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La Organización Mundial del Turismo subrayó la importancia del turismo cultural y patrimonial, ya que conlleva y aglutina cultura, arte, creatividad y aprendizaje; además, esta forma de turismo favorece un desarrollo de comunidades que tenga en cuenta el valor de la cultura local. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo la identificación de los temas más importante y recurrentes en la literatura actual sobre esta forma de turismo. Este trabajo de índole teórico puede servir como base y sustento de futuras investigaciones empíricas, ya que ofrece una sistematización de la literatura para que resalten los asuntos relevantes y que describen el comportamiento de los turistas en ciudades, patrimonio de la cultura, es decir, autenticidad, identidad, destino turístico, motivación y comunidad. Se concluye sobre el impacto de un estudio bibliométrico en la base de datos Web of Science y a través de un co-word análisis con Bibliometrix que posibilito una mirada más profunda sobre turismo cultural y patrimonial y destacando los enlaces entre autenticidad, destino y motivaciones, identidad y comunidad; temas brindan la oportunidad para configurar nuevas estrategias en la oferta de experiencias turísticas.

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are nationally distinct landscapes that represent unique cultural, historical, and/or natural attributes significant to the legacy of the United States of America (U.S.). The Great Dismal Swamp, located in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, is a prime candidate for NHA designation with diverse qualifications, among which was its antebellum role as a refuge for formerly enslaved people. The goal of our research, conducted in 2022 during the period of the U.S. Congressional debate on designation, was to investigate and expound upon the rationale for NHA designation of the Swamp. To do so, we used a scoping review to explore a sample of existing literature focused on the Great Dismal Swamp. We found significant evidence to support the Great Dismal Swamp NHA designation. Now, in its final hours of federal review and ratification, the Great Dismal Swamp will likely become America’s next NHA and continue its legacy as a place for nature-based and heritage tourism, inspiration, and reflection on the strength of humans to live and resist against even the most arduous of external forces. Further, our work serves to illustrate the range of unique factors that can support similar designations throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Although scholars have made considerable progress in understanding the dynamics of heritagisation and toponymic politics, research is yet to explore how these may interact with each other. Drawing on a mixed-methods comparative qualitative study, this paper explores the politics of place naming and multilingualism in the context of heritagisation in three multiethnic cities in Romania: Târgu Mureş, Oradea and Baia Mare. We argue that the recent trends of heritagisation introduce a new element in the politics of place naming in ethnically diverse cities. Heritage becomes inclusive when it loses its importance in the power struggle between minority and majority political representatives. Once the demographic weight of the minority decreases and the appearance of minority language in public space does not anymore pose a threat to the hegemony of the majority, heritagisation initiatives – including the display of multilingual signs – may develop. In cities where ethnic proportions remain balanced, however, ethnic rivalry continues to prevail as the dominant element of toponymic politics. Nonetheless, while the simultaneous heritagisation and political commodification of historical toponyms offers better visibility for autochthonous minority communities, they equally risk eroding minority language rights under an ambiguous regime of political and economic calculation.

Analyzing the perception differences and influencing factors of cross-cultural groups in heritage tourism can help heritage sites to formulate differentiated service and improve tourist satisfaction. This research adopted the BERT model to undertake sentiment analysis of 17,555 Chinese online reviews for nine scenic spots in Melaka. Using vocabulary filtering, co-occurrence analysis, and semantic clustering technology, the emotional characteristics of Chinese outbound tourists when they visited heritage sites in Melaka were analyzed, which revealed the factors influencing their positive and negative emotions. Results showed that: 1. The BERT-based deep learning approach can obtain improved sentiment predictive performance. 2. Chinese tourists’ general emotional perceptions of Melaka were positive and they were very interested in heritage sites. 3. The most important reason for the negative emotions of Chinese tourists was a lack of cultural experience in Melaka. This research expands the application of deep learning in the field of tourism, and it helps heritage tourism destinations to improve their marketing plans for Chinese tourists and achieve long-term sustainable development of the destination.

