heritage tourism importance

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

Each year, millions of travelers visit America’s historic places. The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines heritage tourism as “traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.”  A high percentage of domestic and international travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling, and those that do stay longer, spend more, and travel more often. Heritage tourism creates jobs and business opportunities, helps protect resources, and often improves the quality of life for local residents.

The ACHP has encouraged national travel and tourism policies that promote the international marketing of America’s historic sites as tourism destinations. The ACHP also engages in ongoing efforts to build a more inclusive preservation program, reaching out to diverse communities and groups and engaging them in dialogue about what parts of our national legacy should be more fully recognized, preserved, and shared. 

The ACHP developed Preserve America , a national initiative to encourage and support community efforts for the preservation and enjoyment of America’s cultural and natural heritage. In partnership with other federal agencies, the initiative has encouraged the use of historic assets for economic development and community revitalization, as well as enabling people to experience and appreciate local historic resources through heritage tourism and education programs. These goals have been advanced by an Executive Order directing federal agencies to support such efforts, a community designation program, and a recognition program for outstanding stewardship of historic resources by volunteers.

From 2004-2016, over 900 Preserve America Communities   were designated in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two territories, as well as nearly 60 Preserve America Stewards . Many Preserve America Communities are featured in “Discover Our Shared Heritage” National Register on-line travel itineraries . From 2006 through 2010, the National Park Service (in partnership with the ACHP) awarded more than $21 million in Preserve America Grants   to support sustainable historic resource management strategies, with a focus on heritage tourism. 

These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; if they are not ACHP links, they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the ACHP of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. The ACHP bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Please contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content, including its privacy policies.

Related resources.

Why Heritage Tourism Is More Popular Than Ever

By Jordi Lippe-McGraw

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

In the years before every waking moment of our lives was documented online, knowledge of our ancestors was far more limited, with stories of one's heritage more often reserved to the confines of family lore. But now, today's access to technology is actually increasing our curiosity about the past—and making it easier than ever to physically retrace our heritage in destinations around the world.

For some travelers, turning to their family tree for inspiration has become the latest—and most interesting—way to plan a trip. And while the idea of traveling to investigate your legacy and culture isn’t exactly something new, there are more tools now to make it a reality. “Once pegged as the stereotypical Irish Americans pursing their lips to kiss the Blarney Stone, Americans are spreading far and wide to experience their cultural and spiritual roots and catalyzing the rise of operators, agencies, and guides dedicated to this segment,” Christina Tunnah, Regional Manager for the Americas at World Nomads , told Condé Nast Traveler .

She added, “Not just for the bucket list boomer crowd, this theme serves as a significant thread of self-discovery amongst millennials who choose to study abroad and become digital nomads in places where they have a tendril of familial connection in search of generational sense of self.”

The rise in popularity of family genealogy as a TV genre (TLC’s Who Do You Think You Are , PBS’ Finding Your Roots and Genealogy Roadshow , and CNN’s Roots ) has helped spark this interest in family history, with people taking advantage of genealogy research via sites like Ancestry.com and even DNA testing companies like 23andme and National Geographic’s Genographic project. In fact, according to a multi-country study done by Ancestry.com in November 2014, online family history research in the U.S. has grown fourteen-fold in the past decade.

Kesha Robertson, 30, an Amsterdam-based blogger, told Traveler her reasons for visiting Slovakia. “I was always enchanted by my grandfather. There was no one else I knew quite like him. I grew up in New Zealand, a world away from Europe,” she said. “I was the only person I knew with Slovakian heritage. It seemed like such an exotic faraway place, I couldn't even fathom what it would be like. The lure to go there was always strong, it was like the piece of a puzzle I needed to put in place.”

In particular, destinations with large diaspora populations in the U.S., such as Ireland, Italy, and China, have seen an uptick in visitors looking to connect with their ancestral homes directly, according to World Nomad. Whole countries like Scotland have fully embraced this concept calling 2017 the Year of History, Heritage, and Archaeology, encouraging visitors to uncover their Scottish roots all the way back to the Neolithic era.

Touring companies are seeing a boom as well. Audley Travel revealed to Traveler that they've been getting increased requests for custom itineraries exploring family ties to different destinations. In particular, they've worked with a lot of second generation Japanese Americans heading back to Japan, especially to Okinawa . And World Nomads just partnered with Ancestry.com to offer one winner (and a guest) the opportunity to trace their family history and take a trip to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors with their Relative Distance campaign .

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection is launching a Jewish Heritage cruise down the Danube later this year with stops in Wertheim, Germany (pictured).

So, how can you take advantage of this growing trend and embark on a journey of your own? Here are some tips.

1. Do some research beforehand

Don’t get overwhelmed at the daunting prospect of having to tackle a tidal wave of family information, archives, photos, or talks with your immediate and extended family members (though it helps to have that all as a starting point). At a most basic level, a little bit of search engine snooping can identify the basics: country, province/state and towns where you know for a fact you have a connection.

Assemble maiden names of parents and grandparents and search on maps for any street names that may have the family name, you’d be surprised at what you find. For more robust family tracing, you can pay for more access to records on sites like Ancestry.com, or join the National Geographic’s Genographic project where you have the option to be connected with people who share your DNA and family name.

2. Rent a car and make your own itinerary

It’s best for adventures like this to build out spots where you want to stop and rent a car to visit on your own time. It allows you to detour and take as much time as you need in any particular destination. Historical societies of that town are a great source as well, so set up an appointment or set aside a few hours to rummage through the artifacts. Also, try to book through Airbnb or local lodges as much as possible. This gives another opportunity to meet locals who may offer some insight into your family background.

3. Or use a tour company for a more general background

If you’re not so focused on the details of your family history, but would rather have a deeper understanding of your heritage, then consider a themed tour. Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection is launching its  Jewish Heritage themed cruises in May, where guests will travel from Munich to Cologne, passing through Dachau, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, and Wertheim, towns and cities renowned for their centuries-old Jewish legacy. Andy Fraser, the Tartan Butler at The Balmoral , helps guests with ancestral ties to Scotland trace their heritage during their stay by chatting with the city’s foremost experts before your arrival. And those who have traced their roots to South Africa can explore them in-depth on South African Airways Vacations’ 12-Day Cultural Roots of South Africa tour , which visits Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal Province, where Durban (home to the largest Indian population outside of India) is situated.

Jessica Puckett

María Casbas

CNT Editors

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• GENERAL TRAVEL

Heritage Travel: What it is & How it Can Benefit You

Madi­son Jack­son lives in Pitts­burgh, PA and is the Direc­tor of Jew­ish Stu­dent Life at Carne...

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Door post after door post was pointed out to me. We stopped in a court yard that had tenement style houses surrounding it on all sides. We stepped inside what seemed nothing more than a run down, dingy entrance looking practically near collapse. Peering closely at the entrances, I saw an empty carved out space, diagonal in the shape of a mezuzah (a scroll with Hebrew verses on it from the Torah, inside a decorated case). I saw two circles placed perfectly across from each other, showing where once a mezuzah had hung. 

Learn about your family history & heritage while doing programs abroad—you’ll love the experience!

This was Praga. Located across the Vistula River opposite Warsaw’s Old Town, this area, sometimes referred to as “alternative Warsaw,” has been called dangerous. But, in years past, this was also the home of Warsaw’s Jews. As a Jew myself, I didn’t expect to learn about this place while interning abroad in Warsaw—a place where the majority of my people once lived. We walked through Praga and our tour guide pointed out different types of traces on doorposts of former Jewish family homes. Unlike the rest of the city, this area was barely destroyed during the war, leaving the homes of families in tact and the authentic representation of Jewish life in Warsaw prior to the war still in existence. 

Exploring the mezuzah traces through heritage travel allowed me to learn the stories of Jewish families who had lived in Warsaw, not from the structure of something that was rebuilt, but from the actual traces of what remained. 

There’s never been a better time to participate in heritage travel—and participating in historical travel during travel programs abroad just makes sense. Read on to learn how YOU can incorporate heritage tourism into your next great international adventure, like I did.

FAQs on heritage travel

Get up close and personal with hundreds of years of history.

What is Heritage Tourism? 

According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Heritage Tourism is “traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes cultural, historic, and natural resources.” In other words, Heritage Tourism is a type of travel where you search for an authentic understanding of how something, or a people, was like. 

The three main types of Heritage Tourism sites are natural, cultural, and built. Natural heritage sites include landforms and rural scenery, cultural heritage tourism involves attending festivals or a place that sells traditional products, and built heritage sites encompass places such as monuments and historic homes. Through studying, volunteering, interning and teaching abroad there are several different ways in which you can engage with the different types of historic travel and heritage tourism. 

• Study Abroad . Studying abroad provides a unique opportunity to live what you are studying. For example, instead of sitting in school reading about the Holocaust, if you study abroad in Europe, your classroom becomes your surroundings and you can visit places from a textbook firsthand. You can walk on the natural grounds where your ancestors once lived and enter still standing historic synagogues and other places of worship. Study abroad is a great time to explore cultural heritage tourism!
• Volunteer Abroad . Protecting special places is valuable to humanity. If you hope to spend time volunteering abroad maybe consider volunteering on a conservation project anywhere in the world, that assists in protecting a heritage site for generations of travelers to come. This type of volunteering will be beneficial as it ensures that heritage travel can continue to provide meaningful experiences for others. 
• Intern Abroad . During my time doing an internship in Warsaw, I went with the office I worked for to a cemetery clean up at the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, to a day of memorial ceremonies in Jedwabne, Poland at seven different memorials, and on a bike ride from the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Jewish Community Center in Krakow. Naturally, internships you do abroad will come with similar opportunities to visit heritage sites as part of your work hours. Additionally, you can take advantage of your temporary backyard to spend weekends traveling to visit heritage sites and learning as much as possible about the people who live or lived in the country you are working in. You will benefit from seeing a full dimension view of the country. 
• Teach Abroad . You can learn about your own heritage by fully integrating into a local community! In teaching abroad you can craft your own experience by specifically signing up for an English teaching program that places you with indigenous people at a heritage site. There, you can preserve their culture and help to sustain their local environment, while also getting to know your own family history through cultural heritage tourism.

Who participates in heritage travel? 

Add more context to some of those random traditions grandma forces around the holidays.

Anyone and everyone with a desire to learn can participate in heritage travel! People of all ages and backgrounds can think about doing heritage tourism during short school breaks, gap years, or family trips. 

Popular examples of heritage tourism involve religious travel or pilgramages. For instance, many Catholic students might enjoy visiting the Vatican while studying abroad in Italy, or some Muslim volunteers might tack on a hajj to Mecca while volunteering abroad in the Middle East. If you're a first generation immigrant from Latin America or East Asia, you might double-dip your internship abroad to learn your family's native tongue or get to know your family's culture or history in a new way. As a Jewish student abroad, I was keen to learn more about Jewish history—visiting pre-war synagogues and learning the stories of Jewish families past. 

The major benefits of heritage travel 

1. memorability.

Whenever you return from a trip, you are bound to face the question: So, what did you do on your trip? Usually, people are looking for more than just a general answer, but want an example of something specific you experienced and why you enjoyed it. Heritage travel will provide you with an instant, and ongoing, answer! Travelers say that trips with heritage activities are more memorable than trips without them, because they learn something concrete and new.  

2. Strengthens local economies 

Heritage tourism isn’t always pretty, but it always has an important impact.

A study conducted by the Travel Industry Association showed that heritage travelers spend more time and money at their destinations than other types of travelers. This helps to develop sustainable local economies which often don’t get as much popularity as large tourist attractions. Visiting heritage sites creates jobs in local organizations while simultaneously promoting community pride through the opportunities locals have to work together to improve cultural development. 

3. Diversifies the tourism experience

Relaxing at the beach is nice, but think how many more stories there are to tell when there is content and substance involved in a trip. Beyond the traditional ocean and sand vacation, heritage travel allows you to expand your horizons and spread the places people visit beyond a few locations. 

4. Reinforces identity and creates understanding 

Heritage tourism provides a whole new angle to traveling and can make an experience both fun and educational. You can learn more about yourself, your ancestors, and people of your race, religion, or culture, while also learning more about cultures and backgrounds different than your own. What we learn in a classroom can be difficult to understand; when you interact with sites in person you have the opportunity to really comprehend what a specific identity means. 

You might even find new things to love and appreciate about your personal history!

5. Increases your learning capacity—especially when done in conjunction with a program abroad

The best part of formal programs abroad isn’t that your itinerary is taken care of (although being free of planning those logistics IS pretty great!), it’s the fact that you have the right container for doing deep thinking and reflecting on what you’re learning. Instead of just witnessing and observing during culture heritage tourism, a program abroad might be able to offer you a stronger framework to participate in the culture. Translating interactions into hard-won lessons is much easier with the help of a trusty mentor or dedicated time for reflection. 

That’s why pairing heritage tourism with a program abroad can be a win-win on all fronts!

Walk the footsteps of your family

Get to know yourself—and your family—on a whole new level through heritage travel.

Soon, I started looking for mezuzah traces wherever I went in Europe. I didn't want to ever again walk by a place that had so many hidden stories—that could have been my relatives’ home, or the home of my friends grandparents. Each mezuzah trace told a story that came to life through the Jewish item. 

Looking for mezuzah traces throughout Europe was just one way I was able to connect to the heritage of the Jewish people and learn what Jewish life was like in countries prior to World War II. There are so many ways that heritage travel can enhance your time on programs abroad, even for a short trip, and it will make a difference in how you remember a place once you return home. 

Get Matched with 5 Programs to Enhance Heritage Travel Today

KAHAL Your Jewish Home Abroad is a non-profit organization which connects Jewish students studying abroad to Jewish opportunities, resources and connections abroad. KAHAL aims to create meaningful Jewish experiences for study abroad students, allowing them to interact with local Jewish communities and deepen their Jewish identities. Wherever students travel, KAHAL arranges chances to attend Shabbat dinners, meet Jewish students, attend holiday meals, volunteer and advocate, and provides grant funding and travel assistance.

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Heritage Tourism

The late Alan Gordon was professor of history at the University of Guelph. He authored three books: Making Public Pasts: The Contested Terrain of Montreal’s Public Memories, 1891–1930, The Hero and the Historians: Historiography and the Uses of Jacques Cartier and Time Travel: Tourism and the Rise of the Living History Museum in Mid-Twentieth Century Canada.

• Published: 18 August 2022
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Heritage tourism is a form of cultural tourism in which people travel to experience places, artifacts, or activities that are believed to be authentic representations of people and stories from the past. It couples heritage, a way of imagining the past in terms that suit the values of the present, with travel to locations associated with enshrined heritage values. Heritage tourism sites are normally divided into two often overlapping categories: natural sites and sites related to human culture and history. By exploring the construction of heritage tourism destinations in historical context, we can better understand how and through what attributes places become designated as sites of heritage and what it means to have an authentic heritage experience. These questions are explored through heritage landscapes, national parks, battlefield tourism, architectural tourism, and the concept of world heritage.

Heritage is one of the most difficult, complex, and expansive words in the English language because there is no simple or unanimously accepted understanding of what heritage encompasses. 1 We can pair heritage with a vast range of adjectives, such as cultural, historical, physical, architectural, or natural. What unites these different uses of the term is their reference to the past, in some way or another, while linking it to present-day needs. Heritage, then, is a reimagining of the past in terms that suit the values of the present. It cannot exist independently of human attempts to make the past usable because it is the product of human interpretation of not only the past, but of who belongs to particular historical narratives. At its base, heritage is about identity, and the inclusion and exclusion of peoples, stories, places, and activities in those identities. The use of the word “heritage” in this context is a postwar phenomenon. Heritage and heritage tourism, although not described in these terms, has a history as long as the history of modern tourism. Indeed, a present-minded use of the past is as old as civilization itself, and naturally embedded itself in the development of modern tourism. 2 The exploration of that history, examining the origins and development of heritage tourism, helps unpack some of the controversies and dissonance it produces.

