Intangible Cultural Heritage: The New Frontier of Destination Branding

Abstract

By representing a promise of value and differentiation, brands have become a competitive asset in a growing number of contexts and activities (Aaker, 1991; Kotler and Gertner, 2002). This is especially true in tourism, where there has been a proliferation of destination brands in recent years (Balakrishnan, 2009). Ryan and Silvanto (2009, 2010) and Hall and Piggin (2003) assert that the “World Heritage Site” (WHS) designation has, in recent decades, evolved into a de facto destination brand that is widely used to promote and differentiate destinations. The growing importance of the WHS brand has coincided with a quiet paradigm shift in the field of heritage protection and preservation. This change concerns the extension of World Heritage Status from natural and cultural sites to intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in the form of living cultural practices and traditions (Ahmad, 2006). Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is promoted by UNESCO as a counterpart to the World Heritage Sites. In 2003, the UNESCO General Conference Adopted the Convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage (ICH); following its approval by 30 “state parties”, the Convention came into force in 2006 (UNESCO, 2012). By assigning the same importance and protections to intangible aspects of culture- often referred to as “living culture”- as the 1972 UNESCO World Cultural Convention (UNESCO, 2012) had assigned to cultural and natural heritage sites, the new Convention significantly expanded the heritage universe and, by implication, the way in which tourism officials and professionals can use the World Heritage designation to brand, promote and differentiate destinations and locations (Ruggles and Silverman, 2009).