Post-colonial Politics and Resurgent Heritage: The Development of Kyrgyzstan's Heritage Tourism Product

In 1991 the Kyrgyz Republic secured its political autonomy from the USSR and set out on the road to cultural and economic independence. Tourism was high on the development agenda, not least because of the country's abundance of natural assets, its experience with health and recreational tourism during the Soviet period and its lack of viable alternatives. During the post-colonial period, tourist activity has been based mainly on the country's mountains and lakes. More recently attempts to develop a heritage tourism product have mirrored the resurgence of ethnic Kyrgyz nationalism and Turkic culture throughout Central Asia. The paper identifies ethnic diversity and nationalist revivalism as potential constraints to the development of heritage tourism in Kyrgyzstan. Moreover, the issue of dissonant interest groups in the protection of the heritage of Kyrgyzstan is addressed. Much of the international interest in Kyrgyz heritage has been directed at the epos of the nomads of the Steppes and it is their protection, rather than that of tangible heritage sites, that has attracted sponsorship from UNESCO and other bodies. Additionally, the tangible heritage sites that have been proposed by the Kyrgyz government for World Heritage status are of domestic and regional, rather than international interest. Implications for the strategic development of Kyrgyzstan's heritage tourism product are discussed, with specific reference to world heritage.     

An Observation Station for Culture and Tourism in Vietnam: A Forum for World Heritage and Public Participation

World Heritage is increasingly approached in an international context and it seems appropriate for the protection of World Heritage sites in our globalised world. However, we should question whether or not the global aspects are not over-emphasised, leaving behind local and national interests. Increasing the number of stakeholders in the selection process of World Heritage sites, especially those mostly excluded from any decision-making process, seems to be a promising approach. It enlarges the debate and facilitates consensus at all levels on how to promote and to protect World Heritage. The creation of an observation station, together with a new local selection system of cultural heritage sites, a kind of participatory budget of cultural heritage, would be an important step in integrating more civic perception into World Heritage policy.     

Including the Outsiders: The Contribution of Guides to Integrated Heritage Tourism Management in Cusco,Southern Peru

Over the last decade many archaeological sites in Peru have become important tourist attractions. However, despite the growth in tourism, visitor management and interpretation at the sites are limited and, at times, non-existent. The mainstay of interpretative supply in Peru is the tour guide, and three types of guide were identified in this research: those with university degrees, others with vocational training, and untrained 'local guides' from the local indigenous population living near the archaeological sites. All three types of guide were present at the Cusco region case study sites of Raqchi and Ollantaytambo. Recommendations focus on ways that local guides could be brought into the tourist system to enable their participation, both economic and social, in the tourism developing on their doorstep.     

Tourism Policy,Tourism Organisations and Change Management in Alpine Regions and Destinations: A European Perspective

Tourism is of great economic importance and significance for the European East Alpine regions. But to an increasing degree, low productivity resulting from the small-business structure of the Alpine region weakens the economic and social leadership of tourism. In the last few decades overcoming these difficulties often included substantial supporting of institutionalised tourism organisations by tourism policy, with the intention to bundle forces and to achieve growing global competition. Change in international tourist markets demands the pursuance of completely new strategies, particularly because the small-business structure of Alpine tourism in the past has always been the basis for its many positive effects for the local and regional population alike. By keeping its function of balancing regional economic growth, tourism policy's main responsibility for the future in the East Alpine region will be to create the prerequisites required for an adaptation to the new situation in the tourist markets. In addition, the support of tourism organisations is needed for achieving corporate success, which cannot be realised by individual entrepreneurs in the tourist industry owing to their small-business structure. The key to adaptation lies in the improvement of qualifications. This improvement should lead to the development of new skills for tourist cooperations as a basis for the strategic transition from institutionalised tourism organisations to flexible and market-oriented destination management companies.     

Levuka,Fiji: Contested Heritage

The complex links between heritage and tourism, and the ways in which attitudes towards historical built environments vary over time and place, are demonstrated in a study of Levuka, on the small island of Ovalau, Fiji. The town was founded by traders of European origin, and for a few years was Fiji's first colonial capital. Since the late 1800s, however, it has remained undeveloped, despite periodic efforts by tourism interests, resident expatriates and some government departments, to raise its profile and conserve its buildings and ambience through the development of tourism. Over the past decade, these attempts have crystallised in moves to nominate the municipality for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This paper describes Levuka's origins and its continued association with the colonial past, discusses the impetus within Fiji to nominate it, analyses UNESCO's role in supporting Levuka's case, and indicates the variety of perceptions to 'heritage' in the town, across Ovalau, and more widely in the Fiji Islands.     

