Heritage Tourism Research Articles

Contested Heritage in South Africa: Perspectives from Mahikeng

Mahikeng, the seat of the Ngaka Modiri Molema District and capital of South Africa’s North West province, has identified tourism as an economic driver based on cultural heritage related to Batswana, Boer, and British contestation. However, the colonial heritage is underutilised as visitors come to Mahikeng (formerly Mafeking) in search of experiences relating to the siege of Mafeking, the Anglo–Boer War, and the origins of the Boy Scouts movement but leave disappointed. This heritage has been downgraded in democratic post-apartheid South Africa as there is an agenda that seeks to highlight African cultural heritage, particularly relating to the anti-apartheid struggle. This formerly suppressed cultural heritage needs to be promoted as it is crucial to South Africa’s history, identity, and social cohesion. However, other heritages that are also important are falling by the wayside with the result that the country’s diversity as the ‘rainbow nation’ is being eroded, and heritage tourism opportunities, which could prompt Local Economic Development (LED), are missed. A more critical engagement with the colonial heritage by including African perspectives, critiques, interactions, and roles within the narrative is needed.

Digital applications for preserving archaeological sites and tourism management

Cultural heritage is an important part of our life, a resource for the identity and the cohesion of communities. The paper aims to identify possible solutions for cultural heritage management of the archaeological sites and monuments from Dobrogea. The authors documented and researched above-ground archaeological structures, analysing their characteristics and suggesting solutions for conservation and promoting of archaeological heritage. The rapid development of digital technologies like augmented reality can help us finding cost-effective solutions for archaeology and cultural heritage tourism.

Sustainability of the Sumedang Larang Palace as a Tourism Attraction of the Kingdom of Sunda Heritage in West Java

Sumedang Larang Palace is the last Sunda Kingdom Palace in West Java today. This study aims to explore the supporting elements of the Sumedang Larang Palace as a tourist attraction for the Sunda Kingdom heritage in West Java. This type of research is descriptive qualitative research. The place of this research is the Sumedang Larang Royal Palace, located in the city of Sumedang. The primary data used in this study were obtained by interview, observation, and documentation. The results showed that the Nazir Waqf Foundation of Sumedang Prince mandated the Sumedang Larang Palace. In managing the Palace as a heritage tourism destination, it has been regulated in the organizational structure of the Foundation. Employee management is carried out by human resource management, who records, directs, supervises, and performs operations. Furthermore, through its management, the Foundation also maintains and adequately manages the collection of historical artifacts of the Sumedang Kingdom at the Geusan Ulun Museum. Resources are collected independently by managing palace assets. The Foundation also cooperates with external parties to organize and manage the Palace by involving the government, academia, the private sector, and the media.

지역 문화유산에 대한 스토리텔링이 도시매력성과 장소정체성 및 충성도에 미치는 영향

Purpose: Cultural heritage tourism is different from general tourism, so you can properly understand the cultural heritage when there is explanation through storytelling. Therefore, in this study, we aim to empirically study how cultural interpreters' storytelling about Gongju City's cultural heritage affects the city attractiveness, place identity, and loyalty perceived by tourists visiting Gongju City.
 Methods: For the empirical study, a survey was conducted on tourists who visited Gongsanseong Fortress and King Muryeong's Tomb, which are cultural heritage sites in the Gongju region, and experienced storytelling by cultural interpreters. A total of 182 questionnaires were used for empirical analysis.
 Results: As a result of factor analysis, storytelling was divided into education, interestingness, sensitivities, and theme nature categories, and city attractiveness, place identity, and loyalty were each classified into a single dimension. As a result of the hypothesis testing, it was found that among the components of storytelling, interestingness, sensitivities, and theme nature had a similar degree of influence on city attractiveness, while education had a somewhat lower influence. In addition, education had the highest influence on place identity, while interestingness, sensitivities, and theme nature had a lower influence than education.
 Conclusion: In the end, research has shown that storytelling about cultural heritage can increase city attractiveness, place identity, and loyalty.