Much current discussion about the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health focuses on urban green space and rarely on historic conservation areas (HCAs). With the pandemic’s lasting influence and advances in medical technology, people’s mental health needs and attitudes toward epidemic prevention changed, and the importance of HCAs has received great attention. This study aims to explore the positive impact of heritage tourism on mental recovery under the influence of the pandemic. The Kuanzhai Alley HCA was selected as the location for the field survey and in-depth interviews. A total of 48 respondents were recruited for the semi-structured interviews, and qualitative data were analyzed through MAXQDA 2020, and the motives and mental feedback of tourists visiting Kuanzhai Alley were summarized. The results showed that there is great landscape integrity and continuity in the area. During the pandemic, the inclusive cultural atmosphere, human-based spatial scale, and cultural activities in the form of intangible heritage, such as Sichuan opera and live-action role-playing (LARP), had significant effects on eliminating loneliness, relieving anxiety, and improving happiness. The study results are expected to provide reference and guidance for current and future management of heritage tourism, social well-being, and a sustainable cultural economy.

Tourism is not only considered as a stimulator for the social and economic development for countries, but also it contributes in spreading peace and enhancing negotiation, comprehension, and exchanging cultures among people in the light of the increased tourist demand. Arab countries confronted fluctuation and instability in the number of tourist arrivals due to security disturbances, conflicts and the vanishing of peace opportunities. In this regard, this research reveals the urban features for some Arab countries in achieving peace tourism because it is considered as touristic destinations that enhance heritage tourism due to the existence of the whole touristic features. The study sheds the lights on both As-Salt (Jordan) and Constantine (Algeria) cities. For the purpose of highlighting the opportunities of peace tourism by its urban features for changing towards sustainability by adopting that combine tourism development, peace building, and heritage conservation in both Arab cities. The researchers also required the development of certain tactical techniques to attain clear results in the research, the study relied on qualitative research in reviewing many documents and research related to both tourism and peace. In addition, field investigations contributed to providing data and information during the period from (2015-2018), like that the observation and interviews conducted with the local community in both cities. Results of the research, represented mainly in the presence of opportunities for peace tourism, which are reinforced by the specificity of the urban characteristics of the two cities, and its clear role in establishing a culture of peace, understanding, dialogue and exchange of cultures, which requires defining a model for the relationship between the development of tourism, peace and heritage in the cities of Salt and Constantine and which is based on tourism planning with the effective participation of different stakeholders.

This study aims to investigate the effects of tourist engagement dimensions on revisit and Word of Mouth (WOM) intentions of heritage tourists. The data were collected from domestic tourists in the heritage city of Kashan, Iran. To analyse the collected data, this study applies Partial Least Squares — Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) as a symmetric analysis technique, as well as fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as an asymmetric analysis approach to strengthen the findings. The findings of PLS-SEM showed the significant effect of the absorption dimension on revisit intention, whereas these results demonstrated the significant effects of the dimensions of interaction, and identification on WOM intention. However, the results of fsQCA identified more heterogeneous combinations of dimensions of visitor engagement to predict revisit and WOM intentions. Overall, this study contributes to the extant literature on tourist engagement by constructing a composite picture of tourist engagement dimensions on the behavioural intentions of heritage tourists. The study’s theoretical contributions, its restrictions and practical implications for heritage site operators are further discussed.