Heritage in Tourism

Heritage tourism sites are normally divided into two categories: natural sites and sites of human, historical, or cultural heritage. the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) separates its list of world heritage sites in this manner. Sites of natural heritage are understood to be places where natural phenomena such as wildlife, flora, geological features, or ecosystems, are generally deemed to be of exceptional beauty or significance. Cultural heritage sites, which represent over three quarters of UNESCO-recognized sites, are places where human activity has left a lasting and substantial physical impact that reveals important features of a culture or cultures. Despite the apparent simplicity of this division, it is not always easy to categorize individual sites. UNESCO thus allows for a category of “mixed” heritage sites. But official recognition is not necessary to mark a place as a heritage destination and, moreover, some authors point to versions of heritage tourism that are not tightly place-specific, such as festivals of traditional performances or foodways. 3

The central questions at the heart of heritage tourism ask what it is that designates something as “heritage” and whether tourists have an “authentic” heritage experience there. At its simplest, heritage tourism is a form of cultural tourism in which people travel to experience places, artifacts, or activities that are authentic representations of people and stories from the past. Yet this definition encompasses two, often competing, motivations. Heritage tourism is both a cultural phenomenon through which people attempt to connect with the past, their ancestors, and their identity, and it is an industry designed to profit from it. Another question surrounds the source of the “heritage” in heritage tourism. Many scholars have argued that heritage does not live in the destinations or attractions people seek. Heritage is not innate to the destination, but is rather based on the tourist’s motivations and expectations. Thus, heritage tourism is a form of tourism in which the main motivation for visiting a site is based on the traveler’s perceptions of its heritage characteristics. Following the logic of this view, the authenticity of the heritage experience depends on the traveler rather than the destination or the activity. Heritage features, as well as the sense of authenticity they impart, are democratized in what might be called a consumer-based model of authenticity. 4 This is a model that allows for virtually anything or any place to be a heritage destination. Although such an approach to understanding heritage tourism may well serve present-day studies, measuring motivations is more complicated for historical subjects. Long-departed travelers are not readily surveyed about their expectations; motivations have to be teased out of historical records. In a contrasting view, John Tunbridge and Gregory Ashworth argue that heritage attractions are created through marketing: they are invented to be heritage attractions and sold to a traveling public as such. Yet, heritage attractions, in this understanding, are still deemed authentic when they satisfy consumer expectations about heritage. 5 This insight also implies that heritage tourism destinations might be deceptions, and certainly there are examples of the fabrication of heritage sites. However, if motivations and expectations are arbiters of heritage, then even invented heritage can become authentic through its acceptance by a public. While not ignoring the motivations and expectations of travelers, for historians, any understanding of heritage tourism must include the process by which sites become designated as a places of heritage. It must encompass the economic aspects of tourism development, tourism’s role in constructing narratives of national or group identity, and the cultural phenomenon of seeking authentic representations of those identities, regardless of their origins. Such a practice might include traveling to sites connected to diasporas, places of historical significance, sites of religious pilgrimages, and landscapes of scenic beauty or cultural importance.

Scholarly interest in heritage, at least in the English-speaking world, dates from the 1980s reaction to the emergence of new right-wing political movements that used the past as a tool to legitimize political positions. Authors such as David Lowenthal, Robert Hewison, and Patrick Wright bemoaned the recourse to “heritage” as evidence of a failing society that was backward-looking, fearful, and resentful of modern diversity. 6 Heritage, they proclaimed, was elitist and innately conservative, imposed on the people from above in ways that distanced them from an authentic historical consciousness. Although Raphael Samuel fired back that the critique of heritage was itself elitist and almost snobbish, this line continued in the 1990s. Works by John Gillis, Tony Bennett, and Eric Hobsbawm, among others, concurred that heritage was little more than simplified history used as a weapon of social and political control.

At about the same time, historians also began to take tourism seriously as a subject of inquiry, and they quickly connected leisure travel to perceived evils in the heritage industry. Historians such as John K. Walton in the United Kingdom and John Jakle in the United States began investigating patterns of tourism’s history in their respective countries. Although not explicitly concerned with heritage tourism, works such as Jakle’s The Tourist explored the infrastructure and experience of leisure travel in America, including the different types of attractions people sought. 7 In Sacred Places , John Sears argued that tourism helped define America in the nineteenth century through its landscape and natural wonders. Natural tourist attractions, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone parks became sacred places for a young nation without unifying religious and national shrines. 8 Among North America’s first heritage destinations was Niagara Falls, which drew Americans, Europeans, Britons, and Canadians to marvel at its beauty and power. Tourist services quickly developed there to accommodate travelers and, as Patricia Jasen and others note, Niagara became a North American heritage destination at the birth of the continent’s tourism trade. 9

As the European and North American travel business set about establishing scenic landscapes as sites worthy of the expense and difficulty of travel to them, they rarely used a rhetoric of heritage. Sites were depicted as places to embrace “the sublime,” a feeling arising when the emotional experience overwhelms the power of reason to articulate it. Yet as modern tourism developed, promoters required more varied attractions to induce travelers to visit specific destinations. North America’s first tourist circuits, well established by the 1820s, took travelers up the Hudson River valley from New York to the spas of Saratoga Springs, then utilizing the Erie Canal even before its completion, west to Niagara Falls. Tourist guidebooks were replete with vivid depictions of the natural wonders to be witnessed, and very quickly Niagara became heavily commercialized. As America expanded beyond the Midwest in the second half of the nineteenth century, text and image combined to produce a sense that these beautiful landscapes were a common inheritance of the (white and middle-class) American people. Commissioned expeditions, such as the Powell Expedition of 1869–1872, produced best-selling travel narratives revealing the American landscape to enthralled readers in the eastern cities (see Butler , this volume). John Wesley Powell’s description of his voyage along the Colorado River combined over 450 pages of written description with 80 prints, mostly portraying spectacular natural features. American westward exploration, then, construed the continent’s natural wonders as its heritage.

In America, heritage landscapes often obscured human activity and imagined the continent as nature untouched. But natural heritage also played a role in early heritage tourism in Britain and Europe. Many scholars have investigated the connection between national character and the depiction of topographical features, arguing that people often implant their communities with ideas of landscape and associate geographical features with their identities. In this way, landscape helps embed a connection between places and particular local and ethnic identities. 10 Idealized landscapes become markers of national identity (see Noack , this volume). For instance, in the Romantic era, the English Lake District and the mountains of the Scottish Highlands became iconic national representations of English, Scottish, or British nationalities. David Lowenthal has commented on the nostalgia inherent in “landscape-as-heritage.” The archetypical English landscape, a patchwork of fields divided by hedgerows and sprinkled with villages, was a relatively recent construction when the pre-Raphaelite painters reconfigured it as the romantic allure of a medieval England. It spoke to the stability and order inherent in English character. 11

Travel literature combined with landscape art to develop heritage landscapes and promote them as tourist attractions. Following the 1707 Act of Union, English tourists became fascinated with Scotland, and in particular the Scottish Highlands. Tourist guidebooks portrayed the Highlands as a harsh, bleak environment spectacular for its beauty as well as the quaintness of its people and their customs (see Schaff , this volume). Over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, tourist texts cemented the image of Highland culture and heritage. Scholars have criticized this process as a “Tartanization” or “Balmoralization” of the country by which its landscape and culture was reduced to a few stereotypes appealing to foreign visitors. Nevertheless, guidebook texts described the bens, lochs, and glens with detail, helping create and reinforce a mental picture of a quintessential Highland landscape. 12 The massacre of members of the Clan MacDonald at Glencoe, killed on a winter night in 1692 for insufficient loyalty to the monarchy, added romance. Forgotten for over a century, the event was recalled in the mid-nineteenth century by the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, and quickly became a tragic tale associated with the scenic valley. At the same time the Highlands were being re-coded from a dangerous to a sublime landscape, its inhabitants became romanticized as an untainted, simple, premodern culture. The natural beauty of the landscape at Glencoe and its relative ease of access, being close to Loch Lomond and Glasgow, made it an attraction with a ready-made tragic tale. Highlands travel guides began to include Glencoe in their itineraries, combining a site of natural beauty with a haunting human past. Both natural and cultural heritage, then, are not inherent, but represent choices made by people about what and how to value the land and the past. On France’s Celtic fringe, a similar process unfolded. When modern tourism developed in Brittany in the mid-nineteenth century, guidebooks such as Joanne’s defined the terms of an authentic Breton experience. Joanne’s 1867 guide coupled the region’s characteristic rugged coastlines with the supposedly backward people, their costumes, habitudes, beliefs, and superstitions, who inhabited it. 13 Travel guides were thus the first contributors in the construction of heritage destinations. They began to highlight the history, real and imagined, of destinations to promote their distinctions. And, with increasing interest in the sites of national heritage, people organized to catalog, preserve, and promote heritage destinations.

Organizing Heritage Tourism

Among the world’s first bodies dedicated to preserving heritage was the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), organized in England in 1877. Emerging as a result of particular debates about architectural practices, this society opposed a then-popular trend of altering buildings to produce imaginary historical forms. This approach, which was most famously connected to Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc’s French restorations, involved removing or replacing existing architectural features, something renounced by the SPAB. The society’s manifesto declared that old structures should be repaired so that their entire history would be protected as part of cultural heritage. The first heritage preservation legislation, England’s Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882, provided for the protection initially of 68 prehistoric sites and appointed an inspector of ancient monuments. 14 By 1895, movements to conserve historic structures and landscapes had combined with the founding of the National Trust, officially known as the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, as a charitable agency. Much of the Trust’s early effort protected landscapes: of twenty-nine properties listed in 1907, seventeen were acreages of land and other open spaces. 15 Over the twentieth century, however, the Trust grew more and more concerned with protecting country houses and gardens, which now constitute the majority of its listed properties.

British efforts were duplicated in Europe. The Dutch Society for the Preservation of Natural Landmarks was established in 1904; France passed legislation to protect natural monuments in 1906. And in Sweden, the Society for the Protection of Nature was established in 1909, to name only a few examples. Nature was often connected to the spirit of “the folk,” an idea that encompassed a notion of an original ethnic core to the nation. Various European nationalisms of the period embraced the idea of an “authentic” national folk, with each folk considered unique due to its connection with a specific geography. Folklore and the celebration of folk culture offered Europeans links to imagined national heritages in a rapidly modernizing world, as modern, middle-class Europeans turned their attention to the romanticized primitive life of so-called simple peasants and linked notions of natural and human heritage. Through the concept of the folk, natural and human heritage combined to buttress emerging expressions of nationalism. 16

Sweden provides an instructive example. As early as the seventeenth century, Swedish antiquarians were intrigued by medieval rune stones, burial mounds, and cairns strewn across the country, but also saw these connected to natural features. Investigations of these relics of past Nordic culture involved a sense of the landscape in which they were found. This interest accelerated as folk studies grew in popularity, in part connected to nationalist political ambitions of Swedes during the growing tensions within the Kingdom of Sweden and Norway, which divided in 1905. Sweden’s preservation law required research into the country’s natural resources to create an inventory of places. Of particular interest were features considered to be “nature in its original state.” The intent was to preserve for future generations at least one example of Sweden’s primordial landscape features: primeval forests, swamps, peat bogs, and boulders. But interest was also drawn to natural landmarks associated with historical or mythical events from Sweden’s past. Stones or trees related to tales from the Nordic sagas, for example, combined natural with cultural heritage. 17

Although early efforts to protect heritage sites were not intended to support tourism, the industry quickly benefited. Alongside expanding tours to the Scottish Highlands and English Lake District, European landscapes became associated with leisure travel. As Tait Kellar argues for one example, the context of the landscape is crucial in understanding the role of tourism in the German Alps. 18 Guidebooks of the nineteenth and early twentieth century did not use the term “heritage,” but they described its tenets to audiences employing a different vocabulary. Baedeker’s travel guides, such as The Eastern Alps , guided bourgeois travelers through the hiking trails and vistas of the mountains and foothills, offering enticing descriptions of the pleasures to be found in the German landscape. Beyond the land, The Eastern Alps directed visitors to excursions that revealed features of natural history, human history, and local German cultures. 19

Across the Atlantic people also cherished escapes to the countryside for leisure and recreation and, as economic and population growth increasingly seemed to threaten the idyllic tranquility of scenic places, many banded together to advocate for their conservation. Yet, ironically, by putting in place systems to mark and preserve America’s natural heritage, conservationists popularized protected sites as tourist destinations. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the conservation movement encouraged the US government to set aside massive areas of American land as parks. For example, Europeans first encountered the scenic beauty of California’s Yosemite Valley at midcentury. With increasing settler populations following the California Gold Rush, tourists began arriving in ever larger numbers and promoters began building accommodations and roads to encourage them. Even during the Civil War, the US government recognized the potential for commercial overdevelopment and the desire of many to preserve America’s most scenic places. 20 In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, designating acres of the valley protected wilderness. This set a precedent for the later creation of America’s first national park. In 1871, the Hayden Geological Survey recommended the preservation of nearly 3,500 square miles of land in the Rocky Mountains, in the territories of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Ferdinand V. Hayden was concerned that the pristine mountain region might soon be as overrun with tourists as Niagara Falls had by then become. 21 The following year, Congress established Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first designated “heritage” site. Yet, from the beginning, Yellowstone and subsequent parks were assumed to be tourist attractions. By 1879, tourists to Yellowstone had established over 200 miles of trails that led them to the park’s most famous attractions. Although thought of as nature preserves, parks were often furnished with railway access, and amenities and accommodations appeared, often prior to official designation. National parks were immediately popular tourist attractions. Even before it had established a centralized bureaucracy to care for them, the United States government had established nine national parks and nearly two dozen national monuments. Canada lagged, but established Rocky Mountain National Park (now Banff) in 1885 to balance interests of resource extraction and conservation. (The world’s second national park was Australia’s Royal National Park, established by the colony of New South Wales in 1879.) By the outbreak of the Great War, Canada and the United States had established fifteen national parks, all but one west of the Mississippi River.

Establishing parks was one component of building a heritage tourism infrastructure. Another was the creation of a national bureaucracy to organize it. The Canadian example reveals how heritage and tourism drove the creation of a national parks service. Much of the mythology surrounding Canada’s national parks emphasized the role of nature preservationists, yet the founder of the parks system, J. B. Harkin, was deeply interested in building a parks network for tourists. 22 Indeed, from early in the twentieth century, Canada’s parks system operated on the principle that parks should be “playgrounds, vacation destinations, and roadside attractions that might simultaneously preserve the fading scenic beauty and wildlife populations” of a modernizing nation. 23 Although Canada had established four national parks in the Rocky Mountains in the 1880s, the administration of those parks was haphazard and decentralized. It was not until the approaching third centennial of the founding of Quebec City (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) that the Canadian government began thinking actively about administering its national heritage. In 1908, Canada hosted an international tourist festival on the Plains of Abraham, the celebrated open land where French and British armies had fought the decisive battle for supremacy in North America in 1759. The event so popularized the fabled battlefield that the government was compelled to create a National Battlefield Commission to safeguard it. This inspired the creation of the Dominion Parks Branch three years later to manage Canada’s natural heritage parks, the world’s first national parks service. By 1919 the system expanded to include human history—or at least European settler history—through the creation of national historic parks. These parks were even more explicitly designed to attract tourists, automobile tourists in particular. In 1916, five years after Canada, the United States established the National Parks Service with similar objectives.

As in Europe, nationalism played a significant role in developing heritage tourism destinations in America. The first national parks were inspired by the series of American surveying expeditions intended to secure knowledge of the landscape for political control. Stephen Pyne connects the American “discovery” of the Grand Canyon, for example, to notions of manifest destiny following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) that ended the Mexican-American War and ceded over 500,000 square miles of what is today the western United States. Popularized by the report of John Wesley Powell (1875) , the canyon began attracting tourists in the 1880s, although Congress failed to establish it as a national park. 24 Tourism was central to developing the Grand Canyon as a national heritage destination. Originally seen by Spanish explorers as an obstacle, and as a sacred place by the Navajo, Hopi, Hualapai, and Havasupai peoples, the canyon came to mark American exceptionalism. Piece by piece, sections of the canyon were set aside as reserves and finally declared a national park in 1919. By then, the park had been serviced by a railway (since 1901) and offered tourists a luxury hotel on the canyon’s south rim.

