here: It includes a script version of the draft paper

"Opportunities for the development of fortification tourism: experience of European

walled towns” A Presentation for the Kaliningrad Tourism Conference 15th April

2005

David M. Bruce, MA, MPhil, MRTPI, MCILT, MTS Principal Lecturer in Tourism, Bristol Business School,

University of West of England

A word or two about myself David.Bruce@uwe.ac.uk

• I regret I cannot be here.

• My background has been in – History– Economics– Town Planning– Transport– and finally Tourism

To begin with walled and fortified towns

• Any town still defined by its walls or defensive structures is an anomaly.

• Either the town's growth has been arrested at some point (crisis)

• and/or economic life has subsequently passed it by.

• This process is described in the ‘Ashworth model’

Ashworth model adapted

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Resource Creation

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defences medieval or 'modern'

• dramatic (or dramatically restored or re-created)

• town walls or defensive structures which are intrinsic to the community identity.

• Soave - Naarden• Kaliningrad

• Founded in Wales in 1989 at Tenby to:– To create an

international forum. – To encourage

friendships visits and mutual understanding between the inhabitants • To encourage an increase

in tourism whilst considering the challenges.

• To develop joint marketing strategies to increase world-wide awareness of walled towns.

Walled Towns Friendship Circle

http://www.tourism-research.org/wtfcresearchdb.html

‘Heritage’ a contentious subject

• Glendinning in “Beyond the cult of the Monument” (2001) – condemns ‘the totalitarian (mis-)conception of age-

value’– identifies the conscious and inadvertent mutual

monument destruction of 20th Century warfare

– sees ‘National Heritage’ as ‘now a mask for global commodification’

• Ashworth and Lowenthal developed further themes

‘Dissonant’ Heritage

• Conquest, changes in borders, changes in political control, even changes in population make ‘heritage’ contentious - ESPECIALLY ‘National Heritage’.

• Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996) – about 10 pages on the case of Kaliningrad

• Even walled towns may be divisive, – with insiders and outsiders.

Ownership and Responsibility

• 'Who owns the Past?' asked Lowenthal (1996)

• Tourism incentives to inclusiveness• But dangers of heritage tourism leading to

"irritation/resentment and displacement of [present] host communities"

The Economic Incentive of tourism for walled towns

• Across Europe the 147 member towns– have a population of 3.5 million – attract some 50 million visitors a year. – usually staying only for a day or two – worth about one billion Euros a year– or 285 Euros per head of local population.

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Costs and Benefits

• In larger towns they cost little in the way of extra resources because the infrastucture is available to (and / or needed by) the local inhabitants.

• about 66,000 full time jobs– though many may be part-time or seasonal.

• The built heritage helps– to lengthen the stay– to increase the spend and employment.

European Commission INTERREG iiiC

• a 3 year project called ‘ARCHWAY’– led by the Walled City

of Chester with– 7 other walled towns

members • plus one other town

– advised by the University of West of England.

• Five dimensions of historic town management – Conservation and

Interpretation– Transport and Traffic– Spatial Planning– Tourism and Marketing– Cultural Heritage

Management

• accessibility to the heritage

Archway Partners

• Chester• s’Hertogenbosch • UWE, Bristol • (unwalled) Loerrach• Pecs• Piran• ‘Arabarri’ (a consortium

of small towns in Spain)• Verona• Lucca• Valletta

Piran/Pirano

WHERE WE WERE FROM

RachaelRachaelSamanthaSamantha

MaMaKingKing

MojgMojgan an KateKate

BeamBeam

Wenting Wenting

Ivy Ivy

ququ

Lili Lili

LanlanLanlanJuneJuneDavidDavid

Königsberg from Baedeker 1906

UNESCO NARA DECLARATION AND WALLED TOWNS

About ‘authenticity’

"The cultural heritage of each is the cultural heritage of all” UNESCO

Piran DeclarationWalled Towns are unique inheritances from times

long past and should be treasured, maintained and safeguarded from neglect and destruction and

passed on to perpetuity as irreplaceable'Timestones of History'

WTFC Websitethe website of the Walled Towns Friendship Circle

http://www.walledtowns.com and especially the linked research pages at

http://www.tourism-research.org/wtfcresearchdb.html

and for Unesco http://www.unesco.org