Los hitos patrimoniales y los valores históricos suelen coexistir con lugares y regiones de notable riqueza ambiental y paisajística. Este artículo estudia su capacidad para generar una comprensión global de su territorio a través de la creación de rutas culturales. La metodología propuesta se verifica a través del estudio de las características defensivas del antiguo Reino Nazarí, el último territorio islámico de la Península Ibérica desde el siglo XIII hasta el siglo XV, que dio forma a la región española conocida como el Reino de Granada hasta el siglo XIX. Para realizar este estudio se ha llevado a cabo una recopilación precisa de datos físicos (topografía, hitos, recursos, centros de población...), caminos públicos existentes y sitios naturales protegidos. También se seleccionaron y cartografiaron las rutas culturales pertinentes para el área de estudio a través de SIG. Un conjunto de indicadores priorizados a través de un proceso de jerarquía analítica (analytic hierarchy process AHP) han evaluado los itinerarios propuestos. Esta metodología permite el análisis integral de parámetros como patrimonio natural, redes de caminos existentes, patrimonio arquitectónico defensivo, rutas culturales existentes o proximidad a servicios básicos. Su aplicación permite obtener un índice que cuantifica las implicaciones globales de estos parámetros en el diseño de nuevos itinerarios. Esto conduce al desarrollo de una red con su propia narrativa que proporciona un significado histórico, ambiental y cultural. Las torres de vigilancia en esta región han sido estudiadas previamente como entidades arquitectónicas aisladas y localmente relevantes. Este trabajo las analiza desde una perspectiva global, considerando cada una de ellas como una pieza de un complejo sistema defensivo y territorial. Las rutas culturales surgen de esta interpretación conjunta como herramientas para restaurar y resaltar la interrelación entre el patrimonio arquitectónico y el territorio y las personas., This work has been carried out within the framework of the Spanish National R&D Research Plan through the project called “The watchtowers that defended the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. Scientific analysis and survey” (HAR2016-79689-P) funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Government of Spain and co-financied with funds FEDER

This study identifies the potential interrelations between nostalgia, experiential tourism and watermill heritage and its implications for the local community. The study area is represented by the catchment area of the Someșul Mare River (Romania). Some 15 semi-structured interviews were carried out attempting to grasp the perception of the local community on the role played by mills in the 18th-20th centuries, namely to show their polarization and social functions. The interviews were supplemented by 10 observation sheets filled out in the field. These contain information on the current state of the mills, the items being focused on the following aspects: type and dynamics of ownership, current use, structure of water-powered facilities, polarization area, and age. Results showed that some functional mills still exist and could be subject to investments for tourism purposes. The importance of mills for the local community stems both from the stories of the former millers or their customers and also by considering the significant number of working mills during the 18th – 20th centuries, which were cartographically reconstructed in this paper. If nostalgia can become a standalone resource in individualizing a particular tourism type, we may conclude that the watermill heritage, by all its attributes, provides strong heritage tourism potential.

This article aims to examine an integrative model of historical nostalgia, brand authenticity, brand attachment, and brand equity based on the case of the Shaolin Temple, a heritage destination in China. The discussion is based on 470 responses collected from visitors to the historical place. The results demonstrate the positive mediating effect of brand authenticity and brand attachment on historical nostalgia and destination brand equity. This study contributes to the literature constructing the brand equity of heritage tourism destination by investigating the positive role of historical nostalgia. It helps heritage tourism stakeholders implement policies on brand authenticity and brand attachment.

The paper follows a consumer-oriented approach to explaining the different attitudes and expectations of tourists visiting a Jewish heritage site. The authors discuss empirical data describing cate...

While academic research has established the need and importance of community participation in decision-making for cultural heritage tourism (CHT), there is still a lacuna in our knowledge when it comes to understanding what are the perspectives and motivations of people to participate in collaborative governance; thus, policymaking suffers from a lack of knowledge on how to effectively motivate and engage communities in heritage tourism management. Participatory approaches often focus on the management of various stakeholders without emphasising enough the understanding of practical and ideological factors that affect their participation. This study seeks to fill this gap in knowledge by attempting to understand residents’ attitudes and motivation towards participating in collaborative decision-making for cultural heritage tourism in their area. The objective of the study is twofold: (1) to identify residents’ attitudes towards CHT in their area and (2) to understand residents’ motivation for participating in participatory governance of CHT. The attitudes and motivations of the residents are looked at from a Weberian lens of formal and substantive rationality and it is established that residents are affected by both economic and non-economic factors in their support for tourism activities in the areas as well as to participate in collaborative decision-making. The study adopts a qualitative approach to study two heritage precincts of New Delhi, India. While the findings are based on the case study areas, they can be used to understand communities of other developing nations as well.

