cultural tourism and heritage tourism destination

Wander-Lush

World’s Best Cultural Tourism Destinations: 30 Cultural Trips to Take This Year

Discover the best cultural trips and immersive travel experiences our world has to offer. From Southern India to the High Arctic, here are the top 30 countries and regions for cultural tourism this year .

With many of us now on the lookout for deeper and more meaningful travel experiences , cultural tourism – travel that prioritises learning about and appreciating different ways of life – has never been more appealing.

Immersive cultural experiences give travellers an opportunity to see the world from a different perspective, form meaningful relationships, and develop new skills. They can also open the door to a slower, more sustainable type of travel that has benefits for local communities and a lighter impact on the planet.

Whether you’re a seasoned cultural traveller researching for your next trip or you’re interested in getting off-the-beaten-track but aren’t sure where to start, I hope this guide to culture and travel offers you some food for thought!

I also suggest reading these tips for socially responsible travel for advice about engaging with different cultures in a sensitive and mindful way.

Please note: This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase by clicking a link (at no extra cost to you). Learn more.

This post may contain sponsored links for which I received compensation.

What is cultural tourism?

Cultural travel is as broad and multifaceted as culture itself – it’s difficult to pin down, and highly subjective. For me, cultural tourism is a kind of travel that prioritises activities and experiences designed to immerse you in a way of life that differs from your own.

It might involve consuming tangible cultural products (museums, archaeological sites, food , tea ) or encountering intangible cultural elements (rituals, performances, processes). As well as art, literature, religious monuments and the like, it also encompasses ways of living, values and beliefs – both historical and contemporary.

It’s almost impossible to avoid local culture when you travel. No matter your motivation, it’s inevitable that you’ll end up experiencing some aspect of local culture, even if it’s something as simple as eating local cuisine or learning a few words of the language.

Apart from these incidental encounters, cultural tourism represents a more concerted effort to engage with local culture through specialised activities. In the same way an adventure traveller might seek out a particular hiking route, for example, a cultural traveller might plan their trip around a festival.

Cultural vacations might involve:

• Learning a new skill, for example through a cooking class or craft workshop
• Attending a local festival or event
• Participating in a ritual or ceremony
• Eating local food
• Staying with a family at a homestay
• Immersing yourself in the local community by teaching English as a foreign language
• Visiting a community-based tourism project
• Visiting World Heritage Sites and immersive museums
• Taking a locally guided tour

There’s lots more to cultural trips (as you’ll soon see), but these are some of the common elements we tend to associate with this genre of travel.

Pros and cons of cultural travel

Cultural travel is almost a guaranteed way to enrich your experience as a tourist. But it’s worth noting that this type of travel has both benefits and downsides for host communities.

Cultural tourism helps to encourage the preservation of culture and heritage by keeping endangered traditions alive. There might be little demand for heritage handicraft skills, for example, but outside interest (and an opportunity to earn an income) could be enough to safeguard a tradition that might otherwise have been lost.

By the same token, cultural tourism can incentivise better protections for physical heritage sites, ensuring that monuments and the like remain accessible for future generations. Cultural tourism can have far-reaching social impacts and environmental benefits when it gives rise to new social enterprises, local businesses and women-led ventures geared towards giving tourists an immersive experience.

On the other hand, there’s always a question mark around authenticity when it comes to cultural travel. If a ritual is performed for the benefit of outsiders, does it lose its meaning? Commodification of culture for tourism is a serious issue that impacts many communities and can be damaging to social and economic development more broadly.

Cultural tourism often involves travelling to more remote areas, which introduces a whole host of other pros and cons. A road constructed for the benefit of tourists is also new infrastructure for the community – but it might speed up globalisation and cultural erosion, while the very presence of tourists can worsen environmental pollution or cause rifts between different social groups.

These are complicated issues. Personally, I think cultural exchange is one of the most important aspects of travel and when managed properly and in a way that actively involves communities, the benefits can outweigh the drawbacks.

Top 30 countries & regions for cultural trips

There’s not a town, city, county or region in the world that doesn’t have something amazing to offer in terms of local culture. This makes it very hard to pick the ‘best’ places for cultural tourism.

However, each of these 30 hand-picked destinations stands out for its extravagant festivals and celebrations, rich cuisine and heritage handicrafts that give travellers a window on culture, heritage and the local way of life.

At the end of the list, you’ll find my top tips for having a more culturally immersive travel experience no matter where in the world you go.

Cultural destinations in the Americas

Antioquia Department, Colombia • Cuba • Ecuador • Big Island of Hawaii, USA • Orleans Parish, USA • Oaxaca, Mexico

Colombia’s Antioquia Department – for pueblos, bandeja paisa & Botero

A melange of Indigenous traditions and colonial influences, there are few destinations in the world more culturally vibrant or intriguing than Colombia.

Antioquia Department in the north-west – with the city of Medellin as its capital – has become one of the most popular destinations in the country for tourists, beloved for its exquisite landscapes, colourful small towns and coffee farming heritage.

Along with several other departments, this part of Colombia is home to the Paisas , a self-defined cultural group whose name is derived from a Spanish word meaning ‘countryman’. They speak their own dialect, eat their own cuisine, and pass down their culture through a rich tradition of music and folklore.

Modern-day Antioquian culture is defined by the region’s artists, writers and poets. And then there’s the city of Medellin itself, which has undergone a huge transformation in recent years and is now considered one of the country’s main cultural hubs.

Top cultural experiences in Antioquia

Eat Paisa cuisine: One of the biggest joys of visiting Antioquia is experiencing the food scene. Paisa cuisine is heavily influenced by the topography and way of life in the Colombian Andes – carb-heavy dishes that feature beans, rice and maize are designed to fuel bodies for back-breaking work on the land. Bandeja Paisa is by far the most popular traditional dish and a must-eat in Medellin. The Antioquian version of a ploughman’s lunch, it consists of carne asada (grilled steak), chicharrón (crispy pork rind), rice and red beans served with a slice of avocado, fried plantains, a fried egg and a corn arepa on the side. It’s not for the faint hearted!

Visit a pueblo : Colombia is renowned for its small towns with colourful painted facades and pretty flower boxes. Antioquia is home to some of the loveliest pueblos in the country, including  Jardin , Jericó and Santa fe de Antioquia, to name but a few. Developed during Spanish times, most follow the same basic town plan: A public square, a market, a church, and rows and rows of houses built in the region’s vernacular style. If you’re short on time, Pueblo Paisa in Medellin is a model village in the heart of the capital.

Shop at the San Alejo Handicraft Market: If you happen to be visiting Medellin on the first Saturday of the month, don’t miss this unique opportunity to see Colombia’s handicraft traditions on display. Vendors from across the region descend on the city to sell traditional products, including woven Wayuu bags, and artisanal foods. You can chat to the vendors and watch live demonstrations to see how these Indigenous handicrafts are produced.

Visit Comuna 13: A locally guided tour of Medellin’s Comuna 13 will allow you to delve into the city’s tumultuous recent past in a respectful and mindful way. This collection of once-notorious city neighbourhoods has become a symbol for the nation’s transformation and cultural revitalisation. Street art, music and other expressions of local creativity are all on display for visitors to enjoy.

Cuba – for Mambo, classic cars & casas particulares

The native Taino Indians called their beautiful island Cubanacán. When the Spaniards arrived in 1511, they shortened it to ‘Cuba’ and claimed it for Spain, labelling it “the most beautiful land human eyes have ever beheld.”

Ethnically, the country is a vibrant mix of Europeans, Africans brought over as enslaved workers throughout the 1700s, and a large group of Chinese imported as indentured servants. Sadly, the original inhabitants have largely disappeared.

On December 31, 1959 the Cuban Revolution succeeded in converting the country into a communist nation. Since then – and due to the mutually adversarial relationship with the United States – the island nation has existed in semi-isolation, frozen in time.

The cars that roam the streets are the same classic American models from the 1950s, and the frequently crumbling buildings have enjoyed little renovation.    

Despite Cuba’s trying history, the spirit of the people lives on and in its rich and celebrated culture. Before you go, learn the dos and don’t of visiting Cuba . 

Top cultural experiences in Cuba

Dance the night away at a musical venue: Cuba is the birthplace of dozens of musical genres including Mambo, Cha-Cha-Cha and Afro-Cuban Jazz. These Afro-European genres have contributed and enriched music categories around the world. Be sure to experience one of Cuba’s world-famous carnivals and Jazz Festivals.

