Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies

Melanie K. Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317664208
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Service Industry
• Index: Business

The third edition of Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies provides a vital framework for analysing the complexity of cultural tourism and its increasing globalization in existing as well as emergent destinations of the world. It focuses in particular on the need for even more creative tourism strategies to differentiate destinations from each other using a blend of localized cultural products and innovative global attractions.

The book explores many of the most pertinent issues in heritage, arts, festivals, indigenous, ethnic and experiential cultural tourism in urban and rural environments alike. Since the second edition of this book there have been many important developments in this field and this third edition has been completely revised and updated to include:

• New content on: demand and motivation for cultural tourism, sustainable cultural tourism, and ethnic cultural tourism
• New and updated case studies from an even wider global perspective
• A revised, up-to-date framework for global cultural tourism studies in the light of recent research, publications, and industry developments.
• New pedagogical features within the text to aid understanding and critical thinking including: questions at the end of case studies and a further reading section.

At the interface between the global and the local, a sustainable and people-centred approach to cultural tourism planning and development is advocated to ensure that benefits are maximized for local areas, a sense of place and identity are retained, and the tourist experience is enhanced to the full. The text is unique in that it provides a summary and a synthesis of all of the major issues in global cultural tourism, which are presented in an accessible way using a diverse range of international case studies. It is essential and valuable reading for all tourism students.

CHAPTER

1	A framework for cultural tourism studies

Today, cultural tourism seems to be omnipresent, and in the eyes of many it also seems to have become omnipotent.

(Richards, 2007: 1)

Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to provide a framework for the rest of the book in terms of definitions, contexts and perspectives. Although cultural tourism has become a significant growth sector in recent years and has been the subject of increasingly numerous journal and book publications (e.g. Smith, 2003, 2009; Raj et al., 2013; Smith and Richards, 2013; McKercher and Du Cros, 2002; Du Cros and McKercher, 2015), there is still a need for a comprehensive book which brings together all of the main theoretical and practical issues in this diverse field. Cultural tourism is a global phenomenon which manifests itself somewhat differently in the various regions of the world. The aim of this chapter is to show that there are historical, geographical, political and social reasons for the diverse nature of cultural tourism, starting from the idea that culture can mean different things to different peoples. In addition, historical processes have created different legacies, social processes create different value systems and not all political systems support culture in the same way.

Global tourism is growing, and consequently cultural tourism seems to be growing in equal proportion. Many have argued that almost all tourism trips can be considered cultural (Smith and Robinson, 2006; Richards, 2007; Smith and Richards, 2013), especially if culture is defined as the whole way of life of people (Williams, 1958). However, most growth estimates are a consequence of this expansion of the definitions of cultural tourism, which can include shopping, sport and all manner of contemporary activities and lifestyle trends.

Defining cultural tourism

More and more people are travelling despite concerns about climate change, rising fuel costs and global terrorism. Since the first edition’s publication of this book in 2003, cultural tourism has continued to be a major growth industry, and its importance has been consistently recognised by a number of global organisations, such as UNESCO and the WTO. However, definitions of cultural tourism are broadening and changing all the time.

Richards (1996) proposed two definitions of cultural tourism for his research for ATLAS (the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education), and this research is still ongoing. These are:

• Technical definition: ‘All movements of persons to specific cultural attractions, such as museums, heritage sites, artistic performances and festivals outside their normal place of residence’.

• Conceptual definition: ‘The movement of persons to cultural manifestations away from their normal place of residence, with the intention to gather new information and experiences to satisfy their cultural needs’.

However, these definitions do not take into consideration culture as a way of life of people, but Richards’s later definition (2001a: 7) is more comprehensive, suggesting that cultural tourism covers:

not just the consumption of the cultural products of the past, but also of contemporary culture or the ‘way of life’ of a people or region. Cultural tourism can therefore be seen as covering both ‘heritage tourism’ (related to artefacts of the past) and ‘arts tourism’ (related to contemporary cultural production).

