Development of intangible cultural heritage as a sustainable tourism resource: the intangible cultural heritage practitioners’ perspectives

ABSTRACT

Authentic intangible cultural heritage (ICH) provides a community with a unique selling point in the globally competitive tourism industry. The process of commodification of ICH, however, has threatened its authenticity and thus sustainable tourism approaches are required to achieve successful transmission and promotion of ICH as a sustainable tourism resource. This paper explores the priorities of ICH practitioners in relation to the development of ICH as a sustainable tourism resource, by utilising South Korea as a case study. The results revealed that from the ICH practitioners’ perspectives, authenticity is a holistic notion integrating the transmitted customs, inherited meanings and the practitioners’ identities. ICH practitioners agree with the potential positive symbiotic relationship between transmission of authentic ICH and promotion of ICH as a tourism resource. To achieve the positive symbiotic relationship, locals’ awareness of ICH, ICH practitioner empowerment and parallel development between tourism development and transmission of ICH are necessary. To date, the practitioner approach to the authenticity of ICH and ICH as a sustainable tourism resource is little explored in the literature, thus this paper makes a valuable addition to the area of sustainable heritage tourism.     

Roles of intangible cultural heritage in tourism in natural protected areas

The ‘new paradigm’ for protected areas emphasizes communities and their cultural assets, including intangible cultural heritage, as critical and inseparable parts of these areas. As tourism can be a significant factor in the economic framework of natural protected areas (NPAs), the prominent role of the community can have important implications. This paper reports on one of the first empirical studies on the interaction between intangible cultural heritage and tourism in an NPA with a special focus on the role of intangible cultural heritage. It is based on six months of qualitative ethnographic fieldwork in Qeshm Geopark, in the South of Iran. Local intangible cultural heritage is found to manifest and be used in tourism in three distinct ways: First, as a source of attraction and addition to any tourism offerings; second, as conservation tool, especially where the natural environment has strong cultural meanings for the local community; and third, as a driver for facilitating culturally and naturally sensitive behaviour by visitors. Concluding statements address any conceptual and practical implications.     

Host–guest authentication of intangible cultural heritage: a literature review and conceptual model

ABSTRACT

Cultural tourism and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) play a key role in tourism worldwide, and are especially important for communities in developing countries, due to the demand for authentic experiences. This article provides a review of existing literature on the authenticity and authentication of ICH. The review reveals scholarly inquiry has evolved from external-expert ‘cool’ authentication to direct host–guest on-site or ‘hot’ authentication whereby tourists participate in the process of determining authenticity. Further, existing models for authentication of ICH have focused only on either a guest’s or host’s perspectives with little attention to the inevitable mutual interaction of the host and guest in the authentication of ICH. Mutual authentication can enhance the tourist experience and improve community empowerment. This paper develops a conceptual model of the mutual (host–guest) authentication of ICH, incorporating both hosts’ and tourists’ perspectives. The model has application in ICH based tourism and emphasizes power relationships between the host and guest, and community empowerment across political, social, psychological and economic domains. Future research is needed to test and validate this conceptual model.     

Constructing an intangible cultural heritage experiencescape: The case of the Feast of the Drunken Dragon (Macau)

Given the minimal attention that researchers have given to how various stakeholders contribute to festival experiencescapes in destination settings, this paper examines how an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) experiencescape is constructed, focusing on a local- and national-level listed heritage item in Macau. In-depth stakeholder interviews are conducted to identify involvement in the event by government officials, organizers, performers, shop owners and tourists. Organizers and performers were found to play key roles in delivering experiences and the researchers determined that participation by most visitors is spontaneous. Government plays a supporting and coordinating role, with local community representatives engaging actively in operational aspects. The participation by local shop owners in creating the experiencescape is modest. This study contributes to knowledge by proposing an ICH experiencescape framework that conveys a multidimensional “-scape” concept, and shows the progressive formation and refinement of experiences before, during, and after visitation.     

Knowledge transfer processes in the authenticity of the intangible cultural heritage in tourism destination competitiveness

ABSTRACT

As tourism based on intangible cultural heritage usually encompasses a knowledge transfer process, the authenticity of the heritage (or its perception) can be affected by knowledge transfer. These knowledge transfers occur to present the heritage to the tourists (courses, tour guiding, etc.), but also in the destination itself when the heritage knowledge is codified in museums, tour guides are trained, or the heritage is transferred to newer generations. These situations present potential challenges where authenticity is distorted or even lost, and it affects the competitiveness of the destination. The work attempts to analyse those knowledge transfers and their challenges regarding authenticity to sustain the competitiveness of the destination.     