While heritage tourism has been explored widely in the tourism literature, there remains a need to further understand the antecedent variables that influence tourist experiences in such a context. This study applied mindfulness theory, investigating the effect of authenticity and mindfulness on the tourist experience and how the tourist experience influenced satisfaction and loyalty. A structural model was used with eight proposed hypotheses based on data collected in the spring of 2021 from 363 Chinese visitors to the Forbidden City. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed, enabling variable relations to be tested. Results revealed that authenticity significantly influenced mindfulness, and mindfulness significantly influenced tourists’ experience. Furthermore, two dimensions of tourists’ experience influenced satisfaction and satisfaction influenced loyalty.

With increasing globalization and consumerism, heritage tourism has contributed to local economic development, while over-tourism may have impeded experienced locality by residents and facilitated ...

This study explores dimensions of heritage tourism experiences utilizing the user-generated content (UGC) on a travel sharing website and offers insight for understanding the factors that can affect the heritage tourists’ evaluation of travel experiences at a destination. For this purpose, a content analysis of 5212 heritage experience reviews posted for heritage sites on a UGC travel website, TripAdvisor, is conducted. An analysis of reviews revealed 59 items forming six dimensions that include authenticity, the importance of guides, cultural values, sense of heritage, local hospitality and awe. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as well as limitations. Suggestions for further research are provided.

This study investigated Chinese tourists’ perceptions of domestic cultural heritage in general and consumption of a renowned Chinese cultural heritage site in terms of motivation and satisfaction a...

This paper falls within the scope of heritage tourism studies, focusing particularly on one UNESCO World Heritage Site. It seeks to contribute to tourism literature by achieving a better understand...

This research studies the traces of an ancestral textile produced in karkhanehs (workspaces) located in the historical city of Yazd, Iran. The case study undertaken here demonstrates how an intangible heritage of textile weaving through generations of families in Yazd, Iran, interrelates with tangible vernacular architecture and tourism at three different scales: (i) in everyday life in karkhanehs at home, (ii) in the neighborhoods, and (iii) the UNESCO World Heritage city of Yazd. The three scales related to the enactment of this vernacular handicraft are examined using architectural methods to examine structures ranging from 90 to 600 years in age. This was complemented by discussions with local weavers and residents, as well as direct observation in domiciles, neighborhoods, and the city. Actor-Network Theory helped to trace the networks of actors and relationships between the tangible built architectural heritage and intangible cultural practices of weaving, showing how different genders, ages, worldviews (beliefs) and practices came together to produce this heritage textile. Actor-Network Theory also helped to study the relationships between economy, culture, society and tourism, with respect to the evolution and transformations of the historic urban dwellings, vernacular architecture and vernacular weaving handicrafts through the three scales examined. Implications for sustaining and conserving this ancestral tradition of textile weaving and managing tourism’s positive as well as disruptive influences on cultural heritage conservation are discussed.

Limited attention has been given to the investigation of how cultural worldview (CW) affects tourists’ behavioural intention in heritage tourism sites. Thus, this study aims to examine the role of ...

The horizon of heritage tourism research has been expanding in tandem with the rapidly growing heritage tourism industry. The paper aims to accentuate the innovative concepts, patterns of scientifi...

Authenticity, well-being, and memorability are essential to understanding tourist experience, yet little is known about the mechanism underlying these interrelated concepts. This study explores how tourists’ perceived authenticity influences memorability through their existential authenticity and well-being in the context of heritage tourism. Using data from visitors to two world heritage sites in China (West Lake and Lijiang), the effects of existential authenticity on tourists’ psychological and subjective well-being are empirically tested. Findings from cross-regional surveys reveal that existential authenticity, triggered by tourists’ perceived authenticity of local cultural heritage, is significantly associated with memorability and psychological and subjective well-being. Results further show that perceived authenticity of local cultural heritage contributes to memorability through existential authenticity and well-being. Elucidation of these conceptual relationships has theoretical and practical implications for heritage tourism studies and management.