Overdose on art and architecture: With nine UNESCO World Heritage sites and an amazing collection of museums, Cuba is a culture vulture’s paradise. Most are found in the capital city of Havana, but you also find little gems in the second city, Santiago de Cuba, and the perfectly preserved colonial city of Trinidad. Cuba’s architecture ranges from Spanish colonial and French Baroque to 1920s Art Deco. Visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Havana and the Bacardi Museum in Santiago to start; but don’t miss the quirky Rum Museum or the delectable Museum of Chocolate either.

Stay at a Cuban homestay: These Airbnb-type experiences are called ‘ casas particulares ‘. This is your opportunity to live with a Cuban family and delve into the culture.

Go hiking: Cuba’s national parks, biosphere reserves and 1,500 miles (2,400km) of coastline provide an opportunity to experience the outdoor culture.

By Talek from Travels With Talek

Ecuador – for jungle homestays, festivals & colada morada

A country with just over 17 million people, Ecuador is an extremely culturally diverse nation and a cultural tourism destination that should not to be overlooked.

Retaining a strong influence from Spanish colonisation, with widely-celebrated Catholic festivals and traditions, there is also a diverse mix of Andean Indigenous groups and traditions that dominate the mountainous centre of the country. In the east, the influence of various Amazonian Indigenous groups and their traditions is strong.

The coast of Ecuador, meanwhile, is marked by African influence from the cultures of enslaved peoples brought during colonisation.

With such a diversity of cultures – each with their own festivals, traditional foods and more – there are plenty of immersive experiences to partake in across the country that make a trip to Ecuador a must for any cultural traveller.

Top cultural experiences in Ecuador

Visit a remote community in the Amazon rainforest: One of the most popular and fascinating cultural experiences for travellers to Ecuador is to visit an Indigenous community to learn about and experience the rich traditions. Even a jungle tour of the Amazon on a budget can be tailored to include a visit to an Indigenous community, where you’ll learn to make traditional dishes and beverages such as chicha . Tribes deeper in the Amazon that welcome visitors often offer more in-depth cultural experiences including homestays, ritual cleansings, or even ayahuasa retreats.

Celebrate Easter in Ecuador: In addition to the Indigenous traditions in Ecuador, there are many popular celebrations from the Catholic tradition that travellers can partake in. Easter celebrations during Holy Week include Quito’s parade, known as the Procesión Jesús del Gran Poder, which features thousands of purple-hooded devotes carrying crosses and statues. Make sure you enjoy a bowl of traditional Fanesca , a rich and creamy soup made with 12 grains representing the 12 Disciples.

Dress up for Día de los Difuntos : Another cultural celebration with Indigenous roots is the Día de los Difuntos or ‘Day of the Deceased’, marked on November 2nd. Ecuador celebrates by honouring the dead and visiting cemeteries. Celebrations also include preparing and eating guaguas de pan , bread in the shape of a baby filled with fruit jam, and drinking colada morada , a thick, sweet drink made with berries and fruit and thickened with blue corn flour before being served warm. These delicious treats are sold in bakeries across the country for at least a month prior to the festivities. The largest celebrations are held in Indigenous communities such as Otavalo in Northern Ecuador.

By Carley from Home to Havana

The Big Island of Hawaii – for palm weaving, stargazing & petroglyphs

The natural abundance of the Big Island of Hawaii, the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, is nothing short of spectacular. With eight different climate zones, three active volcanoes, and the most mesmerising waterfalls and beaches in different shades, there’s a wealth of diversity to explore on the Big Island .

This unique natural setting is also home to several important cultural sites. After all, this is the Hawaiian island where the first Polynesian settlers arrived, where the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, King Kamehameha the Great, was born, and where the European explorers first arrived.

With such a rich heritage, it comes as no surprise that Hawaiian culture is still very much alive on the Big Island. Here are some experiences that allow you to explore the island’s heritage.

Top cultural experiences on the Big Island of Hawaii

Take a self-guided tour of the Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park: Just south of Kailua-Kona, there’s a site where the royal family and their warriors once lived. It’s very well preserved and you can still see the thatched huts, an ancient temple, wooden carvings and fishponds. But this site was more than just a royal retreat: When Hawaiians broke the law or kapu , they were condemned to death. The only option to escape their fate was reaching this sanctuary, known as the Place of Refuge. You can visit this intriguing site on a self-guided tour.

Learn the traditional Hawaiian art of weaving palm fronds: In the Hawaiian craft known as lau niu , the leaves of the coconut palm were used to thatch roofs, create baskets and even hats. There’s a handful of workshops where you can learn this traditional craft from a professional weaver. Not only does it make for a unique experience, it also allows you to craft your own handmade Hawaiian souvenir.

Go stargazing at Maunakea: In Hawaiian culture, the dormant Maunakea volcano, with its unique alpine Lake Waiau, is considered sacred. They believed the summit to be the realm of the gods and the meeting place of earth and sky. To this day, cultural rituals are performed on the slopes of Maunakea. This intriguing volcano is home to the world’s largest astronomical observatory, the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, which hosts a regular stargazing program.

Check out the Hawaiian petroglyphs: Hawaiian petroglyphs tell the stories of ancient times and give a unique inside into the different cultural beliefs on the islands. You can find carvings of canoes, turtles, babies and more at one of the petroglyph sites that dot the Big Island, such as the Puuloa Petroglyph site in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park or the Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Preserve near the Mauna Lani Resort.

Conquer the ocean in an outrigger canoe: Step aboard a double-hull outrigger canoe and explore the shore in the same way the Polynesian settlers did centuries ago. This type of canoe features lateral support floats or outriggers fastened to one or to both sides of the hull. Learn how to paddle and work as a team as you glide along the Kona reefs teeming with fish. If you’re lucky, you might even spot a pod of dolphins.

By Sarah from CosmopoliClan

Orleans Parish – for jazz, Madi Gras & creole cooking

When it comes to cultural destinations, few cities have as much to offer as New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. Located in Southeastern USA, New Orleans is all about tradition and culture. The city’s unique heritage comes from a blend of French, Spanish, Cajun, and Creole cultures.

Combined, these groups have given birth to something truly iconic. The beautiful Mardi Gras celebrations are a remnant of the French colonial era, while the beautiful Spanish colonial architecture in Jackson Square is worthy of a walking tour .

You will also find unique Cajun cuisine served in the city’s most popular restaurants. Add in the many historical museums, southern plantation homes, and distinct architectural styles and Orleans Parish makes for the ultimate cultural destination in the US.

Top cultural experiences in New Orleans

Join a Mardi Gras parade: New Orleans is well-known for its lavish and grand Mardi Gras parades and balls. Visitors can enjoy the festivities for an entire month in the lead up to the big day. Outside of Mardi Gras, there are plenty of other festivals in New Orleans to check out as well. 

Listen to jazz: New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. The city’s Creole population gathered and celebrated in the city’s Congo Square on Sundays and thus jazz was born!

Tour a plantation home: Many southern plantation homes are located along the banks of the Mississippi. These can be seen on a road trip along the Great River Road. On a tour, you will learn about pre-Civil war life in the South and the history of slavery. Learn more about the ethics of visiting plantation homes here .

By Ketki from Dotted Globe

Oaxaca – for Indigenous cuisine, Zapotec rugs & mezcal

The state of Oaxaca is a cultural hub in Mexico. Void of resorts or even big-name hotel chains, Oaxaca is rich in flavourful cuisine, celebrations, and Indigenous revitalisation.

Located in southern Mexico, Oaxaca features a variety of different landscapes, from lush hills and forests, to dry arid deserts and blissful beaches. However, the community atmosphere of Oaxaca is what keeps people coming back, both international visitors and Mexican residents alike.

Oaxaca is known as the food capital of Mexico, with dozens of celebrity chefs. Notably, Indigenous culture is very visible in Oaxaca, with 16 recognised Indigenous groups in the state. Zapotec weaving is one of the most sought-after souvenirs in the area – and Mexico in general – and it comes from Oaxaca.

Top cultural experiences in Oaxaca

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos : Oaxaca City is a top destination for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), with its dazzling parades, intricate family altars and abundant festivities. Dia de los Muertos is a pre-Columbian tradition that honours deceased loved ones with food, drink, and merriment. So, if you happen to visit Oaxaca during a festival like Dia de los Muertos, bring comfortable shoes for fun activities throughout the day. Oaxaca City is an extremely walkable city, and you will want to explore every inch of its mural lined walls.

