Special Interest Tourism Nicos Rodosthenous PhD 05/11/2013 5 05/11/20131Dr Nicos Rodosthenous.

Dr Nicos Rodosthenous 1

Special Interest TourismNicos Rodosthenous PhD

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Analyze Heritage Tourism

• 1. Introduction• The aim is to study the key issues for heritage

tourism: authenticity, preservation versus access and cultural sustainability and value adding. Consideration of these issues opens up issues surrounding management of heritage tourism.

• 2. What is Heritage?• Heritage like culture is included into a globalised

tourism industry that uses local and regional markets of uniqueness and identity.

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• The fabric of heritage in its tangible form is a non-renewable resource that is always in a state of decline and deterioration.

• Specialist tour operators are now offering special “packages” for the heritage tourist.

• Heritage tourism can also include: historic sites, places, galleries, museums, historical monuments i.e. Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower which retain a high level of popularity among tourists.

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• 3. Heritage Tourism issues• 3.1 Authenticity: one of the major tourists

attractions to heritage sites is the “real” than replicas.

• Authenticity can be broken into two areas:• 1) relates to the product or object of heritage under

consideration and evaluates its historical accuracy and integrity

• 2) is concerned with ways in which authenticity is discussed and debated in respect of the meaning

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• around heritage.• 3.2 Authenticity of product: site museums, historic

buildings, and heritage sites-the major content of heritage tourism- purport to maintain historically accurate places and objects as evidence of cultural, social and historical characteristics of a place.

• For example, Australia in order to ensure the historical authenticity and integrity of heritage buildings, has drawn the Burra Charter – an agreement with UNESCO- on the best practices

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• for the preservation of historical monuments.• Conservation requires the maintenance of an

appropriate visual setting and that no removal of contents which form part of the cultural heritage significance of the place is permitted, unless it is only for their security and protection.

• 3.3 Authenticity of experience: it relates to the meaning that an object may represent, the messages that it conveys and invites visitors to “step back in time”, to visit another era.

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• What is being sought is an “authentic experience”- a feeling that one can experience the past.

• Perceptions can be shaped and constructed by heritage practices of interpretation.

• Interpretation is increasingly a tool of tourism, attracting new investment into old buildings and transforms heritage tourism into experiential tourism.

• 3.4 Protection, conservation, access and exploitation: Neil Cossons, director of the Science

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• Museum in London, says that heritage has to be treated as more than simply a tourist product.

• The discovery of sites and monuments is reshaping tourism to be more appreciative of heritage and as a mean of educating people.

• The tourist value of a place or site is the only capital than can sustain it when other values (economic use, social and cultural values) have declined, been lost or destroyed.

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• Heritage tourism can be a vehicle for conservation and preservation of heritage.

• It can create interest and appreciation of tourists in heritage and to local residents to protect the place once they realize that the heritage has cultural or historical value.

• 3.5 Value –adding: heritage is created through a number of processes and practices.

• Symbolic, historic, social values are also augmented by an economic value accrued by professional work and the ways in which

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• it is framed, exhibited and presented and the desire of others to see the object and to know its story.

• For example: a shard of pottery has no historical value until professionals have identified, measured and classified it and given it a “story”, a context and a “place” in the past and the history.

• Different contributors in vastly different fields and social areas may produce the values that

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• accrue around heritage.• 4. Management of Heritage Tourism• 4.1 Adherence to conventions, guidelines and

instruments: for example in Australia there is a paper sets out the global and national context informing the development of guidelines for “best practice” for people involved in tourism and heritage places.

• The objective of the proposed guidelines is to achieve a balance between the needs of tourism and the heritage management sector.

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• On one hand the industry looks for sustained profitability, development of markets, reduction of costs and overheads and access to heritage resources to produce a tourist product and satisfy their needs.

• On the other hand the objective of the heritage management is to protect and conserve the natural elements of heritage, to promote awareness and appreciation of heritage for educational and cultural purposes.

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• 4.2 Some guidelines for the heritage tourism are the: Understanding the significance of place Achieving sustainable business practice Investing in people, place and setting Developing active partnership Marketing responsibility Working with local people Offering excellent service Establishing a process of continual improvements

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• 4.3 Some principles for the heritage tourism are the:

• a) Identity image and profile• b) Conservation• c) Community participation • d) Presentation and interpretation• e) Heritage and tourism partnerships• 4.4 Community consultation• Consultation and negotiation with communities 05/11/2013



• stresses the role of the community in heritage tourism and promotes tourism as a vehicle for building capacity for community development.

• Tourism becomes sustainable when communities: Collectively determine what heritage to develop

and share with visitors Maintain quality in the tourism experience Create effective interpretation and tourist facilities Direct tourism travel flow.

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Dedicate appropriate tourism revenue to care for resources

Plan and maintain attractive overall environments. 4.5 Addressing vandalism and misuse Heritage tourism can also expose heritage and

make it more vulnerable to deliberate acts of vandalism.

On the other hand, heritage tourism can also be a vehicle for lessening the threat of vandalism

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• with public education and site-specific management for control of vandalism.

• The strongest defense against vandalism is a sense of community ownership in heritage.

• 4.6 Addressing overuse• Limiting or avoiding damage from visitor impacts

and overcrowding also requires a managed approach informed by research into the impacts and carrying capacity as well as into visitor behavior.

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• Management plans for joint management and/or for site interpretation can contribute to the maintenance of heritage values.

• For example, limiting hours of access, building boardwalks, charging entrance fees or reduce excessive levels of visitors in certain periods.

• The challenge is to ensure that in the transformation from heritage site to tourist sight, the natural attributes of heritage are not affected and the heritage values are neither lost or distorted.

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Special Interest Tourism Nicos Rodosthenous PhD 05/11/2013 5 05/11/20131Dr Nicos Rodosthenous.

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