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Nascent Trends in Heritage Tourism
Cultural heritage is one of the most salient resources for tourism throughout the world . Many places rely on it entirely for their tourism economies , while for other destinations it is a secondary or ancillary attraction to nature , beaches or other mainstream resources . After three decades of research on heritage tourism , as tourism researchers we know a great deal about the supply of , and demand for , cultural heritage ( Herbert , Prentice and Thomas , 1989 ; Prentice , 1993 ; Timothy and Boyd , 2003 ). Most research on heritage tourists and the places they visit has been case study-oriented and descriptive in nature ( e . g . Chen and Chen , 2010 ; Draper , Oh and Harrill , 2012 ), but it has taught us a great deal about what tourists have traditionally sought as consumers of the past and what destinations have attempted to sell to them .
By : Dallen J . Timothy , Professor of Tourism Arizona State University , USA
Today , however , it is time to begin thinking beyond the normative ways that we as researchers have always thought about heritage tourism . This supports the notion that tourism is not static and neither are its consumers or its products . As the editor of the Journal of Heritage Tourism and given the opportunities I have had in recent years to visit many areas of the world , I have been able to observe and assess several new trends , a few of which are worth mentioning here .
The first trend is the reorientation of what the public now sees as heritage worth visiting . Heritage has been variously defined by different scholars , but what all definitions essentially boil down to is the idea that whatever we inherit from the past and use in the present day is heritage ( Graham , Ashworth and Tunbridge , 2000 ; Timothy , 2011 ). Thus , heritage encompasses much more than the tangible , majestic , and ancient icons that have so frequently been the focus of heritage tourism development and the cultural gaze . There is now an emerging recognition that intangible , ordinary , and newer heritages are equally important for conservation and tourist consumption ( Timothy , 2014a , 2014b ; Wang , 1997 ). The stories of peasants , the poor , slaves , and ethnic minorities are as important as the heritage of the kings and landlords , and there is a growing appreciation of this , particularly in the Western world .
A second trend is the notion of branding . For many places , heritage has become the brand with which they are most closely associated . UNESCO ’ s World Heritage List and many other ‘ markers ’ or ‘ brands ’ are gaining increasing visibility in the global marketplace . In the United States , the National Historic Landmarks Program and the Register of Historic Places are two programs that help attractions emphasize their historic importance and often serve as a brand for tourism marketing purposes . World Heritage Sites are of particular global importance , and even though many countries feel that branding their heritage with the UNESCO label will automatically increase arrivals , research shows that this is not necessarily the case .
Trails and routes are another important heritage trend . These might be either organically-developed routes , such as religious pilgrimage trails , historic railroads or ancient trade routes , or they can manifest as intentionally-developed and assembled routes that link similar attractions and locations together into a linear corridor . Food trails , routes linking a specific architectural form , or circuits that connect scenes from a famous person ’ s life are all examples of this form of ‘ purposive ’ route . Many places are beginning to see routes and trails as an important ‘ new ’ tourism product that can help spread the economic benefits to other areas , as well as dilute the negative social and ecological outcomes of tourism .
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Voice Of Tourism Education 2nd Edition
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