Cultural Heritage and Tourism

An Introduction

Dallen J. Timothy

• Publisher: Channel View Publications
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781845417734
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Hostelería, viajes y turismo

Cultural heritage is one of the most important tourism resources in the world. This book provides a comprehensive theoretical overview and applied knowledge of the issues, practices, current debates, concepts and management concerns associated with cultural heritage-based tourism. The second edition has been updated to include timely and emerging topics such as geopolitics, conflict, solidarity tourism, overtourism and climate change. It also expands on important areas such as environmental change, technology, social media, heritage economics, Indigenous knowledge and co-created experiences. This edition includes up-to-date data, statistics, references, case material, figures and pedagogical tools. It remains an important and accessible text for undergraduate and postgraduate students of cultural and heritage tourism, cultural resource management, and museum management.

CHAPTER 1

CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TOURISM

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1.Identify some of the earliest manifestations of heritage tourism.

2 Understand the meaning of heritage and what it entails.

3.Understand the characteristics of cultural tourism and heritage tourism.

4.Recognize the commonalities and overlap between cultural and heritage tourism.

5.Be familiar with tangible and intangible elements of culture.

6.Be aware of the difference between serious and casual cultural/heritage tourists.

INTRODUCTION

Since the commencement of the Anthropocene, people have journeyed away from home for many reasons. The world has undergone several phases of human development, including long-distance travel. One of the earliest forms of travel was hunters following their prey and trading with other hunters and gatherers nearby. Transhumance, or the seasonal migration of pastoral peoples with their herds, was an early demonstration of longer distance travel away from the village or family. Eventually, trade in foodstuffs, furs and other animal products, precious metals, spices, textiles and other important commodities led merchants further afield in search of consumer items and profits. In Asia, religious devotion to early forms of Hinduism and Buddhism was manifested in pilgrimages long before the Christian pilgrimage movement to the Holy Land began during the first few centuries after Christ. The widespread Christian pilgrimage phenomenon began shortly after the death of Jesus and was facilitated by the already well-developed shipping routes of the Mediterranean and the expansive Roman highway system. During the medieval period, global explorations and colonization began, leading to more areas of the globe being ‘discovered’ by outsiders.

All human eras have contributed to the common understanding we have today of travel and tourism. For example, many roads and highways were developed along ancient paths and trade routes. Road signs and roadside inns grew along important routes, and the notion of different types of tourism began early on with pilgrimage, educational travel and cultural tourism already being well-established by the 15th century. Travel for strictly leisure or pleasure purposes began in the post-industrial era of the 20th century, and contemporary patterns of human mobility are marked by increasing levels of independent travel, more off-the-beaten-path destinations and a wider variety of experiences.

Today, hundreds of millions of people travel each year in search of pleasure, relaxation, enjoyment, education, love, curiosity, and a whole range of other internal motives. The cultural heritage of humankind is one of the most important resources upon which travel is based and appeals to many underlying motives for travel, including those noted above. The experiences of tourists and the cultural heritage resources they utilize are the focus of this book. This chapter provides an initial understanding of the relationships between cultural heritage and tourism, establishes a set of definitions and concepts that help readers understand better the discussions in subsequent chapters, and lays out the contents of the book as a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in cultural heritage based tourism.

THE HISTORY OF HERITAGE TOURISM

As already noted, one of the earliest forms of heritage tourism was pilgrimage. Early pilgrims – people who travel in search of spiritual experiences or for religious reasons – ­visited places that were important from religious or spiritual perspectives. Burial sites of famous leaders, locations where miracles occurred, or places of mystical importance believed to have healing powers, were all seen as significant destinations for religious travelers. The earliest pilgrims, therefore, visited places of spiritual heritage importance, many with global appeal.

Biblical and other ancient accounts provide evidence of the noble classes traveling to view sites that were already old. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were popular attractions in the ancient days of the Greek and Roman empires. The earliest Greek guidebooks were known to have included reviews of the Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Mausolus at Halicarnassus and the Ishtar Gate (later the Lighthouse of Alexandria replaced the Ishtar Gate on the list of Seven Wonders), which were all well-known attractions at the time but only within reach of merchants, traders, soldiers and the aristocracy.

The Grand Tour is another important historical phase of heritage tourism. From the 1600s until the mid-1800s, it was common for young men of social and financial means in Europe to travel with tutors and other entourage to the classical art cities and architectural wonders of Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. They often traveled for months or years at a time with the purpose of becoming cultured nobility. Learning languages and about art, history and architecture were among the main objectives. Their journeys took them to Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence and other historic cities known for their architectural wonders and great works of art. The Grand Tour is among the earliest known examples of prepackaged and mass-produced cultural tours of Europe.

Perhaps the best-known modern origins of heritage tourism were the experiences of Thomas Cook, the ‘father’ of modern travel agents, tour operators and group tours. Cook lived in England and began his career as a travel agent and tour operator in 1841, when he arranged a 15 km train trip for more than 500 people to attend a special event in England. Five years later he led a group of 350 English people on a tour of Scotland. In the 1860s he began offering ship- and train-based tours of Europe, Egypt, Palestine and the United States, the contents of which were largely cultural heritage oriented. The Great Pyramids were a major selling point of Cook’s Egyptian tour, and the American itineraries included Civil War battlefields and important historic sites in New York and the Washington, DC, area.

Today, historic sites and living cultures are among the most popular attractions everywhere. Few countries have tourism industries devoid of cultural heritage products. Even the most ardent sun, sea and sand destinations (e.g. some Caribbean and Pacific islands) also offer elements of cultural heritage for tourist consumption. There is a relatively new movement in some Caribbean destinations to supplement their tourism products through heritage tourism, especially based on the region’s history of slavery and colonialism. Nearly all package tours in every part of the world include heritage sites, and cultural areas are among the most prized destinations among independent travelers as well. It is safe to assume that the appeal of the majority of tourist attractions and destinations today is based on elements of cultural heritage.

A MATTER OF DEFINITION: CULTURAL AND HERITAGE TOURISM

Heritage scholars agree on one basic concept that defines heritage – it is what we inherit from the past and use and value in the present day. Simply stated, history is the past, whereas heritage is the modern-day use and valuation of the past for tourism and other purposes, such as education, community development and scientific exploration. In broad terms, this includes both natural and cultural heritage. Natural heritage includes naturally occurring phenomena such as canyons, rainforests, lakes, rivers, glaciers, mountains, deserts and coastlines. Cultural heritage, on the other hand, is the past created by humankind and its various tangible and intangible manifestations. While natural heritage is an important part of tourism, particularly in the growing realm of nature-based tourism and ecotourism, this book is concerned with the human past as a tourism asset.

The cultural heritage used today includes both tangible and intangible elements. It comes in the form of material objects such as buildings, archaeological remains, rural landscapes and villages, cities, art collections, artifacts in museums, historic gardens, handicrafts and antiques, but it also encompasses non-material elements of culture, including music, dance, beliefs, social values, ceremonies, ...