the-art theoretical reflection and empirical research on this significant stream of tourism and its future direction.

The book is divided into 7 inter-related sections. Section 1 looks at the historical, philosophical and theoretical framework for cultural tourism. This section debates tourist autonomy role play, authenticity, imaginaries, cross-cultural issues and inter-disciplinarity Section 2 analyses the role that politics takes in cultural tourism. This section also looks at ways in which cultural tourism is used as a policy instrument for economic development. Section 3 focuses on social patterns and trends, such as the mobilities paradigm, performativity, reflexivity and traditional hospitality, as well as considering sensitive social issues such as dark tourism. Section 4 analyses community and development, exploring adaptive forms of cultural tourism, as well as more sustainble models for indigenous tourism development. Section 5 discusses Landscapes and Destinations, including the transformation of space into place, issues of authenticity in landscape, the transformation of urban and rural landscapes into tourism products and conservation versus development dilemmas. Section 6 refers to Regeneration and Planning, especially the creative turn in cultural tourism, which can be used to avoid problems of serial reproduction, standardisation and homogenisation. Section 7 deals with The Tourist and Visitor Experience, emphasising the desire of tourists to be more actively and interactively engaged in cultural tourism.

This significant volume offers the reader a comprehensive synthesis of this field, conveying the latest thinking and research. The text is international in focus, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study and will be an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in Cultural Tourism.

This is essential reading for students, researchers and academics of Tourism as well as those of related studies in particular Cultural Studies, Leisure, Geography, Sociology, Politics and Economics.

Part I

History, Philosophy and Theory

This section provides a framework for the book in the sense that it outlines some of the most important theoretical, philosophical and historical debates that have shaped cultural tourism studies. It is of course by no means exhaustive, but it offers a selection of some key ideas and principles. The histories of tourism have been well documented elsewhere – for example, Walton (2005), who makes the point that history is an essential component in understanding the humanistic and inter-disciplinary nature of tourism studies. For many years now there has been a growing interest in historical representation, heritage and authenticity in the study of cultural tourism. Walton (2005) makes the point that history is constantly being rewritten and reinterpreted by and for present and future generations. Many of the decisions about what should be represented and how it should be done are closely connected to power, a subject that now recurs regularly in the study of cultural tourism, and increasingly in other areas too, e.g. anthropology (see Macleod and Carrier 2010).

History influences debates about national and regional identity, which are central to image making and branding in all forms of tourism, but especially cultural tourism. Much of our understanding of the history of tourism has been based on fairly limited material, such as Towner on the Grand Tour or stories of Thomas Cook, but there is a wealth of historical work that has thus far been relatively hidden or under-researched (Walton 2005). In this section, David Bruce makes the important point that guidebook authors like Marianna Starke have traditionally been overlooked in favour of Murray and Baedeker (probably because she was a woman). Rather than being descriptive, historical research can provide fresh insights into the nature and scope of tourism and the profile and motivation of tourists. For example, Tony Seaton here describes how many tourists simply retrace the steps of significant others from history or re-enact the roles of historical figures. He also emphasises the growing importance of the theme of performance in the study of cultural tourism.

Of course, many aspects of tourism do not change. David Bruce refers to the tendency of most tourists throughout history, aristocratic, bourgeois or otherwise, to defer to guidebooks and other signposts rather than trusting in their own intuition. This theme continues throughout this section, with Mike Robinson’s observations about the angst engendered in tourists who are forced to go beyond the ‘script’, especially in the context of cross-cultural encounters. However, he emphasises that it can be liberating for tourists and hosts alike to engage in more spontaneous inter-cultural dialogue. Meaning making in tourism has largely been pre-determined and pre-scripted by historical, social and cultural factors, as well as commercial ones (e.g. marketing and advertising). Noel Salazar focuses on ‘imaginaries’, which are a combination of all of these influences, many of which are difficult to deviate from or escape. However, like the changing interpretation of history, the representation of destinations is a dynamic process that changes over time; therefore, imaginaries can also play a role in reshaping social and cultural processes on a global scale.

The theme of globalisation is always an important focus in any study of cultural tourism and one that is often closely connected to the theme of identity creation, as well as cross-cultural exchange and inter-cultural dialogue. Some of the authors in this section question the binarisms that have tended to dominate (cultural) tourism studies, such as global and local, homogenisation and heterogenisation, host and guest, work and play, east and west (e.g. Robinson, Reisinger). Yvette Reisinger revisits the globalisation debate and emphasises the positive impacts of globalisation on the differentiation and domestification of cultural tourism destinations and local products. The emphasis in this chapter and in this section more generally tends to be on the continua along which cultural tourism operates, rather than polarised binarisms which are becoming more meaningless in an increasingly mobile and fluid world.

