Role of Museums and Cultural Attractions in Tourism

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Role of museums and cultural attraction
Word count: 2, 112

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Interrelation of museums and cultural attractions...........................................................................2
Role of museums and cultural attractions........................................................................................3
Museums and cultural attractions in a global context and how they add to the economic
development.....................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
Introduction
Museum is a collective institution that preserves a collection of artistic, cultural and historical
artifacts over years for coming generations to witness the past visually. Cultural attractions are a
source of experiencing human’s physical and intellectual creations by visiting various places that
holds a strong culture (Pratt et al, 2010). In this assignment, we are going to discuss the
interrelation between museum and cultural attraction and their role they play in the tourism
sector. Further, cultural attraction will be delineated based on a literature both in international
and a global context. The various areas of contribution will be discussed that is rewarded by the
cultural attractions and museums to the society.
Interrelation of museums and cultural attractions
Both museums and cultural attractions have been an important part of the portraying culture to
the society in different forms. Heritage and cultural tourism defines and depicts the stories of the
people who lived in the past and are living in the present who have greatly contributed to the
culture of the city in various ways. Out of this the most memorable and precious ones are
preserved and to attract tourists and the local people to get learn about the great work of the
people in the past. Cultural heritage plays a very crucial role in the economic development of

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that particular place whereas museums play a crucial role in defining the arts in specific that
lasted in the previous eras.
In countries like Greece, people are immensely taking interest in knowing their culture by
visiting the cultural attractions and knowing about their past of the city. Culture and heritage
plays a very important role in Greece because in the recent times, museums and cultural
attractions have attracted a lot of people and had an influence on the economy of the tourism
sector (Phillips and Jang, 2010). In UK, among eight of the top ten visitor attractions for people
to visit are the museums such as British museum, the Tate modern and national gallery etc. In
US about 78% of all leisure travelers spend their time discovering the cultural heritage places to
know more about their culture and get information about the lives of the people who lived in the
past. Museums and cultural attractions both are interrelated as they form a strong backbone of
the tourism sector that attracts multiple people to visit the sites and museums which in the recent
times has been developing to a greater extent.
Cultural tourism is frequently seen development as more and more people are visiting the
cultural attractions but at the same time there is also great opportunities for museums to engage
people in the tourism sector by increasing the people visiting museums which will in turn boost
the economy and revenue and simultaneously boost their role as unique storytellers and as guides
that depicts the history, culture and heritage of the place effectively (Park, 2014). The museum
conference which is taking place every 6th consecutive year is collaborating cultural attractions
and museums together that will bring museum and cultural professionals together from Greece,
UK and US. They are variety of reasons for bringing the museum and cultural professionals
together are to make people explore and see how museum and cultural professionals can together
boost their roles as destinations and add to a part of cultural development in the society.
Role of museums and cultural attractions
Cultural heritage plays a very significant tool in economic development of that particular country
whereas museums have been playing a significant role in portraying art within tourism and
leisure. Museum has a strong connection to tourism because some part of tourist attractions also
has a link to visiting cultural sites, museums, art galleries, to experience the life of the people in
the past times. The general role the museums play is to educate the people who visit the

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museums about the history, culture and heritage of the city or town. The main roles that
museums play is protecting of cultural heritage for the future generations and attract more
tourists to generate revenue out of it. Cultural attractions also generate a large source of revenue
and add to the economic development of that particular place or country. Museums play a key
role in success of the tourism sector of UK that attracts various millions of customers not just
domestically but also internationally. The museums in UK show the best the culture and heritage
that tells the stories of the world.
Research has shown that in the recent years the tourism has shifted drastically from a
quantitative growth to a qualitative growth where it highlights the development of various
segments of cultural tourism and the ever increasing curiosity for cultural experience within
people from various countries (Molina et al, 2010). There is seen a less tangible turn towards
assets of tourism and active participation in tourism consumption in various places. The trends
seen in cultural tourism over the years has been recorded by a wide range of sources. According
to the world tourism organization, 2004, the estimation of visit of people on international trips by
cultural tourists was seen as 40%. UNESCO promotes the sector of tourism with respect to
cultural tourism in specific to preserve the world heritage and the European commission greatly
supports the cultural tourism as a major sector of the tourism industry. The tourism industry in
many states and cities has become a major pillar of bringing about economic support for
traditional activities and local creativity sources.
The current trends in supply and demand of tourism is due to broadening of the cultural field that
is been recreated by the growth and expansion of cultural attractions. On a global level tourism
has taken over the economy to a larger extent and the growth of economy if seen in various areas
due to tourism. Due to the rising educational levels in almost all countries the demand of cultural
tourism has increased rapidly both on domestic and a global level. With more education people
have started taking interest in knowing the culture of the city and the world and the demand has
been increasing ever since (Halkier, 2014). Rising education enables and gives people more
access to culture whereas the effects of globalization crates interests in distant cultures along
with the local heritage of the country. As per the research performed in US for example, it shows
about 46% of domestic tourists visit cultural attractions where the cultural attraction has become
a global currency. The global flow of culture has brought about many changes in the perception

