Tourism and recent heritage

 

Going back in my mailbox. A Short Handbook or a Key Document?

Tourism and recent heritage

A few days ago, an email arrived from Alessia Mariotti in Academia.edu. It reported the publication some years ago of a “short handbook” on tourism and recent heritage on which she worked with, among others, Rachele Borghi and Nazly Safarzadeh for a Euro-Mediterranean project entitled “Mutual Heritage”.

The email included a link where you could read and download the document.

Rather than a short handbook, it is more a collection of deeply interesting illustrated texts, all in French and English, which answer a series of questions with a clear to concepts intrinsic to this cross-border project such as: what exactly constitutes ‘recent’ in the context of such distinct civilisations, of such differing urban contexts and what exactly does the notion of 20th century heritage really mean?

A large portion of this manual, which I would describe more fittingly as a dossier, are devoted to a very keen attempt to answer some recurring questions about cultural tourism, its components, its reality, its scope, its targets, and its economic impact.

The missions of the European Institute of Cultural Routes, among other institutions, are presented here, also.

 

Genova waterfront. Photo MTP

 

What kind of tourism?

 

The exploration of the so-called differences and complementarities between cultural heritage and sustainable forms of tourism merits in-depth reading. This is but a short fragment which shows that the definitions are more often exclusive than inclusive:

“It is even more difficult to define cultural tourism than to define tourism. The concept of cultural tourism has developed mainly over the past 30 years springing from the idea that tourism and culture were the components of a destination and are distinct from one another (OECD 2009, p. 22). Now, however, the relation between these two terms has become a strategic issue in the competition of tourist destinations.”

This attempt at clarification demands immediate reading, as do the bibliography and glossary.

 

City of Perpignan. Photo MTP

It should come as no surprise that port cities, industrial landscapes, reconversion of mining areas, even the reuse of railways, are key examples of best practice, be they in Le Havre (with Auguste Perret’s architectures), in Genova on the waterfront or in Casablanca, even in the mines of Sardinia.

The interviews are truly fascinating. Let us not overlook the example of Amsterdam, where students are researching the significance of a new area: “everyday life” in a multicultural context as a new area of interest for tourists. The polemics that arose by lighting up Auguste Perret’s Tower in Amiens or by the “Jeu de la Gallina / El Joc de la Gallina” experiment in the Saint James quarter of Perpignan where gypsies have now permanently settled, are also of great interest.

Alessia MARIOTTI is an assistant professor of Economic Geography at the Faculty of Economics, Bologna University, Rimini Campus. Her research topics include cultural heritage, culture and social identity, industrial clusters and cultural resources for local sustainable tourism development. She has collaborated with international organisations (UNESCO, World Bank, European Commission, etc.), European research centres and universities on cultural tourism projects for local development. She is a member of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network “Culture, Tourism, Development”. She teaches Tourism Geography at the Faculty of Economics, Rimini campus, as well as at other universities.

Geografia economico-politica. Università di Bologna. Facoltà di Economia - Rimini Campus. Via Angherà 22 - 47900 Rimini - Italy

Cell. 0039.348.2435556     

Skype: alessia_mariotti