Tourism and Heritage

Tourism

• Tourism is defined by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for no more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes

Heritage

• According to UNESCO, heritage is a legacy from the past, something lived with today, and something to pass on to future generations
• Cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration
• Heritage includes traditions, languages, or buildings, that were created in the past and still have historical importance
• Heritage is the full range of inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture
• Heritage is person's unique, inherited sense of family identity including the values, traditions, culture, and artifacts handed down by previous generations
• Heritage is an inheritance including what the past has conceded, what is valued in the present and what is chosen to preserve for future generations

Heritage Tourism

• Heritage tourism represents traveling to experience authentically the places, artifacts, and activities that represent the stories and people of the past and present
• Heritage tourism is travel concerned with experiencing the visual and performing arts, heritage buildings, areas, landscapes, and special lifestyles, values, tradition and events
• Heritage Tourism is concerned with handicrafts, language, gastronomy, art and music, architecture, sense of place, historic sites, festivals and events, heritage resources, the nature of the work environment and technology, religion, education, and dress
• Heritage tourism supply includes both tangible and intangible elements of the past that form and constitute tourism products and services
• Heritage elements can be grouped into built heritage, scientific heritage, and cultural heritage
• Built Heritage includes historic and artistic sites such as forts, relics and modern towns
• Scientific Heritage includes plants, animals, birds, rocks and natural habitat
• Cultural Heritage includes folk and fine arts, customs, and languages
• Heritage tourism is tourism that involves visiting an historic or cultural site and participating in activities that allow tourists to experience that culture as it was in the past and how it is right now
• Heritage tourism activities include visiting a museum or historic home, eating the local food, or taking part in a festival
• Heritage attractions place greater emphasis in enhancing tourist experiences and encourage active participation

Benefits of Heritage Tourism

• Heritage tourism diversifies local economies
• It preserves a community's uniqueness, establishing and reinforcing identity
• Facilitates partnerships among people and organizations
• The industry fosters sustainable development, strengthens community pride and sense of place, supports culture and the arts, and helps revitalize the tourism industry in general
• Visiting heritage sites creates quality experiences, is more memorable, and contributes to learning

Heritage Cycle

• This is a continuous cycle that involves "Enjoying" heritage which leads to understanding, valuing and caring for the heritage

Characteristics of Visitors

• Women tend to visit heritage sites more than men
• Visitors tend to be younger or middle aged, or older and retired
• Higher education is common
• Visitors usually have a more affluent, higher socio-economic background
• Visitors tend to stay longer and spend more time in the area
• They are more willing to explore places in greater depth and usually seek an informed visitor experience rather than merely gazing

Key Terms

• Habitus is the ways in which social classes strive to maintain differentiation from other classes.
• Allocentric tourists are eager to gather information and search for new and challenging heritage experiences and places
• Psychocentric tourists choose to visit historic sites or heritage attractions close to home

Why Study Heritage Tourist Characteristics

• To develop new management and marketing strategies to attract new and prospective tourists
• To meet expectations as heritage tourists are seen to be customers seeking value for money in their tourism experiences.
• Today's heritage tourists seek to experience heritage in more emotional, intuitive and interactive ways
• To engage with “thoughtful consumers,” culturally competent and weary of the commodification in heritage arenas

Constraints Limiting Demand

• Inaccessibility
• Lack of educational background
• Disabilities
• Psychological constraints
• Museum fatigue

Motivation

• Motivation involves state of need and a condition that exerts a push on individuals towards certain types of action that are seen to bring satisfaction

Intrinsic Motives

• Escape from personal/social pressure
• Social recognition/prestige
• Socialization/bonding
• Self-esteem
• Novelty and learning/discovery
• Push factors- Intangible intrinsic desire of the individual to travel- Origin related

Extrinsic Motives

• Appeal of each attraction or destination
• Pull factors- tangible resources like heritage attractions
• Intangible resources - tourist perception and expectation

Categorization by Consumption

• Descriptive categories cover material components of culture and heritage such as attractions, objects of the art, artifacts and relics; traditions and languages intangible
• Experiential categories focus on the experience and individual perceptions of the destination site, the linkage between the site, the potential tourist motives and their perception to conceived as interactive process
• Visitors can be categorized based on Religious, Nature, Cultural, Culinary of Food, Agriculture, Medical and Historical Tourism