Heritage and Tourism Conference - 8-11 July 2007 - Guangzhou, China
CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS
(last updated 2 July 2007)
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION #1
Emerging Issues for Heritage Tourism in Southern China
Hilary du Cros
Invited Professor
Insitute for Tourism Studies, Macau SAR, China
Recent research on achieving sustainable heritage tourism in Southern China advocates a greater collaboration between tourism and heritage management authorities on reaching sustainable tourism goals. This paper will outline some of the key issues regarding demand, supply and impacts of heritage tourism with reference to examples in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao SARs, China. Special reference will be made to over-use and under-use issues, authenticity, and how management of tourism impacts can be dealt with while enhancing visitor experience. Strategic planning and management of heritage attractions within urban and town planning frameworks will also be touched upon with reference to how heritage management has evolved in these places.
Hilary du Cros, PhD
Hilary du Cros is an Invited Professor employed full-time at the Institute For Tourism Studies, Macao SAR, China. She has worked in the cultural tourism field for the past nine years and has over 20 years experience in cultural heritage management. Dr du Cros is an expert member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) International Scientific Committee on Cultural Tourism. She was the cultural heritage expert on a number of consulting projects, including two for the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Prior to entering academia, she owned and operated one of Australia’s largest cultural heritage consulting firms, where she supervised or conducted over 250 projects, including a number of projects funded by the National Estate Grants Programme. She has 70 publications including the recent book: Cultural Heritage Management in China. Preserving the Pearl River Delta Cities (co-authored with Dr. Y.S.F Lee) and Cultural Tourism: The Partnership between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management (co-authored with Dr. Bob McKercher). The latter has recently been translated into Chinese.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION #2
Moving Heritage Forward: Identity, Engagement and Creativity
Mike Robinson
Chair of Tourism and Culture, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Director, Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change
The apparently ever-increasing importance of heritage in an individual and collective sense relates directly to an on-going series of challenges to, and explorations of, notions of identity and belonging in a highly mobile world. Heritage tourism, from the perspectives of its production and consumption is, in part, explained by a normative search for stability. The concept of heritage is thus strongly associated with ideas of material permanence and authenticity. Discourses and practices relating to heritage reflect this in their references to notions of preservation, protection, management and sustainability.
While acknowledging the importance of heritage and its accepted touristic dimension, we need also to be aware of the problems that the designation of heritage can bring, and of the need for a wider social, cultural and political role for heritage which can meet changing needs and profiles of host communities and tourists alike. Heritage (and by implication the agencies which own and manage heritage), needs to be always moving forward; creatively re-defining itself, seeking engagement in critical agendas relating to conflict resolution, inter-cultural dialogue and poverty reduction. In doing so heritage tourism can relate more to the emerging generations of tourists who seek not only to passively observe the past, but to learn from it, and where appropriate, challenge and change it.
Mike Robinson, Ph.D.
Professor Mike Robinson holds the Chair of Tourism and Culture at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is Director of the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change; an international research body that carries out work on the changing relationships between tourism and culture. For the past 17 years Mike's work has focused upon research in the field of tourism and culture. He has published books on Tourism and Cultural Conflicts, Literature and Tourism, Cultural Festivals and Tourism, and the Politics of Cultural Tourism. Mike has edited a further 11 books on tourism. In 2005 Mike was commissioned by UNESCO to research and write a major report on Tourism, Culture and Sustainable Development. Mike is founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, an Associate Editor of the Scandinavian Journal of Tourism and is on the board of three other international journals. He is Series Editor of the Tourism and Cultural Change Book Series. Mike's key research interests relate to the relationships tourists share with tangible and intangible heritage(s), festivals, tourist/tourism narratives and tourist behaviour. He has worked on heritage projects in the UK, Spain, Germany, Slovakia, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and India. His recent research, funded by the USA's Social Science Research Council, focuses on tourism and heritage relationships in the Middle East. He is a Board Member/Trustee of the Council for British Research in the Levant, an Institute of the British Academy and a member of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Tourism, Culture and Development.
OTHER CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS - (English only; listed in random order)
additional abstracts will be added to the list below as conference participants confirm their registration and attendance
The social construction of Māori ecotourism on the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand / Aoteaora: Critical realism applied to multiple situated knowledges in a hybrid cultural setting
Rupert Holzapfel
James Cook University
PO Box 6811 Cairns
QLD 4879, Australia
Keywords: Aotearoa, Coromandel Peninsula, critical realism, ecotourism, hybrid culture, Māori, moral pluralism, New Zealand, situated knowledge
This paper ascertains the philosophical and theoretical foundations of ‘Do’s and Dont’s’ for ecotourists and operators in the context of sustainable tourism development in a multicultural setting. Adopting Bhaskar’s ‘critical realist’ stance, the study investigates multi-paradigmatic spaces as a reflection of stakeholders’ ‘actual realities’, interpreted through the researcher’s own ‘empirical reality’. Using a regional case study approach, the findings are based on an empirical inquiry placed in the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand/Aotearoa. Methodologically an array of qualitative methods is ‘triangulated’ to interpret the data.
The data suggest that the stereotype picture of a ‘traditional’ Māori culture – lacking power and being dominated by the western scientific paradigm – has to be abandoned in favour of ‘hybrid cultural identities’. Empirical evidence further suggests that, with respect to ecotourism and the idea of sustainable tourism development, Māori are both integrated as well as isolated. Depending on the specific situational context, their input is either valued, or their influence is marginalised. Marginalisation occurs in part as a result of distorted power relationships within relevant tourism organisations. However, rather than representing a dichotomy with values occupying opposing positions on a binary scale, inclusion and exclusion or marginalisation sometimes overlap on a gliding scale and take place in a dynamic environment with open boundaries. Based predominantly on the results of fieldwork rather than a deductive approach, the paper advocates the adoption of a pluralistic moral stance and the integration of ‘situated knowledges’ as precursors of any philosophical, theoretical, conceptual and operational definitions of ecotourism and sustainable tourism development, which form the basis for codes of conduct and sustainable ecotourism strategies.
Cultural Heritage Tourism & The Roots Of Its Resources
Steven F. Illum
Recreation & Leisure Studies, Missouri State University
901 South National Avenue, Springfield, Missouri 65897
Keywords: man-made resources, cultural heritage tourism, resource development, community pride, attraction base, destination enhancement, sustainability, human perspective, curricular development, community service
Most communities are endowed with a variety of empirical man-made resources for the development of heritage tourism . . . historic homes, buildings, other structures; remains of an industry, agriculture or other human activity of the past (or present); cemeteries and monuments; legends. With these, the full potential of heritage tourism has not yet been fully-developed. Often these resources, while perhaps once places of work or leisure, may now sit quietly and often ignored by contemporary civilization, especially by younger persons. Through various means of study of the past and the application of old techniques using new technology, the vitality of these resources can be awakened to the senses of both residents and visitors as a destination’s heritage tourism resources. More of a community’s dormant resources may become vital components of the package of local attractions to enhance community pride, and contribute to destination sustainability and to the local economy by building upon an existing attractions base and thus delaying the departure of the visitor. This presentation will suggest practice/processes by which this may occur through collaborative activities of universities, visitors, government, public schools, community groups, the elderly and businesses. The practice/processes can often be initiated through university curricula, and special focus will be given to how this may be accomplished.
Tourism Development in Islamic perspective: the case of Brunei Darussalam
Fairul Rizal Bin Haji Rashid
Lecturer in Operations Management
Department of Business and Management, Faculty of Business, Economics and Public Policies, University of Brunei Darussalam.
Jalan Tungku Link, Brunei Darussalam. BE 1410
Keywords: Islamic tourism, niche, halal (permissible), Islamic values, culture and customs.
Brunei Darussalam is a small developing nation with a total population of approximately 380,000, in which almost a third quarter of that figure is made of Malay race followed by Chinese and other indigenous tribes. Brunei is situated on the north-east side of Borneo Island in Southeast Asia and it has a total area of 5,765 square kilometers (Land and People [online], 2006). Brunei has achieved its independence in 1984 and the main production of Brunei which represents its economic strengths is mainly on oil and gas (Economy [online], 2006). As a results, this has make Brunei to become one of the richest nations in Asia. The country is ruled according to Islamic values and traditions by the present Monarch, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th ascendant of the world’s oldest continuously reigning royal line (ANON, 2003). Brunei is a Malay Muslim Monarchy, with over 600 years of recorded history.
The Brunei government has identified that tourism as one of the key industries that could bring spin- off effects to the economy and contribute to the nation’s GDP and so as not to be over-reliance on oil and gas production. However, to date, it seems that the tourism industry in Brunei has not been able to identify a niche that make it unique and hence induce outside visitors/tourists to come to Brunei instead of other countries. This is in line with the recent findings of the World Travel and Tourism Council that forecasted Brunei tourism industry as among the lowest in demand in South East Asia and the slowest growth rates in the world (Fei Phoon [online], 2007).
Therefore this paper is trying to propose and study the feasibility of promoting Brunei as an Islamic tourism/destination as a niche or strength to its tourism industry. The feasibility of Brunei as an Islamic destination can be viewed from its traditions, socio-cultures and infrastructures that are already in placed which are indeed need to be taken advantage of or promoted.
Traditions view: Brunei’s official religion is Islam. More than a third quarter of its population is a Muslim (ANON, 2006). The nation’s philosophy is Malay Muslim Monarchy which fuses Islamic values to its ruling system and to the daily life of its people.
Socio-culture views: The Islamic values are notable in the people’s dress, culture and customs, foods, daily interactions and working ethics. Brunei also always marked important events in Islamic calendars and celebrated with different activities such as through national events, lectures, religion functions which are open for public, etc.
Infrastructure views: Islamic architectures are noticeable from majestic mosques, palaces, government owned buildings, etc. Islamic values are also manifested through Islamic galleries, international Islamic conferences, Halal (permissible) foods provision, no alcoholic beverages sold and served, no night clubs or pubs, etc.
Others: Brunei also offered other uniqueness that could complement its Islamic tourism which includes:
* Over half of Brunei is made of unspoiled rainforest which is suitable for eco- tourism and sport tourism.
* Visit to world’s largest water village and world’s largest residential palace, home to His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei and other unique historical sites and royal galleries.
* Brunei is arguably offered one of the safest, peaceful and the most tranquillest place in the world to be visited where the people are warm, generous and hospitable.
REFERENCES
* ANON (2006) Brunei Yearbook-key information on BRUNEI 2006, Brunei: Borneo Bulletin.
* ANON (2003) Explore Brunei –The Official Visitor’s Guide (7th edition), Brunei: Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources.
* Economy: General Overview of the Economy (online). Brunei: Brudirect.com.
Available at: http://www.brunei.gov.bn/about_brunei/economy.htm
(Accessed on February 5th, 2007)
* Fei Phoon (2007). Wake-Up Call to the Tourism Sector (online). Brunei: Brudirect.com. Available at: http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Feb07/120207/nite29.htm
(Accessed on February 12th, 2007)
* Land and People (online). Brunei: Brudirect.com. Available at:
http://www.brunei.gov.bn/about_brunei/land.htm
(Accessed on February 5th, 2007)
Salvage Tourism on the Hani Terraces: Saving Stomach or Saving Face?