'Heritage' Tourism in Northern Ireland: Opportunity Under Peace

Having endured terrorist violence for 30 years, Northern Ireland is on the verge of achieving a lasting peace. Tourism is well poised to benefit from the prospects of peace and the economic growth that is anticipated to follow. In this paper the first section, based on an analysis of secondary tourism data collected between 1994 and 1997 (a period during which the Irish Republican Army declared two cease-fires), assesses the extent to which tourism can benefit within a climate of peace. Heritage tourism within Northern Ireland is examined, on the basis that the majority of tourist attractions and the tourism experiences being sold to visitors fall under the heritage label. Heritage and heritage tourism is discussed within the Northern Ireland context. The second half of the paper examines what are emerging as the key challenges and issues facing the tourism industry in Northern Ireland and the opportunities for long-term growth. The paper reveals that tourism benefited for the yearsin which a cease-fire held, but that the heritage attraction is somewhat complex, with a range of heritage types ranging from natural to industrial. Discussion centres on how this 'heritage' experience is to be planned and managed, and the challenge of ensuring sustainability of a product that has the support of both 'communities' in Northern Ireland.     

Supranationalist Alliances and Tourism: Insights from ASEAN and SAARC

This paper examines the influences of international free-trade alliances/regional trading blocs on tourism development. While relatively few of these coalitions mention tourism specifically, most of them deal with issues that are directly pertinent to tourism, such as environmental conservation, flows of people, regional promotion, infrastructure and transportation and trade in goods and services. This paper scans these issues in the tourism context as they pertain specifically to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). While the paper argues primarily that such alliances have potential for positive outcomes, their negative effects are also considered and many of the roadblocks to achieving successful multilateral regional blocs are highlighted.     

The Tourism Workforce and Policy: Exploring the Assumptions using Crete as the Case Study

The size of the tourism workforce has grown rapidly to the extent that today, travel and tourism is considered to be the world's largest employer. The potential of tourism for generating jobs in areas where there are few other alternatives for employment has resulted in many governments electing to expand their tourism industry. Nevertheless, tourism has been criticised for creating part-time, seasonal, low quality and informal jobs often occupied by migrants and females. This paper sets out the main characteristics of the tourism workforce as reported by academic papers, identifies whether the same characteristics are evident on the island of Crete (Greece), and discusses the issues surrounding tourism policy formulation in relation to the tourism workforce of Crete. The conclusion is that very often jobs in tourism are judged, and responses formulated, on a normative (value laden) basis (an ideal) without full consideration being given to the actual (technical) underpinnings and implications.     

Global Heritage and Local Problems: Some Examples from Indonesia

This article examines what happens to those who live in and around monuments as a result of World Heritage designation. Using the examples of Borobudur and Prambanan in Indonesia as study sites, it is argued that the values that local people attach to heritage are often different from, although not necessarily less important than, the values ascribed by international agencies, government officials, tourism developers and others. However, their perspectives are often not adequately represented or respected by other participants in the planning and management of sites, to the detriment of both the plans and the people. The tendency to adopt top-down, rational comprehensive planning procedures has resulted in the disenfranchisement of local people, giving greater prominence to expressions of national, 'official' culture and nationalism at the expense of local culture. It has tended to freeze sites and displace human activities, effectively excluding local people from their own heritage.     

Seal Management in Scotland: Tourist Perceptions and the Possible Impacts on the Scottish Tourism Industry

Fisheries organisations in Scotland have repeatedly called for culls of common and grey seals, despite their conservation status and no supporting scientific evidence. This current study investigated the opinion of tourists in West Scotland as to whether seal populations should be reduced to manage their increasing numbers. The study also looks at whether such a cull would influence tourist behaviour. In total 735 interviews were conducted. There were regional differences in levels of opinion but, on average, 60% of respondents believed that seals should not be regulated and 17% stated that the instigation of a cull would affect their decision to visit Scotland on holiday. In the Highlands of Scotland alone this could represent over £100 million in lost tourism income. A boycott by tourists to the Highlands, as the result of introducing seal culls, could equate to a financial loss equivalent to a third of the total value of Scottish fisheries. Tourism is Scotland's main industry and is particularly important for the economy of rural areas. Any further proposals for seal culls should seriously consider the negative and indirect impacts these culls could have, such as reductions in tourist numbers and tourism income to a region.     