Archaeology also entered into the construction of American heritage. Almost as soon as it was annexed to the United States, the American southwest revealed to American surveyors a host of archaeological remains. For residents of the southwest, the discovery of these ancient ruins of unknown age pointed to the nobility of a lost predecessor civilization. By deliberately construing the ruins as being of an unknown age, Anglo-American settlers were able to draw distinctions between the ancients and contemporary Native Americans in ways that validated their own occupation of the territory. The ruins also had commercial potential. In Colorado, President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park in 1906 to protect and capitalize on the abandoned cliff dwellings located there. These ruins had been rediscovered in the 1880s when ranchers learned of them from the local Ute people. By the turn of the century, the ruins had attracted so many treasure seekers that they needed protection. This was the first national park in America designated to protect a site of archaeological significance and linked natural and human heritage in the national parks system. 25

If, as many argue, heritage is not innate, how is it made? Part of the answer to this question can be found in the business of tourism. Commercial exploitation of heritage tourism emerged alongside heritage tourism, but was particularly active in the postwar years. Given their association with tourism, it is not surprising that railways and associated businesses played a prominent role in promoting heritage destinations. Before World War II, the most active heritage tourism promoter was likely the Fred Harvey Company, which successfully marketed, and to a great degree created, much of the heritage of the American southwest. The Fred Harvey Company originated with the opening of a pair of cafés along the Kansas Pacific Railway in 1876. After a stuttering beginning, Harvey’s chain of railway eateries grew in size. Before dining cars became regular features of passenger trains, meals on long-distance trips were provided by outside business such as Harvey’s at regular stops. With the backing of the Santa Fe Railroad, the company also developed attractions based on the Southwest region’s unique architectural and cultural features. The image capitalized on the artistic traditions of Native Americans and early Spanish traditions to create, in particular, the Adobe architectural style now associated with Santa Fe and New Mexico. 26 These designs were also incorporated into tourist facilities on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, including the El Tovar hotel and the Hopi House souvenir and concession complex, designed to resemble a Hopi pueblo.

Relying on existing and manufactured heritage sites, North American railways popularized attractions as heritage sites. The Northern Pacific Railroad financed a number of hotels in Yellowstone Park, including the Old Faithful Inn in 1904. In 1910, the Great Northern Railroad launched its “See America First” campaign to attract visitors (and new investments) to its routes to the west’s national parks. In Canada, the Dominion Atlantic Railway rebuilt Grand Pré, a Nova Scotia Acadian settlement to evoke the home of the likely fictional character Evangeline from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1848 poem by the same name. In the poem, Evangeline was deported from Acadia in 1755 and separated from her betrothed. By the 1920s, the railway was transporting tourists to Grand Pré, christened “Land of Evangeline,” where reproductions stood in for sites mentioned in the poem. 27 However, following World War I, heritage tourism in North America became increasingly dependent on automobile travel and the Dominion Atlantic eventually sold its interest to the Canadian government.

Conflict as Cultural Heritage

Tourism to sites of military history initially involved side trips from more popular, usually natural, attractions. Thomas Chambers notes that the sites of battles of the Seven Years’ War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812 became tourist attractions as side trips from more established itineraries, such as the northern or fashionable tours. War of 1812 battlefields, many of them in the Niagara theater of the war, were conveniently close to the natural wonders people already came to see. By visiting the places where so many had sacrificed for their country, tourists began attaching new meaning to the sites. Ease of access was essential. Chambers contrasts sites in southern states with those in the north. In the south, the fields of important American Revolution victories at Cowpens and King’s Mountain were too remote to permit easy tourist access and long remained undeveloped. 28 In a contrary example, the Plains of Abraham, the scene of General Wolfe’s dramatic victory over France that led to the Conquest of Canada, was at first a curiosity. The visit to Quebec, a main destination on the northern tour, was originally based on its role as a major port and the attraction of the scenic beauty of the city on the cliffs, compared favorably to Cintra in Portugal. 29 Ease of access helped promoters convert an empty field near the city into the “hallowed Plains.”

Access to battlefields increased at almost the exact moment that one of the nineteenth century’s most devastating wars, the American Civil War, broke out. Railway travel was essential to both the success of the Union Army in reconquering the rebelling Confederacy, and in developing tourism to the sites of the slaughter. Railway travel made sites accessible for urban travelers and new technologies, such as photography and the telegraph, sped news of victories and defeats quickly around the nation. Gettysburg, the scene of a crucial Union victory in July 1863, became a tourist attraction only a few days later. Few would call the farmland of southeastern Pennsylvania sublime, but dramatic human history had unfolded there. The battle inspired the building of a national memorial on the site only four months later, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. At the inauguration of the cemetery Abraham Lincoln delivered his “Gettysburg Address,” calling on the nation to long remember and cherish the “hallowed ground” where history had been made.

Gettysburg sparked a frenzy of marking sites of Civil War battles and events. Battle sites became important backdrops for political efforts at reunion and reconciliation after the war and attracted hundreds and later thousands of tourists for commemorative events and celebrations. Ten thousand saw President Rutherford Hayes speak at Gettysburg in 1878 and, for the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg, some 55,000 veterans returned to Pennsylvania in July 1913. What had once been a site of bloody, brutal combat had been transformed into a destination where tourists gathered to embrace their shared heritage, north and south. As the years progressed, more attractions were added as tourists began to see their heritage on the battlefield. 30

The conflict that most clearly created tourist attractions out of places of suffering was the World War I. Soon after the war ended, its sites of slaughter also became tourist attractions. As with the Civil War in America, World War I tourists were local people and relatives of the soldiers who had perished on the field of battle. By one estimate 60,000 tourists visited the battlefields of the Western Front by the summer of 1919, the same year that Michelin began publishing guidebooks to them. Numbers grew in the decades following the war. Over 140,000 tourists took in the sites of the war in 1931, which grew to 160,000 for 1939. Organizations such as the Workers’ Travel Association hoped that tourism to battle sites would promote peace, but the travel business also benefited. Travel agencies jumped at the chance to offer tours and publishers produced travel guides to the battlefields. At least thirty English guidebooks were published by 1921. 31

This interest in a conflict that killed, often in brutal fashion, so many might seem a ghoulish form of heritage tourism. Yet Peter Slade argues that people do not visit battlefields for the love for death and gore. They attend these sites out of a sense of pilgrimage to sites sacred to their national heritage. Organized pilgrimages reveal this sense of belonging most clearly. The American Legion organized a pilgrimage of 15,000 veterans in 1927 to commemorate the decade anniversary of America’s entry to the war. The following year 11,000 Britons, including 3,000 women, made a pilgrimage of their own. Canada’s first official pilgrimage involved 8,000 pilgrims (veterans and their families) to attend the inauguration of the Vimy Ridge Memorial, marking a site held by many as a place sacred to Canadian identity. Australians and New Zealanders marched to Gallipoli in Turkey for similar reasons. 32 As with the sites of the Western Front, Gallipoli and pilgrimages to it generated travel accounts and publishers assembled guidebooks to help travelers navigate its attractions and accommodations. In these episodes, tourism was used to construct national heritage. In the interwar years, tourist activity popularized the notion that sites of national heritage existed on the battlefields of foreign lands, where “our” nation’s history was forged. National heritage tourism, then, became transnational.

Since the end of World War II, battlefield tourism has become an important projection of heritage tourism. Commercial tour operators organize thousands of tours of European World War I and World War II battlefields for Americans and Canadians, as for other nationalities. The phenomenon seems particularly pronounced among North Americans. The motivation behind modern battlefield tourism reveals its connection to heritage tourism. If heritage is an appeal to the past that helps establish a sense of identity and belonging, the feelings of national pride and remorse for sacrifice of the fallen at these sites helps define them as sacred to a particular vision of a national past. The sanctity of the battle site makes the act of consuming it as a tourist attraction an act of communion with heritage.

Built Heritage and Tourism

During the upheaval of the Civil War, some Americans began to recognize historic houses as elements of their heritage worthy of preservation. These houses were initially not seen as tourist attractions, but as markers of national values. Their heritage value preceded their value as tourist attractions. The first major preservation initiative launched in 1853 to save George Washington’s tomb and home from spoliation. Behind overt sectional divisions of north and south was an implied vesting of republican purity among the patrician families that could trace their ancestors to the revolutionary age and who could restore American culture to its proper deferential state. The success of preserving Mount Vernon led to a proliferation of similar house museums. By the 1930s, the American museum association even produced a guide for how to establish new examples and promote them as sites of heritage for tourist interest. Historic houses provided tangible, physical evidence of heritage. Like scenic landscapes attached to the stories of history, buildings connected locations to significant events and people of the past. Architectural heritage came to be closely associated with tourism. Architectural monuments are easily identified, easy to promote, and, as physical structures, easily reproduced in souvenir ephemera. Although the recognition of architectural monuments as tourist draws could be said to have originated with the Grand Tour, or at least with the publication of John Ruskin’s “Seven Lamps of Architecture” (1849), which singled out the monuments of Venice for veneration, twentieth century mobility facilitated a greater desire to travel to see historic structures. Indeed, mobility, especially automobility, prompted the desire to preserve or even reinvent the structural heritage of the past.

A driving factor behind the growth of tourism to sites associated with these structural relics was a feeling that the past—and especially the social values of the past—was being lost. For example, Colonial Williamsburg developed in reaction to the pace of urban and social change brought about by automobile travel in the 1920s. Williamsburg was once a community of colonial era architecture, but had become just another highway town before John D. Rockefeller lent his considerable wealth to its preservation and reconstruction. 33 Rockefeller had already donated a million dollars for the restoration of French chateaux at Versailles, Fontainebleu, and Rheims. 34 At Williamsburg, his approach was to remove structures from the post-Colonial period to create a townscape from the late eighteenth century. By selecting a cut-off year of 1790, Rockefeller and his experts attempted to freeze Williamsburg in a particular vision of the past. The heritage envisioned was not that of ordinary Americans, but that of colonial elites. Conceived to be a tourist attraction, Colonial Williamsburg offered a tourist-friendly lesson in American heritage. Rockefeller, and a host of consultants convinced the (white) people of Williamsburg to reimagine their heritage and their past. America’s heritage values were translated to the concepts of self-government and individual liberty elaborated by the great patriots, Washington, Madison, Henry, and Jefferson. The town commemorated the planter elites that had dominated American society until the Jacksonian era, and presented them as progenitors of timeless ideals and values. They represented the “very cradle of that Americanism of which Rockefeller and the corporate elite were the inheritors and custodians.” 35

Rockefeller’s Williamsburg was not the only American heritage tourist reconstruction. Canada also underwent reconstruction projects for specifically heritage tourism purposes, such as the construction of “Champlain’s Habitation” at Port Royal, Nova Scotia or the attempt to draw tourists to Invermere, British Columbia with a replica fur trade fort. 36 Following World War I and accelerating after World War II, the number and nature of places deemed heritage attractions grew. Across North America, all levels of governments and private corporations built replica heritage sites with varying degrees of “authenticity.” Although these sites often made use of existing buildings and landscapes, they also manufactured an imaginary environment of the past. The motivation behind these sites was almost always diversification of the local economy through increased tourism. Canada’s Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site is perhaps the most obvious example. It is a reconstructed section of the French colonial town, conquered and destroyed in 1758, built on the archaeological remains of the original. Constructed by the government of Canada as a means to diversify the failing resource economy of its Atlantic provinces, the tourist attraction was also designated a component of Canada’s national heritage. The US government also increased its interest in the protection of heritage destinations, greatly expanding the list of national historic landmarks, sites, parks, and monuments. As postwar governments became more concerned with managing their economies, tourism quickly came to be seen as a key economic sector. The language of national heritage helped build public support for state intervention in natural and historic artifacts and sites that could be presented as sacred national places.

In Europe, many historic sites were devastated by bombardment during World War II. Aside from pressing humanitarian issues, heritage concerns also had to be addressed. In France, the war had destroyed nearly half a million buildings, principally in the northern cities, many of which were of clear heritage value. The French government established a commission to undertake the reconstruction of historic buildings and monuments and, in some cases, entire towns. Saint-Malo, in Brittany, had been completely destroyed, but the old walled town was rebuilt to its seventeenth century appearance. Already a seaside resort, the town added a heritage site destination. In the 1920s and 1930s, European fascist states had also employed heritage tourism. In Mussolini’s Italy and Nazi Germany, workers’ leisure time was to be organized to prevent ordinary Italians and Germans from falling into unproductive leisure activities. Given the attachment to racialized views of purity and identity, organized tourism was encouraged to allow people to bond with their national heritage. Hiking in the Black Forest or the alpine Allgau might help connect Germans to the landscape and reconnect them to the traditional costumes and folkways of rural Germany. As Kristin Semmens argues, most studies of the Nazi misappropriation of the past ignore the displays of history aimed toward tourists at Germany’s heritage sites. Many museums and historic sites twisted their interpretations to fit the Nazi present. 37 In ways that foreshadowed the 1980s British left’s critique of heritage, fascist regimes made use of heritage tourism to control society. After the war, a vigorous program of denazification was undertaken to remove public relics of the Nazi regime and in formerly occupied territories, as was a program of reconstruction. In the communist east, blaming the Nazis for the destruction of German heritage was an ideological gift. It allowed the communist regime to establish itself as the true custodian of German identity and heritage. 38 In the capitalist west, tourism revived quickly. By early 1947, thirteen new tourist associations were active in the Allied occupation zone. Tourism rhetoric in the postwar years attempted to distance German heritage from the Nazi regime to reintroduce foreign travelers to the “real Germany.” Despite this objective, Alon Confino notes that traces of the Nazi past can be located in postwar tourist promotions that highlighted Nazi-era infrastructure. 39

Postwar Heritage Tourism

As tourism became a more global industry, thanks in no small part to the advent of affordable air travel in the postwar era, heritage tourism became transnational. Ethnic heritage tourism became more important, and diaspora or roots tourism, which brought second- and third-generation migrants back to the original home of their ancestors, accelerated. Commodifying ethnic heritage has been one of the most distinctive developments in twenty-first century tourism. Ethnic heritage tourism can involve migrants, their children, or grandchildren returning to their “home” countries as visitors. In this form of tourism, the “heritage” component is thus expressed in the motivations and self-identifications of the traveler. It involves a sense of belonging that is rooted in the symbolic meanings of collective memories, shared stories, and the sense of place embodied in the physical locations of the original homeland. Paul Basu has extensively studied the phenomenon of “roots tourism” among the descendants of Scottish Highlanders. He suggests that in their trips to Scotland to conduct genealogical research, explore sites connected to their ancestors, or sites connected to Scottish identity, they construct a sense of their heritage as expatriate Scots. 40 Similar “return” movements can be found in the migrant-descended communities of many settler colonial nations. For second-generation Chinese Americans visiting China, their search for authentic experiences mirrored those of other tourists. Yet, travel to their parents’ homeland strengthened their sense of family history and attachment to Chinese cultures. 41 On the other hand, Shaul Kellner examines the growing trend of cultivating roots tourism through state-sponsored homeland tours. In Tours that Bind , Kellner explores the State of Israel and American Jewish organizations’ efforts to forge a sense of Israeli heritage among young American Jews. However, Kellner cautions, individual experiences and human agency limit the hosts’ abilities to control the experience and thus control the sense of heritage. 42

Leisure tourism also played a role in developing heritage sites, as travelers to sunshine destinations began looking for more interesting side trips. Repeating the battlefield tourism of a century before, by the 1970s access to historic and prehistoric sites made it possible to add side trips to beach vacations. Perhaps the best example of this was the development of tourism to sites of Mayan heritage by the Mexican government in the 1970s. The most famous heritage sites, at least for Westerners, were the Mayan sites of Yucatan. First promoted as destinations by the American travel writer John Lloyd Stephens in the 1840s, their relative inaccessibility (as well as local political instabilities) made them unlikely tourist attractions before the twentieth century. By 1923, the Yucatan government had opened a highway to the site of the Chichén Itzá ruins, and local promoters began promotions in the 1940s. It was not until after the Mexican government nationalized all archaeological ruins in the 1970s that organized tours from Mexican beach resorts began to feature trips to the ruins themselves. 43

Mexico’s interest in the preservation and promotion of its archaeological relics coincided with one of the most important developments in heritage tourism in the postwar years: the emergence of the idea of world heritage. The idea was formalized in 1972 with the creation of UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Sites. The number of sites has grown from the twelve first designated in 1978 to well over 1,000 in 167 different countries. In truth, the movement toward recognizing world heritage began with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which did not limit its activities to preserving only England’s architectural heritage. Out of its advocacy, European architects and preservationists drafted a series of accords, such as the Athens Charter of 1931, and the later Venice Charter of 1964, both of which emerged from a growing sense of cultural internationalism. These agreements set guidelines for the preservation and restoration of buildings and monuments. What UNESCO added was the criterion of Outstanding Universal Value for the designation of a place as world heritage. It took until 1980 to work out the first iteration of Outstanding Universal Value and the notion has never been universally accepted, although UNESCO member countries adhere to it officially. Once a site has been named to the list, member countries are expected to protect it from deterioration, although this does not always happen. As of 2018, 54 World Heritage Sites are considered endangered. This growth mirrored the massive expansion of tourism as a business and cultural phenomenon in the late twentieth century. As tourism became an increasingly important economic sector in de-colonizing states of Asia and Latin America, governments became more concerned with its promotion by seeking out World Heritage designation.