In addition to history and inter-cultural theory, philosophy can be used as a framework for cultural tourism studies. Again, this is not a new subject in tourism and has been discussed quite extensively – for example, Tribe 2010, who mentions in particular the ‘perennial questions’ in philosophy, which are truth, beauty and virtue. The subject of virtue in tourism studies has become pervasive because of the growing necessity of debates around sustainability, responsibility and ethics. However, he argues that beauty has been relatively under-researched, even though the aesthetics of tourism have always been an important consideration. Most tourists are drawn first and foremost to the beauty of a destination, whether it be the built environment, the landscape or the beach. Beauty also wields power – for example, many value judgements have traditionally been based on beauty (e.g. World Heritage sites).

As mentioned in the context of history, ‘truth’ is also an important element in cultural tourism, especially when it comes to establishing what really happened in the past. Most of our representations are only partial or reflect the view of certain dominant groups in history. The ‘truth’ of other phenomena such as authenticity has been questioned extensively, especially by tourism anthropologists. Sean Beer in this section considers the authenticity debate from a philosophical perspective, drawing not only on existentialist philosophers (see also Reisinger and Steiner 2006 in the context of ‘existential authenticity’), but places it in the context of much wider philosophical considerations.

Coles et al. (in Tribe 2010: 95) consider disciplinary debates as being part of the philosophy of tourism studies and advocate an interdisciplinary approach to transcend the ‘restrictive dogma and parochialism of disciplines’. This follows much of John Tribe’s own work, which has focused on the disciplinary challenges of tourism studies (Tribe 1997, 2000). Hollinshead and Ivanova in this book follow some of these debates with their own analysis of post-disciplinarity. Cultural tourism has traditionally drawn on a number of disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, geography and economics. However, the editors recognise the problems of trying to embed each of the chapters in one disciplinary section, as many of the chapters are not uni-disciplinary in their approach. They also acknowledge the limbo status of cultural tourism as a field of enquiry and not yet a discipline. However, the breadth, depth and scope of this book indicates how worthy cultural tourism may soon be of this accolade.

Summary of the Chapters in this Section

David Bruce begins this section by tracing the history of cultural tourism back to its ‘golden age’ in the nineteenth century and the transition from ‘Grand Tourists’ to ‘modern’ mass tourists. He examines in particular Ruskin’s role in constructing the concept of cultural tourism, the guidebooks of Mariana Starke and Murray and Baedeker in informing the routes of cultural tourists, and the role of Thomas Cook in creating cultural tour packages for mass tourists. Wry and witty observations are made about the enduringly prescriptive nature of cultural tours for both aristocrats and bourgeois travellers alike, shifting from Grand Tour to guidebooks to packages. He uses a case study of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View to illustrate the comic dependence of most supposedly independent travellers on the guidebooks of Baedeker, even to the point of controlling and regulating their emotional responses. The manipulation, signposting and scripting of tourists is a recurrent theme even in cultural tourism today.

Tony Seaton considers the history of travel from a different perspective, namely the phenomena he names metempsychosis and metensomatosis. He suggests that much of tourism and travel is based on historical and cultural patterns, many of which follow in the footsteps of (significant) others. Once again, tourism is considered to be a scripted activity. Metempsychosis refers to repetitions of famous journeys, which may lead to the contrasting of the past and present in space, place and time. Metensomatosis, on the other hand, refers to the multiple roles played by the tourist, sometimes simultaneously. These may be historical, contemporary, real or mythical. Indeed, the study of performance in tourism is becoming the subject of considerable interest (e.g. Edensor 2009). This suggests that tourists cannot be as easily and rigidly typologised as was originally thought, and that modes of being and performance are essentially plural, fluid and transient.

Mike Robinson questions the binaries and hierarchies that are so deeply embedded in the study of cultural tourism, many of which are the result of language, an under-researched dimension of tourism. Tourism has a critical role to play in the shaping of inter-cultural dialogue between tourists and host communities in multiple everyday encounters, not just in the context of frontline service. Sometimes the challenge of dealing with ‘otherness’ and the ‘angst’ generated can enable tourists to experience a sense of freedom outside the ‘script’, forcing them to trust in the non-signed world, and liberate them from dependence. Hosts can also reap rewards for their ability to communicate with tourists in different languages, going beyond trading to an enriching cross-cultural human exchange.