Tourism,faith and politics in the Holy Land: an ideological analysis of evangelical pilgrimage

This article aims to enhance the discussion of the role of ideology in the development of tourism practices through a closer examination of the case of Christian pilgrimage. The analysis focuses on the theo-political ideology of Christian Zionism and its roles and manifestations in the context of evangelical pilgrimages to Israel. Findings suggest that ideological dynamics within the development of these tours can be discussed by distinguishing between four tourism actors, namely, ideological organizations, tour organizers, Israeli officials, and the tourists. We suggest that these actors can be differentiated from each other in accordance with their ideological roles and orientations. Additionally, by demonstrating the similar utilization of pilgrimage by theo-political opponents of Christian Zionism, such as Sabeel and FOSNA, this article illustrates how pilgrimage to the Holy Land has become an arena for competition between these two rival ideologies within the Evangelical movement. The article concludes with a discussion on the role of pilgrimages to Israel as a platform through which theo-political ideologies are manifested, distributed, utilized, and consumed.     

Landscape,Memory and Heritage: New Year Celebrations at Angkor,Cambodia

This paper examines tourism, memory and notions of heritage at the World Heritage Site of Angkor, Cambodia. Rather than viewing heritage and social memory as abstract concepts, the paper explores domestic tourism at Angkor as the context within which Cambodia's recent history is re-articulated and made meaningful for a population recovering from decades of national turmoil. In exploring the various values and meanings associated with the national festival of Khmer New Year, the paper argues that an understanding of Angkor as a form of 'living heritage' remains neglected within a management framework which conceives the site as a form of material culture of the 'ancient' past. It is therefore suggested that exploring the values and meanings associated with Angkor's cultural heritage in this way provides valuable insight into the complex relationships of landscape, memory and identity.     

Destination Competitiveness: Determinants and Indicators

The paper develops a model of destination competitiveness that will enable comparisons between countries and between tourism sector industries. The model seeks to capture the main elements of competitiveness highlighted in the general literature, while appreciating the special issues involved in exploring the notion of destination competitiveness as emphasised by tourism researchers. Associated with the model is a set of indicators that can be used to measure the competitiveness of any given destination. These indicators, comprising both objective and subjective measures, were identified from the major elements comprising the generic destination competitiveness model and also from discussions at workshops held in Korea and Australia. This paper has four major objectives: to develop a model of destination competitiveness that identifies key success factors in determining destination competitiveness; to develop an appropriate set of indicators of destination competitiveness; to highlight the advantages and limitations of the model; and to identify areas for further conceptual and empirical research. The development of a model of destination competitiveness and an associated set of indicators allows identification of the relative strengths and weaknesses of different tourism destinations, and can be used by industry and governments to increase tourism numbers and expenditure, and enhance socioeconomic prosperity.     

Incarcerating Travels: Travel Stories,Tourist Orders,and the Politics of the 'Hawai'ian Paradise'

This article explores how travel practices are structured and harnessed to politics. While travel practices operate through claims of innocence, curiosity and adventure, they are deeply political practices that participate in projects and programmes ranging from statecraft to appropriation of peoples and places in the service of global finanscapes. In Michel de Certeau's words, travelling in economies of desire, travel practices partake in the 'production of specific politico-cultural orders' in travel spaces that often articulate narrow horizons in identity, ethnicity, nation, participation and governmentality. In worst cases, travel practices are instrumental in the production of orders that create and simultaneously hide the alterity of peoples and their places. This article reflects on the politics of travel that escapes notice or is concealed in travel discourses and representations in Hawai'i. More specifically, it examines how travel acts participate in the production of (1) a politico-cultural order in Hawai'i that creates and hides the alterity of Hawai'i's indigenous peoples, (2) a plural nation-story of the United States that operates through the interstices of the tourist orders and (3) a capital story that enlists both indigenous resources and predominant political powers to excavate profits.     