Ironically, World Heritage designation itself has been criticized as an endangerment of heritage sites. Designation increases the tourist appeal of delicate natural environments and historic places, which can lead to problems with maintenance. Designation also affects the lives of people living within the heritage destination. Luang Prabang, in Laos, is an interesting example. Designated in 1995 as one of the best-preserved traditional towns in Southeast Asia, it represents an architectural fusion of Lao temples and French colonial villas. UNESCO guidelines halted further development of the town, except as it served the tourist market. Within the designated heritage zone, buildings cannot be demolished or constructed, but those along the main street have been converted to guest houses, souvenir shops, and restaurants to accommodate the growing tourist economy. Critics claim this reorients the community in non-traditional ways, as locals move out of center in order to rent to foreign tourists. 44 While heritage tourism provided jobs and more stable incomes, it also encouraged urban sprawl and vehicle traffic as local inhabitants yielded their town to the influx of foreign, mostly Western, visitors.

Heritage tourism may hasten the pace of change by making destinations into attractions worth visiting. To accommodate the anticipated influx of global tourists, Luang Prabang airport was renovated and its runway extended to handle larger jets in between 2008 and 2013. The influx of tourists at Machu Picchu in Peru has repeatedly led the Peruvian government to attempt to control access to the site, yet dependent on tourism’s economic contribution, such restrictions are difficult. The temple at Borobudur in Indonesia undergoes near continuous maintenance work to repair the wear and tear caused by thousands of tourists walking its steps every day. Indeed, the preserved ruins are said to be under greater threat than when they were discovered in the early nineteenth century, overgrown by the jungle.

Another colonial aspect of world heritage designation stems from the narratives of the sites themselves. Many critics accuse UNESCO of a Eurocentric conception of Outstanding Universal Value and world heritage. 45 Cultural heritage destinations in non-Western countries are often associated with sites made famous by the projects of European imperialism. The fables of discovering ancient ruins, for instance, prioritize the romance of discovery. Many of the most famous non-Western sites were “discovered” by imperial agents in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Angkor Wat in Cambodia was introduced to the world by the French explorer Henri Muhot in 1860. Machu Picchu, the Mayan sites of Yucatan, and the ancestral Anasazi sites of the American southwest were excavated, in some cases purchased, and their narratives constructed by American and European adventurers. The cultural relics of these ancient places were looted and assembled in Western museums, the stories of adventure and discovery published for Western audiences, and eventually a travel infrastructure was established to bring mostly Western tourists to the destinations. Western tourism thus forms another kind of imperialism, as the heritage of a destination is determined to suit the expectations and motivations of the visitors. This tends to obscure other features of local history, leaving those features of heritage not suitable to the tourist trade less valuable.

Made or Experienced?

Heritage is both made and experienced. Critics of heritage tourism rightly point to the ways in which heritage promotions can manipulate the past to defend specific ideological or commercial values. Yet, at the same time, heritage experiences are honestly felt and fundamental in the shaping of modern national or cultural identities. Thus, the questions of what constitutes “heritage” in a tourist attraction and whether or not the experience is “authentic” are fundamentally connected and contradictory. Neither heritage nor authenticity can be separated from both the process of their construction and the motivations and expectations of visitors. This makes heritage tourism a slippery subject for study. It involves numerous contradictions and complications. Indeed, contradiction and dissonance are at the heart of any notion of heritage tourism; what might be heritage for some is merely leisure and consumption for others. The dissonance comes from this dichotomy: the consumer exploitation of a destination that is held by many to have sacred properties. Yet, as this chapter suggests, the construction of those sacred properties is at times dependent on the consumer culture of the tourism industry.

Further Reading

Ashworth, Gregory J. , and John E. Tunbridge . The Tourist-Historic City: Retrospect and Prospect of Managing the Heritage City . London: Routledge, 2001 .

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Basu, Paul.   Highland Homecomings: Genealogy and Heritage Tourism in the Scottish Diaspora . London: Routledge, 2006 .

Dearborn, Lynne M. , and John C. Stallmeyer . Inconvenient Heritage: Erasure and Global Tourism in Luang Prabang . Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010 .

Hall, Melanie , ed. Towards World Heritage: International Origins of the Preservation Movement, 1880–1930 . Farnham: Ashgate, 2011 .

Hewison, Robert.   The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline . London: Methuen, 1987 .

Harrison, Rodney.   Heritage: Critical Approaches . New York: Routledge, 2013 .

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara.   Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998 .

Lowenthal, David.   The Past Is a Foreign Country: Revisited . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015 .

Miles, Stephen.   The Western Front: Landscape, Tourism and Heritage . Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2017 .

Macdonald, Sharon.   Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today . London: Routledge, 2013 .

Park, Hyung Yu.   Heritage Tourism . London: Routledge, 2014 .

Shaffer, Marguerite S.   See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880–1940 . Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001 .

Schama, Simon.   Landscape and Memory . New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1995 .

Sears, John F.   Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century . Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998 .

Timothy, Dallen J.   Cultural Heritage and Tourism: An Introduction . Bristol: Channel View, 2011 .

Winter, Tim.   Post-Conflict Heritage, Postcolonial Tourism: Culture, Politics and Development at Angkor . London: Routledge, 2007 .

1   Peter J. Larkham , “Heritage As Planned and conserved,” in Heritage, Tourism and Society , ed. David T. Herbert (London: Mansell, 1995), 85 ; Peter Johnson and Barry Thomas , “Heritage As Business,” in Heritage, Tourism and Society , ed. David T. Herbert (London: Mansell, 1995), 170 ; David Lowenthal , The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 94.

2   David C. Harvey , “The History of Heritage,” in Ashgate Research Companion to Heritage and Identity , eds. Brian Graham and Peter Howard (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 22.

3   Deepak Chhabra , Robert Healy , and Erin Sills , “Staged Authenticity and Heritage Tourism,” Annals of Tourism Research 30, no. 3 (2003): 702–719.

4   Tomaz Kolar and Vesna Zabkar , “A Consumer-Based Model of Authenticity: An Oxymoron or the Foundation of Cultural Heritage Marketing?” Tourism Management 31, no. 5 (2010): 652–664.

5   John Tunbridge and Gregory Ashworth , Dissonant Heritage: The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict (Chichester: J. Wiley, 1996), 10–13.

6 See Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History ; Robert Hewison , The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline (London: Methuen London, 1987) ; Patrick Wright , On Living in an Old Country: The National Past in Contemporary Britain (London: Verso, 1985).

7   John A. Jakle , The Tourist: Travel in Twentieth-Century North America (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1985).

8   John F. Sears , Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998).

9   Patricia Jasen , Wild Things: Nature, Culture, and Tourism in Ontario, 1790–1914 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995).

10   Simon Schama , Landscape and Memory (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1995), 6–19 ; Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathan (eds.), Landscape, Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives (London and Sterling: Pluto, 2003), 2–3.

11   David Lowenthal , “European and English Landscapes as National Symbols,” in Geography and National Identity , ed. David Hoosen (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), 21–24 ; and David Lowenthal , “Landscape as Heritage,” in Heritage: Conservation, Interpretation and Enterprise , eds. J. D. Fladmark (London: Routledge, 1993), 10–11.

12   Katherine Grenier , Tourism and Identity in Scotland, 1770–1914: Creating Caledonia (London: Routledge, 2005), 5–11.

13   Patrick Young , Enacting Brittany: Tourism and Culture in Provincial France, 1871–1939 (Farnham; Burlington: Ashgate, 2012).

14   Christopher Chippindale , “The Making of the First Ancient Monuments Act, 1882, and Its Administration Under General Pitt-Rivers,” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 86 (1983): 1–55 ; Tim Murray , “The History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Archaeology: The Case of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act (1882),” in Histories of Archaeology: A Reader in the History of Archaeology , eds. Tim Murray and Christopher Evans (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 145–176.

  National Trust Act, 1907 . 7 Edward 7, Ch cxxxvi, first schedule.

Other countries developed similar programs, especially after World War II: Australia, 1947; United States, 1949; Japan, 1964; and Italy, 1975.

17   Bosse Sundin , “Nature as Heritage: The Swedish Case,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 11, no. 1 (2005): 9–20.

18   Tait Keller , Apostles of the Alps: Mountaineering and Nation Building in Germany and Austria, 1860–1939 (Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press Books, 2015).

19 See Karl Baedeker , The Eastern Alps, Including the Bavarian Highlands, The Tyrol, Salzkammergut, Styria, and Carinthia (Leipsic: K. Baedeker, 1879).

20   Eric Zuelow , A History of Modern Tourism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 108–109.

21   M. D. Merrill (ed.), Yellowstone and the Great West: Journals, Letters, and Images from the 1871 Hayden Expedition (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), 210–211.

22   Alan Gordon , Making Public Pasts: The Contested Terrain of Montreal’s Public Memories (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001).

23   John Sandlos , “Nature’s Playgrounds: The Parks Branch and Tourism Promotion in the National Parks, 1911–1929,” in A Century of Parks Canada, 1911–2011 , ed. Claire Elizabeth Campbell (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2011).

24   Stephen Pyne , How the Canyon Became Grand (New York: Viking, 1998), 25–26, 55–60 ; J. W. Powell , The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (New York: Dover Press, 1875).

25   Linda Rancourt , “Cultural Celebration,” National Parks 80, no. 1 (2006): 4.

26   Charles Wilson , The Myth of Santa Fe: Creating a Modern Regional Tradition (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1997).

27   Ian McKay and Robin Bates , In the Province of History: The Making of the Public Past in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010), 71–129.

28   Thomas A. Chambers , Memories of War Visiting Battlegrounds and Bonefields in the Early American Republic (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2012).

29 See Alan Gordon, “Where Famous Heroes Fell: Tourism, History, and Liberalism in old Quebec,” 58–81 and J. I. Little , “In Search of the Plains of Abraham: British, American, and Canadian Views of a Symbolic Landscape, 1793–1913,” in Remembering 1759: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Memory , eds. Phillip Buckner and John G. Reid (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), 82–109.

30   John S. Patterson , “A Patriotic Landscape: Gettysburg, 1863–1913,” Prospects 7 (1982): 315–333.

31   David Lloyd , Battlefield Tourism: Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia and Canada, 1919–1939 (Oxford and New York: Berg, 1998), 100–111.

  Lloyd, Battlefield Tourism , 98–100.

33   George Humphrey Yetter , Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital (Colonial Williamsburg, 1988), 49–52 ; Stephen Conn , Museums and American intellectual life, 1876–1926 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 155.

34   Raymond B. Fosdick , John D. Rockefeller Jr.: A Portrait (New York: Harper, 1956), 356–357.

35   Michael Wallace , “Visiting the Past: History Museums in the United States,” in A Living History Reader , ed. Jay Anderson (Nashville: American Association of State and Local History, 1991), 190.

36   Alan Gordon , Time Travel: Tourism and the Rise of the Living History Museum in Mid-Twentieth-Century Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016), 65–70 ; Ben Bradley , “The David Thompson Memorial Fort: An Early Outpost of Historically Themed Tourism in Western Canada,” Histoire sociale/Social History 49, no. 99 (2016): 409–429.

37   Kristen Semmens , Seeing Hitler’s Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

38   Gregory Ashworth and Peter Larkham , “A Heritage for Europe: The Need, the Task, the Contribution,” in Building a New Heritage , ed. Gregory Ashworth and Peter Larkham (London: Routledge, 1994), 127–129.

39   Alon Confino , “Traveling as a Culture of Remembrance: Traces of National Socialism in West Germany, 1945–1960,” History & Memory 12, no. 2 (2000): 92–121.

40 See, for example, Paul Basu , Highland Homecomings: Genealogy and Heritage Tourism in the Scottish Diaspora (London: Routledge, 2007).

41   Huang, Wei-Jue , Gregory Ramshaw , and William C. Norman . “Homecoming or Tourism? Diaspora Tourism Experience of Second-Generation Immigrants,” Tourism Geographies 18, no. 1 (2016): 59–79.

42   Shaul Kelner , Tours That Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, and Israeli Birthright Tourism (New York: New York University Press, 2010).

43   Dina Berger , The Development of Mexico’s Tourism Industry: Pyramids by Day, Martinis by Night (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

44 See, for example, Dawn Starin , “Letter From Luang Prabang: World Heritage Designation, Blessing or Curse?” Critical Asian Studies 40, no. 4 (December 2008): 639–652.

45   Tim Winter , “Heritage Studies and the Privileging of Theory,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 20, no. 5 (2014): 556–572.

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Cultural heritage: 7 successes of UNESCO’s preservation work

The power of preserving cultural heritage to build a better world

Why do we go to great lengths to preserve culture and make it bloom? Culture is a resource for the identity and cohesion of communities. In today’s interconnected world, it is also one of our most powerful resources to transform societies and renew ideas. It is UNESCO’s role to provide the tools and skills we need to make the most of its ultimate renewable energy.

Historical landmarks, living heritage and natural sites enrich our daily lives in countless ways, whether we experience them directly or through the medium of a connected device. Cultural diversity and creativity are natural drivers of innovation. In many ways, artists, creators and performers help us change our perspective on the world and rethink our environment. These are precious assets to respond to current global challenges, from the climate crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The notion of culture has greatly evolved over the last 75 years. UNESCO’s actions over the past decades bear witness to the many ways in which humanity tried to understand how culture can strengthen the sense of who we are – from the awareness of the necessity to protect heritage from destruction at the end of World War II, to the launch of international campaigns to safeguard World Heritage sites and the concept of living and intangible heritage, a focus on creative economy and the need to sustain cultural jobs and livelihoods. Our relationship with culture has deeply evolved over the last century. If we look into the past, we might be better prepared to tackle further changes ahead.

The United States will be participating in an international effort which has captured the imagination and sympathy of people throughout the world. By thus contributing to the preservation of past civilizations, we will strengthen and enrich our own.

Abu Simbel – We do not have to choose between the living and the dead

A few minutes before sunrise, thousands of visitors line up inside the temple of Abu Simbel, holding their breath. They are about to witness a rare phenomenon that has taken place twice a year for the last 3,000 years. Every February and October at 6:29 am, the light of the rising sun pierces through the narrow entrance. The rays penetrate over 70 metres deep across the giant pillared hall up to the inner sanctuary, illuminating the statue of the man who built the temple during the 13th century BC, Pharaoh Ramses II.

Carved out of a rocky hill, the Temple of the Rising Sun had been conceived to show the might of Egypt’s greatest pharaoh to the Nubian people in the Upper Nile. Over time, the great temple and the smaller buildings became covered in sand and lay forgotten for centuries, until their rediscovery in 1813. The supreme example of ancient Egypt’s knowledge of astronomy and the skill of its architects could be admired again.

But just over a century later, the southernmost relics of this ancient human civilization were threatened with underwater oblivion and destruction by the rising waters of the Nile following the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The construction of the Dam was meant to develop agriculture as well as Egyptian independence and economy, and triggered a global debate that has fuelled media front pages and discussions ever since: should we have to choose between the monuments of the past and a thriving economy for the people living today? Why should people care for ancient stones and buildings when so many people need food and emergency assistance?

In the course of an unprecedented safeguarding campaign to save the temples of Egypt, UNESCO demonstrated that humanity does not have to sacrifice the past to thrive in the present – quite the opposite. Monuments of outstanding universal value help us understand who we are and also represent massive opportunities for development. Two millennia after a Greek author and scientist drew the famous list of the world’s seven wonders, the very notion of World Heritage came to life.

The race against time began in 1964 , when experts from 50 nations started working together under the coordination of UNESCO in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. The entire site was carefully cut into large blocks, dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, preserving it for future generations.

Today, the four majestic statues that guard the entrance to the great temple stare at the river and the rising sun every day. As they did 3,000 years ago. The success of the international cooperation to save Abu Simbel raised awareness about the fact that all over the world there are places of outstanding universal value. Just like the Nile valley temples, they must be protected from many threats such as armed conflict, deliberate destruction, economic pressure, natural disasters and climate change.