Richards also argues that cultural tourism does not simply represent passive consumption – that is, simply looking at historic sites, museum collections, paintings or theatre performances. Many tourists are increasingly becoming interested in ‘creative tourism’, which involves participation in cultural activities (e.g. painting, photography, crafts, dancing, cookery). Creative tourism is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.

McKercher and Du Cros (2002) suggest that cultural tourism can be defined in a number of ways:

• as a form of special interest tourism where culture forms the basis of either attracting tourists or motivating people to travel

• from a business perspective as involving the development and marketing of various tourists sites and attractions

• from a motivational perspective whereby visitors travel as a result of their interest in cultural activities

• as an experiential activity where engagement with culture can be unique and intense, and tourists are educated as well as entertained

• from an operational perspective where tourists participate in a large array of activities or experiences (e.g. heritage, arts, festivals, local cultures).

Du Cros and McKercher’s (2015: 6) more recent definition of cultural tourism is as follows: ‘A form of tourism that relies on a destination’s cultural heritage assets and transforms them into products that can be consumed by tourists’. This definition works well in the case of heritage tourism and some forms of arts, but less well when considering the everyday lives of people. Heritage implies that a culture belongs to the past and this is not true of the practices of many communities today which attract cultural tourists. Raj et al. (2013) suggest that one of the difficulties with defining cultural tourism is that no clear definition of culture has been accepted by the community as a whole.

However, for the purposes of this book and subsequent discussions, the following definition of cultural tourism will be used:

Cultural tourism: passive, active and interactive engagement with heritage, arts and the culture(s) of communities, whereby the visitor gains new experiences of an educational, creative, and/or entertaining nature.

This definition reflects the shift towards more active and interactive forms of cultural tourism, such as creative or experiential tourism (discussed in Chapters 9 and 10). It also suggests that education and entertainment are not mutually exclusive, and that tourists are involved with multiple cultures and communities, sometimes simultaneously.

Cultural tourism is often cited as being a growth industry, and a sector of tourism which is becoming more diverse. It is, therefore, necessary to consider some sub-sectors or sub-segments of the product and the market. The following list suggests a fairly comprehensive typology of cultural tourism:

• heritage sites (e.g. archaeological sites, whole towns, monuments, museums)

• performing arts venues (e.g. theatres, concert halls, cultural centres)

• visual arts (e.g. galleries, art museums, architecture)

• festivals and special events (e.g. arts festivals, music festivals, carnivals)

• religious sites (e.g. cathedrals, temples, pilgrimage destinations)

• rural environments (e.g. villages, farms, cultural landscapes, ecomuseums)

• indigenous communities and traditions (e.g. tribal people, ethnic groups, minority cultures)

• ethnic groups in cities (e.g. Chinatowns, Little Italys, Jewish quarters, Indian slums, South African townships, Brazilian favelas)

• arts and crafts (e.g. textiles, pottery, painting, sculpture)

• language (e.g. learning or practice)

• gastronomy (e.g. wine tasting, food sampling, cookery courses)

• popular culture (e.g. modern architecture, pop music, fashion, media, design)

• creative activities (e.g. painting, photography, dance).

