Cultural Tourism and Heritage Management

This assignment delves into the multifaceted aspects of cultural tourism and heritage management. It examines the significance of cultural tourism in promoting understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures. The discussion also encompasses sustainable practices in cultural tourism development, addressing issues such as preservation, community engagement, and economic benefits. Furthermore, the assignment analyzes the challenges associated with managing cultural heritage sites and events, highlighting the need for responsible and ethical approaches to ensure their long-term viability.

Heritage and Cultural Tourism
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Growth and development of the heritage and cultural industry.......................................2
1.2 Potential conflicts in conservation of heritage and cultural resources.............................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
2.1The purpose of heritage and cultural attractions in meeting the needs of different customer
................................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Impact of different types of ownership on the management of heritage and cultural sites11
3.2 Roles and responsibilities of organizations in the heritage and cultural industry..........12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
4.1 Methods and media that is used for interpretation with industry:..................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is one of the fastest growing sector in world. With the rise in income and
availability of leisure time, there is a spike in the movement of people from one place to another
for some adventure, outdoor activity and have some recreational pleasure (Su, 2011). These days
people not just want to go to different location for spending their free time but also they want to
learn about different culture and heritage. Tourism management is a new trending field which
has caught attention of countries around the world. There is requirement to focus on these natural
and heritage sites as to ensure there proper preservation and utilisation. Some of them are more
than thousand year old, which makes it little difficult for governments and organisations to
preserve them and use them as a tourist attractions (Alberti, and Giusti, 2012). In this report, a
timeline of growth and development in heritage and development industry, issues related to it,
need of developing these spots, different roles and responsibilities of government and private
organisation in preserving these sites will be covered. It will assist the reader in improving his
knowledge about various factors which impacts and initiates the growth of heritage and cultural
tourism.
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TASK1
1.1 Growth and development of the heritage and cultural industry
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1.2 Potential conflicts in conservation of heritage and cultural resources
Conflicts in Conservation of Heritage and Cultural sites
Background The background of city of Lhasa, is identified as a administrative capital of
Tibet Autonomous Region that is also called as TAR which is a part of
People's Republic of China. Lhasa is a second highest populated city in the
whole region and it is also situated at staggering 3490 metres which makes
it the city located at highest peak in world. It has remained a administrative
centre as well as a religious capital since early 17th century. The
significance of city is very high as there are different and important
Tibetan Buddhist sites, such as; Norulingka palaces, Potala Palace and
Jokhang Temple.
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Assessment of
potential conflicts
For the assessment of potential conflicts which exists in the conservation
of cultural and heritage resources, there are two vital aspects which has to
be considered. First aspect is a negative one, it is related with the rising
number of tourist in the place and impact of various infrastructure
development on heritage and culture of area. Second aspect is a positive
aspect which states that the revenue which will be generated with the
increase of travellers number will assist local government in enhancing the
standard of living, facilities for its citizens. Thus there is requirement of a
balanced approach which will not hinder revenue generation and maintain
the flow of travellers in region.
Stakeholders For assessing conflicts, it is very important to identify stakeholders
involved in the whole scenario. According to the case study of Lhasa, there
are multiple stakeholders who are involved in the whole process, such as;
local government, communities, investors, environmentalists, global
community, tourist and various travel agencies. Conflict has risen due to
multiple projects that have been initiated by the Chinese government in the
region. There are many projects such as road building and 'Resort Lhasa
Paradise' build by Intercontinental Hotel group. Also they are going to
renovate Barkhor town while planning for building up theme park in the
outskirts of city. These issues have been raised by London based NGO
named Free Tibet which has stated that these projects are a threat to the
region heritage and cultural values and they would impact their religious
sentiments.
Justify boycott The NGO has stated various points in order to justify boycott of projects in
Tibet. First reason behind it is that, The 'Resort in Paradise' and IHG
hotels are ignoring the oppressive rule of government and lower living
standards of community living in region. Also they described establishment
of hotel premises in the outskirts of Barkhor district to hurt heritage and
cultural values as there will be high inflow of travellers and over
utilisation of resources which will impact the life of people too.
