Definition of cultural tourism

http://www.tourism.wa.gov.au/Publications%20Library/Growing%20Your%20Business/What%20is%20Cultural%20Tourism%20v3%20260706%20%28final%29.pdf

Cultural tourism gives visitors the opportunity to understand and appreciate

the essential character of a place and its culture as a whole, including its:
• history and archaeology
• people and their lifestyle (including the ways in which they earn a living
and enjoy their leisure)
• cultural diversity
• arts and architecture
• food, wine and other local produce
• social, economic and political structures
• landscape
Features
• Cultural tourism puts emphasis on the content of what people do
when they’re travelling, rather than how they actually get there and
where they stay while they are there.
• Creating a relationship between the visitor and the host community is
an important feature of cultural tourism.
• Concepts of sustainability, authenticity, integrity and education are
as central to cultural tourism as they are to ecotourism.
What kind of tourists?
• The cultural heritage traveler is someone who wants to experience an
authentic and distinct sense of place, and is happy to pay for the
privilege of doing so.
• More educated
• Spends more than average tourist (high-value visitor)
• Stays longer
• Seasonality/ non-seasonality
• More likely to shop while travelling
• http://www.vermontartscouncil.org/Portals/0/Documents/2.pdf
Cultural/heritage tourism
• Focus on cultural? Focus on heritage?
• Attractions with cultural / historic value
• Historic is a word which implies judgement, since by definition it
describes something significant. But . . . historical is an essentially
neutral term, describing anything which occurred in the (distant)
past.
Cultural Heritage Tourism
• Visiting a place to experience those singular qualities that define its
character, name its essence, and provide for its collective memory.
• Cultural heritage is found in its people and is reflected in its objects,
structures, museums, sites and landscapes.
• It is expressed in its crafts, visual and performing arts, history,
literature and oral traditions.
• It is the embodiment of our behavior, and as such is organic and
evolving.
Benefits
• The benefits of cultural heritage tourism can be far-reaching. For communities,
• it can strengthen the local economy;
• promote resource protection;
• increase visitor expenditures;
• generate employment;
• preserve the unique character of a community;
• increase community pride, and awareness of community resources;
• stimulate economic growth.
• on the state level, cultural heritage tourism encourages the protection and
continued use of cultural heritage resources, which is important to the quality of
life and economic well-being of the state.
The Impact of Culture on Tourism
http://www.oecd.org/document/53/0,3343,en_2649_34389_42040117_1_1_1_1,00.html

• Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing global

tourism markets. Culture and creative industries are increasingly
being used to promote destinations and enhance their
competitiveness and attractiveness.
• Many locations are now actively developing their tangible and
intangible cultural assets as a means of developing comparative
advantages in an increasingly competitive tourism marketplace, and
to create local distinctiveness in the face of globalisation.
Success occurs when:
http://www.vermontartscouncil.org/Portals/0/Documents/3.pdf

• 1. Visitors experience attractions that provide genuine entertainment

and educational value.
• 2. Sites and attractions have been developed to preserve their
authenticity.
• 3. Visitor safety, convenience, and value are paramount concerns.
• 4. Officials view visitation as an important part of local and regional
economy.
• 5. Business and employment opportunities occur in the communities
where cultural heritage tourism development occurs.
Success occurs when:
http://www.vermontartscouncil.org/Portals/0/Documents/3.pdf

• 6. Visitors travel a circuit to spread the number of visitors among

attractions so that less visited sites get their share of visitors and more
popular places are not adversely affected by over-visitation and over-
commercialization.
• 7. Regional pride and identity are interpreted in their many facets at area
attractions.
• 8. An understanding exists that tourism requires accomplished hosts as
well as visitors, and that a community’s hospitality must be genuine.
• 9. The best promotion is word-of-mouth from the region’s residents.
• 10. Participation in cultural and civic life is cherished.
Homework – create a speech
• Cultural or natural heritage
• History, values, sites, arts, lifestyles
• Preservation, conservation, collection
• Artifacts, buildings, districts, whole towns
• Historical events or personalities
• Historical tourism: a demand for the past, re-live the past
• Motivation: identify with, fantasy
• Debate: historical accuracy, authenticity, to rebuild or not to rebuild