Historic Tourism to New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde 1795–1830. The Evidence of Contemporary Visiting Books and Related Sources

New Lanark and the falls of Clyde, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, show the coincidence of picturesque and industrial tourism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Made famous by Robert Owen (1771–1851), the social reformer, the factory village of New Lanark attracted many visitors from Britain and abroad. This article examines early visitor data, typologies, origins, occupational profiles, motivations, and visitor experiences. A high proportion of visitors, it concludes, were interested in social and educational reform, as well as seeing romantic scenery. It also suggests that in line with Owen's agenda, the interpretation of the site for modern visitors is strongly influenced by similar social, educational, cooperative and environmental concerns.     

Urban heritage and cultural tourism development: a case study of Valletta’s role in Malta’s tourism

ABSTRACT

Despite significant potential for cultural tourism, the predominant form of tourism in Malta is sun and sea. This paper evaluates Malta’s potential for cultural tourism with a focus on Valletta, a fortified historic city that overlooks the Grand Harbour. Valletta’s rich urban heritage and historic narrative makes it ideal for the development of a more culture-oriented tourism. The paper explores how, over more than half a century of tourism activity in Malta, culture and heritage retained a secondary role. Since the mid-nineties, Malta’s tourism policy shifted with culture and heritage being given greater importance, even if the sun and sea tourism remained a priority. Public and private investment brought about changes in Valletta that made it more amenable to cultural activity and tourism. Although European Capital of Culture Valletta 2018 provides new opportunities for cultural tourism to Malta, it is unclear whether this will bring a lasting legacy for Malta’s tourism. This Valletta case study shows that, for destinations with an established form of tourism, the development of cultural tourism meets with difficulties, in spite the presence of a rich urban heritage.     

A new take on an old structure? Creative and slow tourism in Krakow (Poland)

The contemporary tourism market trends indicate an increasing need for the individualisation of tourist experience and necessitate a move away from the standardisation of tourism products, including those offered within the cities that primarily market their cultural heritage. The concept of creative tourism as a way of practising cultural tourism is a response to the changing needs and expectations of tourists. This is because it offers non-traditional uses for the cultural potential of cities. This article attempts to embed creative tourism in the overall tourist product using an example of a historic city – Krakow. The authors examine the development of tourism products in Krakow, focusing primarily on cultural and historical heritage tourism and secondarily on new forms of tourism that have emerged, such as creative tourism and slow tourism. They analyse this issue in terms of districts – traditional and new tourist areas, indicating the potential for tourism growth.     

Historic Landscapes,Cultural Capital and Sustainability: Interpreting Ancient Woodlands

This paper is concerned with some aspects of the cultural capital embodied in historic landscapes and how this may be mobilised in the pursuit of sustainable patterns of development through tourist encounters with those landscapes. The principal concern is not with the sustainability of any particular landscape used as a tourist resource, but rather with the role that suitably interpreted landscapes can play in the general establishment of a sustainable relationship with nature by increasing environmental awareness and building motivations for policy and lifestyle changes. Although these general sustainability issues provide the main focus of this paper, they are discussed through the vehicle of a particular set of landscapes and their interpretation: ancient woodlands constituted as leisure and tourism venues. The perspective from which this paper is written is that of the designer of interpretative materials; in particular, materials delivered via the ‘new media’ – web sites, computer-based kiosks, etc – with their characteristics of high information volume, small physical footprint and high engagement. However, since realising the potential of such communication strategies is not a matter of the blind accumulation of computer-based materials, this paper is concerned solely with the cultural milieu of, and the strategic environmental context of, the interpretation of historic landscapes for tourists – squarely with the ‘what’ rather than the ‘how’ of communication.     

Identifying Croatian museums’ indigenous visitors in a post-war era: perceptual examinations of one's own heritage

The paper focuses on the consumption of the past by indigenous people through the museum or heritage site within post-war Croatia. Through the application of an inductive, qualitative methodology, ‘Critical Ethnography’, an integrated theory of individual identity formation, which is both social and psychological in nature, is presented. The paper, which is the culmination of theory building, has been guided by in-depth interviews, observation of behaviour and the incorporation of theoretically sensitising literature. As a result of reflexive integration of both the data and the literature, three categories, which constitute the developed theory are derived and analysed in relation to the different ways of constructing meaning and experiences within the museum/heritage context. The labels assigned to each of the developed categories, the ‘Fragmented self’, the ‘Paraphrenic self’ and the ‘Enlightened self’ are a reflection of a part of the self, which identifies to varying extents with the ascribed post-war identity of ‘Croat’. Furthermore, the three explanatory categories of behaviour look into the various ways with which the individual subject reflects upon and interprets his/her own past in relation to the formation of an acceptable post-war conception of his/her individual identity. The paper concludes that in order for a nation to project its cultural heritage worldwide through its museums and cultural sites, it needs first to understand and incorporate the indigenous’ views of their own heritage and then to develop and communicate cultural heritage products through other industries, such as tourism.     

Re-enactment Events and Tourism: Meaning,Authenticity and Identity

Re-enactment events have began to play a significant role in the calendars of individual attractions, regions or even nations to generate media exposure, develop inbound tourism activity and raise the cultural heritage profile of a locality for community development and/or regeneration purposes. The (re-)presentation of cultural heritage in these forms creates a unique set of interactions between landscapes, local communities, tourists and heritage organisations. In the recent past however, re-enactment events have been subjected to increased debate and criticism as to their educational value and meaning and for their contribution to understandings of cultural heritage in post-modern consumer societies. This paper presents an interdisciplinary review of these debates and draws on small scale research findings to reassess the value of re-enactment events as a means of presenting heritage to audiences. The paper argues that re-enacted historical events achieve a range of purposes and provides examples of evidence from a range of differing perspectives including: public policy and event organisers; re-enactors and academics in the field. It argues that the professional heritage industry, tourists, and re-enactors all contribute to making such events meaningful and as such they represent unique frames through which to understand issues of authenticity and identity in the production and consumption of post-modern cultural heritage attractions.     

Enhancing art gallery visitors’ learning experience using wearable augmented reality: generic learning outcomes perspective

The potential of Information and Communication Technology-enhanced visitor learning experience is increasing with the advancement of new and emerging technologies in art gallery settings. However, studies on the visitor learning experience using wearable devices, and in particular, those investigating the effects of wearable augmented reality on the learning experience within cultural heritage tourism attractions are limited. Using the generic learning outcomes framework, this study aims to assess how the wearable augmented reality application enhances visitor’s learning experiences. Forty-four volunteers who were visiting an art gallery were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Following their visit to the gallery, the volunteers, who had and had not used wearable computing equipment, were interviewed, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that the wearable augmented reality application helps visitors to see connections between paintings and personalize their learning experience. However, there are some drawbacks such as lack of visitor–visitor engagement and the social acceptability.