Yu Wang
Cultural Anthropology Dept., Duke University
Keywords: UNESCO, world heritage, salvage tourism, authenticity, heritage culture
In the past ten years, twenty-three sites in China have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. This growing World-Heritage “fever” has transformed the lives of people living in these sites. It also raises questions about the changing relationships between culture and nature, global and local, modernity and heritage, and development and preservation. This growth of world heritage sites has not only occurred alongside but has also fueled the rapid tourism expansion in China, particularly in the ethnic border regions. Recognizing China’s tourism boom over the last two decades, many scholars have suggested that the desire to generate tourism revenue must be written into any account of the country’s post-socialist economic development. However, few of these scholars have linked the tourism development to the emerging role of UNESCO in China’s heritage politics, a linkage that comes to characterize the growing “salvage tourism” in ethnic, rural China. On the one hand, China’s rapid economic growth and urbanization are increasingly seen as damaging China’s “multinational face”—namely the cultural heritage; on the other hand, UNESCO’s award of “World Heritage” has been a mixed blessing: while it brings much needed tourism revenue to the Chinese central and local governments to alleviate the stomach-hunger problem, the increased tourist traffic also contributes to the destruction of the protected heritage. As a result, local governments are subjected to a grueling struggle between “saving stomach” and “saving face” of the toured communities. In this “heterotopic arena” of transnational, translocal, historical, economic, and ethnic contestation, we must pay careful attention to who defines the terms of debate, and what various actors have at stake in the outcomes (Owens 2002).
Focusing on “Honghe Hani Terraced Fields” — a World Cultural Heritage project currently underway in Yunnan Province (southwest China), my paper empirically and theoretically investigates the politics of world heritage in relationship to tourism development in contemporary China. Specifically, I explore how the world-heritage project of Honghe has become an arena for transnational debate among UNESCO representatives, government officials, scholars, tourists, tourism developers, and the members of the ethnic minority communities living there. In Honghe—a rural, ethnic, and poverty-stricken region under review for UNESCO’s world heritage inscription, the problem of “stomach” (hunger, poverty) and that of “face” (reputation, prestige) have become two major issues that perplex the local officials in making development policies. My paper examines how UNESCO’s theory and policy of “world heritage” have generated desires and actions of collaborations for solving these two problems. Through the collaborations, the local officials, Hani villagers, in-migrants, and tourists seem to work together toward a “salvage tourism” that can not only alleviate Honghe’s poverty situation, but also enhance the authenticity of Hani culture. My argument however points to that these collaborations in effect lead to the production of a “heritage culture” through a series of reconstructions of the pastness (not the past!)—which, ironically, aim to “preserve” the assumed authenticity of this Hani community. This paper aims to call attention to the local officials’ ambivalent voices that are central to heritage protection and economic development, by suggesting that the internal desire for development and the external force of conservation have greatly intensified the struggle between “stomach” and “face” in China’s marginal regions like Honghe; and that in a world where no local development can truly elude the global gaze and where poverty will not disappear any time soon, the tussle between “stomach” and “face” seems to keep haunting both local and global authorities in driving China’s tourism development and heritage preservation.
Limits for Acceptable Change (LAC), Socio-Cultural Heritage and the Preservation of Rural Tourism Communities: The Case of Israeli Kibbutzim.
Yoel Mansfeld & Aliza Jonas
Department of Geography & Environmental Studies and the Center for Tourism Pilgrimage & Recreation Research.
University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
Keywords: Socio-cultural Heritage, Kibbutzim, Limits for Acceptable Change (LAC)
One of the unique heritage symbols of Israeli rural areas have been the Kibbutzim, over two hundred cooperative rural settlements, that formed the backbone of the Jewish re-settlement of the Land of Israel after two thousand years in exile.
Agriculture, and then both agriculture and industry, were the main constituents of these Kibbutzim's economic base until the late 1980s. Due to economic decline in traditional agricultural production, major technological innovations in the agricultural sector and general economic recession in the Israeli economy, these Kibbutzim were forced to introduce various service industries, including rural tourism.
Initial stages of rural tourism development by various Kibbutzim around the country were based on using obsolete infrastructure, which was transformed into rural accommodation units, tourist attractions, and other tourist services. This phenomenon triggered off various manifestations of socio-cultural carrying capacity problems and raised the question of whether using local culture and rural heritage for economic benefits should be encouraged?
Using the case of two Kibbutzim in the Northern part of Israel, this paper will first explore the nexus between Kibbutz members' perceived limits for acceptable change as a result of tourism development, and their economic, locational, socio-cultural and ideological background. Then, through a comparative analysis, the paper will explore how the level of tourism development influences Kibbutz members' tourism induced perceived limits for acceptable socio-cultural change.
A Carrying Capacity Value Stretch (CCVS) model incorporated into Nominal Group Technique (NGT) methodology was used to obtain data on the above two research questions. This methodology was used also to investigate if either of these Kibbutzim operates its rural tourism below, according to, or above its limits for acceptable socio-cultural change?
Results of this study support previous tourism impact studies, which have dealt with the question of how tourism development impinges on perceived and actual traditional societies and their socio-cultural heritage. However, the unique interpretation of carrying capacity measures in a qualitative and multidimensional manner allowed this study to reveal some interesting insights into the nexus between rural tourism development and perceived limits for acceptable change. Thus, for each Kibbutz, this study obtained the perceived limits in three measurable levels: intolerable, current, and expected tourist impacts. The study revealed that limits for acceptable change amongst these Kibbutzim members are place and ideology differentiated. Furthermore, the study discovered that care and fear of heritage loss are highly related to the level of tourism development and to the variety of tourist services and attractions offered to guests, who seek close encounters with the Kibbutz heritage and its rural surroundings. Since the study discovered not only members' general socio-cultural perceived stress as a result of tourism development, but actually identified the factors that shape it, the results can be used as guidelines for avoiding further negative impact on the socio-cultural perceived heritage of other Kibbutz members in Israel's countryside.
A Methodology for Sustainable planning of an ecotourism site – The case study of the "Hula Agmon"
Yechezkel Israeli
Department of Tourism and Hospitality Studies
Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee
M.P. Emek Hayarden 15132 Israel
Noga Collins-Kreiner
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
University of Haifa / Haifa 31905 Israel
Keywords: The Hula Valley, Great Rift Valley Flyway, Ecotourism, Bird watching, Sustainable Development
The Hula Valley, located in the Upper Galilee in North-Eastern Israel is situated within the heart of the Great Rift Valley Flyway. Linking Africa to Asia and Europe, this flyway is considered one of the most important migration routes in the world. Following the drainage of the Hula Valley in the 1950s, resulting in disturbance to the natural system, a restoration project named the Agmon was initiated by the KKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund) in the mid 1990s, whereby a shallow, 250-acre artificial lake was created. Today it is estimated that 500 millions birds of about 390 different species make their stopover on the flyway between Europe and Africa. Thus, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to see the birds, and especially the cranes that have made the Hula their main migration stopover, and the Hula Valley has become a major pilgrimage site for birders as well as for other natured-based tourists. The Hula Valley represents an outstanding example of significant on-going ecological and biological processes related to the evolution of birds, as is evident from the diversity of species using the Agmon site and their different migration strategies. This is the reason for which the site has been nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.
Over the last decade there has been an increasing demand for nature-based tourism and mainly for ecological tourism. Sites in developed countries, as well as in developing countries, have experienced intensive tourist flows that may possibly have had adverse effects on the wildlife. Bird watching has become a popular niche of ecotourism, in which organized groups as well as individuals explore far and remote areas in order to observe bird life. Such areas are usually ecologically sensitive and control parameters should be defined and carefully implemented to guarantee sustainable development.
The Hula Agmon has experienced a sharp increasing demand of different tourist segments (bird watching, ecological tourism, recreational tourism of families) during the last four years. In order to respond to the increasing tourist demand while maintaining the necessary ecological parameters, a research was carried out to outline possible ecotourism options for the Agmon site by suggesting guidelines for optimizing sustainable planning and development of the site. The outcome of this research will enable to implement practical tools to achieve the planning objectives of an integrative ecotourism site.
Using the case study of the Hula Agmon, this paper investigates the methodology for creating a sustainable tourism product of bird watching that takes into account the preservation of wildlife while maintaining the tourist experience. This methodology involved several separate techniques, including: interviews with stakeholders, observations, a survey among decision makers in the organized tourism market sector, a survey among managers of tourist sites in the region, and a full year of surveys of visitors to the sanctuary and of visitors to the region who did not visit the Agmon site. The analysis of results was threefold: first each surveyed group was analyzed separately, then inter-correlations between groups was investigated, and finally a comparison was carried out between surveys' findings and planning indicators for sustainable tourism development in order to conclude the recommended planning guidelines. This paper illustrates the first two stages.
CONGESTION STUDY AT OLD TAIPA VILLAGE
Ubaldino Sequeira Couto & Hilary du Cros
Institute For Tourism Studies
Colina de Mong-Há,
Macao
Keywords: tourism congestion, heritage management, host perception
Macao received over 21 million visitors in 2006, a 17.6% increase from the previous year (DESC, 2007a, p.37). On average, the city received over 1.8 million tourists every month in 2006, roughly 3.6 times the population (DESC, 2007b, p.21). The South China Morning Post (Hu, 2007) reported that Macao residents were least satisfied with the city’s transport infrastructure – it was evident that such tourist numbers placed a huge demand on the local infrastructure and caused severe traffic congestion. Not only the livelihood and quality of life of the residents were jeopardised, visitor experience at tourist attractions might inevitably be affected too due to traffic congestion.
Most of Macao’s tourist attractions are situated on the Macao peninsula with a few located on the outlying islands. The latter are usually of historical or environmental significance, for instance, the Old Taipa Village is home to a century-old church, several Macanese houses, the old municipal government building and a small wetland. The Village also houses many traditional shophouses, restaurants and village cottages which preserve the many traditions and way of life. The Old Taipa Village mainly functions as a tourist attraction selling local delicacies and souvenirs to incoming visitors, as well as a large variety of restaurants, both old and new, serving the local residents and tourists.
Although not inscribed on the World Heritage List, the Old Taipa Village is seen as of similar importance by many local people. It has a significant but shorter history than the inscribed area. Yet its fragility in terms of tourism impacts and the increasing development of other tourism facilities and infrastructure is worth noting. The Old Taipa Village is not just another tourist attraction, not even an ordinary heritage and cultural tourism facility, but an example of the living heritage of the people of Taipa.
This paper aims to explore the congestion situation at the Old Taipa Village in Macao in light of mega casino hotel-resort complexes opening soon nearby. Stakeholders’ expectations of the possible economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts are the focus of this paper. Following the recommendation of a recent congestion study at the St Paul’s Ruins and A-Ma Temple, the Old Taipa Village has been selected.
The study outlined in the paper employed a site observation methodology by the authors as well as in-depth interviews with local stakeholders. The first stage of the study aimed to address the congestion situation at the Village through observations over a key public holiday while the second stage of the study involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15-20 stakeholders.
The next and final stage of the study was to interview some key stakeholders, namely the parish priest, representatives from local residences and business owners to investigate what and how they perceive congestion level at the Old Taipa Village, and perhaps, to identify what can be done to minimise such impacts.
This paper outlines the problems faced by the host community at the Old Taipa Village, and raises issues that concern the livelihood and quality of life of the local people by exploring the host perceptions of present and future congestion. It is a contribution to the heritage tourism management literature on congestion management and monitoring at site level. It is also the first stage in a “before and after” analysis of a larger project examining the impacts on local amenity and heritage assets of casino development and associated tourism in Macao.
REFERENCES
DESC (2007a). Tourism Statistics 2006. Macao: DESC. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from http://www.desc.gov.mo.
DESC (2007b). Demographic Statistics 2006. Macao: DESC. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from http://www.desc.gov.mo.