Eat Oaxacan cuisine: Since Oaxacan cuisine is also central to the region’s identity, sign up for a food tour with a local to learn the origins of some of the most popular dishes and what makes Oaxacan food and flavour so unique and different from other states in Mexico. Or, if you want to take a more hands-on approach, take a cooking class with a world-class chef at Casa de los Sabores and learn how to make mole and other Oaxacan staples.

Visit a Zapotec village: If you’d prefer to focus on Indigenous cuisine, take a day trip out to the Zapotec village of Teotitlán del Valle for a cooking class at El Sabor Zapoteco . After you finish, there are many things to do in Teotitlán del Valle , but you will probably want to get your fill of shopping at the many boutique shops for best quality Zapotec rugs.

Drink mezcal: If you’re a fan of hard drinks, Oaxaca is a great destination for mezcal tasting! Hop on any tour and view the vast agave fields as you taste mezcal throughout the day. Depending on the season, you may even get to try your hand at using the harvesting machete!

By Kay from The Awkward Traveller

Learn more: A local’s guide to the best of Mexican culture and an in-depth guide to Mayan culture in the Yucatan .

Cultural travel destinations in Europe

French Basque Country • Armenia • Sicily • Greece • Bosnia & Herzegovina • Russia • Northern Europe’s Arctic Regions • The Greater Caucasus • Andalusia, Spain

French Basque Country – for frontons , fêtes & espadrilles

The Basque country at the southwestern-most tip of France is one of those regions you might not guess is French – at least not at first.

The half-timbered houses are painted oxblood or green, and the Euskara (Basque) language, Europe’s oldest, is related to no other tongue. The Basques are also among the oldest ethnic groups of Europe.

Basque culture is unique and is spread among seven provinces, of which three are in France (the other four are in Spain). The Basques have their own festivals, music and dances, their own foods, games and folklore, as well as an acute sense of history and heritage.

Top cultural experiences in French Basque Country

Here are just a few cultural experiences to whet your appetite for all things Basque!

Gastronomy: The food is different from your regular French fare. For example, the Espelette pimento is spicier than seasonings you’ll find elsewhere in France, and food itself is taken to new heights here – the region has the highest number of Michelin stars per capita in the world. And let’s not forget the pintxo , the Basque equivalent of the Spanish tapas.

Fronton s: You’ll find one of these walls in every Basque village – it’s what Basques use to play their national sport, Basque pelota (known in some countries as jai alai). It’s played with a racquet-like bat which scoops up the ball. Then, a bit like squash, the players fling it back and forth against the wall, or fronton.

Family-owned businesses: Basque artisanal traditions run deep, whether it’s leatherwork, espadrilles, Basque linen or beret making. This is a region in which hand-made goods thrive and where mass-production takes a back seat. The local government makes sure family businesses are promoted and Basque know-how exported, however stiff the competition – there are special labels for family businesses, and even labels for those businesses that have been around for more than a century (and there are plenty). As a result, hand-made goods from this small region find their way around the world, symbolising not only Basque savvy but Basque determination to hang on to its heritage.

Bayonne Festival: With its one million annual participants, the Fêtes de Bayonne is France’s largest festival. It was ‘borrowed’ in 1932 from not-too-distant Pamplona in Spain, but has grown immeasurably since. Each July, visitors dress up in white clothes and red scarves (and a red beret, of course) and spend five days eating, drinking, singing Basque songs and watching Basque sports. The Festival includes bullfighting, which has a long tradition in the region, although this particular sport might be short-lived given the growing opposition to it.

By Leyla from Offbeat France

Bosnia & Herzegovina – for old bazaars, woodcarving & kahva

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the Balkans . If you have your sights set on this lesser-visited part of Europe for your next cultural trip, it’s the perfect setting to learn about the region’s different – often competing – influences and how they’ve shaped modern life.

Bosnia is the original cultural melting pot, and Sarajevo is where it all comes to a head. The city is divided into two parts – Ottoman and European – with the sprawling Old Bazaar on one side, and the Austro-Hungarian planned portion of the capital on the other. A plaque on the pavement marks the spot where East Meets West.

But the boundaries aren’t always that clear. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s character is a combination of Bosnian, Serb and Croat, layered with Jewish, Romanian, Albanian and Turkish traditions. The vignette of a mosque’s minaret and a church bell tower rising up side by side is a perfect motif for the country’s diversity.

Top cultural experiences in Bosnia & Herzegovina

Explore Sarajevo’s Old Bazaar: One of the most beautiful Ottoman bazaars in the region (and there are a lot), just wandering the rows of picturesque wooden shops connected by cobbled streets – the sound of coppersmiths beating intricate designs onto plates ringing in your ears – is a completely immersive experience. At the kafane coffeehouses, where kahva and rakia are served with much pageantry, you get a feel for famous Bosnian hospitality.

Take a food tour of Sarajevo: Bosnians are fiercely proud of their national cuisine. Dishes such as burek (filled savoury pastry) and cevapi are a common ground and bring the country together. A food tour of Sarajevo takes you behind the scenes on some of the city’s liveliest markets and busiest restaurants while giving you an insight into the history behind some of the country’s most iconic dishes.

Visit a woodcarving master in Konjic: Sarajevo in particular has an incredibly rich art and literature scene, as evidenced in the many festivals that take place in the city throughout the year. Bosnia’s heritage handicrafts shine a light on the culture of craftsmanship that has bestowed the country with so many beautiful landmarks over the years. Woodcarving has been practiced for generations in the city of Konjic and today, visitors can tour the masters’ workshops for an up-close encounter.

See the Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards: Stećci medieval tombstones were laid during the time of the Bosnian Kingdom. Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they’re found throughout the territory including in forests close to the border with Serbia . Carved from limestone, the Stećci contain motifs and inscriptions and provide a rare window onto this epoch of the country’s history that’s still shrouded in much mystery.

Greece – for markets, mythology & Orthodox Easter

Greece is a country rich in culture, from the legacy of ancient history and mythology to traditional cuisine and celebratory festivals that still bring people together to this day. Greek nationals tend to be very proud of their history and culture , which can be seen in the well-executed museums, galleries and archaeological sites throughout the country.

Believed to be the ‘birthplace of Western civilisation’, Greece is known for its scholars, medics, architects, philosophers and politicians that shaped the way the world works today. This makes the country an excellent choice for cultural tourism as there are simply so many things to see and do that will both satiate your wanderlust while also teaching you new things.

Whether you’re interested in archaeological excavations, gastronomic tours, local festivals or ancient architecture, Greece certainly has you covered.

Top cultural experiences in Greece

Take a Mythology Tour of Ancient Athens: Athens has a whole host of archaeological sites to explore , from the Ancient Agora and Hadrian’s Library to the world-famous Acropolis and Parthenon perched on a hillside overlooking the city. One of the best ways to discover these sites is via a Mythology Tour that takes you around the best historic monuments and ruins while also giving you interesting information about the city and country’s history and mythology. This tour , suitable for all ages, gives you skip-the-line access to some of Athens’ most important landmarks along with an experienced guide to give you detailed history about how Greece became the centre of the world.

Visit the Athens Central Market: If your idea of cultural tourism involves food, you might be interested in a trip to the Athens Central Market and a local cookery class. A gastronomic experience allows you to soak up the sights and smells of the city’s biggest market, picking up local produce and souvenirs while also trying some tasty titbits along the way . You’ll then take your purchases back to the kitchen where you’ll cook up a storm using local recipes and techniques. Try classics like Dolmades (stuffed vine leaves), Tzatziki and Spanakopita (spinach and feta pies) to give you a real taste of traditional Greek cuisine.

Attend the Epidaurus Festival: The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, a grand amphitheatre located on the bank of the Acropolis Complex, runs an annual summer festival of art. The festival combines modern and traditional music, theatre and dance with the picturesque Ancient Greek setting, making it a real highlight for any traveller. Over the years, the Epidaurus festival has played host to names like Frank Sinatra, Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti.

Celebrate Orthodox Easter in Greece: Easter is one of the biggest traditional festivals on the Orthodox calendar, so no matter where you are in Greece during this time, you’re sure to come across some pretty exciting celebrations! One destination that always enjoys epic Easter festivities is the island of Corfu. Local Easter traditions begin on Palm Sunday (a week before Easter) and there are different festivities each day leading up to the main event.