Place Attachment at the Ritual Bakar Tongkang for Heritage Tourism in Bagansiapiapi

A concept of place attachment is required to understand the relationship between humans and the tourism environment. The concepts have been integrated into spatial studies with no universal agreement to explain the human-place bond. This systematic literature review focuses on the relationship between place attachment and heritage tourism using the PRISMA principles. This research proposes a conceptualization focus on the ritual approach as a human-place relationship. The place attachment conceptual framework has been influenced by multiple variables such as familiarity, length of engagement, emotional attachment, place character, and rituals. In contrast, heritage tourism's conceptual framework is influenced by curiosity and authenticity.

Heritage Tourism Resilience and Sustainable Performance Post COVID-19: Evidence from Hotels Sector

Heritage tourism in Egypt, differentiated by its distinctive ancient wonders and cultural prosperity, has faced numerous challenges through its history, with political unrest, economic fluctuations, and, most recently, the global COVID-19 pandemic. This research paper investigates the dynamic interplay between planned and adopted resilience within the hotel sector in Egyptian heritage sites and their consequential effects on both social and economic sustainability. A quantitative research method was employed to empirically explore these dynamics. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 550 top and middle managers in hotels located in heritage sites, capturing insights into their perspectives on planned and adopted resilience. The collected data underwent rigorous analysis utilizing “partial least squares structural equation modeling” (PLS-SEM), providing a robust foundation for drawing meaningful conclusions. Findings from the research underscore the necessity of aligning planned and adopted resilience to generate sustainable social and economic performance. The synthesis of planned and adopted resilience was revealed to be pivotal in generating sustainable social and economic performance for hotels. This synthesis catalyzes the hotels’ ability to mitigate uncertainties, adjust to changing environment, and ensure long-term viability. This research might contribute to the current literature by suggesting industry-specific awareness for the reciprocal relationship between planned and adopted resilience in the hotel businesses and their combined influence on both sides of sustainability (social and economic). The findings provide actionable recommendations for hotel management, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to enhance resilience, foster social cohesion, and ensure the economic sustainability of heritage tourism in an everchanging environment.

Heritage tourism and local prosperity: An empirical investigation of their controversial relationship

Cultural heritage and local attractiveness entertain an inextricable relationship. Cultural visitors and tourists are willing to discover and admire different, unique, and outstanding forms of culture and local inhabitants recognize themselves in the symbolic meanings and values carried by their heritage, which inspires proudness and sense of belonging. Furthermore, cultural tourism represents a contributor to local economic conditions and a resource to support cultural heritage maintenance and preservation costs. However, concerns related to excessive flows of tourists towards cultural destinations have been raised from many parts. In fact, over-tourism might generate social, cultural, environmental, and economic costs, mainly affecting and damaging local communities. This paper aims at investigating the nexus between cultural tourism and local economic development. A Structural Regression Model is applied to Italian provincial (NUTS3) data to simultaneously identify the direct effects of cultural tourism on economic conditions as well as its indirect and potentially controversial effects.

Perceptions on Cultural Ecosystem Services of World Cultural Heritages in Beijing: A cross-cultural Comparison of Social Media-based Online Reviews and Images

This study introduces an innovative approach combining social media text and image comments to quantify the perceptual differences of cultural ecosystem services among various sociocultural groups. For five World Heritage Sites in Beijing, natural-language processing classifies visitor perceptions using social media comments and image data, and importance-performance analysis quantifies the differences between Chinese and international visitor perceptions of these cultural ecosystem services. For the six perceived cultural ecosystem service categories, cross-cultural and local visitors exhibit the same satisfaction trends. In particular, international tourists assign higher importance scores for a given cultural ecosystem service than Chinese tourists. The proposed methods incur a lower cost than traditional methods and acquire large volumes of broad-ranging data. Additionally, the importance of‒the performance analysis data-acquisition method is improved. Moreover, World Heritage Site sustainability can be promoted by understanding the different heritage tourism perceptions of different cultural groups. Furthermore, this study provides valuable insights for decision-makers to improve tourism management and conservation strategies.