Hu, F.Y. (2007, April 11). Macau feels secure, but dislikes graft and traffic jams, survey finds. South China Morning Post, p.A3.
“Preservation through (tourism) use” – Some lessons to be learned from the development of “Norwegian Heritage”
Thor Flognfeldt jr
Lillehammer University College,
Department of Social Science,
Gudbrandsdalsvn 350,
N-22626 Lillehammer,
Norway
Keywords: Norway, built cultural heritage, tourist visits, maintenance
Norway has many wooden houses that are up to one thousand years old. Most know are the Stave Churches, but there are many other building, especially farm buildings, in the same category. To be an owner or manager of a legally preserved building might be an expensive affaire. Very often this means that traditional utilization is restricted, especially if this use means potential damage to the building. This paper is about how to use heritage buildings in ways that still preserve them.
In Norway the main material for building for centuries has been timber or wood. Stone and brick were materials for urban building and, in some periods, mostly for churches and larger building. Even if Norway by some is not regarded as a country with many heritage buildings compared with Southern Europe, there are few places with more wooden buildings of older date than we have. Being an owner of an old wooden building either a house or most often a complete farm might also man that you are responsible for this building as a part of our heritage – and that responsibility is a legal act.
For owners of such property the preservation of their buildings is often a very expensive task. What the rich government of Norway provides of economic help is usually just a small percentage of the real costs and the conditions for preservation might even mean restrictions of commercial value or reduction of some income possibilities. For example introducing modern equipment and techniques might be restricted. Due to this the Norwegian Heritage Foundation was set up:
From the web. pages: www.kulturarv.no: “Norwegian Heritage Foundation (“Norsk Kulturarv”) was founded in 1993 by Oppland County Council. Later 30 co-founders have signed up, both public authorities like counties and municipalities as well as bodies from trade and industry. The idealistic purpose of the foundation is to preserve Norway’s cultural heritage. In practise this means preserving history by help of historical vitality. It is our task at Norwegian heritage to see to it that the historic environment of Norway is properly cared for. Our strategy in this matter is to create trade value from our cultural values – to maintain them for the present and the future.
On behalf of our members and owners of cultural monuments we provide for
* Guidance about matters related to our purpose
* Projects of practical enterprises in cooperation with private and public interests
* Tourism attached to a wide range of cultural monuments
All these purposes may be defined within our motto, “Preservation through utilization”. This means that our strategy always is to aim a preservation of the past – for the future – by means of a living present.”
Until the 1970ies preservation did not mean much since buildings were used traditionally in agriculture, most often to serve animals and keep hay dry during winter. New forms of agriculture production meant putting up new building structures and some of the older, protected, buildings lost their functions and went out of production use.
The 1990ies – Tourism using heritage buildings – maybe a good combination ?
Cultural tourism has not been regarded as a main brand in Norway for a long time. Natural beauty was the prime argument for visiting Norway, along with the long coastline and “midnight sun” and “northern light” (aurelia borealis). Many persons working in cultural institutions like museums regarded that visiting tourists was a obstacle to their preservation work and wanted the government to “take responsibility” for the maintenance of their museums so that their did not need the income from visitors.
In 1986 a National Conference of Tourism and Culture was held, and after this conference many private and governmental bodies have worked together to tighten the co-operation between culture and visitors. The government especially encouraged establishing new foundations, like “Norsk Kulturarv” (see above). Some of the designated work of that body are to be described and discussed in this paper:
* The St Olav’s Rose – both a quality symbol and a brand?
Some attractions, both built or events, are accepted as being of very high quality. Those will get access to use the logo of “St Olav’s Rose” – an ancient Norwegian symbol – as a sign of being of high quality.
Today 90 such “products” scattered all over the country are St Olav’s Rose – producers. They might use the logo as sign on the entry posts to their sites.
They are also presented in the travel handbook “Sti-finderen” (The Pathfinder – see below) and in special brochures. This marking is not forever, so each owner of such a logo permission need to struggle hard to keep up.
Also a special web.page for these products are established (http://www.olavsrosa.no/en/)
* The Pathfinder (Stifinderen) – is a travel handbook of Norwegian cultural heritage – and this is later also combined with designated websites. This travel handbook was first published in two editions just in Norwegian, but are now also available in English and German books. The Norwegian Heritage Foundation has also taken responsibility of other tasks. Some of those will be described in the paper. In addition will be a side-kick to other bodies working with similar tasks in Norway.
Challenges for the future and lessons to be learned.
The “preservation through active tourism visits” is not loved by everyone. Some people are fearing that this might lead to “overuse” by two many visitors. Others think that the preservation itself might suffer from “touristification”. In addition, some building improvements to satisfy the needs of modern and post modern tourists needs might be disputed. Another discussion is how could this modernization be put into heritage buildings and events without damaging the core of heritage – or – its authencity. Velure (1993) has shown a good case description for a famous stave church, Garmokirka, at the Maihaugen museum in Lillehammer (see also Flognfeldt et al. 1993.)
A main question is ”who shall pay for the maintenance of private owned built heritage”? And what are the solutions if the national government does not have sufficient money for such preservation. Another question is when is the ”heritage core” lost and the “staged tourism production” takes over. All these questions will be discussed in the paper – in addition to some more practical cases showing the positive effects of a private/governmental partnership like Norsk Kulturarv.
Ethnic Tourism in Israel: Between Cooperation and Conflict
Nurit Kliot
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
The key objective of ethnic tourism is to experience events, lifestyles, attitudes, cultures, political outlooks and theological views utterly different from those that one ordinarily encounters at home. In Israel, this type of tourism, as practiced by the Jewish majority to the Arab minority communities, is highly influenced by the Jewish-Arab/Palestinian conflict and by mutual feelings of hostility and suspicions. The major attractions are those which double classified to be popular culture and traditions: food, crafts, healing, music, and, to a lesser extent, religion and deeper layers of attractions. Whereas the more popular attractions are organized in multi-cultural festivals, they may attract, at their, peak about 100,000 people. The more genuine cultural and ethnic encounters between Jews and Arabs are limited to a small number of Jews.
Conservation and Tourism Development: Case of Ajanta & Ellora
Keywords : AEDP Phase II, Ajanta Ellora, Heritage Conservation , Buddhist pictorial art, UNESCO, JBIC and ICOMOS
Mustufa Ahmed
TATA Consultancy Services, India
Heritage tourism, though it enjoys lot of attention, faces new challenges too. Take, for instance, the protection of heritage resources. It has to take into account both the demands for development and the impacts of tourism. But, as the world’s largest growing industry, tourism has the responsibility and potential to ensure the conservation of heritage resources, and in the process, to do a fine balancing act, providing for community development as well.
Similar initiatives has been taken for conservation and Tourism development of Ajanta & Ellora rock cut caves, world heritage sites located near Aurangabad in Maharashtra, India. While the monuments at Ajanta contain wall and ceiling paintings, widely considered to be the earliest and finest examples of Buddhist pictorial art; those at Ellora, represent monumental art and sculptural evidence of the contemporary tradition of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain religions. Both the Ajanta and Ellora cave complexes together have been accorded ‘World Heritage Site’ status by UNESCO, identifying them as monuments of universal value and that they deserve conservation and protection for the benefit of future generation.
In view of the importance and development potential, MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation) invited TCS to prepare a Feasibility Report and Tourism Development Plan for Ajanta Ellora Region in 1990. Further to this report, OECF (now JBIC), Japan decided to give funding for Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Plan. The initial phase of the funding was from 1992-99. This was followed by an extension phase from 1999 to 2002. The Association of PCI- TCS were appointed as Project Management Consultants for Phase I and extension phase.
Having recognized the importance of the monuments, the Government of India (GOI) requested the Government of Japan (GOJ) for financial assistance from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) (earlier Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund of Japan – OECF) for the implementation of the Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Master Plan. The Loan Agreement for a part of the project was signed between JBIC and GOI in January 1992, as the Phase –I of Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project. The work on this phase began in 1992 and was completed in the year 2002.
Tea and Nostalgia Tourism
Keywords: tea tourism, tea heritage, tea rooms, nostalgia tourism
Lee Jolliffe
Faculty of Business, University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 5050, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, E2L 4L5
After water, tea is the most commonly drunk beverage. Around the world people take time out for tea, as a break from work and other commitments and as a social ritual. An interest in this beverage with a rich history and tradition has stimulated tea travel and related tourism activities. This includes participating in tea tours, visiting tea exhibitions and museums, collecting tea related memorabilia and consuming tea and related meals such as afternoon tea at tea rooms. Tea tourism has therefore been established as a niche area of tourism, stimulated by tourist interest in the history, traditions benefits and experiences of tea (Jolliffe, 2007). A symbol of tea tourism and a place where it is experienced, the tea room and its role in nostalgia tourism is examined in this paper.
The evolution of the tea room occurred in the UK during the late nineteenth century, as a safe place where women could go to socialize with friends. Tea provision in today’s tea tourism context is an extension of these historical roots, evoking a nostalgic image of the past. As a British institution, the tea room is sought out by those whom Boniface (2003) refers to as ‘tea room enthusiasts’. The author notes afternoon teas consumed in tea rooms represent an “experience that is essentially now entirely heritage, but it is a heritage much pursued and regarded with enthusiasm and affection” (116). Reviewing tea tourism in the UK Hall and Boyne (2007) consider tea rooms to be a national symbol. The surroundings are considered to be a key component of the success of tea rooms as part of tea tourism.
Nostalgia is defined as a “sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2005). Tourism researchers and historians turned their attention to the concept of nostalgia in tourism considering its role in tourism attraction and experience (see for example Dann, 1994). Frow (1991) examines the semiotics of tourism and nostaglia whereby objects and places are inbued with meanings derived from literature and tradition and every tourist longs to experience the authentic and visit an undeveloped place reminissant of the past. Mooney- Melvin (1991) examines the use of a nostaglic or romantic vision of the past in heritage preservation and tourism. Using the case of Japan, Creighton (1997) discusses now nostalgia has been employed to increase visitation to the rural regions of the country. Authors Vessey and Dimanche (2003) reflect upon the example of New Orlean’s Bourban Street to examine the role of nostaglia in producing images that nurture destination development. Mollegard (2003) presents another viewpoint, in terms of the role of nostaglia in creating a destination image, examining how the past is used in recreating the historic Boat Days for visitors to Honolulu Harbour. Noting the interdisiplinarity of the study of nostalgia and the negligance in the study of the connection between tourism and nostalgia Kim (2005) identifies two types of nostalgia, personal nostaglia and historical nostalgia. The author also argues that the role of historical nostalgia in heritage tourism can be better understood through studying the reciprocal relationship between sociocultural conditions, the culture industry, and institutions related to heritage tourism.
A common thread throughout this literature is the power of nostaglia in shaping and influencing perceptions of destinations as places, images that are embodied in the mind of the tourism observer. Often times these images are deviations from historical facts as the destination image makers shape the image that creates the nostalgic impression, contributing to destination attractiveness and to the resultant expereicne. Nostaglia is most often place centred, as highlighted by the various case examinations of nostaglia tourism development in the literature, for example in rural Japan and in the US states of Hawaii and Louisiana. Nostaglia production is connected with formal heritage institutions, like museums, historic sites, historic preservation areas or with informal institutions such as tea rooms, historic inns and businesses operating in heritage settings.
This paper uses the aspects of tea history and nostalgia in relation to tourism to examine the creation of nostalgia for tourists in two tea room settings in the eastern Canada province of New Brunswick. The information presented is a result of participant observation on the part of the author, as well as a visitor survey conducted by the author at one of the tea rooms and examination of the tea rooms promotional materials.
