Trends in Cultural and Heritage Tourism and Research

Chris RyanThe University of Waikato

What will this presentation cover?

• A definition of cultural and heritage tourism.• Some personal experiences from which to ask

questions about Cultural and Heritage Tourism.• A definition of ‘culture’.• Some frameworks of cultural/heritage tourism

and the cultural/heritage tourist.• Implications of the above for trends in cultural

and heritage tourism research.

A definition

Cultural tourism is travel that requires accommodation away from home and which is motivated by an interest in, and a desire to learn about the culture and heritage of societies, one’s own and others.

BUT – PROBLEMS

How strong does the motive have to be to qualify?

How deep and profound the level of learning acquired?

How is a ‘culture’ encountered, presented, interpreted?

To what degree does ‘cultural tourism’ complement other forms of tourism in the travel experience?

Does the tourist understand what is gazed upon?

Questions?

Do we add to the concept of ‘The Gaze’ – the concept of the ‘Uncomprehending Gaze’?

How does the direct, emotional experience of one generation speak to subsequent generations, for whom the events being recalled may be as ‘ancient history’?

How do we interpret these issues of the past in a contemporary age when our age is one of ‘instant’ communication?

What are the implications of these and other questions for our understanding of, and research into cultural and heritage tourism?

Is there an interest?

Are we in danger of saying everything is ‘cultural’ and about ‘heritage?

Tylor (1865)

Culture is ‘all capabilities and habits learned by members of a society’

Kroeber and Kluckholn (1952/1963)

Culture is identified in the patterns of, and for, behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols and artefacts

Hence:Representations of CultureActs of Behaviour

The Culture of Being a Tourist

Activities are the basis of distinction

Tourists engage in cultural worlds

Tourists distinguish between degrees of ‘otherness’Do we belong?Are we ‘outside’Are we invited in?What can we learn?What do we want to learn?

Existential authenticity authentic emotions of pleasure or learning in places that lack historical authenticity

The Heritage Spectrum

Source – Boyd, 2002

Successful Management of Heritage Sites

• Ensure authenticity and quality• Provision of a learning environment through

interaction and involvement• Conserve and protect sources• Build partnerships

Boyd, 2002

BUT!• What is authentic in the remains of a historic site?

• Maintain the current (decayed) state• Restore to a given period – which period? How do we

privilege on period of history over another?• Rebuild and repair (replicate) – but if one replicate’s – what

happens to authenticity?

• The role of re-enactment• The emotional sharing (with predecessors)

• The role of regeneration• The reduction of pressure on the unspoilt

Classification of Cultural and Heritage Tourists

Levels of Learning

RepeatVisitation

High

Low

Failed Learning

Entertainment

Implications for Research• The hybrid nature of the cultural and heritage site

– The decayed site, the conserved site, the restored site, the replicated site?

– The authentic site – as an original or constructed site – the role of emotion

– The constructed site – learning, entertainment or both?

– The significance of the location of the site – proximity to history/supplementary site/theme of experience

Implications for Research

• The hybrid nature of the cultural and heritage site

• Issues of Interpretation• Selection of what to interpret• The understandings brought to and derived from a visit

to a heritage/tourism cultural place on the part of the tourists

• The need to change interpretation over time in the light of

» New research» New generations grounded in different realities

Implications for Research

• The hybrid nature of the cultural and heritage site

• Issues of Interpretation• The Management of the Site

• Carrying capacity• Direction and management of visitor flow• Access and exit points• Facility provision – toilets, restaurants, accommodation• Budgets – need for cost coverage/profit/price setting• Markets

A New Hybrid Model of Tourism Research

Diversification and niche development

Diversification of method – use of mixed methods; ontological justifcation

1950sDescriptive

1960-70sCase Studies

1980-1995Positivist- Growing stats sophistication

1995-2003Ethnographic/qualitative rediscovery

The Mixed Method emergence - culture - AI

Conclusions

• Cultural and heritage tourism reflects not only past but present cultures and social realities.

• It represents a symbiotic relationship between the gazer and gazed upon – it legitimises both and this perhaps is a distinguishing feature as a form of tourism.

• It can be researched from many different perspectives, managerial, social, economic and economic.

So – what is cultural and heritage tourism?

• An entertainment– Is tourism really part of the entertainment industry?

• An education– But is an image or a ‘fact’?

• A economic resource for maintaining places of historic and heritage value– So it is little more that a commodity?

• An experience– But of what?

结束！谢谢！