Cultural Tourism

Chapter 2: Cultural Tourism and Economic Development

2.1 Introduction

The term ‘cultural tourism’ will be one of the focuses in this research paper. This chapter will define the term based of several sources to later draw a conclusion of the definition that will be used throughout this paper. This chapter will also describe the extent of ‘economic development’ that will be affected by tourism.

2.2 Cultural Tourism

The definition of cultural tourism varies based on several resources. As Mckercher and Du Cros (2002:3) stated, “What is cultural tourism? This seemingly simple question is actually very difficult to answer because there are almost as many definitions of cultural tourism as there are cultural tourists.” Different journals and

ICOMOS (International Scientific Committee on Cultural Tourism) 1997 Cultural tourism can be defined as that activity which enables people to experience the different ways of life of other people, thereby gaining at first hand an understanding of their customs, traditions, the physical environment, the intellectual ideas and those places of architectural, historic, archaeological or other cultural significance which remain from earlier times. Cultural tourism differs from recreational tourism in that it seeks to gain an understanding or appreciation of the nature of the place being visited.

UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) 2004 (Cultural tourism) represent movements of people motivated by cultural intents such as study tours, performing arts, festivals, cultural events, visits to sites and monuments, as well as travel for pilgrimages… it is also about immersion in and enjoyment of the lifestyle of the local people, the local area and what constitutes its identity and

Cultural tourism then was also defined as ‘activity’ and ‘movement’, which insinuate action. ICOMOS (1997) define it as an acitivity, which enables the experiencing of other people’s way of life in order to understand their customs, traditions and thinking. It is in a way an activity of learning. ATLAS (2009) mentioned a similar purpose of cultural tourism as to gather information of a new culture. Unlike the UNWTO (2004), however, who while still defining it as movement, an activity, it is also motivated by the intent of enjoying different cultures. This bears some resemblance to Silberberg’s definition that also mention motivation by interest.

The newest definition of cultural tourism interestingly define it as a product, though still is motivated by intents of getting acquainted with new cultures (Csapó, 2012). Interestingly, in a way, this seemed to summarize cultural tourism as an end result of an action, which was the definition mentioned by previous authors.

To conclude, while the definition itself vary and differ in such ways, by summarizing common ground which all above definitions seemed to adopt, cultural tourism is then the act of immersing or experiencing a new culture and its way of life in its own environment and lifestyle, for the purpose of understanding and/or enjoying that particular