Palm Sunday sees a large procession of the Holy Shrine; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday see locals preparing their Easter meals and sweet specialities, going to evening ceremonies and lighting up the town with lanterns; Maundy Thursday is egg-painting day; Good Friday features the mournful marches of the philharmonic orchestra and the procession of epitaphs; Good Saturday features an artificial earthquake(!), bell ringing, the throwing of clay pots and tossing coins into a barrel; and the whole week culminates on Easter Sunday with a celebration of the Resurrection of Christ – fireworks, marches, music and traditional family meals galore!

By Chrysoula from Athens and Beyond

Learn more: 7 awesome cultural activities in Athens .

Russia – for ballet, banyas & borscht

While many may think of Russia as cold and grey, this could not be further from the truth. From the famous colourful onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral to the gilded fountains of the Peterhof Palace, Russia’s beauty is undeniable.

Russia is also a country rich in culture and filled with literature, ballet, painting and classical music.

Top cultural experiences in Russia

To really delve into Russian culture, there are a few experiences you should have whilst here.

Experience a Russian banya : One of the best cultural experiences you can have in Russia is to visit a banya . A banya is similar to a sauna. The biggest difference, though, is that a banya has high levels of humidity, while a sauna usually has dry air. They’ve been a part of Russian life for over a thousand years! You wear funny felt hats to protect your hair and ears from the heat. This also helps to regulate your body temperature, so you are able to sit in the banya for a longer period of time.

Another interesting aspect of the Russian banya is ‘flogging’ using birch twigs ( venik ). This is supposed to benefit your health and improve your immune system, and honestly, if you have someone who knows what they are doing, it does feel really good!

After you’ve gone in and out of the banya a couple times, you then cool yourself off by taking a quick, cold shower, jumping into a cold pool or tub (banyas do have these), jumping into a snowbank (seriously). Or… You can just jump in a frozen lake!

See a ballet at the Bolshoi: Seeing a ballet at the Bolshoi Theatre is one of the best things to do in Moscow and all of Russia in general. Even though ballet did not originate in Russia, Russian ballet is world-renowned, and the locals are incredibly proud of the tradition. If you can, try to see a performance of The Nutcracker or Swan Lake on the historic stage. Tickets sell out very quickly, so don’t delay in purchasing them once they go on sale!

Experience NYE: New Year’s Eve is the biggest holiday in Russia. This is because Christmas was forbidden during the Soviet years. Many traditions were moved from Christmas to the New Year, including keeping presents under the Christmas tree and visits from the Russian equivalent of Santa. Celebrations and fireworks take place across the country on December 31 – the biggest and most famous displays are in Moscow’s Red Square and Gorky Park.

Sample Russian cuisine: No trip to Russia would be complete without experiencing the local cuisine. The best Russian food and drinks to sample on your visit are: Pelmeni (a Russian dumpling filled with meat and usually topped with sour cream); borscht (a traditional Russian soup whose main ingredient is beetroot); beef stroganoff (a Russian dish made with sautéed beef in a sauce with smetana ); syrniki (essentially a cottage cheese pancake topped with jam or sour cream – SO good!); kvass (a fermented beverage made from rye bread); and caviar and vodka (alas, you can’t come to Russia and not try caviar and vodka!)

By Lindsey from Have Clothes, Will Travel

Northern Europe’s Arctic Regions – for reindeer & Sami traditions

In Europe’s high northern reaches, you will find one of the continent’s oldest and most distinct cultures, the Sami. Spread across the Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, the Sami are Indigenous people who have traditionally led a nomadic lifestyle, known for herding their reindeer between their summer and winter feeding grounds.

The origins of the Sami are largely unknown, and it is believed that they once inhabited grounds much further south. But years of persecution drove them north and forced them to decrease livestock numbers in order to maintain their way of life. 

Against all odds, they have managed to hold onto large parts of their culture, including languages, traditions and ceremonies. As the modern world has encroached further north, there have been clashes over natural resources and land, which has put the plight of the Sami at the forefront of people’s minds in recent years and led to movements to protect the people and the culture. 

Top cultural experiences in the Arctic regions

Head to Tromso for an immersive Sami experience: Today, there are plenty of ways you can learn about and experience Sami culture. During the winter months, there are many Sami experiences in Tromsø, Norway and beyond where you can educate yourself about the Sami way of life, hear stories that have been passed down through the generations, and eat traditional foods.

Shop at a Sami market: Keep an eye out for Sami markets where you can purchase handmade traditional items.

Participate in a Sami festival: Norway is known to have the largest festivals and in various Arctic cities, you will find Sami festivals on National Sami Day (February 6th). In the summer, there are also Sami music festivals, such as the one found near Murmansk in Russia.

A visit to Northern Europe’s Arctic region is one of the most meaningful cultural trips in Europe as it helps bring attention to a group of people who have spent many years marginalised in their respective modern-day societies.

By Megan from Megan Starr

Andalusia – for Moorish architecture, tapas & Flamenco

Andalusia is an autonomous region in Southern Spain, geographically bounded by Spain’s southern coast. It’s culturally vibrant and very distinctive when compared to other parts of Spain such as Catalunya.

This part of the country was ruled by the Moors for centuries, and Moorish influence is evident in the cuisine, architecture and culture. Seville, Cordoba and Granada are all among the best Spain city breaks and each serve as a good base for exploring more of the region.

Top cultural experiences in Andalusia

Marvel at the Moorish architecture: The Andalusian architecture will capture your attention as soon as you land there, and this is probably the easiest way to start digging into the region’s past and cultural evolution. Cities like Seville and Granada have major UNESCO sites that will blow your mind – the style is in no way similar to buildings in France or even northern Spain for that matter. Islamic calligraphy and intricate details are most evident at the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville, the Alhambra in Granada , and the Mezquita in Cordoba.

Go tapas hopping: People in Andalusia are known for being a more little laid back, and generally enjoy food, family and companionship. Popular ‘tapas hopping’ is best experienced in Andalusia. Tapas bars in the south cultivate a cosy atmosphere with rounds of $1 dollar beers, spinach and chickpeas, cheese, and churros. Moorish/Muslim influence can be seen in the preparation of some foods, especially marzipan, and in the use of herbs and spices such as cumin and cilantro.  

Watch a Flamenco performance: After food, flamenco is what defines Andalusia. Flamenco is a dance that is synonymous with Southern Spain and is one of the most energetic and passionate forms of dance/storytelling. Flamenco shows in Seville and other cities in Andalusia are a great way to understand and enjoy this side of Southern Spanish culture.

By Mayuri from To Some Place New

Cultural tourism destinations in the Asia Pacific

Central Australia • Timor-Leste • Sarawak, Malaysia • Cambodia • Japan • Bhutan • Kerala, India • Rajasthan, India • Uzbekistan • The Tibetan Plateau • Taiwan

Central Australia – for ancient landscapes, ochre & bush tucker

The Arrernte and Anangu people have lived in Central Australia for over 20,000 years. From Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) to the MacDonnell Ranges and Alice Springs, they have made their home in one of Australia’s driest and hottest regions.

The landscape, its plants and animals permeate every aspect of their culture. The natural environment is the basis for the Creation (or Dreamtime) stories at the core of their beliefs, ceremonies and traditions.

Their relationship with the land also has a practical aspect as a source of food, shelter and medicine. The Arrernte and Anangu’s land management techniques, native foods and art have all found their ways into broader Australian life.

Today, members of the communities have roles as guides, ranges and managers of major tourism businesses. For travellers, there are many opportunities to appreciate the on-going connection the Arrernte and Anangu people have with the Central Australian landscape.

Top cultural experiences in Central Australia

Visit Uluru (Ayres Rock): You can’t go to Central Australia and not visit Uluru. It is an iconic Australian landmark and when you visit this enormous rock, you’ll find many ways to immerse yourself in Indigenous culture. At Yulara Resort you can join a free session to learn about Indigenous food, crafts and didgeridoo playing.

On your way to Uluru, stop at the Cultural Centre. There are ranger talks about the area’s wildlife, how the Anagu have lived in the area for thousands of years, and how that knowledge is used to manage the park today. There are also galleries featuring local art and craft. For something a bit different, try a Segway tour of the rock . As you cruise around the 10 km base, you get a wonderful explanation of the Creation Stories tied to many of the rock’s features, caves and waterholes.