The World Heritage Convention was adopted in 1972 as the most important global instrument to establish this notion, bringing all nations together in the pursuit of the preservation of the World’s Natural and Cultural Heritage. With its 194 signatory Member States, it is today one of the world’s most ratified conventions.

How is a site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List?

For a site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, it must first be nominated by the country where it is located. The nomination is examined by international experts who decide whether the inclusion is justified. Finally, the World Heritage Committee, a body of 21 UNESCO elected Member States, takes a vote.

Venice – Can the safeguard of cultural heritage and global tourism coexist?

Launched only a few years after the Nubian temples initiative, the safeguarding campaign for Venice was a response to various challenges including the rising waters and the explosion of global tourism.

Stepping  outside the railway station early on an autumnal morning, visitors are met with the view of the chilly air colliding with the water, forming a thick, soft blanket of fog over the Grand Canal, the ‘main street’ of Venice. The church of San Simeone Piccolo, with its oversized dome and slender neoclassical columns, and the neighbouring buildings appear to be floating on the water of the lagoon. It’s a sight that has welcomed millions of visitors from all over the world since the heydays of the Serenissima, when the city ruled as one of Europe’s economic superpowers.

Yet, the breath-taking beauty that inspired countless painters, writers and artists over the centuries remains fragile and at risk of being lost forever. Like the Abu Simbel temples, the city’s survival is threatened by rising water levels. The inexorable increase in sea level has caused flooding to become a regular occurrence. Humidity and microorganisms are eating away the long wooden piles that early dwellers drove deep into the muddy ground of the lagoon to build the first foundations of Venice, 1,600 years ago.

After 1966, the year of the worst flooding in Venice’s history, UNESCO and the Italian Government launched a major campaign to save the city. An ambitious project involving giant mobile flood gates was undertaken to temporarily isolate the lagoon from the high tides and protect the lowest areas from flooding. Thirty years later there is unanimous agreement on the successful results both of the technical achievements and international cooperation.

But Venice still needs attentive care, and its continued survival calls for unflagging vigilance. The city remains threatened on several fronts – mass tourism, the potential damage of subsequent urban development and the steady stream of giant cruise ships crushing its brittle foundations.

International mobilization and pressure around the status of Venice led to the Italian Government’s decision in 2021 to ban large ships from the city centre, as a necessary step to protect the environmental, landscape, artistic and cultural integrity of Venice. This decision came a few days after UNESCO announced its intention to inscribe the city on its World Heritage in Danger list. Until a permanent big cruise docking place is identified and developed, liners will be permitted to pull up in Marghera, an industrial suburb of Venice. Such decisions illustrate the great complexity of protecting historic cities and cultural heritage urban centres, which in this particular situation called for tailor-made measures and techniques different from those implemented for the safeguarding of the fabled Egyptian temples.

If every museum in the New World were emptied, if every famous building in the Old World were destroyed and only Venice saved, there would be enough there to fill a full lifetime with delight. Venice, with all its complexity and variety, is in itself the greatest surviving work of art in the world.

Angkor – A successful example of longstanding international cooperation

Deep in the forests of Cambodia, in the Siem Reap Province, the five lotus-flower-shaped towers of majestic Angkor Wat soar towards the sky. When approaching from the main gate, the vast scale of the temple and the precise symmetry of the buildings are awe inspiring. This is the world's largest religious monument.

Angkor Wat was part of a sprawling city as big as London, the heart of an empire that between the 9th and 15th centuries extended from southern Vietnam to Laos, and from the Mekong River to Eastern Myanmar. By around 1500 A.D., the Khmer capital was abandoned, most likely after heavy floods and lengthy droughts. Its temples, buildings and complex irrigation network were swallowed by the surrounding forests and lay hidden until their rediscovery in 1860.

By the early 1990s, the site was under major threat, with many of the temples at high risk of collapse and several sites looted. Conservation work at Angkor had not been possible since the outbreak of the civil war, the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime and the following civil unrest.

Angkor Wat’s inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1992 marked a milestone in the country’s recovery after years of conflict. The UNESCO-backed preservation of the temples aimed to assist in nation-building and national reconciliation. The action of the International Coordinating Committee (link is external) (ICC-Angkor) for the safeguarding and development of this exceptional cultural site is a striking example of international solidarity and testifies to one of UNESCO's most impressive achievements for heritage. Thirty countries and an ad hoc experts group for scientific, restoration and conservation projects were brought together under an innovative approach, closely linking safeguarding operations to sustainable development efforts.

In 25 years, Angkor has thus become a living laboratory demonstrating the potential of sustainable tourism and crafts, with the mobilization of local communities for social cohesion in 112 villages. The gigantic site now supports 700,000 inhabitants and attracts some five million visitors whose flow must be managed each year. The park authorities are carrying out several projects aimed at improving the lives of communities through the implementation of sustainable tourism that respects local sensitivities. The removal from UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger just fourteen years later is a credit to the Cambodian people.

The fact that a project of such magnitude was successfully carried out in a country emerging from more than two decades of conflict in 1992 is a testament to the potential of the World Heritage Convention and the international solidarity led by UNESCO.

Walking through the temple, I saw reminders of the prosperous civilization that built it: hundreds of beautiful figures carved into the walls telling the stories of these ancient people; wide galleries they must have prayed in; long hallways lined with pillars they must have walked down.

No one knows for sure what caused the empire to abandon this temple and the surrounding city, but in the 15th century almost everyone left. Trees grew over the stones. Only Buddhist monks stayed behind to care for — and pray in — the hidden temples.

But that didn’t stop pilgrims and visitors from continuing to journey here to take in these incredible structures. And now, centuries later, I couldn’t be more thankful to count myself as one of these visitors

Mostar – Symbols do matter, in war and peace

It’s the end of July in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Peak summer means an influx of tourists to the cobbled alleys of Mostar. The cosy medieval town has a long, rich history marked by the peaceful coexistence of three communities: Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. Once they arrive in town, visitors from all over the world make a beeline for Mostar’s most emblematic monument, the Old Bridge.

A masterpiece of Ottoman architecture, Stari Most – as it’s known locally – is a symbol of the different communities that have existed side-by-side in the area. Since the 16th century, the bridge had brought them together across the Neretva river – until the Bosnian war. The bridge was a symbol of unity between the Bosnian community (Muslim), in the east of the city, and the Croats and Serbs to the west. The bridge of Mostar (of Ottoman, therefore Muslim origin) served as a link between all these communities – as a pedestrian bridge, it had no military or strategic value. Its destruction in 1993 was only meant to force the communities to separate, to deny their mixing with their neighbours. The bridge was in ruins and, with it, the values of peace and understanding this centuries-old structure had embodied.

Five years later, UNESCO coordinated a reconstruction project to rebuild the Old Bridge. Despite the scars of the war that are still visible today on the city walls, the reconstructed bridge has now become a symbol of reconciliation and post-conflict healing.

Today, the crowds jam the street to watch the traditional diving contest from the top of the bridge, a long-held custom resumed once Stari Most was restored to its former glory. Every July, young people of Mostar’s three communities compete with courage by jumping into the river 29 metres below, just like they did before the war.

For over four years after the ceasefire, former enemies worked together to retrieve the stones from the riverbed and rebuild their former symbol of friendship. Reconstructed in 2004 and inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2006, Stari Most today is a bridge between a common past and a common future. It is certainly not enough to rebuild a bridge to restore confidence and rebuild peace in a war-torn society. But it certainly matters to care for the symbols of peace.

I was in my office, working to the sound of mortar fire, when we heard the cries in the street – cries that the bridge had fallen. And what happened then was so impressive that I will never forget it. Everyone came out to see. Grenades and bombs were falling everywhere, but still they came out of their hiding places: young and old, weak and strong, Muslim and Christian, they all came, all crying. Because that bridge was part of our identity. It represented us all.

Timbuktu – When warlords target heritage, peacemakers respond with more heritage

Sitting at the gateway to the Sahara Desert, Timbuktu conjures images of a mythical city at the end of the world, where Arab and African merchants would travel from afar to trade salt, gold, cattle and grain. In the English language, the city in northern Mali has come to represent a place far away. Undaunted, caravans still ply the cross-desert route and come to the city several times a year. They carry rock salt extracted from the northern Sahara, just like their ancestors did for centuries.

In its heyday, during the 16th century, the city had 100,000 inhabitants, as its mosques and holy sites played an essential role in the spread of Islam in Africa. The city became an important centre of learning in Africa and its libraries the repository of at least 700,000 historical manuscripts on art, science and medicine, as well as copies of the Qur’an. These manuscripts, written in ornate calligraphy, bear witness to the richness of African history and intellectual life.

During the conflict of 2012–2013, more than 4,000 of the 40,000 manuscripts kept at the Ahmed Baba Institute were lost. Some were burnt or stolen, while more than 10,000 remained in a critical condition. The inhabitants of Timbuktu helped save their precious heritage by secretly spiriting away more than 300,000 manuscripts to the capital, Bamako. Other texts were sheltered between mud walls or buried. Although protected from immediate destruction, the manuscripts are now preserved in conditions that may not safeguard them for future generations.

To help preserve Timbuktu’s cultural heritage and encourage reconciliation, UNESCO has been supporting the local communities to take part in ancient manuscript conservation projects and ensure their lasting preservation for humanity.

UNESCO has coordinated the work to rebuild the fourteen mausoleums inscribed on the World Heritage List, as well as the Djingareyber and Sidi Yaha mosques, that were deliberately destroyed by armed groups during the conflict.

The reconstruction of Timbuktu’s devastated cultural heritage aimed to foster reconciliation among communities and restore trust and social cohesion. An important aspect of the project was the drive to include the reconstruction of the mausoleums in an overall strategy aimed at revitalizing building traditions and ensuring their continuity, through on-the-job training activities and conservation projects.

To ensure the rebuilt shrines matched the old ones as closely as possible, the reconstruction work was checked against old photos and local elders were consulted. Local workers used traditional methods and local materials, including alhor stone, rice stalks and banco – a mixture of clay and straw.

The destruction of the mausoleums of Timbuktu has been a shock, and a clear turning point revealing the importance taken of culture and heritage in modern conflicts fuelled by violent extremism and fundamentalist ideologies. It has shown how strongly fundamentalists are willing to destroy other Islamic cultures, and any other vision which differs from their own. Similar direct destruction of Islamic, pre-Islamic, Christian or Jewish heritage, has then been seen in Iraq and Syria. The need to restore heritage has become far more than a mere cultural issue – it has become a security issue, and a key component for the resilience and further cohesion of societies torn by conflicts.

At present, the monuments in Timbuktu are living heritage, closely associated with religious rituals and community gatherings. Their shape and form have always evolved over time both with annual cycles (that of the rain and the erosion of the plastering); that of regular maintenance (every three to five years); repairs of structural pathologies, often adding buttresses; and at times more important works, including extensions and raising of the roof structure. How to take that into account while trying to guide and assist the local people in their self-capacity, their resilience in keeping their heritage as they have done for over 600 years? What should be done and to what extent? Who should be responsible for what? These are tricky questions of heritage preservation, far beyond the mere inscription of a site on the famous World Heritage list.

Salt comes from north, gold from south and silver from the land of Whites, but the Word of God, the famous things, histories and fairy tales, we only find them in Timbuktu.

Preserving cultural identity and Korean traditions: The bond of living heritage

It’s the end of November in the countryside near Jeonju, the capital of the North Jeolla Province. The weather is getting chilly and winter is just a couple of weeks away.

It’s time to prepare for the long, icy-cold season. It’s time to make kimchi.

The Republic of Korea’s staple food is a side dish of salted and fermented vegetables that makes its appearance at every meal. It’s not just the country’s emblematic dish: its preparation ( kimjang ) is a community event.

Housewives monitor weather forecasts to determine the most favourable date and temperature for preparing kimchi. Entire families, friends and neighbours gather together to make it. The process is rather laborious and requires many hands to process the large quantities of vegetables required to last throughout the winter months. They all work together, exchange tips and tighten their relationships through kimjang. Families take turns making kimchi to form closer bonds.

Today, the entire village will get together in one of the houses for the occasion. Together, they will wash the napa cabbage that was pickled in salt the night before and mix in the seasonings that will give kimchi its unique sour-and-spicy flavour. The specific methods and ingredients are transmitted from mother to daughter so that kimjang culture is preserved through the generations.

Since 2013, kimjang has been included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as an important part of Korean culture, embodying the country’s cooperative and sharing team spirit. Kimjang is a vital cultural asset of a community and worth preserving and celebrating for the rest of humanity. Even though there may be regional differences in the preparation of kimchi, it transcends class, regional and even national borders.

Cultural practices often precede the instauration of national borders and the start of conflict among its citizens. Shared cultural practices may even be a path to reconciliation. 

Such hopes materialized in 2018, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea decided to work together to submit a joint submission for traditional wrestling as an element of UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Ssirum/Ssireum (wrestling) is a physical game and a popular form of entertainment widely enjoyed all across the Korean peninsula. In the North, two opponents try to push each other to the ground using a satpa (a fabric strap connecting the waist and leg), their torso, hands and legs. Ssirum/Ssireum is distinguished by the use of the satpa and the awarding of a bull to the winner. In the South, Ssirum/Ssireum is a type of wrestling in which two players wearing long fabric belts around their waists and one thigh grip their opponents’ belt and deploy various techniques to send them to the ground. The winner of the final game for adults is awarded an ox, symbolizing agricultural abundance, and the title of ‘Jangsa’.

As an approachable sport involving little risk of injury, Ssirum/Ssireum also offers a means to improve mental and physical health. Koreans are widely exposed to Ssirum/Ssireum traditions within their families and local communities: children learn the wrestling skills from family members; local communities hold annual open wrestling tournaments; its instruction is also provided in schools.

Following UNESCO’s mediation, the two States Parties agreed for their respective nomination files to be jointly examined by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in November 2018. UNESCO welcomed this initiative of regional cooperation and, through a historic decision, inscribed "Traditional Korean wrestling (Ssirum/Ssireum)" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as a joint inscription from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. While the Lists of the Convention include several examples of multinational nominations prepared by several States (from couscous to the art of falconry and the Mediterranean diet), the coming together of the two States Parties for the joint inscription of Korean traditional wrestling by the Committee is unprecedented. It marks a highly symbolic step on the road to inter-Korean reconciliation. It is also a victory for the longstanding and profound ties between both sides of the inter-Korean border, and for the role cultural diplomacy may have in international relations.

It was the time when the women would gather and gossip. There would be matchmaking. There would be some marriages that came about during the time of kimchi making.

Promoting culture in a post-COVID-19 world

The cultural and creative industries are among the fastest growing sectors in the world. With an estimated global worth of US$ 4.3 trillion per year, the culture sector now accounts for 6.1 per cent of the global economy. They generate annual revenues of US$ 2,250 billion and nearly 30 million jobs worldwide, employing more people aged 15 to 29 than any other sector. The cultural and creative industries have become essential for inclusive economic growth, reducing inequalities and achieving the goals set out in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The adoption of the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions was a milestone in international cultural policy. Through this historic agreement, the global community formally recognized the dual nature, both cultural and economic, of contemporary cultural expressions produced by artists and cultural professionals. Shaping the design and implementation of policies and measures that support the creation, production, distribution of and access to cultural goods and services, the 2005 Convention is at the heart of the creative economy.

Recognizing the sovereign right of States Parties to maintain, adopt and implement policies to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expression, both nationally and internationally, the 2005 Convention supports governments and civil society in finding policy solutions for emerging challenges.

Based on human rights and fundamental freedoms, the 2005 Convention ultimately provides a new framework for informed, transparent and participatory systems of governance for culture.

A constant rethinking of culture and heritage

The history of UNESCO bears witness to the deep transformation of the concept of culture over the past decades. From global Conventions mostly dealing with building and stones in the 60’s and 70’s, the international cooperation opened new fronts for the protection and promotion of culture, including intangible cultural heritage, cultural diversity and creative economy. The definition of "culture" was spearheaded by the committee led by former UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuellar and the Mondiacult Conference in 1982. In 2022, the global Mondiacult conference is expected to take stock of progress made in the past 40 years in cultural policies, and re-imagine its future in a post-COVID-19 world.

Have a look at these World Heritage sites

The 30,000-kilometre-long road system was built by the Inca Empire across mountains, valleys, rainforests and deserts to link the Inca capital, Cuzco, with distant areas of the empire, from the Amazon to the Andes. Thanks to its sheer scale, Qhapaq Ñan is a unique achievement of engineering skills, highlighting the Incas' mastery of construction technology.