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Balancing all
activities
As per the research, there is high need of balancing all activities of
commercialisation of Heritage and cultural hot spots in the Barkhor
district. The government has to find different way by which it can assist
local government in restoring religious structure which have been impacted
by sudden rise in travellers and other developmental activities. There are
various methods which can be employed, such as virtual reality. These
methods will assist in boosting capital cost and enhance revenue
generation. Proper training and ups-killing of population will also
safeguard culture while boosting tourism. Everything needs to be done
while keeping all requirements on paper so that there is organic,
sustainable growth in the region. This way government will be able to keep
religious sentiments of people in control and also aid in enhancing their
standard of living. The prime motive of all these activities have to be,
protection of heritage and culture while benefiting from commercialisation
of same.
Approach The London based NGO is right in its approach, as it is stating about
impact which will be there if the Chinese government keep on pursuing
non sustainable strategy for developing tourist destination then it will end
up destroying heritage as well as cultural values in region. They have to
find a middle path which fulfils needs and wants of all stakeholders
involved in this process.
TASK 2
2.1The purpose of heritage and cultural attractions in meeting the needs of different customer
From long time, cultural and heritage sites have been the centre of attraction for different
type of customers. It has been proven and there are different evidence in the form of reports
which state about rise in number of people. They have immense importance as they play role of
attracting huge number of traveller to these regions (Ashworth, and Larkham, 2013). The cultural
and heritage sites assist in upholding various types of tradition, ethics, values and behaviour of
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people who are associated with specific culture and sites. The different purpose which are
fulfilled by cultural and heritage attraction places are as follows:
 Entertainment: There are different types of visitors who visits these places for
entertainment purpose. The heritage and cultural sites are seen as places which have high
level of entertainment value in them. Students, families, business man all visit these
location for learning, fun and entertainment (Stylianou-Lambert, 2011). They also assist
in specifying various tourist destinations. After visiting these places, travellers feel highly
satisfied and entertained as they have seen a part of human history and evolution. For
example, the British museum has various activities and programmes designed which
makes it a attractive place to visit for travellers. There are three main and renowned
museums which are introducing new concepts and removing boredom from their
premises.
 Historical Importance: These sites state about various facts and figures about human
history and evolution. It provides people an insight about how mankind has developed
with time. In British museum, traveller are provided with the privilege and understanding
about historical background of various cities and countries around the world. Also the
interactive program has reduced the bookish knowledge (Ashworth, and Page, 2011). Recreational purpose: Today humans are totally relied on technology and gadgets. They
do not have time for going to different places for vacations but the British museum or
Victoria, provides them a platform where they can learn and relive the time which was
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Illustration 1: British Museum, 2017

faced by their ancestors. People tend to opt for visiting a place with historical, heritage
and cultural values as to learn something new and gain an insight about different values
and ethics.
 Educational value: The heritage and cultural sites have huge educational value in them.
They are perceived as a place which will provide learning to visitors who will be visiting
the historical places (Cuccia, and Rizzo, 2011). Schools and colleges also offer these
types of trips with a aim of enriching students knowledge about local heritage and
historical values. Victoria and Albert museum are designing various programmes for
educational programs. On the other hand, British museum has provided ample of
opportunities to local as well as international travellers to learn about historical events in
a most innovative and fun ways.
 Research aid: The heritage sites are one of the most eminent research aids as they
provide valuable information to people who wants to learn about human history and
evolution (Chiabai, Paskaleva, and Lombardi, 2013). For example, The Victoria museum
have researchers who visit various sites to gain in-depth knowledge about history and
heritage, other institutions too provide necessary facilities to boost the learning of people
about various issues. Sense of Unity: These heritage and cultural sites have been a pillar in creating a sense of
unity between different communities. People are able to learn about other culture and
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Illustration 2: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016

traditions because of these sites which ultimately boost co-operation between them. Also
it helps communities in preserving their lost culture which creates a feeling of
belongingness. The British museum has various programs which are aimed to preserve
and protect various artefacts which states about the life of people belonging to different
cultural.
 Economic Enhancement: These sites boost tourism in a region which generates revenue.