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of cultural attractions that impacts the domestic persona everywhere. The cultural forms have
become globalized and are accessible to tourists worldwide because of internet, tourism mobility
in the form of art exhibitions, musicals are being replicated on various different continents etc.
Museums and cultural attractions in a global context and how they add
to the economic development
Museums and cultural attractions both play a large and a significant role in the economic
development both locally and globally. The role of museums in cultural economy is very crucial
because they sustain themselves in promoting themselves as cultural attractions centers in both
domestic and international markets and fulfill the demands of visitors and investors (Donaldson
and Ferreira, 2019). The museums and cultural attractions bring and add greatly to the economic
development of the country. the local and regional governments and city planners are seeing and
planning these cultural attractions and museums to be cultural capital that can add to the
economic development plans and fiscal policies, urban regeneration and economic development
schemes that been brought into picture around cultural attractions and museums. The recent
cultural plans made by the city to enhance the economic development of the country is for
example in Toronto, the expansion of crystal royal oratorio museum and the extension of art
gallery of oratorio is to attract more people to visit the museums and the art galleries to generate
revenue out of it and add to the economic development of the country.
Museums and cultural attractions also play a very significant role in urban regeneration. Take the
example of Tate modern project where the local communities together have united and brought
about significant changes in the structure of the project and attracted thousands of visitors from
all the over the world. Not just this, apart from just visitors there have been a lot of people who
have also settled in the locality for permanent and the people living in that particular area have
doubled over the years (Chen and Chen, 2010). Also there are thousands of companies and small
business operators that have moved to this area with the influence of Tate modern building and
have opened restaurants, cafes, hotels and shops in the near locality. Hence, this has greatly
contributed to the urban regeneration of that place. The perspective of people visiting the
museums and the cultural attractions not just locally or domestically but also internationally has

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a perception of getting educated by visiting these places and getting to know about the lives of
the people in early age and what was so different about them. It also helps them enlighten about
the art works of various eras in the previous ages that were used by people and seeing it all
visually helps to create a deeper understanding of such arts rather than just viewing it in books
and online in today’s world.
Destination marketing has been an ever increasing sector which is the process of marketing a
particular city, town or destination because it holds cultural heritage or historical places that
might be of interest to people all over the world (Chen and Chen, 2012). Since there are many
places in the world that people do not know which are of great cultural value and heritage it
becomes important at such stages to market these places so that people are aware of such
historical places and come and visit them to gain knowledge which might interest them in some
way or the other. Plus if people start visiting such places after being aware of them it also adds to
the economy of that particular place and brings about urban regeneration in that particular place.
Conclusion
Museum is a collective institution that preserves a collection of artistic, cultural and historical
artifacts over years for coming generations to witness the past visually. Cultural attractions are a
source of experiencing human’s physical and intellectual creations by visiting various places that
holds a strong culture (Born horst et al, 2010). In this assignment, we have discussed the
interrelationship between museum and cultural attraction and their role they play in the tourism
sector. Further, cultural attraction has been delineated based on a literature both in international
and a global context. The various areas of contribution will be discussed that is rewarded by the
cultural attractions and museums to the society.

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References
Bornhorst, T., Ritchie, J.B. and Sheehan, L., 2010. Determinants of tourism success for DMOs &
destinations: An empirical examination of stakeholders' perspectives. Tourism management,
31(5), pp.572-589.
Chen, C.F. and Chen, P.C., 2012. Exploring Tourists' Stated Preferences for Heritage Tourism
Services–the Case of Tainan City, Taiwan. Tourism Economics, 18(2), pp.457-464
Chen, C.F. and Chen, F.S., 2010. Experience quality, perceived value, satisfaction and
behavioral intentions for heritage tourists. Tourism management, 31(1), pp.29-35.
Corsane, Gerard (1962-2005)-Heritage, museums and galleries: an introductory reader.
Donaldson, R. and Ferreira, S., 2019, February. (Re-) creating urban destination image: Opinions
of foreign visitors to South Africa on safety and security?. In Urban Forum (Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 1).
Springer Netherlands.
Halkier, H., 2014. Innovation and destination governance in Denmark: Tourism, policy networks
and spatial development. European Planning Studies, 22(8), pp.1659-1670.

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Kirshenblatt, Gimblett, Barbara (1998) Destination culture: tourism, museums and heritage.
Molina, A., Gómez, M. and Martín-Consuegra, D., 2010. Tourism marketing information and
destination image management. African Journal of Business Management, 4(5), pp.722-728.
Park, H.Y 2014 Heritage Tourism Chapter 2 and Chapter 11
Phillips, W.J. and Jang, S., 2010. Destination image differences between visitors and non‐
visitors: a case of New York city. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(5), pp.642-645.
Pratt, S., McCabe, S., Cortes-Jimenez, I. and Blake, A., 2010. Measuring the effectiveness of
destination marketing campaigns: Comparative analysis of conversion studies. Journal of Travel
Research, 49(2), pp.179-190.
Sant, S.L., Mason, D.S. and Hinch, T.D., 2013. Conceptualising Olympic tourism legacy:
destination marketing organisations and Vancouver 2010. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 18(4),
pp.287-312.