The granting of World Heritage status in 2019 has made its trail – which every year sees thousands of visitors on their way to the area’s archaeological sites such as Machu Picchu in Peru – eligible for much-needed restoration funds.

Borobudur Temple Compound

Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world and one of the great archaeological sites of Southeast Asia. This imposing Buddhist temple, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, is located in central Java. It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,500 m 2 . Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha. The monument was restored with UNESCO's help in the 1970s.

Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan

This cultural landscape was simultaneously inscribed on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2003. The property is in a fragile state of conservation, having suffered from abandonment, military action and dynamite explosions. Parts of the site are inaccessible due to the presence of anti-personnel mines.

Related items

• Lists and designations
• Intangible cultural heritage
• Intangible heritage
• Diversity of Cultural Expressions-2005 Convention
• Intangible Cultural Heritage-2003 Convention
• Underwater Cultural Heritage-2001 Convention
• World Heritage 1972 Convention
• Fight Illicit Trafficking-1970 Convention
• Armed Conflict and Heritage-1954 Convention
• Culture & Sustainable Development
• UNESCO Creative Cities Network

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

Ethics, culture and social responsibility.

• Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
• Accessible Tourism

Tourism and Culture

• Women’s Empowerment and Tourism

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The convergence between tourism and culture, and the increasing interest of visitors in cultural experiences, bring unique opportunities but also complex challenges for the tourism sector.

“Tourism policies and activities should be conducted with respect for the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage, which they should protect and pass on to future generations; particular care should be devoted to preserving monuments, worship sites, archaeological and historic sites as well as upgrading museums which must be widely open and accessible to tourism visits”

UN Tourism Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics

Article 7, paragraph 2

This webpage provides UN Tourism resources aimed at strengthening the dialogue between tourism and culture and an informed decision-making in the sphere of cultural tourism. It also promotes the exchange of good practices showcasing inclusive management systems and innovative cultural tourism experiences .  

About Cultural Tourism

According to the definition adopted by the UN Tourism General Assembly, at its 22nd session (2017), Cultural Tourism implies “A type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions”. UN Tourism provides support to its members in strengthening cultural tourism policy frameworks, strategies and product development . It also provides guidelines for the tourism sector in adopting policies and governance models that benefit all stakeholders, while promoting and preserving cultural elements.

Recommendations for Cultural Tourism Key Players on Accessibility 

UN Tourism , Fundación ONCE and UNE issued in September 2023, a set of guidelines targeting key players of the cultural tourism ecosystem, who wish to make their offerings more accessible.

The key partners in the drafting and expert review process were the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) . The ICOMOS experts’ input was key in covering crucial action areas where accessibility needs to be put in the spotlight, in order to make cultural experiences more inclusive for all people.

This guidance tool is also framed within the promotion of the ISO Standard ISO 21902 , in whose development UN Tourism had one of the leading roles.

Download here the English and Spanish version of the Recommendations.

Compendium of Good Practices in Indigenous Tourism

The report is primarily meant to showcase good practices championed by indigenous leaders and associations from the Region. However, it also includes a conceptual introduction to different aspects of planning, management and promotion of a responsible and sustainable indigenous tourism development.

The compendium also sets forward a series of recommendations targeting public administrations, as well as a list of tips promoting a responsible conduct of tourists who decide to visit indigenous communities.

For downloads, please visit the UN Tourism E-library page: Download in English - Download in Spanish .

Weaving the Recovery - Indigenous Women in Tourism

This initiative, which gathers UN Tourism , t he World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA) , Centro de las Artes Indígenas (CAI) and the NGO IMPACTO , was selected as one of the ten most promising projects amoung 850+ initiatives to address the most pressing global challenges. The project will test different methodologies in pilot communities, starting with Mexico , to enable indigenous women access markets and demonstrate their leadership in the post-COVID recovery.

This empowerment model , based on promoting a responsible tourism development, cultural transmission and fair-trade principles, will represent a novel community approach with a high global replication potential.

Visit the Weaving the Recovery - Indigenous Women in Tourism project webpage.

Inclusive Recovery of Cultural Tourism

The release of the guidelines comes within the context of the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development 2021 , a UN initiative designed to recognize how culture and creativity, including cultural tourism, can contribute to advancing the SDGs.  

UN Tourism Inclusive Recovery Guide, Issue 4: Indigenous Communities

Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism

The Recommendations on Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism provide guidance to tourism stakeholders to develop their operations in a responsible and sustainable manner within those indigenous communities that wish to:

• Open up to tourism development, or
• Improve the management of the existing tourism experiences within their communities.

They were prepared by the UN Tourism Ethics, Culture and Social Responsibility Department in close consultation with indigenous tourism associations, indigenous entrepreneurs and advocates. The Recommendations were endorsed by the World Committee on Tourism Ethics and finally adopted by the UN Tourism General Assembly in 2019, as a landmark document of the Organization in this sphere.

Who are these Recommendations targeting?

• Tour operators and travel agencies
• Tour guides
• Indigenous communities
• Other stakeholders such as governments, policy makers and destinations

The Recommendations address some of the key questions regarding indigenous tourism:

Download PDF:

• Recommendations on Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism
• Recomendaciones sobre el desarrollo sostenible del turismo indígena, ESP

UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture

The UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture bring together Ministers of Tourism and Ministers of Culture with the objective to identify key opportunities and challenges for a stronger cooperation between these highly interlinked fields. Gathering tourism and culture stakeholders from all world regions the conferences which have been hosted by Cambodia, Oman, Türkiye and Japan have addressed a wide range of topics, including governance models, the promotion, protection and safeguarding of culture, innovation, the role of creative industries and urban regeneration as a vehicle for sustainable development in destinations worldwide.

Fourth UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture: Investing in future generations. Kyoto, Japan. 12-13 December 2019 Kyoto Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Investing in future generations ( English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Japanese )

Third UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture : For the Benefit of All. Istanbul, Türkiye. 3 -5 December 2018 Istanbul Declaration on Tourism and Culture: For the Benefit of All ( English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Russian )

Second UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference’s on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development. Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. 11-12 December 2017 Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development ( English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Russian )

First UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference’s on Tourism and Culture: Building a new partnership. Siem Reap, Cambodia. 4-6 February 2015 Siem Reap Declaration on Tourism and Culture – Building a New Partnership Model ( English )

UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage  

The first UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage provides comprehensive baseline research on the interlinkages between tourism and the expressions and skills that make up humanity’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). 

Through a compendium of case studies drawn from across five continents, the report offers in-depth information on, and analysis of, government-led actions, public-private partnerships and community initiatives.

These practical examples feature tourism development projects related to six pivotal areas of ICH: handicrafts and the visual arts; gastronomy; social practices, rituals and festive events; music and the performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; and, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe.

Highlighting innovative forms of policy-making, the UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage recommends specific actions for stakeholders to foster the sustainable and responsible development of tourism by incorporating and safeguarding intangible cultural assets.

UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage

• UN Tourism Study
• Summary of the Study

Studies and research on tourism and culture commissioned by UN Tourism

• Tourism and Culture Synergies, 2018
• UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2012
• Big Data in Cultural Tourism – Building Sustainability and Enhancing Competitiveness (e-unwto.org)

Outcomes from the UN Tourism Affiliate Members World Expert Meeting on Cultural Tourism, Madrid, Spain, 1–2 December 2022

UN Tourism and the Region of Madrid – through the Regional Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports – held the World Expert Meeting on Cultural Tourism in Madrid on 1 and 2 December 2022. The initiative reflects the alliance and common commitment of the two partners to further explore the bond between tourism and culture. This publication is the result of the collaboration and discussion between the experts at the meeting, and subsequent contributions.

Relevant Links

• 3RD UN Tourism/UNESCO WORLD CONFERENCE ON TOURISM AND CULTURE ‘FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL’

Photo credit of the Summary's cover page:  www.banglanatak.com

NLEX Lakbay Norte Travel Guide: Your ultimate guide to Northern Luzon

Five reasons why heritage tourism is important

Balai Palmera opens newest pasalubong center and resto in Silang, Cavite

Heritage is shared by the whole community, which is why it’s important that heritage sites—not just the ruins—are taken care of and fostered so more people could visit and learn from them.

Unfortunately, many people in the country look at buildings older than 50 years as old and ugly and ready for demolition, when all they really need is proper care, attention, and perhaps some restoration. Many architects and engineers could be a bit trigger happy, thinking that old buildings are more expensive to maintain. What they fail to see are the revenue potential of these old establishments.

Singapore, for example, has had huge success in heritage conservation and tourism. The Asian country used to level its old buildings before they realized how valuable they were. When conservation efforts started to pick up, tourism went up significantly.

Here are some of the reasons why heritage tourism is an important part of a country’s tourism potential:

• Historical and cultural destinations, as part of heritage tourism, could play an even bigger role in getting tourists to and around the Philippines. With so many heritage sites in the country, a bit of a push in the right direction could go a long way in further enticing tourists—both local and international—to explore.
• Heritage sites are meaningful sources of identity and inspiration for communities across the country. With carefully laid out programs and projects, they could also provide additional financial resources for local government units.
• Because each city has its own heritage, highlighting this aspect goes beyond beautification. In fact, it shows love and pride for the country.

• Heritage can be a platform for political recognition, a medium for intercultural dialogue, a means of ethical reflection, and the potential basis for local economic development. It is simultaneously local and particular, global and shared, according to the UMass Amherst Center for Heritage & Society.
• Travelers are more likely to stay longer at their destinations and spend more money if they include a heritage activity, a study by the Travel Industry Association in 2003 found out. Travelers also say that trips are more memorable if they include a heritage activity where they learn something new about history, tradition, art and culture.

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• Nov 15, 2021

The Importance of Tourism in Preserving Culture and Heritage

It may seem counterintuitive to some, but tourism actually has a role to play in preserving culture.

You see, tourism is closely tied to cultural promotion, increased cultural awareness, and the accumulation of resources to be used for cultural preservation.

How? We’ll outline that in more detail today as we talk about tourism’s role in keeping culture and heritage alive.

How Tourism Helps Cultural Preservation

Let's start with what tourism does.

It basically encourages outsiders to visit and possibly experience a culture or locale different from their own. This is useful in the preservation of culture and heritage because it increases their visibility past their usual borders.

When tourism is done right, the visibility it can grant a culture isn’t shallow either.

To see why, you just need to remember that understanding culture is best done from close-up or even via immersion. Holding yourself at a distance from a culture isn’t usually the best way to fully grasp it.

Immersion and intimacy give you a better picture of the culture than a remote perspective. It can enrich even your insight on cultural differences.

This experience of a culture renders your awareness of it deeper and more meaningful.

This means that the visibility tourism can give to a culture and heritage becomes less of a shallow image, more truly reflective of the society being identified and acknowledged.

And this matters for several reasons!

First, preservation of a culture doesn't happen merely through memories of those who own it.

It can happen too through acknowledgement of those outside the culture, through their appreciation and agreement that there is definitely an identity in there that’s worth recognising.

Second, this appreciation from outsiders can encourage members of the culture to actually keep it alive out of pride. The admiration of others can help you realise the importance of knowing your culture.

That can tie into schemes for cultural tourism, whereby added impetus to keep the culture alive - whether for economic gain or other reasons - would arise.

Those same schemes can be used to harvest resources for the preservation of culture and heritage too. This is often the case for entry fees to heritage sites, where a portion of the fees are used to maintain the locations.

So, as you can see, tourism can have clear benefits for cultural preservation.

The Other Side of the Coin

That being said, there's reason to be wary of tourism too if you care about cultural preservation.

Tourism can dilute culture in some ways. For example, it can bring about overdone commodification of traditions and heritage.

When people put profit-making first, that’s always a possibility. It even paves the way for cultural theft, which happens fairly often now since people recognise there’s a market for cultural commodities.

A famous example would be the inauthentic didgeridoo trade.

Didgeridoos are iconic wind instruments used by Australia’s aborigines. Even their crafting is an important piece of aboriginal heritage, as it requires the careful selection and polishing of live trees that have been hollowed by termites.

Unfortunately, demand for didgeridoos among collectors and tourists is such that the aborigines who normally craft them can barely meet supply.

This is because it takes a long time to make a didgeridoo the traditional way.

The result is that some entrepreneurs have set up “didgeridoo workshops” in other locations - like Southeast Asian countries - where foreign nationals make the instruments using modern methods.

They churn out the didgeridoos by the hundreds and then sell them while claiming them to be authentic.

Thefts like this can be a serious outcome of uncontrolled cultural tourism. It turns culture into another commodity to be mass-produced, outsourced, and thus, rendered inauthentic.

Striking a Balance

Still, tourism can have obvious benefits for cultural preservation.

This is particularly true today, when living in a vacuum is no longer feasible due to the high integration of economies and societies.

Tourism may help communities stay aware of what to look out for in terms of keeping tradition alive when managed properly.

It can keep us aware of the dangers of losing the past in the push to move forward while also offering ways to use that past for progress.

To that end, everything comes down to balance, as with most things.

What do you think, yourself? What’s your take on tourism and how it can help with cultural preservation - if at all?

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Why Is Linking Ecotourism With Cultural Heritage Tourism Important?

Published: November 14, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Loree Wessel

Introduction

Ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism are two flourishing sectors in the travel industry. Both offer unique experiences to visitors, promoting sustainability and preservation of natural and cultural resources. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the significant benefits that can be derived from linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism.

Ecotourism can be defined as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local communities. It focuses on minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and maximizing the positive contributions to conservation efforts and community development. On the other hand, cultural heritage tourism refers to travel that emphasizes the exploration and appreciation of a destination’s historic and cultural assets. It aims to sustain and promote the traditional practices, customs, and artifacts of a community or region.

The connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism lies in their shared values of sustainability, the preservation of natural and cultural resources, and the promotion of community well-being. By integrating these two forms of tourism, destinations can create a synergy that benefits both the environment and local communities.

In this article, we will delve deeper into the importance of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. We will explore the economic, environmental, and social benefits that arise from such a connection. Additionally, we will discuss how this linkage contributes to sustainable development and the challenges and considerations that come with it.

Definition of Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of sustainable tourism that promotes responsible travel to natural areas. It focuses on conserving the environment, supporting local communities, and educating visitors about the importance of conservation and sustainability. The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.”

One of the key principles of ecotourism is minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment. This includes reducing pollution, conserving resources, and protecting wildlife and ecosystems. Ecotourism also aims to provide economic opportunities for local communities, supporting their livelihoods and empowering them to be active participants in tourism development.

To be considered true ecotourism, the activities and experiences offered must adhere to certain guidelines and principles. These include:

• Environmental Conservation: Ecotourism seeks to protect and conserve the natural environment, including ecosystems, flora, fauna, and biodiversity. This involves promoting sustainable practices such as waste management, energy efficiency, and habitat restoration.
• Community Engagement: Ecotourism places a strong emphasis on involving and benefiting local communities. It aims to provide economic opportunities, support cultural preservation, and empower communities to be stewards of their natural resources.
• Education and Interpretation: Ecotourism seeks to educate visitors about the value of the environment and cultural heritage. It provides opportunities for learning and interpretation, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural sites visited.
• Ethical Considerations: Ecotourism promotes ethical practices, respect for local customs and traditions, and sensitivity towards social and cultural issues. It strives to minimize cultural and social disruptions and ensure that tourism activities have a positive impact on local communities.

Overall, ecotourism is more than just a leisure activity; it is a responsible and sustainable approach to travel that aims to preserve the environment, support local communities, and promote awareness and education. By engaging in ecotourism, travelers can have a meaningful and enriching experience while contributing to the conservation and well-being of our planet.

Definition of Cultural Heritage Tourism

Cultural heritage tourism is a form of travel that focuses on experiencing and appreciating the cultural and historical assets of a destination. It involves visiting sites, landmarks, and communities that hold significant cultural, historical, and artistic value. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines cultural heritage as “the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes inherited from past generations.”

Cultural heritage tourism aims to support the protection, preservation, and promotion of a destination’s cultural resources. It involves immersing oneself in the traditions, customs, arts, and architecture of a community or region. The experiences offered in cultural heritage tourism often include visiting museums, archaeological sites, historical buildings, festivals, traditional crafts demonstrations, and engaging with local communities.