The money is then used to improve infrastructure and other basic facilities that lead to
increase in standard of living. The museum invest huge sum of money in developing
infrastructure to preserve various historical artefacts as to attract more visitors to visit
their premises (Hartmann, 2014). The revenue which is generated by increase in the
number of traveller is used to maintain museum and fund researchers in finding out more
historical artefacts.
These are few way heritage and cultural sites assist in catering to various needs of
different people. The museums play a vital role in preserving and protecting these sites and
artefacts which provide knowledge to people (Keitumetse, 2011). The government also fund
various programs initiated by these organisation for boosting research about the history and other
information.
There are different types of customers that are catered by tourism sector. These are as
follows:
 Business tourist: These are the people who will be travelling from one part of world to
another for their business and economic concern.
 Education tourist: They are the one who travel from one part to another for learning new
things and concepts.
 Cultural tourist: They are the one who like to experience essence of assorted cultures.
They like to witness different cultural sites as to understand difference between their own
lifestyle and others.
 Adventure tourist: These are the people who like to experience something unusual and
bizarre.
 Leisure tourist: The tourist who wants to revitalise and rejuvenate with comfort while
learning new things.
 Religious tourist: These are tourist who like to visit historic places with religious values.
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 Sport and recreational tourist: People like to take active part in some sport and other
recreational event.
There is requirement of segmenting and targeting these customers, so that people are
attracted towards these sites. To attract more individual towards these sites government needs to
target specific groups so that more people are attracted. It is very important for organisations to
gain attention of groups who are real consumer of goods and services.
TASK 3
3.1 Impact of different types of ownership on the management of heritage and cultural sites
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3.2 Roles and responsibilities of organizations in the heritage and cultural industry
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TASK 4
4.1 Methods and media that is used for interpretation with industry:
There are various media tools and techniques which are used by organisations around
world for interpreting the experience of visitors to historic sites. It assist in development and
expansion of cultural and heritage industry, as the interpretation is shown to other people who
get motivated to take on the trip. This task is undertaken by different heritage and cultural
organisation as to boost tourism. It also assist in assessing the perception of tourist about historic
site and management of it (Loulanski, and Loulanski, 2011). They are able to identify loopholes
and gaps that exist in system and remove them within a certain time frame. There is requirement
of thematic approach so that the quality of interpretation can be maintained and also assessed
from time to time.
There are three stages in interpretation which are essential to be followed, understanding,
appreciation and protection. Basically it optimises various experiences of visitors and enhances
their awareness as well as ability of a community to communicate different ideas. It boost
management effectiveness and accountability. The aim of interpretation is not too provide boring
statistical data but the aim of different organisation is to avail data which is understandable and
aids in boosting working and effectiveness of agencies. The museums have different use of
collected data, as this assist them in improving the quality of services which they provide. For
example, British museum has methods of interpretation and media which differs from other
museums (Lynch, 2011). They check the background of target audience and accordingly they
prepare attendants in museum to cater to the needs of various type of customers. These guides
are one of the people who has stayed long enough to guide visitors to the most exciting parts.
They state about why the artefacts and other objects were acquired and preserved, also pointing
out their value and maintenance. They assist researchers in finding out the real worth of objects
and all relevant information about it.
The British museum uses social media where it states about various fundamental facts
regarding artefacts and all other objects which have been placed in museum display. They are
able to create a very strong and successful marketing campaign based on inclusive of visitors
experience, collaboration and commercialisation of organisation. These days they share video's
of visitor experience after visiting museum on social media which has huge impact on the
potential customers (Poria, Reichel, and Cohen, 2013). There are times when there are no
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attendants to cater to information need of travellers, this is when the written notes placed near to
artefacts come handy and provide insight about the object. There are publication available too
which are publicised by museum for attracting and aiding visitors in understanding about various
items put on display.
The recent development which has been adopted by museum is augmented reality to
facilitate interpretation about various artefacts to visitors. Also there is a separate area of virtual
reality which offers a huge amount of items for display. These technologies provide a completely
different scenario in front of visitors (Raj, and Griffin, 2015). The museum management has
provided different types of media platform for visitors which assist in interpreting about various
objects that are put onto display.