Case Study– Tea Rooms in Rural New Brunswick
The 1810 Carter House Tea Room, located in the village of Kingston, New Brunswick is operated by the not for profit, Kingston Heritage Inc., an organization dedicated to preserving and commemorating the history of the rural Kingston Peninsula. The 1810 Carter House Tea Room serves tea, soups, sandwiches and desserts and has also blended and packaged its own line of teas, served and available for purchase. Guests can sit at a table in the kitchen (evoking memories of home), in the tea room itself or on the porch overlooking the heritage gardens. Tea blends such as the Heritage Blend available exclusively at the Carter House can thus be purchased as a souvenir with the visitor taking a nostalgic reminder of the visit home with them. The tea room’s own web description evokes nostalgia, “Refreshing tea, sandwiches and sweet treats in a historic Loyalist home that's haunted by a milk-drinking ghost thought to be a deceased doctor. What fun!” (Carter House, N.D.).
The Sussex Museum, Tea Room and Gallery located in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick The complex is located in a renovated commercial building from the 1900’s. It is said to have an agri-food slat to the tea room menu, highlighting foods evocative of Sussex’s past as a producer of food and dairy products as well as the now locally blended and historic King Cole Tea (Sussex Artists Co-op., N.D.). The gallery is operated by the local Sussex Artists' Co-op. The tea room also displays King Cole memorabilia. In Sussex the historic building where the tea room, museum and gallery are located evokes nostalgia and a mural on the side of the building portrays a nostalgic view of nineteenth century Sussex. This mural reflects a phenomena know as murals tourism (Koster and Randall, 2005) utilized to evoke an image of the past. The Sussex murals project is designed to stimulate tourism and clearly evokes nostalgia but there is local controversy as to the project being too commercial.
Conclusion
The two tea rooms profiled above are clearly using nostalgia to create a setting and an ambiance that is nostalgic. Kim (2005) identifies two types of nostalgia, personal nostalgia and historical nostalgia. The examination of the role of nostalgia in tea room experiences in this paper suggests that nostalgia can also be place related. Even the mention of a tea room conjures up in the mind of the potential visitor such as this author a nostalgic, warm and comforting ambience that is evocative of the past. The evidence related to nostalgia and tea room experiences further suggests that tradition plays a role in nostalgia, in the cases considered tea traditions are employed to create nostalgia. A typology of types of nostalgia experienced by tea tourists, particularly relevant to those experiencing tea rooms is outlined below (Table 2).
New Socialist Countryside Peasant Family Happy: Understanding Domestic Tourism in/to Rural Southwest China
Jenny Chio
Department of Anthropology, University of California Berkeley
Keywords: rural tourism, ethnic identity, Guizhou, Guangxi, Nong Jia Le, mobility, difference
The increasing socio-economic disjuncture between urban and rural life experiences in contemporary China grips the attention of government officials, international development agencies, journalists, and scholars alike. This paper is an attempt to understand the hyphenated gap between urban-rural China by examining current practices of Chinese tourism in and to rural, ethnic minority villages in Guangxi and Guizhou provinces. Domestic tourists in rural China are overwhelmingly urban Chinese; however, most attention is given to the influx of rural Chinese migrant workers in urban Chinese contexts. I believe domestic tourism is also one very important arena where distinctions between urban-rural experiences and identities emerge and influence the ways in which belonging, nation, and socio-economic differences are lived. In my paper, I explore the theoretical relationship between a nearing of physical distances between the urban and rural populations as a result of better transportation and the inverse effect of growing socio-economic and cultural distances between communities.
My argument about perceived distances within China as a result of tourism rotates around three primary axes of difference: rural-urban, ethnic minority-ethnic majority, poor-rich. Of course these binaries of socio-economic differences are not unique to only tourism development in China, but they have become adopted as the explanatory framework for tourism development. Increasingly, tourism development is touted as a means towards poverty alleviation in rural areas, exemplified in a provincial tourism development program in Guizhou begun in 20021, but also exampled through the naming of 2006 as the “Year of Rural Tourism” by the China National Tourism Administration. Concurrently, 2006 also marked the launch of plans for China’s New Socialist Countryside and a rise in a form of rural guesthouse tourism known in Chinese as “Nong Jia Le”, which I literally (and deliberately coarsely) translate as “Peasant Family Happy”. There hasn’t been a national program aimed directly at ethnic minority tourism specifically, but with the vast majority of China’s ethnic minorities living in rural areas, the connection between being rural and being an ethnic minority isn’t a difficult bridge to span. The United Nations Development Program in Beijing also has two new projects targeting rural ethnic minority communities in China’s western provinces, including Tibet, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Sichuan, partially through the development of tourism industries. Rural, poor, and minority exist at one end of the apparent one-way street towards urban, rich, and mainstream.
Tourism encompasses a fundamental paradox—it is often touted as a “solution” for economically underdeveloped regions and nations, but it is frequently cited as the catalyst for the exploitative management of traditional cultural practices. The crux of this paradox is exemplified in the fact that the rural tourist villages I am investigating are also the starting points for many of the individuals who comprise the “floating population” of migrant workers in China’s prosperous cities. For residents of rural tourist villages, tourism and migration have become ways of envisioning and mediating current economic and social circumstances. My research approaches the concept of mobility as constitutive of social life, rather than as a “disruption” to an otherwise stable, static condition.
In a country that has aimed to control the internal movement of its population, travel for tourism within China is an under-explored analytical counterpoint to internal migration and the Chinese diaspora. Tourism travel illuminates another side of the myriad forces propelling internal migration in China2. The Chinese context is especially salient for rethinking mobility in terms of social opportunity and national unity. Migrants and tourists in China now intersect within a highly politicized, national discourse where domestic tourism and internal migration are elements, alternately celebratory and troublesome, of the country’s development and modernization. With improved roads, new airports and competing transport companies, people in China are moving closer to one another more frequently and as a result creating more of what James Clifford has called “contact zones”3. Through two case studies of current tourism circumstances and future plans for tourism development in Guangxi and Guizhou provinces, I analyze how rural villagers understand their lives, identities, and opportunities as “peasant family happy” tourist destinations (for urban Chinese these are places to enjoy the happiness of peasant family living) in the Chinese “New Socialist Countryside” set in motion in the 11th Five-Year-Plan. For both the toured and the tourists in China, domestic tourism catalyzes new senses of national belonging by positing travel as desirable and necessary. Thus, while actual travel times may be shortened, the socio-cultural distances being crossed are growing further and further apart as the real conditions of life in urban spaces and rural places change at different speeds. Rural regions are cast into a discursive game of perpetual “catch-up” with the ideal of the modern, urban city, and the real consequences of this emerge in the “tourist-ified” happy peasant family lives of Chinese tourism practices.
Since March 2006, I have been conducting ethnographic research in two tourist villages in Guangxi and Guizhou provinces (Ping’An and Jidao). Tourism is an integral part of these two provinces’ economies and development programs. Each village is populated with a different ethnic minority: in Ping’An, residents are primarily Zhuang and in Jidao Miao. The different ethnicities of the residents is a key factor in my research, partly because it is the ethnic minority traditions and customs that draws visitors to each village, but also because it will provide me with a basis for comparative analysis of how ethnic identities, which in China are inextricably tied to national state policies and discourses, are negotiated and instrumentalized in local tourism industry management. Whereas being as recognizable part of a mainstreamed ethnic minority group is still important for political representation in a centralized state system that maintains an exact count and decisive role in naming the nation’s constituent “ethnic minority” communities, on the ground, tourism development and maintenance in practice in Jidao and Ping’An at least, seems to require a constant negotiation of difference and distancing. Furthermore, for villagers in Ping’An and Jidao, improved roads and more bus services have also meant increased opportunities to not stay in the natal village, or at least to imagine a life elsewhere. The consequences of changing ideas about travel, and the possibilities afforded by travel, I believe, will be of enormous significance to understanding social, economic, and political conditions in rural China in the very near future.
I am interested in seeing domestic Chinese tourism through the lenses of “backstage” workers4, or stakeholders, in the tourism industry. The individuals in tourist villages comprise and sustain popular “in situ” destinations for tourists. My project grounds social science understandings of tourism in the ethnographic study of village life. This research project spans across a provincial border in order to map differing interpretive degrees of “community”. By working in two provinces, I analyze how tourism has led to the re-conceptualization of social linkages and disparities between rural communities. Each village is at a different stage in establishing its local tourism industry, thus allowing me to collect comparative data on tourism development and how villagers strategize their geographic and social positions. “Identity” in my research therefore encompasses personal senses of self and the negotiation of multiple identities (ethnic, socio-economic, gender) within a matrix of economic expediencies (largely determined by existing tourism discourses on the desirability of visiting rural, ethnic minority villages), changing community relations and competition, and articulations of belonging within national, social, and cultural categories. Moreover, in both Ping’An and Jidao, village residents have a past and/or present relationship to in-country migrant labor – in Jidao, village leaders struggle with creating enough tourism income to entice young villagers to stay or come back to participate in the burgeoning tourism industry. In Ping’An, while residents claim they no longer “have to” migrate in search of employment because of the relative success of tourism in their village, nowadays many younger people leave to pursue higher education, work-training programs, or simply to see a bit of the world, as the tourists who come to Ping’An are also doing. The physical movements, or travels, of the villagers in Guizhou and Guangxi therefore is a critical fulcrum in my analysis of tourism and social life in rural China, allowing me to obtain a fuller picture of how tourism is understood and instrumentalized by residents of my research sites.
Tourism travel in/to rural China continues to be a luxury form of mobility, and the counterpart movement of travel from rural China remains mostly for purposes of labor and wage-earning. For anthropology, China studies, and tourism studies, the importance of thinking about tourism, migration, and mobility is in the way physical distances and socio-economic distances interact to affect how individuals come to understand themselves and surrounding communities as intimately, and intricately, connected to the nation and the world through activities such as tourism. More specifically, in China, I believe that domestic travels in the form of internal migration, and domestic tourism are substantially reshaping imaginaries of China as a “unified, multi-ethnic” nation. The Chinese nation has exploded into hundreds of differently designated national treasures, provincial scenic spots, and world heritage sites5, so attention now should be turned to how these designated points are in turn connected, symbolically. My paper will attempt to show that these tourism-related and generated places may actually carve and create greater perceived distances within China, a project that pointedly contradicts the Chinese state’s belief in one-way socio-economic progress and development.
All together, my research attempts to bring new knowledge on the ways in which tourism and travel become constitutive of lived, socially meaningful experiences for those whose livelihoods depend upon the industrial and structural existence of travel opportunities. It also shed light on how mobility reformulates ideas of nationalism, belonging, and identity. By following the decisions, attitudes, and stories of the individuals and organizations who make tourism an experience, I will offer a close and richly detailed study of how the construction of national and self identities is bound to a landscape of travel. For anthropology, the complexity of tourism lies in the fact that, as John Urry noted, “mobility creates new inequalities of access”6. Thus, this is a study not just of why people travel but of how competing discourses and practices of travel alternately legitimize and trivialize ways of imagining society and self. Lastly, this research sets a foundation for future research on the experiences of migrants from these villages with the aim of developing conceptual linkages between domestic tourism and internal migration in contemporary China.
Challenges and future strategies for heritage planning and conservation in Macao
Penny Yim King Wan
Institute For Tourism Studies, Macao, China
Francisco Vizeu Pinheiro
Inter University Institute of Macao, China.
Key Words: Heritage conservation, urban planning and development, Macao, China.
