**Historical Perspective of Cultural Heritage Tourism:**
– Historically viewed through the lens of religion with pilgrimages in Christianity and Islam.
– Pilgrims contributed economically and culturally to regions visited.
– Renaissance and Enlightenment shifted focus to pragmatic aspects of travel.
– Nineteenth century saw increased tourism to cultural heritage sites.
**Cultural and Heritage Tourism Impact:**
– Culture, heritage, and arts contribute to tourist destination appeal.
– Fastest growing segment due to increasing specialization.
– Positive economic and social impacts.
– Can create tensions and conflicts among stakeholders.
– Tourism plays a central role in the emergence and affirmation of heritage.
**Sustainable Development in Cultural Heritage Tourism:**
– Objectives within sustainable development context.
– Conservation of cultural resources and authentic visitor experiences.
– Understanding impact on communities, achieving economic benefits, and providing financial resources for protection.
– Focus on identification, management, and protection of heritage values.
– Marketing and promotion are essential aspects.
**Forms of Cultural Heritage Tourism:**
– Industrial heritage sites showcasing past technologies.
– Architectural heritage sites reflecting human creative genius.
– Moveable cultural heritage including purchase of cultural goods.
– Involves visits to immovable historic sites and built environments.
– Illustrates significance of different forms of architecture.
**Specialized Aspects of Cultural Heritage Tourism:**
– Gastronomic heritage regions and traditional food.
– Intangible cultural heritage through performances like theatre and folk performances.
– Indigenous peoples’ impact and intertwining with heritage tourism.
– Promotion and facilitation by municipalities and tourist organizations.
– Related concepts like heritage interpretation, genealogy tourism, and sustainable tourism.
Cultural heritage tourism is a form of non-business travel whereby tourists engage with the heritage, tangible and intangible, moveable and immovable, of a region through activities, experiences, and purchases which facilitate a connection to the people, objects, and places of the past associated with the locations being visited. As opposed to natural heritage tourism, which focuses on visitors' interaction with the unimproved environment of the area being visited, including outdoor sports and recreation, hiking, diving, fishing, and naturalism, and pleasure tourism without any heritage interest, such as indoor recreation, gastronomy, and hospitality without any significant precedent in the history and heritage of the region, cultural heritage tourism can include activities such as tours of immovable cultural sites, such as historic house museums, historic fortifications, human history museums, and library documentary heritage collections, opportunities for purchases of moveable cultural property, such as antiques, antiquarian books, and other works and ephemera associated with the locations being visited, and opportunities for admission to or purchase of intangible heritage experiences associated with the tourism region, including gastronomic heritage and admissions to performances such as theatre, opera, ballet, indigenous dances, and storytelling.
