Culture, cultural heritage, & history tourism

Scroll down for posts tagged with “cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory tourism”.

Cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory play pivotal roles in the con­text of tour­ism. They are sig­ni­fic­ant in defin­ing the unique iden­tity of a des­tin­a­tion and shap­ing the exper­i­ences of travellers.

When tour­ists engage with the cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory of a place, it deep­ens their under­stand­ing and appre­ci­ation of the des­tin­a­tion, mak­ing their travel exper­i­ences rich­er and more meaningful.

  • Cul­ture encom­passes the cus­toms, tra­di­tions, beliefs, arts, and social norms of a com­munity. It reflects the way of life of the loc­al people and provides insights into their val­ues, his­tory, and way of thinking.
  • Cul­tur­al her­it­age refers to the tan­gible and intan­gible aspects of a com­munity’s leg­acy, includ­ing land­marks, monu­ments, arti­facts, lan­guage, music, dance, cuisine, and rituals.
  • His­tory is the recor­ded past of a place, com­pris­ing the events, stor­ies, and nar­rat­ives that have shaped its development.

Tour­ism provides a plat­form for trav­el­lers to engage with the cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory of a des­tin­a­tion. This can be through vis­it­ing museums, his­tor­ic­al sites, and fest­ivals, or par­ti­cip­at­ing in cul­tur­al activ­it­ies, tra­di­tion­al per­form­ances, and culin­ary exper­i­ences, or oth­er means.

Tour­ism that respects the cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory of a place can foster mutu­al respect, tol­er­ance, and appre­ci­ation for diverse cul­tures, pro­mot­ing cul­tur­al exchange and under­stand­ing between vis­it­ors and the vis­ited. By immers­ing in the loc­al cul­ture, trav­el­lers can gain a deep­er under­stand­ing of dif­fer­ent val­ues and ways of life.

How­ever, tour­is­m’s impact on cul­ture and cul­tur­al her­it­age need to be care­fully man­aged to avoid neg­at­ive con­sequences. Over­tour­ism and the com­modi­fic­a­tion of cul­ture can erode the authen­ti­city and integ­rity of cul­tur­al assets, lead­ing to the degrad­a­tion of loc­al tra­di­tions and loss of identity.

That is why many advoc­ate adopt­ing respons­ible and sus­tain­able tour­ism prac­tices that respect and pro­tect the cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory of a des­tin­a­tion while bene­fit­ing loc­al communities.

Pre­serving and pro­mot­ing cul­ture, cul­tur­al her­it­age, and his­tory is an object­ive of sus­tain­able tour­ism devel­op­ment. Sus­tain­able tour­ism devel­op­ment safe­guards the authen­ti­city and integ­rity of a des­tin­a­tion’s cul­tur­al assets, ensur­ing that they are pre­served for future gen­er­a­tions. It also provides eco­nom­ic bene­fits to loc­al com­munit­ies by cre­at­ing employ­ment oppor­tun­it­ies, sup­port­ing loc­al busi­nesses, and gen­er­at­ing rev­en­ue through tour­ism activities.

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Wellness pilgrimage: A post-COVID tourism business opportunity for sacred sites

August 31, 2021
One Comment

Is there wellness, perhaps even enlightenment, at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel? By Warren Wong via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/P1fZRtz7-VE

Many people will be keen to travel for well­ness, per­haps even enlight­en­ment, when they arrive at the end of their COVID-19 tun­nels. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, uni­ver­sity lec­turer Ricardo Nic­olas Progano points to the poten­tial for rur­al des­tin­a­tions with sac­red, spir­itu­al, or reli­gious her­it­age to tap into pent-up well­ness tour­ism demand. [Thanks to Jim […]

Read More Wellness pilgrimage: A post-COVID tourism business opportunity for sacred sites

How community homestays contribute to experiential travel & tourism in Nepal

July 22, 2021

Travellers cooking with Host at Panauti Community Homestay in Nepal

Homestays encour­age vis­its to under-appre­­ci­ated parts of any des­tin­a­tion and longer stays over­all. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Aay­usha Pra­sain explains how com­munity-based homestays in Nepal offer a more authen­t­ic exper­i­ence, help spread the bene­fits of travel & tour­ism more widely, and may even pro­mote an appre­ci­ation of loc­al cul­ture and her­it­age among young people. […]

Read More How community homestays contribute to experiential travel & tourism in Nepal

For the better: Racial diversity, equity, & inclusion in USA tourism

July 1, 2021

By Capri23auto (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/migration-integration-migrants-3130767/

Is the United States’ travel & tour­ism industry based on white priv­ilege and Black exclu­sion? Stephanie M Jones thinks so. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Ms Jones explains why she reck­ons a per­man­ent budget item for racial diversity, equity, and inclu­sion would make for bet­ter tour­ism. What’s good about tour­ism?  The people who make it […]

Read More For the better: Racial diversity, equity, & inclusion in USA tourism

How can a circular tourism economy help repurpose heritage buildings?

April 22, 2021

A home. Abandoned. By Tama66 (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/users/tama66-1032521/

Aban­doned build­ings can be an eye­sore, a blight on a land- or city­scape, and even an embar­rass­ment to many loc­als. Yet they are all a part of a place’s his­tory and her­it­age. While very few would argue that all are worth sav­ing, many her­it­age build­ings do indeed deserve a new lease of life and may […]

Read More How can a circular tourism economy help repurpose heritage buildings?

In the eye of the beholder: How to create valuable tourism experiences

January 21, 2021

Flowers, cosmos, and the eye of the beholder. By DanielHannah (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/eye-creative-galaxy-collage-4997724/

Set­ting prices, drum­ming up demand, and deliv­er­ing appro­pri­ate value-for-money are core chal­lenges for travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers, par­tic­u­larly in des­tin­a­tions wor­ried about a post-COV­­ID return to over­tour­ism. An easy way to reduce demand might be for gov­ern­ments to increase tour­ism taxes and/or for busi­nesses to raise prices, but will the value still be there?  “Good Tourism” […]

Read More In the eye of the beholder: How to create valuable tourism experiences

Associations to cooperate in cultural heritage preservation, tourism training


Chris Flynn of WTACH; Philippe Francois of AMFORHT

Press release from “Good Tour­ism” Insight Part­ner the World Tour­ism Asso­ci­ation for Cul­ture & Her­it­age (WTACH): Two glob­al tour­ism asso­ci­ations are join­ing forces to dove­tail key object­ives in their fields of cul­tur­al her­it­age pro­tec­tion and voca­tion­al train­ing. A new part­ner­ship agree­ment between the World Tour­ism Asso­ci­ation for Cul­ture & Her­it­age (WTACH) and the World Association […]

Read More Associations to cooperate in cultural heritage preservation, tourism training