Wunderkammer 02 : An Exhibition of Art,Craft and Souvenirs from World Heritage Sites in Tasmania and Far North Queensland

With its focus on the regions of Tasmania and Far North Queensland, this exhibition (30 August – 20 September 2002) examines the objects and artworks collected today in the tradition of the Wunderkammer. It brings together artists and craft people who, in some way, have engaged with the tourist aesthetic and economy of souvenirs. Central to this project is a study of the representation of place culture and heritage through the agency of tourist art and souvenirs.     

Worlds Passing By: Journeys of Culture and Cultural Journeys

The aim of the present work is to study the visual representation of hosts and guests in Scottish tourist brochures, paying special attention to questions of both gender and race, in order to discuss how such representations may relate to the notions of Scottishness and, ultimately, Britishness.

Evidence will be provided of the use of what might be referred to as 'ethnic nationalism' on the part of some promotional materials. Moreover, all materials will be shown to advocate typical heteropatriarchal values basically through: (1) the absolute predominance of the male figure; (2) the association of the female figure to clearly sexist roles; and (3) the wide use made of the officially sanctioned, heterosexual couple; all of which indicates that tourist materials are deeply imbued with ideology and do not constitute the innocuous texts they are frequently mistaken for.     

When Hosts Become Guests: Return Visits and Diasporic Identities in a Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean Community

The broad intent of this paper is to further contribute to the existing literature that addresses VFR tourism. It suggests that the return visit may ultimately be positioned as a form or type of travel within the larger category of VFR tourism, but a form or type that has built within it a more clear understanding of historic and social contexts and processes. The other broad intent of the paper is to highlight the importance of the relationship between the returning visitor, originating from diasporic communities abroad, and the host community as a stage for the negotiation of identities. The return visit is shown to reflect such underlying processes yet continue to incorporate aspects of individual motivation, which when taken together demonstrate the fluidity of diasporic spaces and transnational identity structures. Using data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork among social networks within the Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean community in Toronto, Canada, it is suggested that return visits are used to retain social histories and contextualise social and cultural backgrounds after migration. The implications for VFR tourism and the relationship between diasporas, transnationalism and tourism are discussed, as is a conceptual model of the return visit.     

Mythic Geographies of Representation and Identity: Contemporary Postcards of Wales

This article explores how picture postcards contribute to the cultural production, performance and consumption of landscapes, places and identities. Drawing on cultural and critical studies, it scrutinises the postcard as a cultural text and as a site of cultural production. It begins by briefly reviewing the concepts of ethnicity and identity in relation to its case study country of Wales and suggests how its imagined communities and landscapes have a broad mythical structure that can be mapped across a series of discourses. It then outlines the study's approach to postcard analysis and locates the visual in social science research, confronting issues of interpretation, validity, sampling and reflexivity. The article subsequently presents a discourse analysis of a dozen contemporary Welsh-produced postcards from the archives of the National Library of Wales. In particular, it navigates the visual narratives that are privileging particular stories of place, culture and nationhood and analyses what is being invoked to epitomise contemporary Wales and what is being set aside in these postcard representations. It suggests these visual texts reflect an internal re-mapping of Wales that is celebrating the capital city of Cardiff as its metropolitan cultural core and marginalising alternative imagined communities of Wales, redefining them through spectacle and theatricality. Finally, the article concludes by suggesting how further analysis of such visual touristic texts could offer insights into the cultural production and consumption of identities, landscapes, and places.     

The Tsunami and Tourism: A Comment

The tsunami of December 26th 2004 had a devasting impact on the coastal regions of the countries around the Indian Ocean, bringing death and destruction on an unimaginable scale. Almost 300,000 people lost their lives, widespread damage was caused to infrastructure, transport and communication networks, ecosystems and livelihoods throughout the affected region and, overall, the economic cost of the disaster is expected to exceed $10 billion. Nevertheless, natural disasters on the scale of the tsunami are not unknown. However, the global response to the disaster was unprecedented both in its scale and immediacy. As this paper observes, this response was primarily driven by the fact that thousands of western tourists were also victims of the tsunami, transforming the event into a truly global disaster. Noting that the tsunami served to highlight the dependency of many of the affected regions on tourism and, hence, the vital importance of attracting tourists back to those regions, it suggests that, although attention will undoubtedly be focused on the management of the crisis, tourism played a positive role in that it united the world in its response to the needs of the communities devastated by the tsunami.