Affirming authenticity: Consuming cultural heritage

This paper identifies how British tourists affirm authenticity through visiting socio-industrial cultural heritage attractions. Survey findings of 1,200 interviews with domestic tourists visiting three major British period theme parks highlighted the diversity of perceived authenticity gained by them and, thus, showed the importance of experiential and emotive processes in their interaction with attraction settings. In particular, three distinct thought processes were identified: reinforced assimilation, cognitive perception, and retroactive association. The notion of “insightfulness” is presented as an appropriate characterization of how cultural authenticity is affirmed by individual visitors through the “encoding” of an experience with their own personal meanings.     

My life matters here: Assessing the adjusted identity of domestic migrant workers at intangible cultural heritage tourism businesses in China

In this study, we explore and assess the nature of the double guests and host roles of tourism migrant workers (TMWs), and their effects on the TWSs' adjusted person-place relationships and local identities by employing a systematic modeling approach in the context of the TMWs working in the intangible cultural tourism (ICH) businesses. The research site is fittingly set in Suzhou of east China, a destination whose rich historical and cultural heritages are now co-expressed and co-presented by a migrant workforce that has already outsized the locals. Research findings have shown that the socio-cultural adjustments availed by working in the ICH tourism businesses positively influence the local identities of TMWs, as mediated by their place attachment. This study advances a theoretical understanding of the mechanism of migrant integration in the particular context of cultural tourism development, and shows how tourism can contribute towards healthy, rather than stigmatizing, dialogues pertaining to migrant integration in the society at large.     

The impacts of world cultural heritage site designation and heritage tourism on community livelihoods: A Chinese case study

This article examines how cultural heritage conservation, often reflective of Western values, impacts local sustainable livelihoods (SL) in a living cultural heritage site. The article argues for the modification of the SL framework for analysing cultural heritage tourism through including an explicit focus on the transforming structures and processes of local livelihoods in Fujian tulou, China, a World Cultural Heritage Site. Drawing on data collected through in-depth interviews, non-participatory observations, and secondary sources, findings show that changes related to tourism development and heritage conservation can reduce the sustainability of livelihoods in living heritage sites. Tulou clusters tend to be regarded as tourist attractions and cultural relics rather than lived-in places. Traditional livelihoods have been affected as residents are forced to adapt to the demands of tourism. This research helps to expand the SL theory by incorporating cultural heritage capital and community self-organisation, and highlighting residents' self-controlled capacity toward assets.     

Economic valuation of cultural heritage sites: A choice modeling approach

Despite growing attention by researchers and policy makers on the economic value of cultural heritage sites, debate surrounds the use of adequate methods. Although choice modeling techniques have been applied widely in the environmental economics field, their application in tourism and cultural economics has been much more limited. This paper contributes to the knowledge on the economic valuation of cultural heritage sites through a national choice modeling study of Old Parliament House, Australia. The study sought to value marginal changes in several attributes of this site and revealed that only some of them are valued positively: extending the period of temporary exhibitions, hosting various events, and having ‘shop and café’ and ‘fine dining’. Advantages of using a mixed logit model are provided and managerial and policy implications are discussed.     

The sustainable integration of cultural heritage and tourism: a meta-study

This paper presents a cross-disciplinary thematic investigation into the relationship between cultural heritage and tourism. It systematizes evidence on concepts, policies and strategies and provides an interpretive synthesis illuminating the factors deemed critical by researchers for the sustainable integration of heritage and tourism. It seeks to find consilience to lead to a “new age of synthesis”. After an extensive literature review, 483 studies were selected and reviewed, assisted by a qualitative data analysis software (NVivo). The research followed the meta-synthesis approach, particularly meta-ethnography, of identifying findings, grouping findings into categories and grouping categories into synthesized findings, to produce a representative set of 15 synthesis factors. These include local involvement, education and training, authenticity and interpretation, sustainability-centered tourism management, integrated planning, incorporation into a wider sustainable development framework, controlled growth, governance and stakeholder participation, market and product diversification, suitable funding provision, international governance and support systems, a heritage capital approach, effective site management, destination management and a sound theoretical/methodological base. These 15 factors are suggested as the fundamental components of a more efficient theoretical frame and evidence-based policy in the fields of cultural heritage and tourism, aimed at achieving sustainability.     