The Victoria and Albert museum are not left behind they are also adapting to new
platforms for facilitating people to learn about all the artefacts and historical items in a
interactive manner (Timothy, 2017). They have arraigned all the acquired and collected items
categorically, with proper sticker notes accompanying them. There are more than 80 million
specimen in museum which are now digitise for boosting knowledge of people living far away
from museums. Also they have a well established online portal which offers unprecedented
access to the scientific community. It is also available for common individual who want specific
data.
They also employ students who are basically researchers and spend free time in
enhancing their knowledge while guiding people around museum. They also have a specified
imaging and analysis centre which provide accurate scientific information to the researchers as
well as visitors (Salazar, 2012). The conservation centre that is developed with aim of preserving
various specimen which are now extinct. These are the methods and way which are used by
different museums and organisation to preserve and protect while interpreting their value to
visitors.
CONCLUSION
Cultural and heritage tourism is among the fastest growing sectors in whole tourism
industry. The people are slowly changing their needs and desires, and now they want to learn
something new rather then wasting their time in theme parks. Visitors like to know about their
past, heritage and cultural as well as they like to gain more knowledge about other cultures and
traditions too. UK is one of the best destination for travelling as it have a well established
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infrastructure that has persevered and protected its heritage as well as historical items from
around the world. In this report various roles and responsibility of public and commercial
organisation was covered. While it also reflected the need to balanced development and growth
of infrastructure which do not impacts heritage and culture of a place in any manners. It is very
important for governments around world to ensure that all the cultural and historical sites are
maintained.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Alberti, F. G and Giusti, J. D., 2012. Cultural heritage, tourism and regional competitiveness:
The Motor Valley cluster.City, culture and society.3(4). pp.261-273.
Ashworth, G and Larkham, P. eds., 2013.Building a new heritage (RLE Tourism). Routledge.
Ashworth, G and Page, S. J., 2011. Urban tourism research: Recent progress and current
paradoxes.Tourism Management.32(1). pp.1-15.
Chiabai, A., Paskaleva, K and Lombardi, P., 2013. e‐Participation model for sustainable cultural
tourism management: A bottom‐up approach.International journal of tourism
research.15(1). pp.35-51.
Cuccia, T. and Rizzo, I., 2011. Tourism seasonality in cultural destinations: Empirical evidence
from Sicily.Tourism Management.32(3). pp.589-595.
Hartmann, R., 2014. Dark tourism, thanatourism, and dissonance in heritage tourism
management: new directions in contemporary tourism research.Journal of Heritage
Tourism.9(2). pp.166-182.
Keitumetse, S. O., 2011. Sustainable development and cultural heritage management in
Botswana: Towards sustainable communities.Sustainable development.19(1). pp.49-59.
Loulanski, T and Loulanski, V., 2011. The sustainable integration of cultural heritage and
tourism: a meta-study.Journal of Sustainable Tourism.19(7). pp.837-862.
Lynch, M. F and et. al., 2011. The demand for Mi’kmaw cultural tourism: Tourist
perspectives.Tourism Management.32(5). pp.977-986.
Poria, Y., Reichel, A and Cohen, R., 2013. Tourists perceptions of World Heritage Site and its
designation.Tourism Management.35. pp.272-274.
Raj, R and Griffin, K. A. eds., 2015.Religious tourism and pilgrimage management: An
international perspective. Cabi.
Salazar, N. B., 2012. Community-based cultural tourism: issues, threats and opportunities.
Journal of Sustainable Tourism.20(1). pp.9-22.
Stylianou-Lambert, T., 2011. Gazing from home: Cultural tourism and art museums. Annals of
Tourism Research.38(2). pp.403-421.
Su, B., 2011. Rural tourism in China.Tourism Management.32(6). pp.1438-1441.
Timothy, D. J. ed., 2017.Managing heritage and cultural tourism resources: Critical essays,
Volume one. Routledge.
Timothy, D. J., 2011. Cultural heritage and tourism: An introduction(Vol. 4). Channel View
Publications.
Yeoman, I and et. al., 2012.Festival and events management. Routledge.
Online
What is Heritage Tourism?. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://culturalheritagetourism.org/what-is-heritage-tourism/>. [Accessed on 3rd July
2017].
What is Heritage Tourism?. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://coloradopreservation.org/faqs/what-is-heritage-tourism/>. [Accessed on 3rd July
2017].
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