Ochre Pits: Ochre is a natural clay that comes in a range of colours and has been used for ceremonial and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. The Ochre Pits are at a site in the West MacDonnell Ranges where ochre has been collected by Arrernte men for generations. The Ochre Pits are an easy and accessible stop as you tour the gorges of the West MacDonnell Ranges. The colourful ochre cliff face is spectacular and it is quite an experience to be in the presence of a site that has been used for so long and continues to play a role in Arrernte life.

Alice Springs Desert Park: With the lives and lore of the Arrernte tied so closely to the environment, this combination of a wildlife park and botanic garden gives you a great insight into their relationship with the land. Besides the fantastic desert animal exhibits, there is a full program of keeper and cultural talks over the day. Learn about surviving in the desert, bush food and the meaning many of the animals have in the daily life of the Arrernte. The park is in Alice Springs with the West MacDonnell Ranges providing a spectacular backdrop.

By Natalie & Steve from Curious Campers

Timor-Leste – for sacred houses, tais weaving & Cristo Rei

Asia’s youngest nation, tiny Timor-Leste fought hard for its independence, first from Portugal and later from Indonesia. Holding strong to customs and beliefs is part of the resistance and against all odds, the Timorese have managed to pass down many traditions through music, dance and storytelling.

Fiestas held year-round throughout the country showcases these oral traditions, while in recent years, contemporary collectives have began building on the nation’s heritage of performance arts to process the events of the past and express their visions for the future.

There aren’t many physical reminders of Timor’s time as a Portuguese colony left – most architecture was subsequently destroyed – but the invisible influence is still there, along with the influence of the Catholic Church.

In the more remote regions, ethnic groups such as the Fataluku speak their own language and observe a fascinating array of cultural practices you won’t find anywhere else on Earth.

Top cultural experiences in Timor-Leste

Tais weaving: Timor’s ornate national textiles are storytelling objects, filled with symbols inspired by folktales and animist traditions. At the Tais market in Dili you can shop for handwoven tais scarves and tablecloths, while visiting a weaving centre such as Koperativa Lo’ud gives you a chance to see the natural dyeing and weaving process in person.

See the uma lulik in Lospalos: Part of the Fataluku tradition, these sacred houses perched high on stilts symbolise the link between the dead and the living. They are sacred objects that cut an impressive profile as you pass them on the coast around far-eastern Timor.

Make the pilgrimage to Cristo Rei: Standing 27 metres tall on a hill overlooking the capital, Dili, Cristo Rei is the ultimate symbol of Timor-Leste’s piety. More than 99% of Timorese are Christian, and the church has played a huge role in shaping the island’s character post-independence. Walking the 590-step path lined with Stations of the Cross is a right of passage. At the top, views of Dili, Atauro Island and the sparkling coastline.

Sarawak, Malaysia – for ikat textiles, longhouses & forest trekking

The largest of Malaysia’s 13 states , Sarawak envelops much of Borneo. Local culture and way of life is intimately intertwined with the island’s flora and fauna and offers visitors experiences quite distinct from anything you find in Peninsular Malaysia.

Life, history, culture and spirituality is all heavily influenced by the area’s Indigenous peoples, most notably the Iban. Malaysia’s mix of Malay, Indian, Muslim, Chinese and British culture can also be felt in Kuching , the autonomous state’s biggest city and a hub for culture and the arts.

Top cultural experiences in Sarawak

Visit a museum in Kuching: The Tun Jugah Textile Museum, the Sarawak Cultural Village and the Sarawak State Museum – all in or near Kuching – offer immersive exhibits that explore Iban culture. The former is dedicated almost completely to the art of ikat weaving, a time-honoured craft tradition that’s kept alive by artisans and students who learn to dye and weave at the museum workshop.

Stay in an Iban longhouse: Travelling up river into the forest to spend the night at an Iban longhouse is an unforgettable experience. As well as sleeping in traditional quarters, you’ll get to taste home-cooked food and experience various oral traditions, including Renong singing and Ensera storytelling.

Eat Sarawak cuisine: Malaysia is a foodie’s paradise and Sarawak is no exception. In addition to the usual mix of cuisines served up at hawker markets, the state boasts many regional breakfast specialties including Sarawak laksa, kolo mee (Sarawakian noodles) and ayam pansuh (chicken cooked in bamboo).

Cambodia – for Theravada Buddhism, apsara & golden silk

It’s easy to think of Cambodian culture as a relic of the past – a crumbling stupa or a cobwebbed museum display. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Khmer culture is a living, breathing thing, and it permeates everything – from underrated Cambodian cuisine to the country’s handicraft industry and the young collectives in Battambang and Kampot who are reviving the arts scene.

Many traditions and art forms almost lost during the 1970s have been brought back from the brink by artists and entrepreneurs determined to keep Cambodian culture alive.

Whether you’re interested in the legacy of the most powerful Golden Age state, the Khmer Empire, or discovering reminders of the Kingdom’s time as part of French Indochina in the beautiful colonial architecture and peppercorn plantations, it’s never been easier for visitors to get a feel for Cambodian culture.

Top cultural experiences in Cambodia

Take a Buddhism tour of Siem Reap: Spirituality plays a huge role in contemporary Cambodian life and there’s no better lens for exploring the country through. After you’ve taken in the Temples of Angkor that blend Hinduism and Buddhism, learn the ins and outs of Theravada Buddhism with an immersive Buddhism tour of Siem Reap . It’s a life-changing experience that teaches you how ancient beliefs coexist with modern society.

Watch an Apsara performance: It wasn’t so long ago that Cambodia’s national dance, Apsara, was considered an endangered art form. Artist and genocide surviver Arn Chorn-Pond has almost single-handedly revived Apsara traditions through his organisation Cambodian Living Arts. Nothing captures the Cambodian spirit like the understated but immensely beautiful performance. Nightly shows are held in Phnom Penh along with hands-on Apsara workshops that teach visitors the basic moves.

Go forest trekking in Mondulkiri: Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri in Cambodia’s far north-east are two of the country’s most remote provinces , known for their thick forests and biodiversity, including wild elephants. Ethnic minority groups including the Tampuan and the Bunong have developed sustainable tourism offerings, hosting guests at homestays and organising guided forest treks. During the tours, you get a glimpse of how people have coexisted with the forest for generations, and learn about the struggles they face today.

Seek out Khmer handicrafts: From Siem Reap’s Golden silk to Takeo cotton and clay pottery in Kampong Chhnang, every Cambodian province has its specialty crafts, many of which are still made by hand according to traditional techniques. In addition to making the perfect Cambodia souvenir , many co-ops offer tours and workshops so you can see the processes up close.

Japan – for ryokans , geisha culture & tea ceremonies

For those seeking an immersive cultural travel experience, Japan offers visitors a unique look at some of the oldest and most beautiful traditions in the world.

From the historic temples and shrines found throughout the country to the many spiritual and cultural celebrations, there are plenty of opportunities for visitors to Japan to learn about the various philosophies and spiritual traditions that underpin Japanese culture. 

Top cultural experiences in Japan

Observe a temple ritual: Consider participating in some of the various rituals at Japan’s temples and shrines. This is especially beneficial if you’re visiting Japan with kids , as it helps to gain a better understanding and appreciation for Japanese customs. Many people in Japan have deep-seated beliefs in symbolism. At the temples and shrines, you can observe and participate in practices that will bring you good fortune, luck, prosperity or health.

Spend the night in a ryokan : To truly embrace Japanese culture, book a stay at a ryokan rather than a hotel. These traditional Japanese inns typically feature rooms with tatami-matted floors and communal onsens or bathhouses. Guests tend to walk around the ryokan in a yukata or lounging kimono and slippers. It is also common for guests to walk around barefoot, as it is considered unclean to wear shoes inside.

Drink matcha : A tea ceremony is another immersive experience that is unique to Japan. Although popular throughout Japan, tea ceremonies are especially prominent in Kyoto, the home of geisha culture. Geishas are treated somewhat like celebrities in Japan, and booking a geisha performance and tea ceremony can be expensive and fairly difficult to arrange. However, you can book a tea ceremony with a maiko , or geisha apprentice, for a more modest price. This one-of-a-kind ritual ceremony is sure to be one of the most memorable travel experiences you’ll have in Japan!

By Melissa from Parenthood and Passports

Bhutan – for handicrafts, thangka & fertility symbols

Most people think of the Tiger’s Nest when they think of Bhutan. But this small, mountainous nation has a wealth of cultural history to offer in addition to its ornate monasteries.

Bhutan is a nation of crafters. In every town and city you will find streetwise vendors selling all manner of clothing, kitchenware, homeware and decorations that have been made using techniques that have been taught and passed down for hundreds of years.