Purpose The concept of “Gothic tourism” has recently been proposed within the discipline of English Literature. Such tourism is claimed to be a distinct form of special interest tourism grounded in familiarity with the Gothic, distinctive aesthetics, and experiences of frights and scares. It is increasingly common in towns and cities around the world. This paper aims to examine and critique the concept of Gothic tourism, and consider its similarities with existing forms of urban tourism. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper and no empirical data are presented. Findings Gothic tourism is not as clearly differentiated from other forms of tourism as has been claimed. In particular, Gothic tourism can be conceptualised as a particular form of “lighter” dark tourism, but it can also be considered as a form of literary tourism. A conceptual model is presented which places Gothic tourism at the nexus of dark and literary tourism. Research limitations/implications This study is a conceptual exploration of Gothic tourism. Further empirical research is required to test the ideas presented in this paper at established Gothic tourism attractions. Originality/value This study examines the recently proposed (but little-researched) concept of Gothic tourism and considers its relationships with other forms of special interest tourism. It also illustrates the broader issue of how typologies of special interest tourism do not necessarily correspond with the motives and experiences of tourists themselves, or of the providers of tourist experiences.

Tourism strategies implemented all over the world have often been demonstrably far from sustainable. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its dramatic effects on the tourism sector worldwide present a unique transformative opportunity to reframe tourism in more sustainable ways. This article uses qualitative research methods and ethnography to advance knowledge on the impacts, both positive and negative, of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and heritage sites, as perceived by local stakeholders living and/or working at six popular heritage destinations in Sub-Saharan Africa, located in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. The article discusses ways to rethink heritage-based tourism strategies more sustainably, according to the viewpoint of the research participants, and identifies new emerging tourism opportunities triggered by the pandemic, cutting across different local contexts to highlight more widely generalisable research findings. Identified strategies include diversifying tourism products at heritage sites; improving tourism marketing, visitors’ experience, and infrastructures; fostering more inclusive, co-operative, and integrated tourism and heritage management systems; increasing awareness of local resources while promoting ecotourism and responsible travel; and supporting economic diversification and local entrepreneurship.

As one of the Cambridge Elements of Critical Heritage Studies Series, Heritage Tourism: From Problems to Possibilities contributes to heritage tourism studies by introducing a new paradigm as a res...

This study explores customer-to-customer (C2C) social co-creation practices in tourism when customers with and without disability share a heritage service environment. Despite a growing prevalence ...

Cultural tourism is a fast growing sector in Africa, with many museums and art galleries offering cultural experiences. South Africa, with a large array of cultural products, is actively promoting cultural tourism due to its ability to foster local economic growth and job creation. One such locality in dire need of economic growth is Limpopo Province. Thereupon, it is argued that Greater Polokwane should leverage its significant cultural landmarks and landscapes to promote this form of tourism. However, currently, the size and shape of the cultural and heritage tourism sector in this geographical area is unknown, as scholarly attention has focussed on the wildlife and hunting tourism sectors in this province of South Africa. Ergo, this study outlines the nature of the cultural and heritage tourism industry in Greater Polokwane. This study firstly created a database of cultural organisations and then gathered data by conducting in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the managers and employees. It was found that all the cultural organisations are privately operated, although some are located on State owned-land. The findings indicate that the museums and art galleries generate jobs and foster local economic development; however, they lack the resources to expand and consequently operate below capacity. This has important implications for the viability, growth, and sustainability of cultural and heritage tourism in South Africa.

This study aims to examine the relationship between tourists’ need for uniqueness (TNFU), perceived authenticity, tourists’ emotions, and their behavioral intentions in a heritage context. A proposed conceptual model is tested using the data generated from a convenient sample of 474 tourists visiting Cappadocia Göreme National Park, a natural and cultural heritage destination in Turkey. Using the partial least squares technique, the findings confirm that tourists’ need for uniqueness influences object-based authenticity and existential authenticity. Object-based authenticity and existential authenticity affect tourists’ emotions. Also, the tourist’s emotions affect their behavioral intentions. The model is further examined from a nationality perspective through a multigroup analysis. The effect of avoidance of similarity on TNFU is greater in European tourists. Also, the effect of TNFU on object-based authenticity is greater in Asian tourists. Further, the effect of object-based authenticity on tourists’ emotions is greater in Asian tourists. Discussions and implications for destination marketers, limitations, and suggestions for future research are also provided.

