Nature-based cultural diversity and tourism management for traditional crafts

Abstract

Cultural tourism is a term relating to the act of tourists visiting a particular region of a country in order to experience and gain an appreciation for its culture. This might come in the form of the people who live in the region, their art, architecture, lifestyle, food and other elements that have shaped their life. Dr Kota Maruya is a researcher based at Kanazawa University in Japan, his research into cultural tourism targets manufacturing and is spread across three themes: cultural diversity; cultural landscape; and cultural tourism. Part of Maruya's investigations are concerned with finding ways of preserving and developing the culture that is unique to a particular region. By doing so, he hopes to promote cultural tourism as an opportunity for visitors to understand precisely what the residents have protected and what the underlying culture is.