After 450 years as a Portuguese colony, Macao’s Administration was handed over to China on 20 December 1999. Since then, Macao has developed a very close relationship and link with China. The settlement of Macao by the Portuguese was important to the City’s economic and socio-cultural development. It laid the basis for trade and cultural exchange between the East and the West. In 1555, Portuguese traders founded a small settlement that was exposed to Chinese and Western cultures for over 500 years, producing a unique cultural heritage – still recognized in the Historical Center of Macao. This Center was enlisted by UNESCO as part of World Heritage on 15 July 2005.
However, heavy urban development pressure also made heritage conservation extremely difficult and challenging. The City had to accommodate a fast growing population, from only 435,000 in 2001 to 503,000 in 2006, with an average annual growth rate of 4%. Population density was over 17,000/km2, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Most of these people live on the Macao peninsula, which was also where the newly inscribed World Heritage Site was located. Development pressures also came from the private developers who needed land to build hotels, casinos and entertainment complexes. With millions of visitors per year (21,998 million in 2006), Macao’s economy relied heavily on tourism, especially the gaming industry. This industry employed around one-third of the working population and the gaming tax revenues contributed about 76.2% of the government fiscal income. To enhance economic development and social stability and to position Macao as the regional center of casino gaming, in August 2001, Macao’s legislative assembly officially passed the law to liberalize the casino licensing.. This expanded the numbers of casino operators from 1 to 3 and casinos from 11 to 22. Also, to cope with this tourism growth, 59 new hotels would be developed and two hotels would be expanded, providing an extra of 40,000 hotel rooms in the next 4 years. Most of the sites were also reserved for tourism, gaming and hotel development. The challenge for Macao therefore was how to blend in the old with the new by managing and conserving its distinct cultures and heritages while coping with future urban development pressure.
Researches on heritage management and planning in Macao are scarce. This paper, therefore, served to fill in some of the research gaps by examining the conservation challenges currently faced by Macao and investigated the government planning initiatives in handling the matter. The study was done through various case studies and revisions of the related planning documents such as heritage conservation legislations and planning guidelines etc. The results indicated that due to the lack of an integrated planning system, heritage conservation in Macao was being handled in a fragment way and was heavily influenced by the gaming and real estate interests. This paper provided important planning strategies for Macao, and other similar destinations, to better cope with this challenge.
Heritage developments and tourism in the south of Scotland
Donald Macleod
University of Glasgow, Rutherford McCowan Building,
Crichton Campus, Dumfries, DG1 4ZL, Scotland
Keywords: Scotland, theme towns, heritage, community development, knowledge transfer
This paper looks at contemporary heritage developments linking with tourism in the south of Scotland. It concentrates on the developments that have been largely produced by the local communities specifically related to theme towns, heritage centres and festivals. It follows this with an examination of a new research centre which is dedicated to regional development in the south of Scotland CRRED (Centre for Research into Regional Development) which seeks to help transfer knowledge from universities into the local small business community. Some of this expertise is based on Scottish history, literature, environmental sustainability, archaeology and tourism.
Scotland is well known for its cultural heritage, especially its history and buildings. For example, there are the internationally known iconic figures such as Robert Burns the poet and Sir Walter Scott the writer, the famous sites including Edinburgh castle, the Culloden battlefield, and the events such as the Edinburgh Tattoo; as well as fictional creatures The Loch Ness Monster and the elusive haggis. Of course, there is much more to Scotland, and this paper explores the local, specific heritage and how communities are developing it to their advantage. These developments have relevance to communities worldwide.
Theme Towns
There are numerous small towns (many with populations less than 4000) which have associations with particular products, people or events. Recently, since the late 1990s, there has been a significant development of ‘Theme Towns’ which have developed a brand that associates them with something. This began in 1997 when Wigtown won a nationwide competition to become Scotland’s first and only ‘Book Town’. Since then other towns have joined in and Kirkcudbright has become an ‘Artists’ town’ in 2001, to be joined by Castle Douglas which has become a ‘Food Town’ in 2002. These towns have established committees and other organisations dedicated to their development and promotion. Other towns have also begun to promote themselves associated with a product including Moffat as a town of ‘Well-being’ (it was a Spa town in the 1800s), Newtown Stewart which seeks association with nature tourism such as walking, and Gretna Green which continues to build on its strong historic links with weddings. These development initiatives are predominantly led by local community members such as small businesses, interest groups and councillors.
Heritage centres and museums
Similar enthusiastic developments are occurring with small town heritage centres. These tend to be based around collections of material items, photos and archives contributed by local people. Communities are realising that there is latent potential in their cultural heritage as visitor attractions. The problem remains with a general lack of investment and lack of professional expertise to maintain the collection and run the attraction or museum as a viable and sustainable project. Examples of these may be found already established or currently developing as heritage centres in the following small towns: Dalbeattie, Creetown and New Galloway. All of these towns have used professional consultation, but are driven by grass-roots community action.
Many aspects of local cultural heritage within the region are inevitably overlooked or underutilised in terms of their potential to attract visitors and interest local people alike. For example folk traditions related to modes of livelihood including fishing and farming; myths and stories passed down the generations; local history, songs and music as well as vernacular architecture. Furthermore there is a rich history of international conflict and interaction including border wars with England and relations with Ireland. All of these assets could be utilised by the region to enhance its attraction as a cultural heritage destination.
The Centre for Research into Regional Development (CRRED)
CRRED has developed to help Small and Medium Enterprises in the South of Scotland, with a focus on the key industry sectors of tourism and heritage, farming, renewable energy and forestry. Part of its remit is to transfer knowledge from the universities that make up it partnership (Glasgow and Paisley and the Scottish Agricultural College). In this way it will use experts in Scottish history, literature, folklore, archaeology and tourism to write papers, give talks and run workshops with a view to enhance the knowledge of people in the heritage and tourism industry so that they can offer a better service to visitors. CRRED will also offer business skills including marketing and human resources, and furthermore, be able to give advice on changing patterns in tourism including the motivation of tourists and transforming travel and holidaying fashions.
Through this activity CRRED will engage directly with communities and policy-makers in order to help make heritage tourism more sustainable in the economic, social, cultural, and environmental senses. These are early days in the project, which began in October 2006 and will end in June 2008. This paper will examine the activity of CRRED as an ongoing part of the development process.
Conclusion
Heritage tourism is widely believed to be on the increase, partly due to the changing demographics of the tourist as well as the overall increase in tourism due to rising ability of the world’s population to travel, to make enough money and have the freedom to choose how to spend it. Scotland has a long history of heritage attractions as a cultural tourism destination, yet it has not properly used its regional, local heritage to its fullest extent but relied on a powerful set of icons to help market itself and entice visitors.
A recent awareness among grass-roots action groups has led to the development of heritage based centres and museums, as well as branded ‘Theme Towns’ and these are beginning to flourish and draw visitors. However, they are often run by amateurs and need serious help and support to become sustainable operations or attractions. Developments such as the CRRED research centre can help enrich these entities, but there will be a need to organise the community based heritage along clearer lines with expert support if they are truly to reach their full potential.
Visitor Impact Assessment and Management in Protected Areas: Euroka Clearing, Glenbrook at the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, New South Wales, Australia
Corazon Catibog-Sinha
Environmental Management and Sustainable Tourism
School of Social Sciences,
University of Western Sydney
Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia
Balancing recreational opportunities with the protection of natural heritage is one of the many challenges in protected area management. Whilst ecotourism is considered a sustainable form of nature-based tourism, poor management of visitors and tourist destination sites could cause adverse and often irreversible damage to the ecological integrity, including the biological diversity of protected areas.
This study, which was conducted in certain months during the period 2004-2006, aimed to provide basic benchmark data as well as a tourism management framework to support the management of recreational areas with significant recreational and biodiversity values. The study area, the Euroka Clearing, is part of the Glenbrook village located at the base of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, about 50 kilometres west of Sydney. Glenbrook is part of the national park system of New South Wales and administered by the National Parks and Wildlife Service by virtue of two major legislative measures – the National Parks and Wildlife Act (1974) and the National Parks and Wildlife Regulations (2002).
A review of these legislations and the 2001 Management Plan for Blue Mountains National Park (one of the four national parks within the geographical range of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area) showed that the policies on the conservation of cultural and natural heritage and the sustainable use of natural resources in the Park are too broad, and at times, unclear, to offer practical guidance in the management of the study area as a popular recreational destination albeit its ecological uniqueness and vulnerability. To date, there is no management plan developed for the Glenbrook area, much less for Euroka Clearing.
This paper focuses on the study of the visitor use pattern in the designated day use area of Euroka Clearing, which receives an average of nearly 100,000 visitors per year. To assess the impacts of the two most popular day use activities, i.e. day camping/picniking and kangaroo watching, a tourism planning framework called Conceptual Model (CM) (Catibog –Sinha, 2001; 2007) was modified and applied on the study site. The tourism management indicators selected for this study were focused on the impacts of visitors on the natural attributes of the day use camping ground and the adjoining grassy habitat of a small population of Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus).
The modified framework of the Conceptual Model facilitated the field assessment of the current state of the study area; it also illustrated the linkages between the direct and indirect tourism threats, including the underlying causes of the ecological and wildlife disturbances arising from these threats. The studies showed that the impacts of day use camping include the disturbance of ground cover (e.g., loss of ground vegetation and forest litter), tree mutilation, soil compaction and erosion, rubbish, and noise). In the adjoining grassy area, the interaction of the visitors with the Eastern grey kangaroo, which is commercially promoted as a ‘must do’ recreational pursuit, has resulted in alarming biological consequences such as changes in the behavioural and feeding pattern of the kangaroo, habituation, and inter- and intra-species aggressions.
The PSR (Pressure-State- Response) Model, which has been approved by OECD-UNEP (Hammond 1995) and is currently adopted by many countries in the management of the environment at the national level, was also applied to make the visitor impact assessment using the CM more relevant to tourism planning within protected areas. The PSR model did not only validate the assessment of visitor threats and impacts arising from the application of the CM but also identified clearly the appropriate and more specific strategies for field implementation and adaptive management.
Building on benchmark field data, interviews, and literature review, the study determined the impact indicators for both day use camping/picniking and kangaroo watching and recommended measures to assess them qualitatively and quantitatively. The study also recommends some management standards in order to judge the level of impacts and to ultimately minimize and, if necessary, eliminate these disturbances.
The study concludes that the combined used of the CM and PSR model will enable park managers to properly determine and assess visitor impact indicators that are essential in the development of a timely and comprehensive recreational plan as well as in the clarification of tourism management objectives, setting site-specific action priorities, and monitoring performance for sustainable tourism in natural heritage areas.
Heritage or Cultural Tourism: what future for Kanak tourism development.
Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre
Department of Geography, Tourism and Environmental Planning
University of Waikato,
Hamilton, New Zealand
The Kanak, the original inhabitants of New Caledonia, though forming an important percentage of the population of this French territory, are not the majority occupants. In New Caledonia, they do not simply represent cultural alterity for the white residents and other ethnic groups. Unequal, non reciprocal interactions mark the colonial history of the territory. The long retrenchment of Kanak in reservations preserved much of their culture, though not most of their religious rituals or beliefs. Jean Marie Tjibaou insisted on a ‘post traditionalist’ approach to Kanak culture to allow it to evolve rather than trap it in its ‘traditions’, as illustrated in the Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Nouméa. The Centre demonstrates how an evolving culture does not renounce its roots or its heritage. The economic situation of many Kanak, today, continues to be precarious. Tourism has been considered as a possible solution to improve their economic well-being. Residents of the Northern Province (where they are the majority), the Kanak offer an ‘exotic’ yet authentic product (due to historically restricted white encroachment on reservation life) to the white residents of the Southern Province or to international visitors. Building the product has been difficult as a genuine, continuous Kanak culture is the attraction, yet constrains potentialities, at least from a western progressist perspective. The Kanak preference is for small scale eco-tourism development that incorporates their knowledge of the environment as well as their ‘living heritage’. Or might tour operators disparagingly insist that it is only ‘cultural’ tourism, a superficial and facile exoticism? Do Indigenous people have a history to preserve and to show to outsiders, especially when it would evoke a dark colonial past for the majority of residents and the continuing conflict over the return of appropriated lands? Tourism also requires interaction between the locally spatially defined Kanak culture and the global economy. Since tourism is socially constructed, this presentation will examine how glocalisation has been or might be implemented by and for the Kanak to bring benefits from tourism development in their Province that will support and nurture their culture while reducing misunderstanding and disrespect of their heritage.