To be considered cultural heritage tourism, the activities and attractions should have a strong connection to the cultural identity and history of the destination. This can include tangible heritage, such as ancient ruins or historic sites, as well as intangible heritage, such as traditional knowledge, storytelling, music, and cuisine.

Cultural heritage tourism offers numerous benefits, both for travelers and the local communities. For travelers, it provides an opportunity to gain insights into the rich history, traditions, and lifestyles of a place. It creates a deeper understanding and appreciation of different cultures and fosters cross-cultural connections and mutual respect.

For local communities, cultural heritage tourism can serve as a vital economic driver. It generates revenues and job opportunities, supporting local businesses and craftspeople. It also encourages the preservation and revitalization of cultural practices, traditions, and skills, which may have been at risk of fading away.

Furthermore, cultural heritage tourism promotes the conservation and sustainability of cultural resources. By raising awareness and generating interest, it encourages the protection and maintenance of historical sites and the transmission of cultural knowledge to future generations.

Overall, cultural heritage tourism celebrates the diversity of human history and cultural expression. It offers a way to connect with the past while contributing to the preservation and economic vitality of communities. By engaging in cultural heritage tourism, travelers have the opportunity to be immersed in fascinating stories, traditions, and experiences while supporting the safeguarding of our shared cultural heritage.

The Connection between Ecotourism and Cultural Heritage Tourism

Ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism share a strong connection as they both promote sustainability, conservation, and community engagement. While ecotourism focuses on the preservation of natural areas and wildlife, cultural heritage tourism centers around the exploration and appreciation of a destination’s cultural assets. However, these two forms of tourism are intertwined and often overlap due to the interdependence between nature and culture.

One of the key connections between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism is the reliance on the environment for both natural and cultural resources. Many cultural heritage sites are located in natural areas, such as archaeological sites in forests or historic buildings near natural landscapes. The interaction between human activities, cultural practices, and the natural environment is an essential aspect of both ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism.

Furthermore, protecting and preserving natural areas is often crucial for the conservation of cultural heritage. The landscapes and ecosystems surrounding cultural sites play a significant role in maintaining their integrity and authenticity. For example, the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia are not only significant for their architectural and historical value but also for the surrounding forests that are critical for the maintenance of the site’s structural stability.

Cultural heritage tourism can also contribute to the conservation of the environment. By raising awareness and educating visitors about the cultural significance of natural areas, it fosters a sense of responsibility towards environmental conservation. This connection encourages tourists to engage in sustainable practices and support conservation initiatives in the destination.

Moreover, the integration of cultural heritage into ecotourism experiences enhances the overall tourism product. Visitors are not only able to appreciate the natural beauty of an area but also the cultural traditions, artistic expressions, and historical narratives that have shaped the landscape. This combination creates a more holistic and enriching experience for travelers, allowing them to develop a deeper understanding and connection with the destination.

Importance of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

Linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is of paramount importance for several reasons. This connection allows for a more holistic and sustainable approach to tourism, benefiting the environment, local communities, and visitors alike.

One of the key advantages of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is the ability to create a diverse range of experiences for visitors. By combining the exploration of natural areas with the appreciation of cultural heritage, destinations can offer a well-rounded and immersive travel experience. Visitors can enjoy activities such as exploring archaeological sites, hiking through protected forests, and interacting with local communities, gaining a deeper understanding of the interplay between nature and culture.

The connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism also enhances the economic benefits for local communities. By promoting and preserving cultural heritage assets, destinations can attract a wider range of tourists, resulting in increased visitor spending and job creation. The revenue generated from tourism can then be reinvested in conservation efforts, cultural preservation initiatives, and community development, contributing to long-term sustainable development.

Environmental conservation is another significant advantage of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. By integrating sustainable practices with cultural heritage experiences, destinations can raise awareness about the importance of preserving natural areas and wildlife habitats. Visitors can witness firsthand the relationship between cultural heritage sites and the natural environment, fostering a sense of responsibility and inspiring environmentally conscious behaviors.

Linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism also promotes social and cultural benefits. It encourages the preservation and revitalization of cultural traditions and practices, providing a platform for local communities to showcase their heritage and share their knowledge. This enhances cultural pride, fosters intercultural understanding, and promotes respect for diverse cultures and traditions.

Furthermore, the connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism contributes to sustainable development. By promoting responsible travel, supporting local businesses, and prioritizing conservation efforts, destinations can ensure the long-term viability of their natural and cultural resources. This helps to safeguard the unique identity and authenticity of a place, attracting more environmentally conscious and culturally curious travelers.

Economic Benefits of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism offers numerous economic benefits, both for the destination and local communities.

First and foremost, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism expands the tourism product offering, attracting a wider range of visitors and increasing tourism revenue. By combining natural attractions with cultural experiences, destinations can appeal to a broader audience, including those interested in both nature and history. This diversification of the tourism product leads to longer stays, increased visitor spending on accommodations, local businesses, attractions, and services, and an overall boost to the local economy.

The connection between these two forms of tourism also creates new employment opportunities for local communities. As the demand for sustainable and immersive tourism experiences grows, more jobs are created in various sectors such as eco-guiding, heritage interpretation, handicraft production, traditional arts and performances, and hospitality. The revenue generated from tourism activities not only supports the livelihoods of individuals directly employed in the industry but also stimulates the local economy through indirect employment, such as suppliers and service providers.

Moreover, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism encourages entrepreneurship and small business development. Local craftspeople, artists, and artisans can showcase and sell their traditional products, contributing to the preservation and promotion of indigenous arts and crafts. This empowers local communities, preserves cultural traditions, and provides an alternative source of income that is closely tied to the sustainable use of natural and cultural resources.

Furthermore, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism can lead to increased investment in infrastructure and services. As tourism demand grows, destinations often invest in improving transportation, accommodations, visitor facilities, and conservation efforts. These infrastructure developments not only enhance the visitor experience but also benefit the local community by improving access to essential services and creating opportunities for further economic growth beyond the tourism sector.

Additionally, the economic benefits of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism ripple through the local economy. Local businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and transportation providers benefit from increased tourist demand and spending. This, in turn, supports other sectors and stimulates economic diversification, promoting overall economic resilience and reducing dependency on a single industry.

In summary, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism has substantial economic advantages. It boosts tourism revenue, job creation, entrepreneurship, and investment in infrastructure and services. By capitalizing on the natural and cultural assets of a destination, this linkage fosters sustainable economic development and supports the well-being and prosperity of local communities.

Environmental Benefits of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

Linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism brings about numerous environmental benefits, contributing to the conservation and preservation of natural resources and ecosystems.

One of the key environmental advantages is the promotion of sustainable practices and the integration of conservation efforts. Ecotourism emphasizes responsible travel and encourages visitors to minimize their negative impact on the environment. By combining it with cultural heritage tourism, destinations can educate travelers about the delicate balance between nature and culture, fostering a respect and appreciation for the natural environment.

Furthermore, the preservation of cultural heritage sites often requires the protection and conservation of surrounding natural areas. Many historical landmarks and cultural sites are located in environmentally significant regions, such as coastal areas, forests, or mountainous landscapes. By emphasizing the interplay between cultural heritage and the natural environment, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism highlights the importance of protecting these ecosystems and habitats.

Linking these two forms of tourism also encourages a greater awareness and understanding of environmental issues. Through interpretive programs, guided tours, and educational activities, visitors gain insights into the ecological significance of the area and learn about the impacts of human activities on the environment. This awareness raises consciousness about the need for conservation and sustainable practices not only during their visit but also in their daily lives.

Moreover, the economic benefits derived from linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism can create incentives and financial resources for conservation initiatives. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be channeled towards environmental protection, habitat restoration, and biodiversity conservation. These financial resources provide essential support for local conservation organizations and government agencies working to safeguard the natural resources and ecosystems.

Additionally, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism can contribute to the promotion of sustainable transportation. By encouraging visitors to engage in eco-friendly modes of transportation, such as cycling, walking, or using public transportation, the carbon footprint associated with travel is reduced. This helps to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of tourism, including air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Overall, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is beneficial for the environment. It promotes sustainable practices, raises awareness about environmental issues, supports ecosystem conservation, and provides financial resources for environmental protection. By integrating these two forms of tourism, destinations can foster a symbiotic relationship between nature and culture, ensuring the preservation and enjoyment of both for future generations.

Social and Cultural Benefits of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism provides numerous social and cultural benefits, creating opportunities for personal growth, cross-cultural exchange, and community empowerment.

One of the key social benefits is the promotion of cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. By combining natural attractions with cultural experiences, linking these two forms of tourism encourages visitors to engage with local communities, learn about their traditions, and gain insights into their way of life. This fosters mutual respect, tolerance, and empathy, promoting a more inclusive and connected global society.

The connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism also empowers local communities and promotes the preservation of cultural traditions. By involving local communities in tourism activities, such as homestays or cultural performances, it provides economic opportunities and supports the continuation of traditional practices. This helps to maintain cultural diversity, strengthen cultural identity, and preserve intangible cultural heritage.

Furthermore, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism promotes the preservation and revitalization of traditional arts and crafts. Visitors have the opportunity to engage with local artisans and learn about their craftsmanship, such as pottery-making, weaving, or traditional painting. The cultural exchange that occurs in these encounters not only supports the livelihoods of artisans but also encourages the transmission of traditional knowledge to future generations.

The cultural heritage component of the tourism experience also stimulates cultural pride and self-esteem within local communities. By valuing and showcasing their cultural heritage, local residents gain a sense of pride in their traditions, history, and achievements, bolstering their sense of identity. This, in turn, strengthens community cohesion, social bonds, and cultural confidence.

Moreover, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism creates opportunities for education and learning. Visitors, through guided tours, interpretive programs, and cultural interactions, gain knowledge about the historical, cultural, and environmental significance of the destination. This enriches their understanding of the world, fosters intellectual growth, and encourages lifelong learning.

Additionally, the economic benefits generated through the linkage between these two forms of tourism can contribute to community development. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be reinvested in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and other social services, improving the quality of life for local residents. It also provides resources for social initiatives such as the preservation of historic sites, the establishment of cultural centers, or the support of community-based enterprises.

In summary, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism brings about significant social and cultural benefits. It promotes cross-cultural understanding, empowers local communities, preserves cultural traditions, stimulates cultural pride, and provides opportunities for education and community development. By embracing the connection between nature and culture, tourism becomes a force for fostering cultural appreciation, social cohesion, and sustainable development.

Sustainable Development through Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism offers a pathway towards sustainable development, balancing environmental conservation, cultural preservation, community empowerment, and economic prosperity.

One of the key aspects of sustainable development is the conservation and preservation of natural resources. By integrating ecotourism practices into cultural heritage tourism, destinations can promote responsible travel, minimize negative environmental impacts, and raise awareness about the importance of environmental sustainability. This ensures the long-term viability of the natural environment, safeguarding ecosystems, biodiversity, and the planet’s natural heritage.

Furthermore, the linkage between these two forms of tourism supports the preservation of cultural heritage. Through the promotion of traditional arts, cultural performances, and the preservation of heritage sites, cultural heritage tourism emphasizes the value of cultural preservation. This helps to maintain cultural diversity, foster intercultural understanding, and promote social cohesion.

Additionally, the economic benefits derived from linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism contribute to sustainable development. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be reinvested in the conservation of natural and cultural resources, community development initiatives, and the improvement of public infrastructure and services. This promotes economic resilience, creates job opportunities, and enhances the overall quality of life for local residents.

Linking these two forms of tourism also encourages community empowerment and involvement. By engaging local communities in tourism activities, such as homestays, guided tours, or cultural performances, destinations enable residents to be active participants in tourism development. This empowers communities to take ownership of their cultural heritage, share their knowledge, and benefit economically from the tourism industry.

Moreover, the linkages between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism promote educational opportunities. Visitors have the chance to learn about the natural environment, cultural traditions, and local history, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the destination. This exchange of knowledge and ideas benefits both visitors and local communities, contributing to lifelong learning and personal growth.

Furthermore, the connection between these two forms of tourism enables destinations to set sustainable development goals and establish frameworks for monitoring and evaluation. By integrating sustainability principles into tourism practices, destinations can track their progress towards environmental, social, and economic objectives. This ensures that tourism development aligns with the long-term goals of sustainability and contributes to the overall well-being of local communities and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

In summary, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is essential for achieving sustainable development. It promotes environmental conservation, cultural preservation, community empowerment, and economic prosperity. By embracing the connection between nature and culture, destinations can create a positive impact on the environment, foster intercultural understanding, empower communities, and generate economic benefits that support long-term sustainable development goals.

Challenges and Considerations in Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

While linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism brings about numerous benefits, there are also several challenges and considerations to navigate. It is important to address these challenges to ensure the sustainable development of tourism and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

One of the main challenges is striking a balance between visitor experiences and the preservation of fragile ecosystems and cultural sites. Managing visitor numbers, implementing infrastructure that minimizes environmental impact, and enforcing regulations to protect cultural heritage are all vital measures. This requires comprehensive planning, monitoring, and the involvement of local communities and relevant stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the destination.

Another challenge is ensuring the authenticity and integrity of cultural heritage experiences. The commercialization of cultural practices and the pressure to cater to tourist expectations can sometimes lead to the dilution or commodification of traditions. It is crucial to work closely with local communities and cultural experts to ensure that the representation of cultural heritage remains respectful, accurate, and aligned with the community’s values.

Infrastructure development can also pose challenges in linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. Achieving a delicate balance between providing necessary facilities for visitors without compromising the landscapes, habitats, and cultural authenticity can be a complex task. Careful planning, environmental impact assessments, and sustainable design principles are vital to mitigate the impacts of infrastructure development.

Moreover, tourism can exacerbate social and cultural issues, particularly when there is a mismatch between visitor expectations and the community’s aspirations for cultural preservation and self-determination. Engaging local communities in decision-making processes, providing fair economic opportunities, and respecting local customs and traditions are essential considerations to address potential conflicts and ensure social inclusiveness.

Funding and resource allocation can also pose challenges in linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. Securing financial resources and technical expertise for sustainable tourism development, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation requires long-term planning and collaborative efforts between governments, private sectors, and local communities.

Last but not least, the impacts of climate change present a significant challenge in linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and shifts in ecosystems can threaten both natural and cultural assets. Adaptation measures, such as infrastructure resilience plans, community capacity building, and sustainable land management, are necessary to safeguard against these challenges.

By recognizing and addressing these challenges and considerations, stakeholders can work together to create a sustainable balance between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism. Through careful planning, community engagement, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation, destinations can ensure the preservation of natural and cultural resources while providing meaningful and enriching experiences for visitors.

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism is a powerful collaboration that leads to numerous benefits for destinations, communities, and travelers. By combining the preservation of natural areas with the exploration of cultural heritage, this connection creates a more holistic and sustainable tourism experience.

Through the integration of ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism, destinations can promote responsible travel, minimize environmental impacts, and support the preservation of cultural traditions. Visitors can enjoy immersive experiences that foster cross-cultural understanding and appreciation, promoting social cohesion and intercultural respect.

The economic benefits derived from linking these two forms of tourism contribute to community development, job creation, and entrepreneurship. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be reinvested in conservation initiatives, infrastructure development, and the revitalization of cultural heritage. This supports the long-term sustainability of both natural and cultural resources, benefiting local communities and preserving the uniqueness and authenticity of the destination.

Moreover, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism presents opportunities for education, learning, and personal growth. Visitors gain insights into the interplay between nature and culture, fostering a deeper understanding of the importance of environmental conservation and cultural preservation. This knowledge can be carried beyond the tourism experience, influencing behaviors and promoting sustainable practices in daily life.

However, challenges such as managing visitor impacts, maintaining authenticity, addressing social and cultural issues, financing sustainable development, and adapting to climate change must be addressed. Collaborative efforts among stakeholders, including local communities, governments, and the private sector, are crucial in ensuring the sustainable development of tourism and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

In conclusion, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism offers a pathway towards sustainable development, providing economic, environmental, social, and cultural benefits. By embracing this connection, destinations can create a harmonious balance between nature and culture, offering meaningful and immersive experiences while safeguarding the planet’s natural and cultural heritage for future generations.

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How Heritage Tourism Helps People Unlock the Past

Heritage tourism provides a great way to learn about the past, but what exactly is it? Check out this guide to learn about this new travel trend!

Throughout the past decade or so, people have begun to look at travel in a completely different way. Experiential travel has become a new buzzword to describe travel with that little extra something to it. This new way of traveling looks different for everyone whether you prefer outdoor activities, cultural exchanges, history, or a bit of everything!