This mixed-methods study conceptualized and developed a scale to measure vicarious nostalgia in heritage tourism. Based on a comprehensive literature review, vicarious nostalgia was conceptualized with three dimensions: past-oriented cognition, evoked positive, and negative emotion. Rigorous scale development procedures were followed using six studies that involved multisample totaling 1,020 subjects. Besides content, discriminant and convergent validity, this study also assessed the scale’s nomological and external validity by testing a nomological model in different cultural contexts. It was revealed that vicarious nostalgia is driven by authenticity seeking; past-oriented cognition results in both evoked positive and negative emotion, which strongly predict tourists’ visit intentions. This study is believed to be the first to develop a scale for measuring vicarious nostalgia in tourism.

Heritage tourism offers authentic value-addition to homogenized experiences providing authentic, one-of-a-kind take-away. Apart from popular world heritage sites there are little-exposed gems which can offer novelty and hedonics together. Chandernagore, located on the western bank of river Hugli, 40 km north of Kolkata, India, germinated during the medieval period, later became a thriving French Colony in Bengal displays brilliant prospect for urban heritage tourism. A detailed spatio-temporal inventory of shared heritage legacies both tangible and intangible is prepared using old literatures, oral interviews, GPS plotting and GIS mapping which offers a great platform for promoting urban heritage tourism. Chandernagore is at interesting cross-roads – bridging the infrastructural gaps and garnering involvement of the locals, for ascertaining true potentiality – the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) are identified to prepare a blueprint for heritage tourism revival strategy for the shared Indo-French melange. Empirical study is conducted for tourist profiling along with usage of descriptive statistics and to carry out perception analysis of locals and tourists. The SWOT analysis leads to a comprehensive strategy formulation which aims to act as base for the revival of Indo-French cultural melange through sustainable, robust tourism emphasizing the core and innovation capitals, tourism development strategies and management, tourism outcomes and resource sustainability.

PurposeDeparting from a study of a heritage-led economic development project of a Swedish historic church, the purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss how professional roles within the heritage field are negotiated through a development-centered heritage discourse, focusing on the implications for religious heritage sites.Design/methodology/approachA synchronic discourse analysis was conducted on a number of documents originating from the case study project, as well as five semi-structured interviews with key actors from the heritage field and the Church of Sweden.FindingsThe findings of the paper show that professional heritage discourses and practice limit and prevent nonstate heritage actors to engage in heritage-led development schemes of historic churches. Additionally, the professional roles and skills of nonheritage actors are perceived as ambiguous within the current governance system.Practical implicationsExamining emerging forms of management of religious heritage sites can provide inspiration and indicate possible conflicts that need to be addressed by heritage professionals in order to achieve successful management.Originality/valueWhile studies of heritage-led economic development projects have previously focused on impact assessment and community engagement, this paper sheds light on how the discourses of these projects affect the conception of professional roles and practices.

Scholars have found that emotional factors, as compared with cognitive factors, have greater effects on explaining behavior. This research incorporated the anticipated emotion into the original mod...

The aim of this paper is analyzing desert remoteness as a potential competitive advantage for cultural tourism. In the emirate of Abu Dhabi, at least two destinations can capitalize on the perception of insularity, while at the same time offering high levels of comfort and accessibility. This text seeks to provide an overview on the matter, and enters a conceptual dimension about the singularity of remoteness, as a complement rather than an opposition to urban centrality. To do so, the insular condition is applied to an island and an oasis in analogous terms, through a heuristic-guided methodology.

Gay tourism is commonly studied through pride events in cities. Rethinking the role gay men’s bodies and politics play in the context of tourism to Israeli heritage sites, this paper contributes to...

From a postmodernist point of view, the concept of authenticity varies among tourists, time, and heritage sites, and it cannot be easily measured using traditional scales. This research used the me...

UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) are known to add value to destinations. While the diverse impacts of WHS status have been investigated in relation to sustainable tourism development in various co...

This paper discusses the impact of co-creation in the context of heritage tourism. By examining co-creative strategies that promote participative interpretation of archaeological heritage, the emph...