Sustainable tourism development from an adaptive and participatory approach: the case of Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, China
Alexander Francis English
Department of Geography and Resource Management
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
Keywords: nature reserve management, sustainable development, local participatory development, nature tourism, local economic development, China, natural and cultural heritage
Tourism is generally noted for its negative environmental and social impacts upon sensitive cultural and natural heritage sites with very few examples of sustainable outcomes. In China, the problem is compounded by local governmental demands for immediate economic benefits from tourism developments, especially in rural and remote regions. Despite these challenges, one Chinese nature reserve has moved beyond the typical development-conservation dichotomy by embracing an adaptive, entrepreneurial, participatory and sustainable approach to management. Based on the case of Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve in China’s central Sichuan Province, this paper will examine the evolution of a sustainable approach to tourism development, including many of the solutions adopted by the reserve to minimize and ameliorate the negative environmental, cultural and economic impacts of mass tourism.
Located on the edge of the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve was established in 1978, covering around 72,000 ha of impressive geological, hydrological, cultural and ecological characteristics. While each aspect of the reserve’s features is not unique, it is the combination and natural integration that is so extraordinary and has resulted in generating such strong tourism interest. This paper is based upon five years of research in the reserve between 2000 and 2005, involving over a hundred interviews with local people, tourism operators, local government officials and the reserve management. It argues that the key to Jiuzhaigou’s success is largely based upon local adaptive learning, participatory decision-making and bold informed leadership.
Prior to Jiuzhaigou opening to tourism development in 1984, the area was regarded as an isolated, impoverished rural backwater, albeit with considerable natural resources. Jiuzhaigou literally translates as “nine stockade valley” and refers to the original distribution of the approximately 1,000 local Tibetans in nine small settlements around the valley. Initially, the local residents were mainly involved in crop cultivation supplemented by small-scale livestock grazing. In 1966 and 1970, the Forestry Ministry set up two timber mills in the valley. The presence of the timber mills added an additional 1,000 people to the local population and led to the construction and maintenance of roads. However, due to a growing awareness of the reserve’s unique geomorphology and the declining presence of the Giant panda in the region, the forestry activities came under increasing scrutiny. In 1978, the National Forestry Ministry conservation division recommended establishing Jiuzhaigou as a nature reserve for the protection of the Giant panda. Despite initial forestry opposition, the State Council approved Jiuzhaigou as a Forest Ecology Reserve in 1978 under the Sichuan Provincial Forestry Bureau. Then in 1982, the State Council ratified Jiuzhaigou’s accession as a Significant National Scenic Reserve under the authority of the Sichuan Construction Bureau. However, it wasn’t until 1984 that Jiuzhaigou officially commenced tourism development under the guidance of the Sichuan Tourism Bureau.
Owing to abundant scenic and cultural features, Jiuzhaigou has developed a high international profile as a UNESCO designated World Heritage site (1992), Biosphere Reserve (1997) and GeoPark (2003). However, it has been the management of the reserve during the past two decades that leaves the strongest impression. Jiuzhaigou is one of the rare exceptions amongst China’s nature reserves to have successfully integrated and balanced the, often-competing and contradictory, demands of local economic development with environment and cultural protection. The combination of development, conservation, science and research within Jiuzhaigou has resulted in the reserve attaining a high-level of respect and recognition both domestically and internationally, especially in its approach to tourism. As a result, Jiuzhaigou was recognized in 2002 as a Green Globe 21 ecotourism site for its environmentally sensitive and prudential management of tourism.
Tourism is now the single most important aspect of management for the nature reserve and the local economy. Tourism development was initially very slow due to the reserve’s remote location and poor access. Prior to 1998, it took to two days by treacherous mountain roads to reach the reserve from the closest provincial capitals of Chengdu or Lanzhou. However, the growing popularity of the reserve witnessed the Sichuan authorities improving access to the reserve and surrounding region. Roads were upgraded, freeways built, tunnels dug and eventually a commercial airport was opened in 2003. As a result, ticket sales have grown from 27,000 in 1984 to 1.2 million in 2001 and over 2 million in 2005. The growth in tourism has turned the reserve into a major local and regional economic asset.
In the early stages of tourism development, the reserve’s fragile natural environment and rich cultural heritage were largely overlooked. Instead, Jiuzhaigou followed the typical pattern of unregulated expansion and commercial development. Over development within the reserve was resulting in large volumes of solid and liquid waste, soil erosion, conflicts with the local people, traffic congestion, violent struggles between tourism operators over visitors, water shortages and visible noise, air and water pollution. Following a growing level of domestic and international criticism and the inability to ignore the obvious adverse environment impacts of uncontrolled tourism development, the reserve undertook a thorough review of its existing management practices. Fortunately, the management’s swift response to the growing warning signs and visitor complaints ensured that any long-term adverse environment impacts were minimized and ameliorated. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the reserve introduced a series of remediation measures, including: a policy of “tourism inside the valley, accommodation outside”; a comprehensive solid and liquid waste management system; greater local participation in decision-making; a single consolidated visitor bus system; a daily visitor limit; improved interpretation, customer service and visitor facilities; a disaster management system; enhanced local economic and employment opportunities for local people; greater investment in science and research; and finally a clearer administrative delineation between profit making enterprises and environment protection work units.
Today, Jiuzhaigou provides an effective model of tourism development within a sensitive cultural (ethnically Tibetan) and natural environment from both a practical and theoretical perspective. The success of the reserve in achieving this balance has gradually evolved through the difficult process of lesson learning, but more importantly relied on the close working relationship between reserve management and the local residents. A former reserve director aptly described this relationship: “The work of the reserve is to balance economic development and environmental protection. However, more importantly the reserve should balance these with the interests of the local people.” Despite significant developmental, economic and environmental pressures and the challenge of managing over two million annual visitors, the reserve has adopted world leading practices and policies in protected area interpretation, environment protection, visitor impact, cultural tourism, institutional cooperation, research, local participation, marketing and corporate management. Jiuzhaigou provides important lessons for nature reserve managers in particularly, but more generally for the tourism and natural and cultural heritage community, especially those interested in understanding the importance of implementing sustainable local solutions.
Oklahoma Tourism, Oklahoma Heritage: Pioneers, Perseverance, and Community
Ajax Delvecki & Douglas A. Hurt
University of Central Oklahoma
Department of History and Geography
100 N. University Dr.,
Edmond, OK 73034 USA
Keywords: heritage tourism, regional identity, Oklahoma museums and parks
A February 2007 Zogby International Survey found that nearly one-third of Americans surveyed did not know enough about Oklahoma to form positive or negative opinions. As state politicians and tourism officials noted, a void of opinions creates opportunities to convey new descriptions of Oklahoma to outsiders. In order to explore what images of Oklahoma’s cultural heritage are currently being conveyed to tourists, we sampled the information presented to tourists at four diverse museums and parks in the state that emphasize the unique regional identity of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Route 66 Museum (operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society) in Clinton mixes a detailed story of American progress and optimism with Dustbowl depression. Totem Pole Park in Foyil (created by Ed Galloway and run by the Rogers County Historical Society) is a unique place that represents perseverance and artistry. The Lutie Coal Miner’s Museum in Wilburton is a privately-created museum that chronicles the history of mining in Eastern Oklahoma. Finally, the locally owned Shattuck Windmill Museum and Park boasts approximately four dozen historic windmills from Oklahoma’s pioneer era. Overall, these four historic sites suggest to tourists that Oklahoma’s cultural heritage is deeply rooted in its pioneer past, is based upon perseverance during regularly occurring trying times, and is underlain by a passion for community involvement.
COASTAL HERITAGE AS A RESOURCE FOR THE SUSTAINABLE AND VOCATIONAL TOURISM
Ausrine Armaitiene &
Ramunas Povilanskas
Department of Recreation and Tourism, Klaipeda University
Klaipeda University, H. Manto gatve 84, LT- 92294, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Keywords: coastal heritage, seaside resort, hinterland, Baltic
The aim of the study is to analyze the function of the heritage in the hinterland of the Baltic seaside resort as the key resource for the sustainable and vocational tourism development in the coastal region. New global trends in tourism development show parallel rise of travel possibilities and tourist satisfaction benchmarks. Tourists are ever more educated, inquisitive, choosey and searching for authentic experiences, whereas mass tourist flows (the ‘golden hordes’) are gradually being fragmented into the ‘tribes’ of dedicated individuals pursuing their particular vocations.
Thus, the tourism of destinations rapidly changes into the tourism of vocations, and mono-featured destinations are evolving into diverse and motley tourist routes and networks. Meanwhile, the marketing of destinations is ever more based on inspiring narratives (‘stories’). In such a situation, cultural and natural heritage becomes the central actor, which plays the key role in facilitating the development of sustainable and vocational tourism on a broader regional or national scale.
A heritage site is much more attractive for tourism if an inspiring ‘story’ is associated with it. We argue, that four key cognitive elements of the heritage tourism are essential to cater for the needs of a post-modern traveler motivated by inspiring narratives: i) direct personal experience of a heritage site; ii) actual knowledge of the subject; iii) fiction (‘story’ provided by literature, visual arts, computer games etc.); and iv) imagination.
Such complex featuring of heritage is very important for the European seaside resorts, which currently struggle to transform their traditional image of a large-scale mass vacation hub into the one of a destination, which is attractive for a more diverse set of vocational travelers, following the new winds on the global tourism market. They seek to integrate more vigorously the cultural and natural heritage of their adjacent hinterland into the system of amenities and services delivered to the visitors.
In this study, we investigate the heritage tourism development of the Amber coast. It is a geographical name coined by the authors of this paper to denote a transnational coastal region comprising seven large seaside resorts interspersed by protected cultural and natural heritage areas (‘green patches’) along the southeast Baltic Sea coast in four countries: Poland, Russia, Lithuania and Latvia. We have a closer look on the central part of the Amber coast shared by Russia, Lithuania and Latvia, which is featured by three complex heritage areas: the Curonian spit, the Nemunas delta and the historical regions of Samogitia and Courland.
Handing Public Tourism Resort to Private Enterprise: Effects of Business’s Reputation and Relative Profit on Perceived Price Fairness
Tsung-Chiung Wu
Graduate Institute of Recreation, Tourism, and Hospitality Management, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan
Wan-Ju Weng
Department of Transportation & Communication of Management Science, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
Wan-chen (Vinney) Yu
Graduate Institute of Recreation, Tourism, and Hospitality Management, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan
Key Words: Privatization Policy, Price Fairness Perception, Pricing for Public Recreation, Trusts for Public Administration
To maintain a high quality tourism destination by government agencies is very costly. Under the considerations of financial shortages and improving management efficiency, many cases indicate that government agencies tend to adopt more private tactics (Johnson 2001). Contracting out public recreation resources to private enterprises is one of the popular methods taken by Taiwanese government agencies through the process of Rehabilitate Operate Transfer (ROT) or Operate Transfer (OT). It is an arguable approach. Several scholars support for it (Perlmutter & Cnaan, 1995; James, 1989), but Moore (2002) and Buckely (2003) strongly double its justifications. Especially in the case of out-source entrepreneurship, price-raising is inevitable and its consequences should be examined carefully and understood fully.
