Cultural Tourism

As defined by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in place outside their usual environment for not more than one year for leisure, business and other purposes. On the other hand, the cultural tourism is more about introducing the natural assets like sites and monuments and focused on the visitor’s motivations and perceptions.

The typical types of sites or attractions which are considered to attract cultural tourist are archeological sites and museums, architectures like ruins, famous building, or whole towns. The art, sculpture, crafts, galleries, festivals, events are also included. Music and dance whether classical, folk, or contemporary; drama in theatre, films, and even the dramatists are part of the natural heritage that can be introduce to the visitors. The language and literature study, tours, events, religious festivals, pilgrimages, cultures and sub cultures are the other attractions that the visitors might be interested are also offered in the cultural tourism program (Uger, Gurer, and Sat, 2006).

Besides from this, the tourism and the culture are both essential part of the nation. The culture is the mirror of the history and the tourism is one of the many drivers of economy that emphasizes the future thus, making the interrelationship between tourism and culture complex (Olsen, 2005). But the truth is that tourism visitors of course are not mindful of local government boundaries (Stafford, 2009). The natural assets of the culture and values such as historical buildings, traditional houses, handicrafts and local food are exploited and destroyed slowly (Uger, Gurer, and Sat, 2006).

The cultural assets are subject for preservation of history and culture, many sites and assets are already quite well known in their respective areas and within the various historical societies, as well as tourism products (Stafford, 2009). It is not necessarily focused on cultural tourism, but it assumes considerable importance, given the strong cultural assets of each country. The whole strategy in this sense is very much a strategy to develop cultural tourism, develop and not destroy. The cultural tourism might be focused on the elite forms of culture, leaving out forms of popular culture tourism such as ethnic art tourism and working-class heritage. In which another way to create conflict among the factors that forms the cultural tourism (Olsen, 2005).

Cultural Heritage Values

There has been little attention paid to value the protection of the heritage sites that was destroyed by the commercial introduction of the cultural tourism. For many cultural heritage sites, an important component of values are the history that goes with it – in which nobody can assessed even if they try different market computations. The challenge now is how to preserve the existing value of every heritage founded in one country. Another issue that may arise is the restoration of the cultural values and heritage where nobody can ever assess on how much it will cost them (Rolfe and Windle, 2003). The restoration can only alter the authenticity of a cultural heritage and lose its value not only in the eye of the local residents but also in the eye of the visitors.

A strategy of meeting the goals and objectives of the tourism and the cultural tourism is the same as meeting the ideas and sharing the information and resources to create a foundation that a country can centralize its focus. Better communication between the arts and tourism sectors is essential in order to collaborate effectively. The tourism and hospitality industries require the tools to better understand and engage local arts and culture both as community assets and as opportunities for new and emerging markets (Allen, 2007).

Conclusion

The cultural tourism plays a different kind of role in one country. As the mirror of the history and the driver of the economy, the contradiction between them slowly began to emerge. The culture, for some many scholars, should be preserved and maintain the physical attribute and historical value. In economic sense, when the heritage reached its centennial year of existence, the monetary value increases. But no one ever tried computing the market value of one cultural heritage because of all its attributes and historical insights.

Another issues that may arise here, is the tourism’s impact to the culture. Foreigners may not understand the native language of most of the local residents of the host country and because of this; the cultural heritage is slowly been destroyed. People are not aware of it because they are busy about the economic progress brought by the tourism. They will never know not until there is a major dilemma that affects the culture and the natural resource that the people once restored. The negligence of the people and the unrelenting exploitation of the resources, as well as the cultural heritage will cost them more than half of their income and losing the historical values that lies on its niche.

References:

Allen, A., 2007. Tourism and Culture – A Collaborative Path Forward. The Emerging Business of Cultural Tourism in Broward Country. Findings from the Cultural Tourism Action Committee. [Online] Available at: http://www.broward.org/arts/publications/cultural_tourism_2007.pdf. [Accessed 20 Nov 2009].

Olsen, D., 2005. Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies. Journal of Cultural Geography, Vol. 23, No. 1.

Rolfe, J., & Windle, J., 2003. Valuing the Protection of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Sites. Journal of Economic Record, Vol. 79, Iss. 245.

Stafford, E., 2009. Part B – Strategy Support. Cultural Tourism Strategy – Tropical North Queensland. [Online] Available at: http://www.artsnexus.com.au/assets/PDFS/Cultural_Tourism_Strategy_TNQ.3.pdf. [Accessed 20 Nov 2009].

Ucer, A., Gurer, N., & Sat, N., 2006. Cultural Tourism as a Tool for sustaining Local Values: Beypazari Case. [Online] Available at: http://www.hsse.nie.edu.sg/staff/changch/seaga/seaga2006/proceedings. [Accessed 20 Nov 2009.