Likewise, if you turn your attention to the buildings, you’ll see that many of them are adorned with colourful decals and patterns, especially designs that depict the eight auspicious signs which, among other things, represent wealth, good fortune, purity and harmony.

Bhutan is the only country in the world to measure their country’s wellbeing based on Gross National Happiness as opposed to Gross Domestic Production, which makes it (un)officially the happiest country on Earth.

Best cultural experiences in Bhutan

Attend a Tshechu ceremony: The annual Tshechu ceremonies show off Bhutan’s handicraft history perfectly. Throughout the year, locals gather across the country in regional Tshechus to celebrate Bhutan’s culture by singing traditional songs and performing dances in elaborate, brightly coloured costumes. At the Tsechu celebrations, an enormous religious banner or thangka depicting the country’s founder, Guru Rinpoche, is unveiled. The thangka is the size of a three storey building, hundreds of years old, and has not faded through the centuries due to the tradition of making sure that the light of the sun never touches it, so it’s still incredibly colourful and detailed.

Visit the Choki Traditional Art School: In order to see the historical handicrafts of Bhutan in production for yourself, make sure to visit the Choki Traditional Art School. Located just to the north of the capital city of Thimpu, here you can witness the students being taught how to weave, paint and sculpt masks, clothes, models, tapestries and dioramas from Bhutan’s history. Students’ ages range from elementary through to late teens, with all levels of skill on display. The students’ creations can then be bought from the school craft shop, with the proceeds helping fund the continuation of the institute’s classes.

Spot the phallus in Punakham: Punakham is the former capital of Bhutan, and was the seat of government until 1955. Located in the north of the country, the town is notable to western tourists for one particular reason. In the 15th century, a controversial master named Lama Drukpa Kunley (also known as the ‘Divine Madman’) popularised the phallus as a means to ward off slander and provide protection for those who lived in houses that displayed it prominently. Yes, it may be taboo for most of the world, but not here – these graphic symbols of fertility and good luck are artistically painted on walls everywhere!

By Jeremy from Cultura Obscura

Kerala, India – for houseboats, tea estates & contemporary art

Dubbed ‘God’s Own Country’, Kerala is a noodle-shaped state in the Southwest of India on the Malabar Coast. It’s known for its beautiful nature – especially a series of canals known as the backwaters and the hilly terrain of the Western Ghats Mountains.

Kerala people are officially the most literate in India and have the longest life expectancy. It is often said the Keralites have the best quality of life in this part of India, and that things are a lot more advanced. This is conveyed in the increasingly popular field of ecotourism and other initiatives.

The region is a beautiful mix of influences and religions. The spice trade has flourished in the area, which brought about European colonisation. You can feel Portuguese influence to this day, especially in the town of Kochi.

Top cultural experiences in Kerala

Cruise Kerala’s backwaters on a houseboat: With the decline of goods being transported on water, Kerala’s trade boats were repurposed into houseboats, and now provide a unique immersive experience on the famous backwaters. The most popular route is between Alleppey and Kumarakom or Kolam. Spending at least one night on the backwaters is necessary for the ultimate houseboat experience.

Soak up the tea heritage in Munnar: Munnar in the Western Ghats is famous for its tea production. You can visit several tea estates in the area and enjoy a tasting. In the village of Munnar, you can also experience the peaceful coexistence of three religions. There’s a Hindu temple, a Catholic church and a mosque all within a few meters from each other. 

Attend the Muziris Biennale in Kochi: A bi-annual international exhibition of contemporary art takes place in Kochi. This is the largest festival of its kind in Asia. When the biennale is on, the whole city lives it. The main space for the festival is a large complex of empty buildings near the port. Here, art installations covering all possible mediums bring the space to life. It’s a wonderful sight and quite a modern undertaking in Kerala.

Watch the artists at work at Kerala Kalamandalam: This is one of India’s most traditional universities of art and culture. Students learn Indian performing arts, especially those typical for Kerala. When visiting, you can observe students practicing unique dances with distinct facial expressions such as the Kathakali or Ottan Thullal, learning martial arts, and playing on unique musical instruments. The school is located in Cheruthuruthy.

By Veronika from Travel Geekery

Learn more: 9 amazing cultural encounters in Kerala .

Rajasthan, India – for folk dance, thaali & camel fairs

Rajasthan, the ‘Land of Kings’, is one of the most historically and culturally significant states of India. Over the centuries, Rajasthan has witnessed many rulers and many epic battles. Each built their own magnanimous fort and helped develop the region’s rich culture of art, dance and literature.

Over the past few decades, the Ghoomar dance from Jodhpur region and Kalbeliya dance of the deserts of Jaisalmer and Bikaner have become famous all over the world. Along with dance, folk music and songs relating the heroic tales of epic battles, these form an essential part of Rajasthan culture.

Against a backdrop of the vast Thar Desert, this has all shaped the culture of Rajasthan as we see it today.

Top cultural experiences in Rajasthan

Rajasthan offers travellers a plethora of unique cultural experiences .

Be a bystander at the Pushkar Camel Fair: The Pushkar Camel Fair, held every year in November, is one of the largest animal trading fairs in the world. This colourful carnival is a great opportunity for travellers to experience the charm-in-chaos of traditional melas (Indian fairs) along with a huge tribal gathering. In 2018, nearly half-a-million people visited this multi-day festival. Pushkar is only 150km from Rajasthan’s capital, Jaipur, and is easily accessible by road. 

Visit Choki Dhani: A resort village merely 20km from Jaipur, Choki Dhani is the go-to place to experience a collection of Rajasthan cultural experiences. Spread across 10 acres, this uniquely designed resort-village reflects the grandeur of the Rajasthani tradition. Visitors can experience Rajasthani traditional folk dance, watch a puppet show, see skits and sketches depicting important battles, and relish a traditional Rajasthani thaali (set meal), eaten while seated on the floor.

Watch a Dharohar dance performance: The Dharohar dance show at Bagore Ki Haveli in Udaipur is a mesmerising experience in itself. This hour-long show is a combination of many traditional, tribal and folk dances local to the region along with a puppet show. One of the highlights of the show is when an 80-year-old folk dancer performs with more than 10 earthen pots stacked on her head.

By Mainak from Places in Pixel

Uzbekistan – for ceramics, Silk Road heritage & plov

Uzbekistan is an upcoming cultural destinations in Central Asia. With a new visa policy, it is now easier than ever to visit the country – and there are many good reasons to do so.

Uzbekistan was once an important part of the famous Silk Road and has a rich cultural heritage that is still visible in the beautiful Islamic architecture and historic sites throughout the country. 

Uzbekistan’s major cities including Samarkand, Khiva and Bukhara were multicultural melting pots where people from all over the world exchanged goods, ideas and philosophies. The Turks, Greeks, Persians, Russians and Mongols all ruled parts of what is now Uzbekistan. Each of them left behind their own influence.

With so much history around, it’s sometimes easy to forget modern Uzbek culture, but this is just as interesting. The Uzbek people are very friendly and will give you a warm welcome to their world of delicious Uzbek food, traditional dance and music, and beautiful handicrafts.

Top cultural experiences in Uzbekistan

Taste Uzbek cuisine: One of the highlights of Uzbek culture is without doubt its food. The best way to learn more about Uzbek food is by taking an Uzbek cooking class. Tashkent is a great place to do so and also has some great restaurants where you can try the country’s national dishes. The Plov Center serves plates of the national dish to thousands of people every day – the huge steaming pots and pans outside are impressive enough to warrant a visit. 

Explore ikat and ceramic traditions: Another great cultural experience in Uzbekistan is to explore the country’s beautiful handicrafts. The Fergana valley is home to several centres of handicraft production where they still use traditional techniques. Margilon is famous for its ikat silk textiles and there are several silk factories that offer free tours to see how it’s done. The Usmanov Ceramic Workshop in Rishton also welcomes visitors for a short visit to see its pottery production and design process. 

Watch a dance performance: Traditional dance and music is an important part of Uzbek culture. Uzbek dance is an ancient art that has been perfected over hundreds of years. In Bukhara, there are almost daily performances in the Nadir Divan Begi madrasah showing the traditional dances from the different regions in the country.

By Ellis from Backpack Adventures

Learn more: Things to do in Uzbekistan for cultural travellers .