Analyzing the policy-driven adaptation of Important Agriculture Heritage Systems to modernization from the resilience perspective: a case study of Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System, China

Formulating effective conservation and management policies plays a key role in helping Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (IAHS) cope with the threats and challenges brought by modernization. An important criterion to measure their effectiveness is whether they maintain or enhance the resilience of IAHS. In this study, we first integrate IAHS resilience into the social-ecological systems (SES) framework and propose a SES-based analytical framework for IAHS resilience, which helps analyze how IAHS adapt to external disturbances under the drivers of policies. Then, we suggest the trade-off of ecosystem services as the surrogate of IAHS resilience and use the carbon footprint per unit output value as an indicator to quantify IAHS resilience. The application in Qingtian Rice-Fish Culture System (QRFCS) reveals that the rice-fish culture systems in three villages have formed different development models driven by different conservation and management policies when challenged by modernization, and have displayed different resilience in different development models. The development model centering on enlarged-scale fish farming in Xinpeng Village has shown the highest resilience; the development model with a combination of moderate-scale land management and experiential heritage tourism in Longxian Village has displayed a moderate resilience; and the development model with organic rice-fish culture integrated into terrace sightseeing tourism in Xiaozhoushan Village has shown the lowest resilience. Based on this, we put forward suggestions for maintaining and enhancing the resilience of QRFCS, so as to improve the management of the heritage system. We present that the results will not only enrich the resilience study of SES, but also promote IAHS management and regional sustainable development.

Sunyaragi Cave as a Cultural Heritage Tourist Attraction of the People of Cirebon

This paper discusses how the process of changing Sunyaragi Cave from its initial function as a learning studio for the King's family to a place of deliberations on war strategies against Dutch colonialists to become a tourism industry at this time. This research uses a qualitative method approach to describe the natural condition of objects, where the researcher is the key instrument. The reason researchers choose descriptive research is to be able to describe systematically and accurately facts and characteristics about the population or a particular field. The researcher here intends to provide an overview of a particular social phenomenon that already exists. The discussion in this paper covers the history of Sunyaragi Cave, starting from its establishment and several restorations to its current condition. There is a cave management crisis until an agreement is reached by the responsible manager at this time and discusses how to change its function into a tourism industry and the uniqueness of cave architecture so that it has the potential to become a tourist destination for the cultural heritage of the people of Cirebon.

The Augmented Reality Effect on Destination Satisfaction Towards Revolutionizing Heritage Tourism in Sri Lanka

This study explores the impact of augmented reality (AR) on tourist destination satisfaction (DS) in Sri Lanka's heritage tourism, focusing on historical sites in Polonnaruwa. The research aims to improve the visitor experience and address inadequate funding for site rebuild, focusing on the mediating role of immersive experience and perceived value. Furthermore, the researcher surveyed 256 visitors to cultural and historical destinations as part of a quantitative research approach using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 and Smart PLS 4. The results show that AR and DS are significantly and positively related, with perceived value and immersive experience as mediators. According to the study, historical landmarks should include AR technology, and tourist staff members should get AR training. Moreover, future studies could investigate the long-term impacts of AR on visitors' attitudes, loyalty, and behaviour, as well as the cultural characteristics that influence how AR perceives heritage tourism.

To understand or to touch? Evoking tourists’ cultural preservation commitment through heritage tourism interpretation

Facing the cultural challenges and risks of global heritage tourism development, it is urgent to stimulate tourists’ cultural preservation commitment (TCPC). Therefore, this study delves into the connections between factual and affective content of heritage tourism interpretation and TCPC, as well as the intermediary role of experience quality and the moderating role of message framing, across three sub-studies. Study 1 applies big data and content analysis to preliminarily examine these connections. Studies 2 and 3 conduct scenario experiments to further verify their causality and examine how experience quality and message framing affect this relationship. Findings demonstrate that affective content is more potent in eliciting TCPC, with experience quality as a crucial intermediary. Furthermore, message framing (gain and loss) moderates TCPC formation, and combining gain framing and affective content is more influential. Under loss framing, this impact is not significantly different. This study expands the research scope and method of heritage tourism interpretation, and diversifies the discussion of TCPC antecedents. Moreover, the research uncovers experience quality’s intermediary role and message framing’s moderating effect in forging TCPC. The findings better evoke TCPC via interpretation tools, thus enhancing heritage preservation and sustainable tourism.