It is relatively easy to fall into the trap of using terms such as ‘heritage tourism’, ‘arts tourism’, ‘ethnic tourism’ or ‘indigenous tourism’ almost interchangeably. However, in many ways, the arts and heritage are inextricably linked, and it is almost impossible to distinguish between them, particularly in the context of indigenous communities where the distinction between past, present and future is not as clear-cut or linear as in Western societies. Many traditions within the arts form a distinctive component of the heritage of a people or a place. This is especially true of crafts production or festivals. Even in historic cities (for example, in Italy), it is difficult to distinguish between the heritage and arts component of the cultural tourism product. Historic buildings host art exhibitions, theatre and opera take place in ancient amphitheatres, festivals and events are based in heritage streets. Boundaries are nebulous, and distinctions are not always possible or indeed useful. Indeed, Du Cros and McKercher (2015: 9) argue that ‘the disaggregation of cultural tourism into a series of component parts may be doing more damage than good, by masking common issues and creating unneeded complexities’. On the other hand, there are many management issues that are specific to the performing arts, indigenous people, built heritage, etc. Culture is often defined so broadly that it is impossible to talk of a generic form of ‘cultural management’. For the purposes of this book, and because of its diversity and complexity, cultural tourism is divided into a number of sub-sectors or typologies (while recognising some overlaps). These include heritage tourism, arts tourism, creative tourism and indigenous tourism. The kinds of environments visited might be urban or rural, naturally occurring or man-made. Each of these areas tends to have its own specific issues, relating to both critical studies and practical management. Below is a summary of key issues for the main sub-sets of cultural tourism.

Heritage tourism

Heritage tourism is concerned largely with the interpretation and representation of the past. Hence it is a branch of cultural tourism that can be something of a political and ethical minefield. Heritage has become increasingly politicised as recognition has been granted to previously marginalised, minority and ethnic groups. The Western-dominated, Eurocentric approach to the study of history and its interpretation as heritage is no longer acceptable in the postmodern, global environment.

The study of history is always disjointed and distorted in some way. The quest for absolute truth and the depiction of ‘reality’ is ultimately a fruitless quest, as evidence is often hard to come by and its interpretation is subjective and biased. The so-called ‘grand narratives’ of the past have often been refuted because of their patriarchal and ethnocentric bias. Instead, the social histories of the working classes, women, ethnic minorities and indigenous groups have gradually become the subject of considerable academic and public interest. The existence of plural histories is being increasingly recognised, although this in itself is problematic, since far more gaps tend to exist in the histories of marginal groups. This may be because such groups were often unable to record their own history or were disinherited, and their heritage displaced or destroyed. This is particularly true of ethnic groups and indigenous peoples.

There has been a growth of interest in such forms of history, and the heritage and museum industries are consequently responding to this development. It is still the case that ethnic and indigenous curators are in a minority, and education and training gaps can be identified. Much of the interpretation of ethnic and indigenous peoples is subsequently carried out by white Westerners, many of whom do not have the knowledge base or the empathy to take on this role effectively.

Tourism has sometimes led to increasing support for minority groups, as it has helped to raise their social and political profile internationally. However, interpretation of heritage is often sensitive and controversial. Some forms of heritage are ‘dissonant’ to certain groups, such as the heritage of atrocity (e.g. war, massacres, genocide). Care must be taken not to deprive groups for whom such collective events are sensitive of the right to interpret and represent this heritage to others. It may also not always be appropriate to develop tourism in such cases.

The ‘globalisation’ of heritage has manifested itself in the development of the World Heritage List. In recent years, UNESCO has been moving towards a more inclusive approach to the designation of sites, focusing on their historical and cultural rather than aesthetic value. This means that there is more representation of the intangible heritage of indigenous peoples, for example, or the industrial landscapes of the working classes. Although it could be argued that World Heritage Site inscription affords local communities few benefits in real terms, the initiative at least facilitates and helps fund conservation and encourages tourism development, which can sometimes bring great advantages.

In terms of the management of heritage, a number of issues have come to the fore in recent years, particularly in the 1990s when the concept of sustainability was first discussed. Many of the debates relate to the dilemmas that confront heritage sites – for example, maintaining the sensitive balance between conservation, visitor management and community involvement. Others relate to the problems of funding and the extent to which the commercialisation of heritage and museums (e.g. through tourism and retail development) compromise their core function. There has also been recognition of the importance of intangible heritage. The following case study illustrates the need for a global concern for, and protection of, heritage.

Plate 1.1 Ancient Greek Corinth

Source: Melvyn Smith

Box 1.1 Case study of a cultural landscape: Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan

Afghanistan, si...