Current study investigates this issue mainly depends on the theory of price fairness perception (Thaler, 1985, Etzioni, 1988, Vaidynanathan & Agarwal, 2003). We carefully designed a between subjects experiment to test the changes on the perceived fairness of raising price and visit intentions. Four treatment groups were structured by company’s reputation (good or bad) and relative profits (reasonable or unreasonable high). Forty subjects are randomly assigned to each group. Besides, in order to reveal the concerns of charging fee on public recreation sites(McCarville, Reiling & White, 1996; Bates, 1999; More, 2002; Lee & Pearce, 2002), fundamental beliefs on charging fee for public recreation resources, and the trust for public/private administrations are selected to test their interviewing effects.
In this study, total six hypotheses are tested. Research results confirm that (1) agency’s good reputation has significant influences on perceived fairness of raising price; (2) reasonable profit has significant influences on perceived fairness of raising price; (3) there is no evident interactive effect of agency’s reputation and relative profits on price fairness perception; (4) the relation between price fairness perception and participation intentions are positively correlated (r = 0.87); (5) the beliefs on charging fee for public recreation resources has significant interviewing effect for interactive relation between agency’s reputation and relative profits on price fairness perception; and (6) the trust for public/private administrations also demonstrates similar interviewing effect for interactive relation between agency’s reputation and relative profits on price fairness perception.
In sum, based on study results, we can conclude that tourism management agencies should be very cautious about handing management authority of public tourism resort to private enterprises. People’s fairness perceptions toward possible raising price accompanied by this policy will significantly influence their visitation intensions. Thus, if out-source entrepreneurship is an inevitable option for public recreation agency, to select a well-known corporation, and to require for a reasonable profit will make people more comfortable to accept raising price accompanied by this semi-privatization policy. In addition, agencies also need to further understand people’s beliefs on charging fee for public recreation resources, and their trusts for public/private administrations. These two factors will strengthen the interactive effects of company’s reputations and relative profits.
Tourism in Minority Communities: An investigation on a small conserved heritage area in Iran (Masooleh)
Hamira Zamani-Farahani
Department of Marketing and Information Systems, Faculty of Business &Accountancy,
University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Key words: Protected heritage area, local community, Tourism impacts, Iran (Masooleh)
Tourism is one the most important and fastest growing industry in Asia. At a time of increasing globalization, the protection and presentation of the heritage and cultural diversity of any particular place or region is an important challenge for people everywhere. However, management of that heritage, within a framework of internationally recognized and appropriately applied standards, is usually the responsibility of that particular community.
Although the subjects related to heritage tourism had been extensively studied in some regions, but when it comes to Iran, the study is insufficient. Iran is among the oldest civilizations and has been inhabited for millenniums, yet very few studies have been done on the effects of tourism on the heritage areas as well as local communities.
Referring to the subject of this paper, the historic town of Masooleh was established about one thousand years ago, it is located in a highly scenic valley, in the northern Iran and south of the Caspian Sea. It covers an area of 160.000m2. Extraordinary architecture and untouched nature of Masooleh have made it a unique place and one of the rarest geographical areas on earth. It is unique in the sense that the streets are designed in a way that no motor vehicle can pass through them and people use wheelbarrows to carry goods from one place to another .The major tourism attractions of Masooleh are its natural and cultural heritage and living culture. Native language of the people is Taleshi (Persian is national language) and its population is about 700 in the fall and winter and it doubles in spring and summer. The main products of this small town are handicrafts such as gelims ,Jajims ,socks, traditional dress, shoes called Chamush and dairy products.
Sloping plan of the town, which stretches southward along the topographical lines, is meant to enable the inhabitants to carry out their daily activities. The plan includes four main districts, encircling, comprises 120 shops, a four-storied market –place, which is considered the heart of Masooleh. This indicates that the economic vigor of the market-place has been the most important factor in shaping the whole town. Four main districts that now include nearly 350 traditional wooden houses; every house is one to four stories high, arranged in a stair step, so that the roofs of some houses are the yards of the others. The dwelling is situated around the three storey bazaar. The architecture is consistent with climatic conditions, topographical features and social circumstances of the region therefore, creating almost identical internal spaces for all houses. The most important natural and historic sites and monuments of Masooleh are the following:
Natural landscapes:
-Nine Mountains (The surrounding mountains provide many opportunities for trekking, climbing and other activities), Forests and Grasslands, Three springs, Three Rivers, Three Waterfalls, One cave ,One park
Historic sites:
-Very old buildings with traditional architecture which some of them dates back to five hundred years ago.
-Twelve caravansaries (only one used now)
-Roudkhan Castle. (Constructed in the late 10th Century, re-built in the 15th century, restored in the 17th Century)
-Eighteen Holly places (mosques and Imamzadeh) with traditional architecture.
The town as protected area, has been registered in the list of National Cultural and Natural Heritage, in 1976.In 1997 a study on this town conducted by the Iran Cultural Heritage Organization in Collaboration with UNESCO, resulted in it being included in the UNESCO’s International Project for Development of the Cultural and Eco-tourism Development in the Mountains regions of the central Asia and Himalaya, in 2003.
Since Masooleh is a unique protected heritage area in Iran, it is of great importance to preserve the culture, nature, and most importantly the inhabitants. The author of this article conducted a host survey among the local community to investigate the social and cultural impacts and consequence of tourism in this conserved heritage area. The age of the participants was 18 and over. A total of 300 hand delivered self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the household, of which 250 were completed properly. In addition, unstructured personal interviews were held with the local community and the local representative of tourist’s industry. The study was carried out over a four weeks period during October2006. The results indicate that even though the local community strongly supports the tourism development in their area ,but they have poorly contributed and participated in to tourism planning and management, Masooleh suffers from seasonality tourism, landslides, deforestation, strict supervision over construction, and conservation of building without contribution of local community ,unemployment, migration of the young people, high economic dependency on tourism and lack of proper management . The findings suggest that this area needs to adopt a sustainable tourism and a well management which take into account the local culture.
Colonial Heritage Hotels in Sri Lanka – their great role as a sustainable cultural tourism commodity
Manfred Domroes
Department of Geography
Mainz University, Germany
Sri Lanka proudly boasts a fine collection of colonial hotels dating back to the British rule. Built in a solid colonial style, mostly of Victorian architecture and equipped with charming and nostalgic facilities of exclusive British life, the hotels provide a vivid experience of colonial life that proofs highly attractive to the modern tourists. Due to their great historical value, colonial heritage hotels which are meanwhile equipped with modern amenities to the consumerist leisure life style of modern tourists can, however, impressively contribute to a greater awareness and living memory of the colonial heritage as a sustainable cultural tourism commodity. Heritage hotels substantially add to capturing the colonial history of Sri Lanka as part of the present-day cultural identity. As shown for Sri Lanka, colonial heritage hotels "conservation" can successfully contribute towards recreating an authentic heritage conservation, not harmfully affecting the cultural and historical environment. It can also be seen that colonial heritage hotels may serve as catalysts for a well developed, sustainable heritage tourism industry which, at the same time, contributes towards a successful evolution of eco-tourism in Sri Lanka. As the colonial hotels are scattered across Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, over the south-western portion of the country and the central highlands, a colonial round tour is suggested that includes all British-era hotels which, at the same time, offers an eco-tourism excursion of colonial landscapes and townscapes shaped by the British. As colonial heritage hotels are widely known across many of the former British colonies the observations even for Sri Lanka can also be transferred to other countries and hence contribute to strengthening heritage tourism as an important cultural tourism commodity.
Developments of Tourism and Mining in Yunnan, China: Comparing the Economic and Environmental Impacts
Ganlin Huang
Univ. of Vermont
Colchester, VT 05446, USA
Keywords: Tourism impacts, Yunnan, Environmental impacts, Mining
Tourism, a service sector, is often promoted as a more suitable alternative to extractive economics, such as mining by researchers, environmental groups and developing agencies (WTTC and IHRA, 1999; Brandon, 1996; CI & UNEP, 2003). It is assumed that tourism will provide more economic benefits since the tertiary industry (such as tourism) generally has a larger multiplier effect than the first/second industry (such as agriculture, mining, fishing and manufacturing) (Todaro, 2003). When environmental impact is considered, ecotourism or sustainable tourism is proposed as a low impact industry which beneficially involves local people (CBD, 2003; CI & UNEP, 2003) and is especially favored in areas with a high-degree biodiversity and sensitive ecosystem (Li & Han, 2004; Huang, 2002). While these are, no doubt, certainly experiences and lessons from numerous case studies, I would argue that, within a specific context, the generalized image of tourism might be over-emphasized and cover other fundamental factor influencing the sustainability of local development.
This paper illustrates this point by comparing economic growth and environmental health in Yunnan, southwest China where tourism and mining have developed. It uses statistic techniques to quantitatively compare the environmental health and economic situation between areas dominated by tourism development and those dominated by mining activities. In order to present the picture of the whole province as well as preserve details, this study compared tourism and mining industries at two scales: prefecture and county. Considering data availability and the status of tourism and mining industries, four prefectures in northwest Yunnan were selected to conduct the county-level study.
Background of Yunnan
Yunnan province is located in the southwest of China (Figure 1) bordering the countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Burma. It encompasses 393,898 square kilometers and has a population of more than 43.756 million people (Yunnan Statistic Bureau, 2004). Mining and tourism in Yunnan have been growing at a rate of 20-30% since the logging ban cut off one of the main income sources in 1998 (Yunnan Statistic Bureau, 2004). The dominant positions and rapid expansions of mining and tourism make Yunnan an ideal area to explore the research questions.
Besides its abundant mineral and tourism resources, Yunnan can be characterized by its extremely high biodiversity and poverty. Yunnan is the fourth-poorest province and having 10% of the poor/low income population in the country. It is under huge pressure to generate more jobs and increase incomes. Yunnan government announced recently five key industries: tobacco, tourism, mining, hydropower and biological product to increase GDP and reduce poverty . Being as the key industries means they will attain priorities in regional planning and various policy supports. It is hoped that these five key industries will help to increase local economic activity and reduce poverty.
Background of Northwest Yunnan
The four prefectures located in the northwest of Yunnan Dali, Lijiang, Diqing and Nujiang are collectively called “Northwest Yunnan” (Figure 2). It encompasses 89,288 square kilometers and has a population of 5.285 million people (Yunnan Statistic Bureau, 2004). Northwest Yunnan was selected to study at a finer scale because its characteristics are identical with the whole province: abundant tourism attractions, rich mining resources, high biological diversity and poor population. Taking up 22.64% of the area and 12.78% of the population, it has 50% of the copper reserves in Yunnan and attracted 35.94% tourists in 2003 (Shen, 1998; Yunnan Statistic Bureau, 2004). Eighteen counties out of the total twenty-four are listed as national Poor County .