The Tibetan Plateau – for horse trekking & nomadic culture

Sprawled across the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, in the remote northern tip of China’s Sichuan province, Ruoergai town and county do not appear on Google maps. To Google, this locality is known by its Tibetan name, Zoige.

After 12 hours of following your car GPS from Chengdu to Zoige, climbing onto the Tibetan Plateau , Chinese road signs welcome you to Ruoergai, 3,500 meters above sea level.

Top cultural experiences on the Tibetan Plateau

Witness nomadic culture: Remote and isolated, Zoige/Ruoergai is the best place in the world to witness the disappearing Tibetan nomadic culture. All you have to do is drive around this vast, open grassland to catch a glimpse. You’ll see white nomads’ tents with smoky chimneys scattered on the sides of the road, surrounded by herds of domestic yak and protected by the menacing Tibetan mastiffs. The nomads are mistrustful of outsiders, which is not surprising given political tensions in the region.

Go horse trekking: Yet there is a way to experience the nomadic culture first-hand here – by taking a horse-trekking adventure with the local Tibetan Horse Trekking Agency in the nearby town of Langmusi. Tours range from a day hike to the hills – the domain of the nomads – to a multi-day horseback adventure with overnight stays in nomad tents. Guides are local Tibetans, so while you may not be having extensive discussions in English, you’ll be welcome in nomadic households.

Visit the monasteries and mosques in Langmusi: Encircled by forest-covered mountains, the small sleepy town of Langmusi is inhabited by three ethnic groups: Amdo Tibetans, Han Chinese and Hui Muslims. So, even just a visit to the town is a unique cultural experience. There are two large Tibetan monasteries on the hills above the town and a Hui mosque at its centre.

The nearest airport to Langmusi is Gannan Xiahe Airport, 130 km away. From Xiahe, you can take a bus to Langmusi, or arrange a car with a driver via Tibetan Horse Trekking.

By Margarita from The Wildlife Diaries

Taiwan – for night markets, Confucianism & forbidden relics

An island nestled off the coast of Mainland China, Taiwan is fast becoming one of the best cultural tourism destinations in Asia.

Its long history and combination of cultural influences – including Indigenous culture, Mainland China, Korea and even Japan – make Taiwan as intriguing as it is complex. Bustling with life, amazing food and beautiful scenery, this island has it all.

Top cultural experiences in Taipei

Eat your way through the Night Markets in Taipei: The capital city of Taiwan, Taipei, offers a world of things for people to see and do . One of the most popular culturally immersive activities for visitors is to head down to the local night market, the biggest one being the Shiling Night Market. Along with delicious local foods, you can also find clothes, accessories, games, cosmetics and more. Night Markets are significant because they play a huge role in Taiwanese culture . Locals and tourists alike flock to these areas each and every day to shop and socialise.

Observe the rituals at a Taiwanese temple: Taiwan is a very religious country with most people following either Buddhism or Confucianism. Many temples are built around these religions in a very extravagant manner. Visitors can take part in the prayer ceremony, burn some incense, or just sit back and observe. If you’re interested in visiting these temples, one of the best places to start is the Songshan Ciyou Temple, which is conveniently located right next to the Raohe Night Market. 

Visit the National Palace Museum: This museum houses thousands of cultural relics, art and artefacts, including many items that were carried out of the Forbidden City in China and moved to Taiwan to protect them from destruction during the Chinese Civil War. It’s one of the largest collections of its kind in the world. Here, you can learn how the Chinese language was formed, see what kinds of ancient tools and weapons were used throughout history, and witness what life was like many hundreds of years ago.

By Wayne from Daily Tourist

Learn more: The best cultural experiences in Taiwan .

Cultural trips in Africa & the Middle East

Ethiopia • Oman • Mauritius • Morocco

Ethiopia – for coal-fired coffee, churches & injera

Ethiopia is a country like no other. Here in North East Africa, the steaming tribal lowlands of the Rift Valley collide with the cool thin air of the Northern highlands. The fertile lands towards the West produces some of the world’s best coffee, while the wind from the East carries whispers from Arabia. It’s truly a spectacular place to visit.

Ethiopia is even more unique in terms of its cultural treasures. As the only country in Africa never to be colonised, Ethiopia is a truly African country with African culture. If you want to see lions chase and eat zebras, go somewhere else. If you want to see and experience African culture at its purest, then book your ticket to Ethiopia already!

Top cultural experiences in Ethiopia

Visit the city of Lalibela: Situated in the northern highlands, Lalibela is the most important pilgrimage site in the country for the predominantly Orthodox Christian population of Ethiopia. It is here that you’ll find eleven incredible churches completely hewn from the rock. If you see only one place in Ethiopia, make it Lalibela.

Attend Sunday Mass: The UNESCO recognised Lalibela churches still function as churches, and attending a Sunday morning service before sunrise with hundreds of pilgrims is an experience that you won’t forget. Afterwards you can join the crowds eating injera while basking in the morning sun. Be prepared for the fact that everyone will want to come and talk to you.

Hike to a remote mountain community: Hiking into the mountains surrounding Lalibela will take you to small farming communities where time has seemingly stood still. It’s also possible to visit one of these communities for a day and learn how to cook traditional Ethiopian dishes such as injera , tibs or shiro . You’ll also find a few cave churches and monasteries in these mountains. The priests will be eager to show off their ancient treasures for a small tip.

Participate in a traditional coffee ceremony: Ethiopia is considered the birthplace of coffee, and man are you in for treat! The best way to drink a cup of buna (Ethiopian coffee) is to attend a coffee ceremony. It starts off with the hostess washing green coffee beans and then roasting them in a pan over an open fire. The coals are infused with natural incense made from tree resin. You’ll see bags of these tree resin for sale in markets all over Ethiopia. Finally the coffee beans are ground and brewed in a special coffee pot called a jebena . It’s expected that guests will have at least three cups of buna, but why stop there?

By De Wet & Jin from Museum of Wander

Oman – for dhow boats, frankincense & Bedouin culture

Unlike some of its more glitzy neighbours who’ve traded their souqs for skyscrapers, Oman has approached cultural preservation from a different angle. It’s often called out as the most culturally ‘authentic’ country in the region .

This part of the Middle East has long been a melting pot of Arabian and East African cultures, with a strong South Asian influence. Semi-nomadic Bedouin tribes that paint the desert with their costumes and brightly coloured carpets are less accessible, but a range of tourist-friendly desert experiences allow you to brush with this part of Omani culture.

Contemporary Omani traditions are deeply tied to Ibadism and revolve around an annual calendar of Islamic festivities.

Top cultural experiences in Oman

Get lost in a souq: Perfumed by rose petals and frankincense, Oman’s souqs are a treat for the senses. Roam displays of henna and spices while getting a feel for commerce and culture. Muttrah Souq in the capital, Muscat, and the delightful Nizwa Souq are both must-visits.

Visit a dhow workshop in Sur: Not only are Oman’s wooden boats an impressive feat of engineering, they’re steeped in legend and tradition. In Sur, the home of Sinbad the Sailor, you can watch expert craftsmen fitting the vessels together without glue or nails.

Spend the night at a desert camp. The Sharqiya Sands, Oman’s slice of The Empty Quarter, is the territory of nomads. Bedouin-inspired desert camps recreate the experience of staying with a Bedouin tribe – albeit with a luxury edge! Spending the night in a desert camp involves listening to folk music, eating Omani food, while the very lodgings – the tent lined with carpets you’re sleeping in – is part of the Bedouin tradition.

Mauritius – for street food, Sega & sugarcane

The island nation of Mauritius is normally associated with splendid white-sand beaches and luxury resorts – thus its inclusion on this list of cultural trips might come as a bit of a surprise.

Yes, this is an island paradise incarnate, but it also happens to be one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries in the region, with African, Indian, Chinese and South Asian cultures – along with layers of Dutch, French and British influence – all accounted for.

Many elements of Mauritian culture can be traced back to the island’s plantation roots and the legacy of slavery. Mauritians honour this period of history while proudly showing off their culture in everything from the cuisine to the music.

Top cultural experiences in Mauritius

Take a street food tour of Port Louis: Mauritian food, much like Mauritian society itself, combines Chinese, Indian, Creole, East African and European flavours. Must-try dishes include vindaye , an adaptation of West Indian vindaloo, Chatini (chutney) is a popular condiment and traces its roots back to British-Indian origins, briani (biryani) and creations gifted from the island’s Chinese community, such as bol renversé (a layered dish of rice, chicken, shrimp and vegetables). The best way to get a grasp of these edible delights is by joining a guided street food tour of the capital, Port Louis .