Let’s see the whole picture: a multi-platform visual analysis of historic Mission San José on Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, and TripAdvisor

ABSTRACT Tourists frequently research, plan, and reflect on their travel experiences online via social networking sites (SNSs). While past tourism research suggests that differences exist in the type of content shared by tourists on different SNSs, there is little research comparing the tourist-generated content (TGC) or user-generated photographs (UGPs) from multiple SNSs. To address this gap in literature, the current study utilized a visual content analysis of tourist-generated social media images from Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, and TripAdvisor in order to compare these platforms and the messages they communicate about the heritage tourist destination of Mission San José located in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Employing a case study approach of a single tourist destination allowed for the exploration of how a destination can be visualized differently by tourists across different SNSs, how different SNSs are used in different ways by tourists, and how historic visual narratives are communicated in contemporary online spaces. Study findings establish the importance of analyzing visual content from across multiple SNSs because each site offers a unique perspective on the destination. These findings have implications for tourism marketers and researchers attempting to leverage user-generated online content to better understand perceived destination image, particularly in heritage tourism spaces.

Homey foods: Domesticating memories of the martial-law era in Taiwan’s heritage tourism

After the martial law period (1949–1987) ended, Taiwan embarked on democratization, which became interwoven with Taiwanization. Mainlander migrants, who came to Taiwan in the late 1940s with the Chinese Nationalist Party, and their offspring born in Taiwan, have come to be recognized or position themselves as the ethnic group of Mainlanders. Essential to this ongoing identity (trans)formation in Taiwanese society is how to remember the martial-law era. This article examines heritage tourism of two preserved sites built in early postwar Taiwan: the Shihlin Official Residence 士林官邸 of Chiang Kai-shek and the Forty-four South Village 四四南村, one of the earliest military dependents’ villages. More specifically, it investigates how tourist culinary programs and on-site exhibits de-militarize and de-sinicize the heritage sites to create a nostalgic prosthetic memory couched in a discourse of home-building and domesticity, which parallels the mainlanders’ changing foodways with their Taiwanization.

Sustainability in tourism demands a mode shift: Appraisal of heritage tourism; a safe bet for developing regions

AbstractThe study aims to determine heritage tourism potential in the Kashmir valley, a developing region, to lower the impact of mass tourism on the natural environment. The potential was assessed using criterion‐based indicators. After a Delphi survey, Content Validation Ratio determined indicator retention. Field trips and secondary sources identified the sites. The sites with cultural significance were prioritized with other supporting factors. The Weighted Sum Method assessed the heritage site potential. It was calculated for each criterion: Cultural, Physical, and Natural. Then, total potential was classified into three groups on the basis of equal intervals depicting high, medium, and low, where high ranges from 0.628 to 0.756, medium from 0.502 to 0.628, and low from 0.375 to 0.502. Being the capital city and hub of different activities, Srinagar district of the study area has maximum of the sites with high heritage potential. Owing to its long history, the study region has many heritage sites; however, its tourism potential has yet to be tapped. The study emphasizes the significance of shifting surges in tourism forms in managing sustainable tourism development.

Review: In the Shadow of the Big House: Twenty-First-Century Antebellum Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana, by Stephen Small

Review: <i>In the Shadow of the Big House: Twenty-First-Century Antebellum Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana</i>, by Stephen Small

Nostalgic Marketing and its Antecedents on Gen X

Purpose: This study aims to see the extent of Borobudur temple as heritage tourism with neuromarketing/nostalgia as its main indicator. Theoretical Framework: The basic theory used is neuromarketing theory. Nostalgia as neuromarketing is defined as an emotion that has implications for a series of complex psychological processes, including social behavior. This social behavior is also related to a person's consumption behavior towards certain purchases which creates a nostalgic impact on that person. This consumption behavior is related to the marketing strategy implemented by the marketing object. Design/Methodology: The research method used is the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) SmartPLS version 4 model. With validity, reliability and goodness of fit analysis tools to answer the research hypothesis. Findings: The results obtained by nostalgia marketing have a positive and significant effect on brand reputation, service quality, and premium price. Brand reputation and premium price do not mediate nostalgic marketing on customer satisfaction, while service quality mediates. Last result, brand reputation and premium price had no effect on customer satisfaction, while service quality had a positive and significant effect. Practical and Social Effects: Tourists' perception of tourist attractions is formed not only on the basis of individual knowledge and beliefs about the characteristics of the site, but also their feelings and perceptions of the destination. Thus, if we want to strengthen again, there is a need for an age-old relationship between tourists and brands. With constant satisfaction, respondent satisfaction remains high to an insignificant price, and commitment and loyalty will be formed. Value or Origin: The many historical tourism sectors in Indonesia and the high number of older visitors make this sector a source of economic and regional growth. This is reinforced by data from Borobudur Temple as the largest Buddhist temple heritage tourist attraction in the world, where 23% of visitors or tourists are over 50 years old. At that age, what motivation makes them visit if not memories and historical facts of the past. Remembering the past, it is easiest to visit the subject directly, this is important in studying neuromarketing and emotions in business.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the Storynomics Model in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of Sumbawa City in Indonesia