Data and Method
Five sets of indicators were employed to describe tourism and mining developments, economic status, social development situation, and environmental health. To preserve details within a prefecture as well as be able to cover a large area, analysis was conducted at two scales. At each scale, analysis units (prefectures or counties) were first divided into two categories: tourism dominated and mining dominated by comparing the outputs of tourism and mining industries. Then, indicators describing economic, social and environmental status were examined by a two-sample t-test to see whether the difference between the two categories was significantly larger than that within one category In order to compare the economic and environmental performances of tourism and mining activities, the prefectures/counties were divided into three groups: 1) areas with dominated tourism activities and little mining; 2) areas with dominated mining activities and little tourism; and 3) areas where neither tourism nor mining is dominant.
Discussion
At both prefecture and county scales, the t-test did not reveal any significant difference in GDP, poverty situation and social developments between tourism-dominated and mining-dominated areas. It implied that tourism and mining contribute to local economy to a similar extent.
Environmental health was evaluated from forest coverage, air quality, water quality and an overall ecological index for prefectures and forest coverage, soil erosion, water quality and an overall ecological index for counties. Except for air quality at prefecture level and three of the five soil erosion indices at county level, other indicators describing environmental status did not show significant difference between tourism-dominated and mining-dominated areas.
Although air quality and soil erosion indicators showed that tourism-dominated areas have a better environment than mining-dominated areas, it is possible that other issues caused the difference. For air quality, as mentioned above there is only one monitoring station in each prefecture, so the air pollution index actually only measured a small portion of the whole prefecture and was not able to represent the reality. For soil erosion measurement, there are three ways to explain the result. First, mining does cause more soil erosion than tourism. Mining activities usually involve digging and removing the topsoil. Along with related road and temporary living place construction, mining activities result in less vegetation and more topsoil tends to be eroded during the raining season. The second explanation is tourism also causes soil erosion by bringing more people to a fragile environment and constructing roads, hotels and facilities. The result was less severe than mining area as shown by the data because tourism had not been established long enough in 1999 when the erosion data was collected. Mining activities in Yunnan could be traced back to 3000 years ago (Zhang, Z., 2000) when people explored for copper. As a modern industry, it has been well established since 1950’s and has been growing steadily over decades. As a contrast, tourism initiated around 1985 and started grew fast in 1990’s. Except for Nujiang, the other three prefecture’s tourism receipts in 2005 doubled those in 1999. Therefore, the difference appeared in this study could be a matter of time.
The last possible explanation is that the difference is caused by a third variable rather than mining and tourism industries. Soil erosion is associated with a series of variables, such as vegetation cover, slope, annual precipitation and agriculture practice etc. Distribution of tourism and mining site may coincide with a pattern of one or more variables causing soil erosion. In this way, erosion caused by the third variable appeared to relate to tourism and mining. For example, assume agriculture is the real factor that causing soil erosion since most of it is done on a step slope. Tourists are attracted to the ancient building and the diverse cultures in Yunnan, so the tourism sites usually avoid agriculture field which is a typical Han Chinese practice. Agriculture field did not affect distribution of mining sites. Therefore by avoiding agriculture practice, tourism sites have less soil erosions than mining sites. Which explanation should be employed requires further research. A time series research would be helpful to articulate whether time affects how tourism and mining industries relate to soil erosion problem in Northwest Yunnan.
Modelling and Managing Visitor Experience: A Case Study from World Heritage Sites, Thailand
Jaruwan Daengbuppha
Naresuan University, Thailand
The goal of this paper is to describe experience of heritage produced by visitors derived from a study undertaken in three World Cultural Heritage sites in Thailand. ‘The Visitor Heritage Experience Model’ was developed under this study by using grounded theory approach. The research approach reported in this study draws on visitor on-site experience consumption theory to develop a new approach that provides a deeper understanding of the interaction between visitors and attractions and the nature of the relationships between the objects and the subjects that constitute the visitor experience. This model explains the insight nature of visitor experience consumption of heritage attractions through its construction, the perceived the value of heritage, perception of authenticity in heritage experience and the meaning of the experience for the visitors. In exploring the “shift toward postmodernist or late modernist theorizing” suggested by Uriely (2005), the paper aims to discuss the emergent ‘visitor interactive experience’, the central element of the visitor heritage experience model which reveals the multiplicity, complexity and dynamic nature. It also explains the rationale behind visitors’ practices and activities which indicates the individuality in experience consumption. Finally, it discusses implications for sustainable management for cultural heritage sites that begin with consideration of crucial elements for visitor management arising from the study and follows with recommendations for visitor experience management planning. A paradigm of experience principles and practice and visitor experience management framework with an emphasis on visitor empowerment and sustainability of the cultural heritage are addressed in this paper.
From the Inner Harbor to the neighborhoods : African-American Tourism Development in Baltimore, US
Maria Gravari-Barbas
ESTHUA,
University of Angers, France
The Inner Harbor development project, in Baltimore (MD) is considered as one of the most successful waterfront redevelopment projects of the 70s and 80s. The derelict Inner Harbor quays have been transformed into one of the most exiting tourism and leisure destinations of the East Cost. Most of the new tourist venues have been built thanks to public subsidies. City authorities thought that tourism investments are a good and viable option for economic development in a old industrial and socially distressed city such as Baltimore.
Thirty years later, the waterfront redevelopment projects continue to attract important numbers of tourists and visitors. However, the Inner Harbor project still remains “an island of prosperity in an ocean of decay”. The waterfront area functions as an “enclave”, not really related to the rest of the city. It does not benefit to the city neighborhoods, most of them home of the important African-American of the city. Since the mid-90s however, city authorities and community leaders realized the enormous potential, social, cultural and economic, of the African-American Heritage in the city. African-Americans are not only the first community in the city (in numbers) but also on of the most important from an historic point of view and very closely related to the past of the city and of the State of Maryland. The recent (re)discovery of their heritage is therefore considered as very important both symbolically and economically, as AA tourism develops in the States. The proposed paper will examine and analyze recent projects and developments related with the AA heritage in the city and the role they can play in the more general tourist, economic and social local agenda.
My Heritage Can Beat Up Your History
Alan A. Lew
Department of Geography, Planning, and Recreation
Northern Arizona University, Box 15016, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-5016, USA
Keywords: heritage, authenticity, tourism, history, intepretation
In his book, The Past is a Foreign Country (1985), David Lowenthal argued that we cannot know the past except through the values and interpretations of the present. Heritage sites, therefore, tell us far more about who we are today, than what happened long ago. Lowenthal note that if the past is a foreign country, Nostalgia has made it “the foreign country with the healthiest tourist trade of all” (1985: 4). Urry agreed with this perspective, stating “…nostaligic memory is memory is quite different from total recall; it is a socially organized construction. The question is not whether we should or should not preserve the past, but what kind of past we have chosen to preserve” – (2002:109).
Thus, I will argue, and open for discussion, that historic authenticity is negotiable because culture is continually being invented. And in most every instance, heritage and culture are re-interpreted for economic commodification and development, and for nationalism and ethnocentrism. Heritage, in this sense, is far more important in driving heritage tourism development than are efforts to ascertain true historical accuracy.
Coping with the Dark Sides: Dissonant Industrial Heritage as a Tourism Destination
Dietrich Soyez
Geographisches Institut / Department of Geography
Universität zu Köln / University of Cologne
Albertus-Magnus-Platz
D-50923 Köln
Industrial heritage tourism valorizations are characterized, more often than not, by two pervasive trends: Firstly, they indulge in heroic stories about creative entrepreneurs, innovative corporations, inventive engineers and visionary architects, all of them almost exclusively active in times of peace and progress. Much more rarely they reflect the disquieting war-time reality of glory-seeking generals, resource-hungry strategists, myopic bureaucrats or the ordeal of prisoners of war or forced labour. Secondly, what is being displayed or represented has a clear focus on national territories and identities, almost wholly excluding the world of (trans-boundary) linkages that is so characteristic for most industries of the secondary sector.
Starting from these apparent blind-spots – and the resulting gaps in the construction of tourism destinations in an increasingly globalized tourism market – this paper aims to explore complementary approaches to explaining the historic industrial fact. It thereby searches for alternative ways of thinking and representation that do no longer exclude the dark and trans-boundary sides of the industrial use of resources, industrialization processes and locational decision-making. This is particulary relevant with regard to war-time industrial-military complexes (MICs) and their predecessors in the 19th and 20th centuries.
If such a perspective sounds strange with regard to industrial heritage tourism, we need only call to mind the recent emergence of dark tourism (or grief tourism) approaches, which attempt to address the phenomenon that battle fields, cemeteries and crime or disaster sites can generate tourist flows. It is widely acknowledged that such lieux de mémoire not only have an emotional, but also an educational value, and it is undisputable that the fact as such as well as its implications (i.e. with regard to infrastructure, catchment areas or the construction of social meanings) represent similar challenges to tourism research as do other more traditional destinations. As is the case in particular with sites of war, they can, but are not necessarily, be located in a given nation’s homeland, on the contrary: very often they are situated abroad where they represent, or are perceived as, the former enemy’s heritage, being – more often than not – a contested site.
These phenomena have been aptly and fruitfully analysed in other tourism sectors, under the heading of dissonant heritage, offering a wide variety of research issues where history/histories, identities, places, meanings and linkages intersect and are played out or negotiated in ways that are as relevant for geographical perspectives as for regional (touristic) development paths.
As indicated in the introductory remarks, this kind of dark, dissonant heritage has never been addressed consistently with regard to industrial heritage and industrial heritage tourism, neither in Europe nor in Asia. It is the objective of the paper to discuss relevant facets, drawing on 19th and 20th centuries’ examples from Europe’s strategically relevant industries, such as mining and the armaments industry, focusing on countries such as Germany, France, former Tchechoslovakia, Poland and Norway. Based on recent ideas and research findings in historical disciplines, a concept of entangled (industrial) geographies and its potential for heritage tourism and destination development will be presented and discussed critically, not least with regard to its implications for comparable tourism markets in Asia.
(TENTATIVE) Sustainable Tourism in Jisha? Comparing the corporation approach and the NGO approach
Ganlin Huang
University of Vermont
Colchester, VT 05446, USA
Keywords: ecotourism, sustainable tourism, NGO, Yunnan
Tourism is probably the most fast growing industry globally. In remote areas where alternatives are rare, tourism is becoming a more and more important income source. It is often taken as a major tool by local government or non-government organizations (NGOs) to reduce poverty, lessen resource use, and fund conservation programs (Li & Han, 2001; Huang, 2002). In China, two approaches constitute today’s tourism development: development projects initiated by NGOs in poor, resource-dependant, and usually bio- or cultural diverse areas; and corporation’s tourism investment as profit-driven activities (Lew et al., 2003).
Balancing tourism development and conservation in ecological and/or cultural sensitive areas is one of the most challenging tasks in tourism development. Although the concepts of ecotourism or sustainable tourism have been presented for decades (Young, 1992), both research and practices in this aspect remain to the initial stage in China (Zhang, 2003; Lindberg et al., 2003). It is commonly agreed that involving local people into the decision-making process would help the host community benefit economically from tourism and conserve the environment as well as the culture (Hall, 2004; Mason & Cheyne, 2000; Simmons, 1994; Tosun, 1998; Li, 2004). How the NGO and corporation tourism development approaches differ in these aspects has received scant research interest.
This paper examines a case where these two approaches happening in parallel in Jisha, a Tibetan village in northwest Yunnan, China. The two attempts are compared for their visions on tourism development, economic contribution, environmental impacts and local community involvement. Since both attempts experienced resistance from local community and were not successful, it then goes further to analyze problems of each approach through the framework of the extended concept of ecotourism, which emphasizing the cooperation among four parties: the government, local people, enterprise and the tourists (Bjork, 2000).
Case studies of Jisha tourism development:
Qianhushan Mountain Area
Jisha village is located in the Qianhushan Mountain Area