Tourism,heritage and cultural performance: Developing a modality of heritage tourism

Research has shown that heritage is a contested concept which not only creates unnecessary binaries but also perpetuates essentialized First World imagery of Asian countries. To assist in its reframing, this paper proposes critical ethnography. It is argued that through it, a more nuanced and community-based understanding of cultural heritage can be developed, thus allowing the articulation of modalities of cultural heritage and the formation of alternative imaginaries. To develop this point, the essay problematizes the heritage concept, examines how governing policies and tourism frameworks define cultural heritage vis-àvis its use in the tourism industry, and discusses the theoretical sources and intellectual legacy of critical ethnography. Cases from Batanes and Marinduque provinces, the Philippines, are reviewed to serve as background. With critical ethnography as a strategic method, the essay suggests that the semiotics of heritage tourism can be broadened and possibilities for social change in Asian tourism and hospitality established.     

Extending and adapting the concept of quality management for museums and cultural heritage attractions: A comparative study of southern European cultural heritage managers' perceptions

Quality in cultural heritage attractions is mainly approached from the visitors' satisfaction perspective, and the literature does not contain a clear definition of quality in the management of cultural heritage sites open to the public. The present study aims to reframe this trend. By way of theoretical contribution, we propose a definition of quality in cultural heritage attractions management based on dimensions such as the capacity of preserving the cultural assets, the ability to communicate effectively their significance, the quality of commodification for visitor use, and the ability to boost intercultural competence and promote intercultural dialogue. Based on the above, an empirical, qualitative study was conducted on the cultural heritage managers' current perceptions of quality. The results suggest that a profound asymmetry exists among practitioners' opinions and practices, and four types of cultural heritage managers were defined with regard to their perception of quality: Reactionary, Reticent, Pragmatic, Enthusiastic.     

A social psychological approach to cultural heritage: memories of the elderly inhabitants of Rome

Elderly inhabitants' memories can be a valuable source of information about the intangible aspects of cultural heritage of interest to tourists. Using the theory of social representations, this research project focuses on the urban area of the former 17th Municipality of Rome (located on the right riverbank of the Tiber River and including the neighborhoods of Prati and Borgo close to the Vatican City). All three older people's centers of the municipality have participated on a voluntary basis. The total of 64 persons provided demographic information, took tests assessing cognitive skills and memory, attended focus groups and participated in in-depth interviews in order to produce a documentary for tourists. As a result, the four most significant social representations of the cultural heritage of the former 17th Municipality of Rome have been identified and described in relation to the predominant emotions evoked. The final product consists of a documentary that includes selected interviews with the elderly inhabitants, insights from an archeologist and art historian, as well as local administration and authorities, in order to enrich tourist experience. Practical implications of the research project are discussed in relation to urban tourism.     

The role of tourism in the conservation of cultural heritage in Kenya

Due to the declining fortunes in agriculture, mining and manufacturing sectors, many developing countries have turned to tourism as a panacea to the numerous economic problems facing them. However, emphasis in Kenya has been mainly on beach and wildlife tourism, to the total exclusion of cultural tourism.

This paper discusses critically the contribution of international tourism in the conservation of cultural heritage in Kenya. The cultural impacts of international tourism are found to be both positive and negative and much more pronounced at the coast and in Maasailand.

Doxey's irritation index (irridex) is used as the main theoretical framework in the paper. Although Doxey suggests that in the last stage of tourism development the local communities are likely to be antagonistic to the tourists, in the case of the Maasai, the relation between them and the tourists has been rather harmonious. This could be so because the local community is actively involved in tourism development and derives benefits from the industry. The issues discussed in the paper are relevant to other parts of the world including Asia Pacific region. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for proper visitor management through planning to minimize negative cultural impacts on local communities.     

The theory of planned behaviour in the context of cultural heritage tourism

An emerging body of literature addresses multiple aspects of cultural heritage tourism in multiple environments worldwide. This study seeks to contribute to current knowledge, studying visitors to a heritage building in the UK through the lens of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A questionnaire based on the various predictors associated with the TPB was designed to gather participants' motivations to visit the heritage building, including visitation to sightsee, attend events, and experience gastronomy at the building's restaurant. The findings confirm the validity and impact of attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control on behavioural intention, in this case, to become involved in heritage building visitation. In addition, it was noticed that respondents' level of agreement suggests their preparedness to invest in terms of travel, time, and financially spending when visiting heritage buildings. Implications of the findings will be discussed and future research avenues suggested.