Issues in Cultural

Tourism
Mr. L.G Mokoena
(CUL115E)

Thinking Beyond
 Module outcomes:
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At the end of this lesson the students will be able to:

• Understand the Issues, benefits, risks and costs associated with cultural
tourism
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Cultural tourism is not a value free activity. How one

perceives its impacts, good and bad, is often a reflection of a
person’s underlying values.
The challenge is to bring some realism to the debate and
INTRODUCTIO show how proper management can optimize benefits and
minimize or mitigate adverse impacts.
N
 INTRODUCTION
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• Cultural tourism, like all other forms of tourism is potentially a double-edged

sword, capable of benefiting host communities, while also having the
potential to destroy the cultural heritage assets that create the tourism
product.

• Community At its heart, a community can be thought of as a group of

interacting people who share similar beliefs, values or common
characteristics.

• Sense of place, in turn, involves three interrelated elements of place: place

identity, place dependence, and place attachment

• Cultural tourism can impact the quality of life at four different levels of
community: neighbourhood, local, national, and international (McKercher and
Ho 2012).
 The level of deep personal attachment will diminish as one
moves along the continuum from neighbourhood to
international communities and the extent of personal impact
felt by cultural tourism, both positive and negative, will also
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vary.

World heritage attractions may draw large numbers of

tourists that invoke feelings of awe, but they probably do not
INTRODUCTIO invoke feelings of deep personal attachment.
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Domestic tourists may feel a sense of pilgrimage by visiting
these places and paying homage to national symbols that
represent their shared identity.
 INTRODUCTION
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• Timothy (1997) addresses the issue of depth of experience from the

perspective of the individual’s connectivity to an asset.
• He identifies four levels of heritage tourism attractions: world, national,
local, personal, with people having different levels of connectivity.
• World famous attractions, like the Pyramids, may draw large numbers of
tourists from many countries, but most people will not feel a deep sense
of personal attachment to them.
• Local sites, on the other hand, are more likely to invoke deep feeling of
connectivity, but will have little relevance to tourists.
 CULTURAL Cultural tourism has the potential to enhance the quality of life
TOURISM of residents in any or all
of the four levels of community.
AND
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Economic benefits
ENHANCED Cultural tourism has been identified as a powerful economic
development tool that can create jobs, induce investment and
QUALITY OF help revitalize communities in the decline (Gordon and Raber,
2000; Xie 2006; Hall and Lew 2009).
LIFE
It is especially important to many small rural, indigenous or
ethnic minority communities that have limited economic
development options.
 CULTURAL TOURISM AND
ENHANCED QUALITY OF LIFE
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Cultural tourism has the potential to enhance the quality of life of residents
in any or all
of the four levels of community.
Conservation and adaptive re-use
• Cultural tourism has also been identified as providing the
economic rationale to conserve both built heritage (Caffyn and
Lutz 1999; du Cros et al. 2005; Hankey and Brammah 2005)
and the social fabric of ethnic neighbourhoods (Conforti 1996;
Santos et al. 2008) through adaptive reuse.
 CULTURAL Cultural tourism has the potential to enhance the quality of life of residents in

TOURISM
any or all
of the four levels of community.

AND
Nation building and national myth making
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• The role of cultural tourism in nation building, by using cultural

ENHANCED
assets to promote national identity and creating a sense of
shared belongingness, in many ways is more important than the
economic returns generated. National identity is built on cultural
QUALITY OF identity and expressed by a variety of symbols and discourses
(du Cros 2004: 154).
LIFE • Nelson Mandela’s cell in Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town,
South Africa, has become a secular shrine to represent post-
apartheid South Africa
 Costs associated with
cultural tourism
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• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and poorly

managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a community might
experience.
• Six types of impacts have been identified
1. Over-use
2. Under-use
3. Misuse
4. Cultural commodification, loss of authenticity and diversity
5. Impacts from the glocal nature of tourism
6. Short-term goals/flawed or absent planning process
 Costs
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• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and poorly

associated managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a community might
experience.
with cultural
tourism
 Costs associated with
cultural tourism
Faculty of Management Sciences

• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and

poorly managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a
community might experience.
 Costs
Faculty of Management Sciences

• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and poorly

associated managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a community
might experience.
with cultural
tourism
 Costs associated with
cultural tourism
Faculty of Management Sciences

• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and

poorly managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a
community might experience.
 Costs
Faculty of Management Sciences

• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and

associated poorly managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a
community might experience.
with cultural
tourism
 Costs associated with
cultural tourism
Faculty of Management Sciences

• The risks associated with unsustainable, poorly delivered, and poorly

managed cultural tourism can outweigh any benefits a community might
experience.
 • Cultural tourism is indeed a double-edged sword.
• There is an urgent need for all management stakeholders to
Optimizing
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develop measures in cooperation with communities that attract

realistic visitor numbers designed to protect their cultures

benefits and •
and ways of life.
Another challenge is to ensure that policymakers and site

minimizing •
managers develop cultural tourism activities that do not
negatively influence the daily lives of the inhabitants.

impacts?
Planning and development that respects the cultural
differences
 • A holistic master planning approach that defines what type of
tourism sector is desired.
• Develop measures in cooperation with communities that attract
realistic visitor numbers

Optimizing •
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Develop cultural tourism activities that do not have a negative

influence

benefits and
• Adopt a strategic approach to product/experience development
• Adopting a marketing management strategy represents sustainable

minimizing •
development
Establish protocols to determine whether a cultural asset has the

impacts?
potential to be a viable product
• Planning and development mechanisms that respects the
differences
• Commitment from the local community and other stakeholders
 THAN
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