Heritage tourism is booming in emerging destinations, creating considerable sustainability challenges. The accommodation sector is an important area of action, yet taxonomies and empirical investig...

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the journeys of a group of North American Master athletes who travelled to Scotland to compete in the 2014 Masters World Championship Highland Games. Conceptualising, the Masters World Championship Highland Games as a unique form of sport heritage tourism, the paper explores how imaginations of the host venue are caught within individual and collective histories, while also being influenced by the socio-political context of contemporary Scotland.Design/methodology/approachAfter detailing the histories of the Highland games and Scottish emigration, the study draws upon a qualitative methodology to explore how such histories impact the imaginations of the Highland region.FindingsThis paper examines the journeys of athletes to the games, how they understood the games venue space and surrounding areas, and also how the Highland region itself was the site of contested meanings. The study concludes with a discussion of the narratives that frame imaginations of the Highlands and Scotland more broadly.Originality/valueThe paper adds to existing knowledge on sport heritage tourism and considers how conceptualisations of Scotland continue to be renegotiated in light of contemporary political developments.

The Heritage Tram Line is one of the tourist attractions of Wrocław. It is a way of making use of a large and diverse collection of historic trams that illustrate the development of public transport in the capital of Lower Silesia and, more broadly, in Central Europe. Although it has been operating since 2009, in recent years major modifications have been introduced including increasing the number of routes, a guided commentary on selected journeys, diversifying the historic tram cars and changing the ticket prices. The aim of the article is to evaluate these changes from the perspective of the interest of its users. The data on the frequency of operation and sales of tickets in the 2019 season have been analysed and compared with data from the previous year. This takes into account the increase in availability of the offer, as a consequence of a considerable reduction in ticket prices and introducing a larger number of stops, which has made the Heritage Tram Line more similar to a regular one. The changes introduced have resulted in a greater number of passengers, but also lower revenues as well as certain organisational problems such as ensuring the quality of guided services when passengers are being exchanged at intermediate stops. These issues are considered in the context of how to design a tourist product.

The American landscape is increasingly populated with memorial tourist sites showing a devotion to the past. In the last published statewide study of Tennessee historical roadside markers, Jones (1...

Purpose This paper aims to empirically investigate the relationship between service quality (SQ) in heritage tourism, destination attachment (DA), and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention. Design/methodology/approach This study followed cross-sectional survey-based research design and surveyed 327 foreign tourists visiting the Golden Triangle, a heritage tourist circuit in India through mall interception method. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings The results reveal that heritage SQ has a significant positive effect on DA and eWOM intention and DA has a significant positive effect on eWOM intention. Originality/value The research findings make the theoretical and practical contribution in the domain, focussing explicitly on heritage tourism, in which such relation has not been studied yet, in sense of the foreign tourists.

Heritage Justice in the Greater Caribbean is a vital component of the region’s sustainable development. Its Early Modern heritage is inextricably linked to the brutal regimes of European colonial e...

This article assesses the defining features and cultural significance of the haunted history tour as it has come to be practiced in American urban spaces. A distinctive cultural form that has risen...

While ostensibly relying on the dynamic of inclusion, the tourism industry also capitalises on the allure of difference, with racial difference in particular being central to some destinations’ app...

The study discusses experiences of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade symbolically represented in Ghana by the Cape Coast Castle. It considers the themes of emotions, transcendence, differentiated voices, and resistances characterised tourists’ experiences of heritage tourism in Ghana. There is already a small but growing literature on heritage tourism in Ghana. But this literature focuses on econometric insights and little consider the emotions and transcendence, differentiated voices and resistances involved in such heritage tourism. This present study then adopts a novel approach of poetic analysis, by employing research and interpretative poems to analyse the transcribed data. It involved observation and in-depth interviews of 50 informants selected through accidental sampling procedure. The study revealed that the deployment of poetry provides a conduit to express complex, heteroglossic forms of reality that move beyond the conventional methodologies common in tourism research. As such, it has contributed to both local and international theories on heritage tourism.

Heritage tourism is the largest, pervasive and rapidly growing tourism segment in the developing world. Developing countries consider heritage tourism as a significant tool for the community’s econ...