This study aims to find a model of cultural heritage development with a collaborative approach between cultural heritage and storynomics of sustainable tourism in Heritage City. Tourism potential of Sumbawa City's cultural heritage as a cultural heritage of the past with historical value, tourist attraction, and conservation-based tourism destinations that impact improving local community's economy. The research uses a descriptive, explanatory approach to cultural heritage objects. Data collection is obtained from informants as primary data to explore information about Sumbawa. In addition, data was obtained from the distribution of questionnaires to assess the physical condition of buildings and tourism performance and past literature documentation of Sumbawa. The results of this study provide an overview of the historical tourism of Sumbawa City, which presents the authenticity of the past as a sustainable historical tourist attraction. The review was conducted with social interaction theory with an analysis of the relationship between past events, traces of the history, local community culture, and historical sources that are the tourist attractions.

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Use of Augmented Reality Technology in Enhancing Cultural Tourism Experience

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of augmented reality (AR) technology in the enhancement of cultural tourism experiences. By examining literature from 1999 to 2024, this study maps the scholarly terrain, identifying pivotal themes and assessing the growth trajectory of AR in cultural tourism. The research employs systematic data collection and analysis methods, including keyword co-occurrence, citation patterns, and trend analysis, to highlight the integration of AR in cultural heritage sites and its impact on the tourism industry. A particular focus is given to the shift from technological foundations to user-centric adoption and acceptance of AR. The main findings reveal a well-established focus on "Model," "Cultural heritage tourism," and "Mobile augmented reality," with emerging areas such as "Virtual tourism" and "Mobile augmented reality acceptance" marked for future exploration. The research novelty lies in the comprehensive temporal mapping and the identification of potential research gaps within the evolving AR landscape. The study concludes with insights into how AR is revolutionizing cultural tourism by providing enriched, educational, and interactive experiences, thereby underscoring the field's dynamic progression and its untapped potential in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information sources and tourism heritage: a sustainable economy perspective

PurposeConserving appropriately the culture and heritage of a city through sustainable tourism is a key element for its economic development. Heritage cities generate economic, social and environmental benefits through tourism management. This study aims to intend, in the context of economic sustainability of the territory and promotion, to improve the understanding of the relationship between the sources of information of tourists and their motivations, with satisfaction and future behaviour intentions. For this, a study has been carried out in the Old Town of Cáceres (Spain), a city recognised as a world heritage property by UNESCO.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies a descriptive analysis, based on frequencies. For data collection, a structured questionnaire has been used to identify the opinion of tourists during their visit to the heritage city of Cáceres.FindingsThis study demonstrates the existence of a positive relationship between the sources of information and the tourist experience with their future behavioural intentions and satisfaction of their visit. All this in the global context of the destination for sustainable economy and the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that the motivations of tourists are the most important factor in explaining the overall experience and loyalty of tourists to a city.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this study is the data set used. The results must be contextualised at the time and place when the questionnaire was conducted.Practical implicationsThe proposed model makes it possible to advance future heritage tourism strategies, in terms of planning and communication of the heritage resources of a destination. Tourism heritage institutions should increasingly invest in communication improvements based on new technologies and social media. At the same time, integrated planning with special policies for the sustainable protection of heritage can make important progress in the tourist and cultural development of the destination.Originality/valueThis article tests for the first time within the context of heritage cities in Spain and in the context of a sustainable economy and cultural heritage for destination, the relationship between different sources of site promotion information and future tourist behaviour intentions. It provides original evidence of the value of applying the underlying theory of the proposed model in a world heritage tourist destination.