Tourism and cultural heritage

By Ishwar Man Pradhan

Cultural heritage creates a firm foundation for tourism’s growth. Tourism has the power to generate funds that make conservation possible. Cultural heritage loses most of its meaning without an audience, and a society participating in and benefiting from it. Without sustainable management, tourism loses its potential for growth. World Bank President James Wolfensohn expresses that, "Culture can be justified for tourism, for industry, and for employment but it must also be seen as an essential element in preserving and enhancing national pride and spirit". Cultural heritage can serve as a tourism attraction, while tourism can lead to financial and political support for management of this heritage. What is clear is that tourism is growing and will have an increasing impact on cultural heritage. In its forecast Tourism: 2020 Vision, the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) predicts that cultural tourism will be one of the five tourism market segments in the future, and notes that growth in this area will present an increasing challenge in terms of managing visitors flows to cultural sites. Culture provides benefits internationally to those who have not visited, and may never visit, sites.

Cultural Heritage Tourism (CHT) is viewed as travel concerned with experiencing cultural environments, including landscapes, the visual and performing arts, and special lifestyles values, tradition and events. It is important to stress that CHT involves not only tangible or visible heritage such as sites, colours, materials, and settlement patterns, but also intangible heritage such as societal structures, traditions, values and religion. The availability of cultural resources (especially historic tangible resources) is ultimately limited, nonetheless, new cultural attraction continue to be developed. As the EU notes: while global tourists demand is on the increase, the number of destination and global capacity are advancing even more quickly ... destinations will have to cope with competition by enhancing quality and by diversifying their products and markets. Emerging and potential destinations will have to find their niche in this competitive market by capitalising on their ‘uniqueness’ and novelty and by avoiding mistakes made by other destinations".

Culture, its preservation

The UNESCO World Commission on Culture and Development report on Our Creative Diversity looks at culture as, "ways of living together". With this as a point of departure, the World Bank defines culture as

The whole complex of distinctive spiritual, materials, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human beings, value systems, traditions and beliefs.

Throughout the world, festivals and events - often linked to or performed in areas with cultural relies or at sites of cultural and natural significance- are now seen as important dimensions of cultural tradition and values while providing communities with the ability to create jobs and income. Handicrafts often form an important dimension of a region’s cultural tourism experience. Tourism can be important in helping to maintain and develop traditional crafts skills, though there is also the risk that increased demand leads to a loss of authenticity in terms of process and product.

Culture and cultural heritage are crucial to people’s identity. Tangible heritage may be an avenue through which the conscious tourist starts to group a basic understanding of the post and/or living culture, which has adopted to and influenced the environment the visitor is trying to make intelligible. Provided these basic facts are understood and serve as guidelines for presentation and communication between tourists and the local population, cultural tourism has great potential to improve understanding and respect among different cultures, and in a long term perspective may be regarded as a tool for creating and preserving peace. Estimates of growth should be treated with caution, but study by Stanford University had predicted that nature tourism would grow at an annual rate of 25 to 30 percent; during the 1990’s Cultural tourism was expected to grow at 10 to 15 percent per year.

Sustainable tourism: concepts & objectives

The concept of sustainable tourism has grown out of the concept of sustainable development (SD), whose most popular definition has arisen from the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Bruntland Commission). Their 1986 report (our Common Future) defined SD as: development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

American Express (AMEX) is very active, particularly as a donor in the field of culture tourism. Amex made a $5 million commitment to the World Monuments Watch for their annual list of the 100 most endangered sites and for emergency grants. As part of UNESCO’s Memories of the Future" project the ACCOR Group, Radisson SAS, and Jet Tours will support specific World Heritage Project in Pehra, Argkar, and Machu Pichu. In this project, UNESCO recommends the following actions for operators. First, a financial contribution of $5 per visitor will be made (by the visitor themselves or by the tour operator). Second, the operator could adopt a project. Third, visitors will receive a badge from UNESCO Friends of Heritage in recognition of their contribution, and the operator will be allowed to publicize its official relationship with UNESCO.

Action for hotels include adopting specific projects, renovation of old buildings for use as hotel centres, and promotion of movable and unmovable heritage. Funds received by UNESCO are deposited into a special account and are used solely for site protection and enhancement. Another example is Star Tour/Tewaresor, which contributes to World’s Heritage Sites, including Bhaktapur in Nepal. Tewaresor is Scandinavia’s leading operator of nature and culture trips. Therefore, it is obvious that we should support this important work (World Heritage) ... We believe that the people choosing Tewaresor Trips agree that it is important to preserve heritage for the future. Therefore we hope you are not opposed to the added cost of your trip-for nature’s culture’s for the future’s sake. Many operators have formal or informal programmes that channel money from clients to environmental or cultural projects in destination areas. For example, Wildland Adventures, a US operator, established the Travelers Conservation Trust (TCT) in 1986 as a non profit affiliated if the business. As described in the trust overview:

TCT identifies and supports commity level projects and conservations which promote environmental or cultural preservation. Many projects are carried out with volunteer assistance of Wildland Adventures staff, travelers and local officials and residents....

Participants on many Wildland Adventures are invited to become international members of a local conservation organization identified in advance by the Travelers Conservation Trust. Wildland Adventures simply adds on optional $25-$50 line item on each, travelers invoice as a voluntary contribution which the company then donates in its entirely in the name of each clients as an individual membership in the local conservation organization. Many Wildland Adventure trips include visits to sites where active preservation or community development eco-tourism projects are underway.