One of the core elements of tourism development is considered to encourage local communities‟ participation in World Heritage (WH) tourism because of its vital role in the sustainability. Albeit more and more scholars have attached much importance on researching developing tourism fields of the country, unfortunately, very few researches have been undertaken to identify and analyze major issues in natural world heritage tourism in Kazakhstan, including the management structure, financial resources, tourism impacts, policy making and local community participation. In this context, there is a need to explore what level such communities can participate in the tourism at World Heritage sites (WHS) where tensions between preservation and tourism are notable. The main purpose of this article is to indicate the local residents‟ participation in heritage tourism and analyze the impacting factors on their participation. In our research, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 222 representative households from two neighboring settlements of Aksu-Jabagly natural world heritage site. The results of the research show that the inhabitants do not actively participate in the development of tourism. The results also reveal that few travelers‟ coming to this tourist destination and lack of preferential policies were the primary restrictions for local residents‟ participation in tourism.

The archaeological site of Timgad, located in the high plateaus East of Algeria, more precisely in the of Batna province, represents an outstanding universal value, it was classified in the world heritage of UNESCO in 1982, it attracts a significant number of tourists each year and represents an important economic resource. Timgad has benefited from legal and technical instruments of protection and valorization, but these instruments and means have not had the expected success. The objective of this study is to identify this heritage and the tourism reality in this site on the basis of the field study, which has determined the socio-economic characteristics of the visitors and their impressions on the archaeological site and assess the available opportunities. Because the preservation of Timgad which of Roman origin means the protection of heritage, history, art, archeology and science, these potentialities will make tourism an important resource for local and national development. In fact the diagnosis of the current situation confirms the absence of an adequate and coherent tourism planning which allowed us to propose a strategy that combines protection and valorization, while preserving the cultural heritage which is an asset for sustainable development. To accomplish this study, we begun with an analysis of documents and reports concerning the instruments of protection and valorization of archeological heritage. Followed by a field study in form of questionnaires, as well as statistical and geographical data analysis. We finished with a presentation of the results and their interpretation. We finally concluded with some recommendations.

In recent years, scholars have called for greater recognition and representation of the role of slavery and the contributions of the enslaved at a multitude of heritage sites in, and outside, of the US. The framework of difficult heritage, as grounded in difficult knowledge, draws attention to the problems associated with the processes of heritage-making, including the challenges faced by those tasked with representing traumatic pasts as well as by those who encounter the representations. Thus, the purpose of this exploratory study was to obtain the perspectives of tour guides regarding a greater representation of slavery at one possible heritage museum, the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas, USA. These guides are crucial actors because they are responsible for both representing the heritage of slavery and managing a potentially complex range of visitor responses to these representations. The study drew from participant observation of guided tours of the museum property and semistructured interviews with museum staff, including those individuals who are directly responsible for guiding tours or play a supporting role in tours. While the guides indicated that they felt slavery was, indeed, an appropriate topic at the site, they expressed concerns about expanding representation of the topic. These concerns included the logistical constraints faced on tours, their knowledge of and comfort with the topic, and their perceptions about visitor expectations for the museum.

PurposeThis study presents an example of sustainable cultural heritage tourism. The heritage tourism at the site of the ship USAT Liberty in the small fishing village of Tulamben on the northeast coast of Bali Island plays a significant role in the lives of the local people who live nearby, who actively participate in the site's management.Design/methodology/approachThis study assessed the management of the site by the local community by means of formal interviews with major stakeholders, informal conversations, and observations in the field.FindingsAlthough it lacks any direct historical connection with the local community, the reuse of the shipwreck as a tourist asset has motivated the community to participate in the conservation of the site and sustain its values. This article argues that the case of the USAT Liberty demonstrates that the management of heritage sites can be effectively sustained using bottom-up approaches.Originality/valueThe USAT Liberty case study provides insights and practical recommendations that could be valuable for other cultural heritage sites in implementing management with a bottom-up approach. This paper enriches the knowledge of community-based management and promotes it as a pathway to sustainable cultural heritage tourism.