This travel revolution means there are more and more opportunities to shape a trip around your particular interests. History buffs will be happy to know that heritage tourism has emerged as one of the new types of travel, and many different destinations and private organizations are focusing on creating their own heritage tourism programs to help cater to this growing tourism market!

Take a step back in time with Let’s Roam .

Here at Let’s Roam, we have no shortage of history buffs on our staff! Our knowledgeable team has created a range of exciting scavenger hunts that will help you explore the biggest tourist attractions and the hidden gems in a destination. These are all accessible via our handy Let’s Roam app . Plus, the Let’s Roam Explorer blog features hundreds of articles to help make trip planning easy!

Exploring the Past through Heritage Tourism 

Below you’ll find a guide to heritage tourism and how it can help you unlock the past. We’ve included a description of what heritage tourism is and how it helps local communities. In addition, we’ve included a short list of some of our favorite heritage travel destinations!

What is heritage tourism?

The term heritage tourism has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years. However, you may find yourself wondering what exactly heritage tourism is. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, heritage tourism is “traveling to experience the places, artifacts, and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.” This means spending time visiting historic places, museums, and archeological attractions. 

However, heritage tourism is more than simply visiting an attraction and checking it off a long to-do list. It means taking the time to truly understand what you’re seeing as well as the impact it has on people. Who lived or worked there? What did their daily lives look like? How did they interact with others?

Heritage tourism is often linked with sustainability since it conveys a more conscious way of traveling. This type of travel generally goes hand in hand with using fewer natural resources. It can also be a great opportunity for tourism development in off-the-beaten-track destinations. This can then be a major contributor to broader economic development and a higher quality of life. Since this type of travel is generally different than mass travel, it also helps promote sustainable development and caring responsibly for cultural resources, historic resources, and natural resources.

What is the purpose of heritage tourism?

 In the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Heritage tourism serves as a way to connect us to the past. It helps us understand how people lived, loved, and laughed. Knowing this can help us better understand the world that we are currently living in. It can also help us analyze why certain things happened in history and how we can learn from it.

On a more personal level, heritage tourism can help people more closely identify with their own ancestors and heritage. There are many different tour operators that offer itineraries full of cultivated experiences that have a special emphasis on culture and history. A good example of this is Birthright, the program that sends young Jewish people to Israel to learn more about Judaism. 

However, you don’t need to go on an organized tour for this. Instead, you can shape your own itinerary so that it incorporates certain aspects that you want to learn more about. For instance, as an American of German and British descent, I’ve made many trips to Germany and the United Kingdom to learn more about my family background. 

How does heritage tourism impact destinations?

When placed under the stewardship of ethical institutions, nonprofit organizations, and partnerships with key stakeholders, heritage tourism has a much gentler approach than other types of tourism. It can offer many economic benefits to destinations. Case studies have shown that heritage tourists tend to stay longer in a destination. They also spend more money while they’re there. This means the economic impact of heritage tourists is greater than other types of tourists.

One of the most obvious economic benefits is that heritage tourism provides employment opportunities. These could range from historians to tour guides as well as support employees at the heritage sites. The tourism industry has one of the lowest barriers to entry when it comes to employment. Heritage tourism can create jobs that are likely to go to the local population. This means that the money stays in the local communities that need it most. 

This, in turn, helps the local economy in numerous ways by allowing more money to be spent at local businesses. In some parts of the world, this could mean the difference between someone being able to stay in their hometown with their friends and family vs. having to go to a big city and look for work. This usually ensures that people have a wider support network nearby which is crucial to their well-being. 

The money generated from tickets can also help preserve the monuments, artifacts, and heritage sites that you’re seeing. This is an incredibly important aspect of conservation. Many of the world’s most important historic sites are falling into disrepair due to unstable economies, civil wars, and other domestic issues. The revenue from ticket sales could make a huge difference in the upkeep and maintenance of the monuments. 

What are some tips and tricks for heritage tourism?

If you’re trying to learn more about the past when visiting historic sites, make sure that you have at least a rough idea as to why the site is important. Although most places will provide enough information to piece together a basic idea, spending the time to read up on it before you go will make your experience much more fulfilling. 

It’s also important to allow yourself plenty of time at each destination. This is the only way that you can truly immerse yourself in it. Also, try to avoid going to historic sites during peak travel hours. Having fewer tourists around makes it much easier to imagine what the places would have looked like. 

What are some of the best destinations for heritage tourism?

Below you’ll find a list of some of our favorite heritage tourism destinations. While this list is in no way exhaustive, it does give you an idea of what types of things fall under the umbrella of heritage tourism. We’ve also included a short section on important things that you should know when visiting any of these destinations.

As one of the oldest civilizations in the world, India has a slew of heritage sites. These can give a comprehensive look into how it transformed from the Indus Valley civilization to the livable, chaotic country we know and love today. The country is full of UNESCO World Heritage sites so this is a good place to start your planning.

Where to go? 

Most visitors begin their trip in Delhi. This is perfect for history buffs. Not only is Delhi the capital of India, but it’s also the location of many previous ancient cities. You can still find vestiges of these in the many forts and tombs in South Delhi as well as the winding streets of Old Delhi. 

Old Delhi was designed by Shah Jahan of Taj Mahal fame. As you wander through the tiny streets crammed full of shops, eateries, and chai-wallahs, it feels like little has changed in the past few centuries. From Delhi, you can easily get on a train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal or Jaipur within a few hours. If you’re interested in religious history, you should also check out Amritsar in the northern state of Punjab. This is the heart of Sikhism and is the home of the breathtaking Golden Temple. 

Alternatively, an overnight train ride will get you to the lakeside city of Udaipur or the spiritual capital of Varanasi where people deposit the bodies or ashes of their deceased family members in the holy Ganges River.

If you’re willing to brave the overnight bus, you can also head to Rishikesh. Sitting in the foothills of the Himalayas, Rishikesh was the birthplace of yoga and a very popular destination for spiritual and yoga-oriented retreats. 

A short flight from Delhi will get you to Mumbai or Calcutta. These two cities were important economic and political centers for the British Raj. This is where you’ll find many colonial-era buildings that look like they could be straight out of London. 

Important things to know . 

The history of India is very long and complex. As you travel, it’s a good idea to jot things down as you go. This is particularly useful for keeping track of Hinduism’s most important gods and kings.  

Also, India can be an extremely stressful and uncomfortable country to travel through. Virtually everywhere you go will be crowded, and it will feel like half of the population is trying to get a photo with you. Rather than stressing out about it, just try and take a deep breath and learn to enjoy the chaos. It will make your experience there much more enjoyable. With a more laid-back attitude, you’re also more likely to see how incredibly kind and welcoming most Indians are and what a great sense of humor they have. 

Why go?  

When it comes to tourist destinations, Thailand has pretty much everything you could possibly want. With the beaches of Koh Samui, the vibrant nightlife of Bangkok, and the green rolling hills of Chiang Mai, there is something for everyone here. Best of all, it’s full of amazing heritage sites that give a fascinating look into Thailand’s history and culture.

As one of the only countries in Southeast Asia that was never colonized, Thailand doesn’t really have the same European-style architecture that you find in neighboring countries. Bangkok is a vibrant capital city that is as sparkly as they come. The city is also home to incredible palaces and temples, including the famous Wat Pho which holds an enormous reclining Buddha. While you’re there, make sure not to miss the vibrant Grand Palace. We guarantee it’s not like any palace you have ever seen before!

Lying just a short train ride from Bangkok, the former capital city of Ayutthaya. It was once one of the biggest cities in the world with a population of nearly one million people. Today, you’ll find it mostly destroyed but even in its current state, it’s still breathtaking. The complex is famous for its 67 temples and ruins.

In the northern section of the country, Chiang Mai is famous for its myriad of temples. These tell an important story of the impact that Buddhism has had on the local population. This bustling city is the largest urban area in northern Thailand and has been a hub for remote workers and backpackers for decades. It’s a great place to base yourself if you want to enjoy some of Thailand’s gorgeous natural landscapes or visit one of the local hill tribes.

Important things to know.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, Thailand basically exploded onto the tourism scene. This huge influx of mass tourism brought with it a few problems. Sex tourism has become very prevalent and can sometimes include underage people. It also comes with drugs and other social issues. When you travel there, it’s best to avoid any of these things. This not only keeps you out of possible trouble but also shows respect for Thai culture. 

New Zealand

New Zealand has long been famous for its beautiful scenery and outdoor activities. Despite its location in the middle of nowhere, they have also managed to develop into one of the world’s bucket list destinations. 

There are many reasons to visit the Land of the Long White Cloud. Perhaps one of the world leaders when it comes to cultural heritage tourism, New Zealand proudly embraces its Maori culture, and the government has created many initiatives to help educate people on the country’s history. You will be greeted with a hearty Kia Ora from the moment your flight lands at Auckland Airport, and the opportunities to learn more about the indigenous population are endless. 

Where to go?

Most long-haul flights fly into the city of Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island. Although there’s little in the way of historic sites here, a quick visit to the imposing Auckland Museum will teach you some important aspects of Maori culture. 

From Auckland, you can take a bus or rent a car to visit various Maori sites located across the North Island. These include the Te Pā Tū Māori Village , the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where one of New Zealand’s founding documents was signed, and the Waipoua Forest, one of the oldest forests in New Zealand which plays an important role in Maori culture.

New Zealand is an amazing destination to visit but it can be painfully expensive to travel through. If you’re traveling on a budget, we highly recommend renting a campervan that you can sleep in. This can help save a lot of money rather than staying in expensive hotel rooms. 

It’s hard to think of heritage tourism and not imagine Italy. The ancient ruins of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum stand testament to an advanced society that thrived over two millennia ago. Meanwhile, the Duomo and Uffizi Museum in Florence holds some of the world’s most spectacular art. 

One of the great things about traveling through Italy is that it has a little bit of everything. And everything they have is magical. From small towns lined with cobblestone streets that have barely changed for hundreds of years to bustling metropolises that have historic sites hidden behind every corner, there is always something interesting for history buffs to explore. As the icing on the cake, the gastronomic scene is incomparable. 

The major cities of Rome, Venice, and Florence should be the first stop on a heritage tourism tour. If you want to focus on smaller towns and villages, you can always visit the spell-binding villages of Cinque Terre National Park or hang around some of the smaller towns of Tuscany. Italy has heritage sites virtually everywhere so you really can’t go wrong! Find out more about exploring this beautiful country on our detailed guide of how to spend a week in Italy !

Italy is full of tourists all year round. However, it’s literally bursting at the seams during the high season. Try to avoid going in the summer if you can. It will make your overall trip much more enjoyable since you won’t be battling crowds or wasting precious vacation time standing in lines. 

What other places should you go?

While we’ve provided just a short list of great destinations for heritage tourism, there are still many more! Mexico , Egypt, Morocco, Japan, the Czech Republic, Sudan, and Iran are also all great options. They’re all full of cultural heritage sites that are sure to wow even the most jaded history buff!

Are you ready to roam?

We hope this guide to heritage tourism has left you inspired to take a step back into the past! As always, we would love to hear your feedback, and please let us know of any tips, tricks, or destinations we may have missed! 

If you’d like to find more information about these destinations mentioned above, make sure to check out the Let’s Roam Explorer blog . Here you’ll find hundreds of destination guides, must-see lists, and travel blogs that will help make your vacation planning easier. Don’t forget to download the Let’s Roam app before you go. This gives you access to all of our great scavenger hunts , ghost walks, art tours, and pub crawls. 

Frequently Asked Questions

The purpose of heritage tourism is to explore the past by visiting archeological sites, museums, and historic attractions. Read more about heritage tourism at the Let’s Roam Explorer blog !

Activities normally associated with heritage tourism could be visiting the ancient ruins of Rome or Mexico , going to a local museum, or even going on a walking tour focusing on unique architecture.

Heritage tourism is different than tourism because it focuses on activities and attractions that are dedicated to preserving the past.

Understanding our heritage is important because it’s easier to understand the world around us. Heritage tourism can play a key role in unlocking the past and bringing it back to life.

If you’re looking for a fascinating heritage tourism destination , look no further than India, Thailand, Italy , New Zealand, Mexico, Morocco, or Egypt!

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What is Heritage (Historical) Tourism?

What is Heritage tourism?

Countries famous for historical tourism.

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A Guide to Heritage Tourism

A growing portion of tourism is focused on visiting important historical and cultural sites. This type of tourism is known as heritage tourism. I'm hoping that this guide to heritage tourism will serve as a foundation on your travels. As heritage tourism continues to grow in popularity, it brings both great benefits and big threats to the places which experience it. It brings a renewed focus on these heritage sites, and with it the economic benefits. However, the increased traffic presents threats to the sites themselves and can threaten the way of life of the people who live there. In our modern age its important to appreciate these important places responsibly. The onus is on us to play an active part in being responsible tourists, especially far from home.

What is Heritage Tourism?

While millions of people a year partake in it, most people have no idea what heritage tourism is. In fact, that's probably why you're reading this guide to heritage tourism int he first place. As defined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, heritage tourism is "travelling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past." In essence, when you visit a place to appreciate its history or people, that heritage tourism. The earliest form of heritage tourism would have been the Grand Tours undertaken by British or European elites. These tours focused on experiencing the culture of different European cities. It also featured visits to the grandest sites of Roman and occasionally Greek antiquity.

In our modern day, many young adults take similar journeys. Not limited to the upper class, people of all ages and classes will take trips across Europe to visit the major historical sites. Yet, heritage tourism has expanded far beyond Europe. With the ever increasing connectedness of our world, people can travel to nearly anywhere. Cultural sites across Asia, Africa and South America continue to increase in popularity. Even locations close to home can be prime sites for heritage tourism. There is a wealth of sites across the United States which have historical significance. When we think about protecting important historical sites, its important to remember that these places aren't all far away.

Preparing Your Trip with this Guide to Heritage Tourism

One of the biggest keys to being a responsible traveler is preparation. Before you visit another country, you need to make yourself aware of their customs. Nothing makes you more unwanted somewhere than offending those who live there. Doing a bit of research to learn about the people goes a long way to having an enjoyable trip. This research also helps to make those visiting after you have better trips since you'll prevent bad feelings. Understanding the culture should ultimately be one of your goals when visiting a new country. Otherwise, what's really the point?

You'll also want to learn the dos and don'ts of the sites you'll visit. If you're hitting the major attractions, make sure you understand the rules around there. These will be pretty obvious, but people break them all the time. If you're going somewhere a bit more off the beaten path, do the research. The last thing you want to do is break a rule or law you weren't aware of and didn't have the group awareness around you to prevent. This is especially key if you're in a place where you don't speak the language. Nothing's worse than a misunderstanding blowing up.

Respecting the Historical Significance

Heritage tourism is all about exposing yourself to culture and history. It's also about learning to respect and appreciate the significance of these places. There is a reason that these sites have gain such acclaim or fame. Their places in history or the cultural consciousness mean that they deserve your respect. Build an understanding of what happened there, of the history that gives such importance to these sites. For instance, if you're visiting an ancient site you need to respect what these places have been witness to. The Colosseum is a great example. It's extraordinarily well known and gets hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. That doesn't mean you can just trample all over its grounds, or to forget that thousands died inside its walls. Keep that in mind and act accordingly.

The explosion of social media has had a huge impact on heritage tourism. Influencers on every platform have an obligation to be respectful, though not all are. Their actions give a perception that their actions are OK, which encourages others to do the same. This cycle can lead to ever increasing damage to historical sites or the relationships between locals and visitors. While we aren't all major social media influencers, we do have a responsibility to discourage such actions. Be a positive influence on those who follow you. Calling out bad behavior when you see it can also have an impact. Responsibility and respecting historical and cultural sites is a job for all of us, no matter how big or small.

Final Thoughts on this Guide to Heritage Tourism

Heritage tourism can be an extremely rewarding experience. Learning about new people and the history of important sites is key to growth as individuals. As this type of travel continues to grow and become more prominent, we all have a role to play. It is vital that we remember when traveling that we are visitors. We must act respectful and be mindful of cultural norms. It's also important to remember how we portray our trips on social media and that we do so in a way which doesn't encourage bad behaviors. If we give these places the respect they are due, the world can enjoy them for generations to come. The mindfulness that you can bring to trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle in general, can be a great asset in practicing good heritage tourism as well.