Noel Salazar considers other factors that serve to shape the world making and meaning making of tourists – namely imaginaries, which are a combination of personal, social, political and commercial representations, images and discourses. Many of these are the result of historical and cultural processes that go way beyond marketing and are perpetuated in literature, arts, film and other forms of global media. Imaginaries are intangible and difficult to measure, let alone tracing their origins. Many local imaginaries have been globalised and embedded in new contexts through tourism, and are now difficult to escape. Some tend to be based on nostalgia, romance or idealisation, but others are a testament to the fact that culture is never static and can be instrumental in political or social reinvention.

Yvette Reisinger considers changing perceptions of the concept of globalisation and its consideration within cultural tourism studies. She suggests that it is no longer fruitful to consider globalisation to be a homogenising process dominated mainly by Western (American) culture. Although tourism can seem to represent the ‘globalisation of nothing’ (Ritzer 2004), staged authenticity and commodification, there is also much evidence to suggest that globalisation can generate conditions that support the local and the unique (‘domestification’). Contrary to previous theories, globalisation can actually encourage rather than erode distinctiveness and differentiation. Instead of categorising tourism according to binarisms like global and local, or homogenisation and heterogenisation it is more interesting to think in terms of cultural innovation, recontextualisation or fusion.

Sean Beer provides an analysis of the relationship between philosophy and cultural tourism, with particular reference to the concept of authenticity. He traces many of the debates about objective authenticity, questioning the extent to which authenticity ever really existed and whether tourists even want(ed) this. Philosophical enquiry might suggest that tourists are responsible for constructing and experiencing their own sense of authenticity in the present moment. However, this is also influenced by their historical, social and cultural conditioning. Existential authenticity is largely defined from within the individual and draws on the philosophy of Sartre and Heidegger (e.g. Reisinger and Steiner 2006). However, the author suggests that post-structuralist and postmodern theorists and philosophers may offer a more complex, yet playful analysis of the phenomenon of authenticity. Ultimately, it is difficult to judge what is authentic and what is not, even though perceptions of authenticity can be said to exist.

Keith Hollinshead and Milka Ivanova discuss the theoretical framework for cultural tourism with reference to the complex issue of disciplinarity and how tourism studies should be approached. While questioning the need to fetishise disciplinary boundaries, the authors do not advocate an anti-disciplinary approach. Instead, they explore notions of multi- or pluridisciplinarity, as well as trans- and post-disciplinarity. The latter implies that tourism is embedded in fluid spaces and intersections, whilst the former potentially embraces all disciplines to gain a holistic understanding of the complex nature of tourism (including not only academia but also industry and social sectors). Post-disciplinarity can embrace multiple truths, including those of sub-cultures and historically suppressed groups. Such an approach is especially important for the study of indigenous and local cultures.

References

Coles, T., Hall, M. and Duval, D.T. (2010) ‘Post-disciplinary Tourism’, in Tribe, J. (ed.) Philosophical Issues in Tourism, Clevedon: Channel View, 80–100.

Edensor, T. (2009) ‘Tourism and Performance’, in Jamal, T. and Robinson, M. (eds) The Sage Handbook of Tourism Studies, London and California: Sage, 543–57.

Macleod, D.V.L. and Carrier, J.G. (eds) (2010) Tourism, Power and Culture: Anthropological Insights, Clevedon: Channel View.

Reisinger, Y. and Steiner, C.J. (2006) ‘Reconceptualizing Object Authenticity’, Annals of Tourism Research 33(1): 65–86.

Ritzer, G. (2004) The Globalization of Nothing, London: Sage.

Steiner, C.J. and Reisinger, Y. (2006) ‘Understanding Existential Authenticity’, Annals of Tourism Research 33(2): 299–318.

Tribe, J. (1997) ‘The Indiscipline of Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 24(3): 638–57.

Tribe, J. (2000) ‘Indisciplined and Unsubstantiated’, Annals of Tourism Research 27(3): 809–13.

Tribe, J. (ed.) (2010) Philosophical Issues in Tourism, Clevedon: Channel View.

Walton, J.K. (ed.) (2005) Histories of Tourism, Clevedon: Channe...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I History, Philosophy and Theory
• Part II Politics, Policy and Economics
• Part III Social Patterns and Trends
• Part IV Community and Development
• Part V Landscapes and Destinations
• Part VI Regeneration and Planning
• Part VII The Tourist and Visitor Experience
• Conclusion
• Index