Watch a Sega performance: Recognised by UNESCO for its value to Intangible Cultural Heritage, Mauritian Sega is a performance art characterised by music, song, dance and costume. It started out as an expression of pain and loss practiced by slave communities but has morphed over time into a colourful, optimistic expression of local culture. Elaborate Sega costumes moving to the tune of Creole lyrics is a . Many hotels offer Sega performances.

Visit an old sugarcane farm: Mauritius’ history of slavery and plantation farming has left an indelible mark on the island. Visiting preserved plantation homes and crumbling sugar mills is a step back in time to the colonial period, while regenerated cane fields such as those on Frederica Reserve now serve as a sanctuary for the island’s wildlife.

Learn more: 8 ways to experience Mauritian culture .

Morocco – for riads , tajines & mint tea

By all accounts, Morocco is a beguiling destination . The most popular country to visit in North Africa, it stands out for its diversity of landscapes and cultural experiences.

Morocco is an important gateway to the rest of Africa, and has been since Roman times. Its position at the northernmost tip of the continent – with a coast shared between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean – means it’s been at the centre of conquests and various cultural overlap throughout the ages.

Today, Morocco lives with the legacies of various civilisations, including Roman, Phoenician, Jewish, Berber, Arabic, Spanish and French. Morocco has a very hospitable culture, steeped in a refined art of living. When you visit the imperial cities of Marrakech and Fes, or the coastal towns of Essaouira and El Jadida, you will notice a multitude of little details typical of Moroccan life.

This art of living and careful hospitality is very important in Morocco and, as a visitor, you can experience it in many different ways.

Top cultural experiences in Morocco

Try your hand at Moroccan cuisine: Moroccan cuisine is world-famous for its use of spices and mix of sweet and savoury flavours. Every restaurant offers a selection of delicious tajines , a stew of meat and vegetables. Couscous is on the menu every Friday and if you like sweets, you will be in heaven. Sweet biscuits mixing flower, almond and spice flavours make a delicious afternoon treat. If you’re interested in learning new skills, cooking classes are often available in traditional riads in Marrakech. Moroccan cuisine takes time and care, but the results are delicious and quite easy to recreate at home.

Shop for authentic handicrafts at a souq : Another great way to experience the heart of Morocco is to spend time in the souks. Shopping in Morocco is a fun experience and haggling for a good price is the norm. You have to engage with merchants, ask questions, make small talk and, most importantly, have fun with it! Never lose your smile and sense of humour, and it will great fun! The most spectacular shopping experience is in Marrakech due to the volume and intensity of the medina. It’s easy to get lost but that’s part of the experience too!

Sip mint tea, a Moroccan tradition: When you travel throughout Morocco, you will notice that mint tea is served everywhere. This is a pivotal element of Moroccan hospitality. Green tea is mixed with fresh mint leaves and served in little decorated glasses. There is a little bit of theatre in serving mint tea, with the brass or silver teapot held high above the glass… Traditionally, mint tea is served with a lot of sugar, but these days it is common for sugar to be served on the side, so you can dose it yourself. And you can even buy a set of decorated tea glasses in the souk as a souvenir!

By Delphine from Lester Lost

How to have a more culturally immersive travel experience anywhere in the world

It doesn’t matter if it’s a remote community or a popular city – there are things you can do to have a more enriching cultural travel experience no matter where you’re going.

Here are 10 practical tips to help you on your way.

1. Do your research before you go: Familiarise yourself with local customs and learn a bit of the history so you know what types of experiences to look out for. This guide is a great start!

2. Seek out festivals and special events: Many tourism boards feature a calendar on their website, or you can try using Facebook to find local events. Check out my four-part series about the world’s best festivals, starting here .

3. Eat local. Food is one of the easiest routes to culture. Here are my tips for eating local when you travel.

4. Stay at a homestay. Spending time with a local family will give you an invaluable insight into daily life. Here are my tips for using homestays in Vietnam.

5. Participate in a class or workshop . Trying a cooking class, handicraft workshop or any other hands-on experience is one of the easiest ways to immerse yourself in local culture. I recommend using Get Your Guide , Airbnb Experiences, Cookly or Backstreet Academy to find opportunities.

6. Learn a bit of the language. Even knowing a few basic words will show you’re interested and can go a long way to forming relationships.

7. Shop local. Support artisans and heritage skills. Here are my tips for finding authentic and meaningful souvenirs .

8. Slow down. The best cultural experiences are often spare-of-the-moment and can’t be planned in advance. Keep some flexibility in your travel itinerary for spontaneous detours.

9. Go your own way. You don’t always have to follow the pack. Venturing away from the crowds will often give you access to unique and meaningful experiences.

10. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If in doubt, ask a local. Remember that cultural tourism is all about exchange – don’t just take, make sure you give something back in return.

Are you a cultural tourist? Which of these destinations is your favourite? What other places would you add to the list? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below!

World’s best cultural trips: Save it & share it on Pinterest

More cultural travel inspiration.

• 30+ amazing cultural experiences around the world
• Best cultural festivals around the world
• Best destinations for tea culture
• Best destinations for wine culture
• Unique food cultures around the globe
• My collection of cultural travel guides for 30+ cities and regions
• World’s best unique & underrated travel destinations

This is a very wonderful article about cultural destinations! Thank you so much for sharing!

One can easily visit India and experience the different kinds of cultures in a particular place. Tourism in India has been much more managed and safe with passage of time. Rajasthan tourism has been the most reliable and safe in India. One can enjoy all the traditional dishes and enjoy living in the palaces as a hotel room in different cities. But, whenever you are visiting to Rajasthan, India travel guide is a must because one can easily lose track of pathways in the puzzle like roads of the cities in Rajasthan. One can easily plan for a Kerala tour packages because of the minimal expenses in the state.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Subscribe to future posts

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

Ethics, Culture and Social Responsibility

• Global Code of Ethics for Tourism
• Accessible Tourism

Tourism and Culture

• Women’s Empowerment and Tourism

share this content

• Share this article on facebook
• Share this article on twitter
• Share this article on linkedin

The convergence between tourism and culture, and the increasing interest of visitors in cultural experiences, bring unique opportunities but also complex challenges for the tourism sector.

“Tourism policies and activities should be conducted with respect for the artistic, archaeological and cultural heritage, which they should protect and pass on to future generations; particular care should be devoted to preserving monuments, worship sites, archaeological and historic sites as well as upgrading museums which must be widely open and accessible to tourism visits”

UN Tourism Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics

Article 7, paragraph 2

This webpage provides UN Tourism resources aimed at strengthening the dialogue between tourism and culture and an informed decision-making in the sphere of cultural tourism. It also promotes the exchange of good practices showcasing inclusive management systems and innovative cultural tourism experiences .  

About Cultural Tourism

According to the definition adopted by the UN Tourism General Assembly, at its 22nd session (2017), Cultural Tourism implies “A type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions”. UN Tourism provides support to its members in strengthening cultural tourism policy frameworks, strategies and product development . It also provides guidelines for the tourism sector in adopting policies and governance models that benefit all stakeholders, while promoting and preserving cultural elements.

Recommendations for Cultural Tourism Key Players on Accessibility 

UN Tourism , Fundación ONCE and UNE issued in September 2023, a set of guidelines targeting key players of the cultural tourism ecosystem, who wish to make their offerings more accessible.

The key partners in the drafting and expert review process were the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) . The ICOMOS experts’ input was key in covering crucial action areas where accessibility needs to be put in the spotlight, in order to make cultural experiences more inclusive for all people.

This guidance tool is also framed within the promotion of the ISO Standard ISO 21902 , in whose development UN Tourism had one of the leading roles.

Download here the English and Spanish version of the Recommendations.

Compendium of Good Practices in Indigenous Tourism

The report is primarily meant to showcase good practices championed by indigenous leaders and associations from the Region. However, it also includes a conceptual introduction to different aspects of planning, management and promotion of a responsible and sustainable indigenous tourism development.

The compendium also sets forward a series of recommendations targeting public administrations, as well as a list of tips promoting a responsible conduct of tourists who decide to visit indigenous communities.

For downloads, please visit the UN Tourism E-library page: Download in English - Download in Spanish .

Weaving the Recovery - Indigenous Women in Tourism

This initiative, which gathers UN Tourism , t he World Indigenous Tourism Alliance (WINTA) , Centro de las Artes Indígenas (CAI) and the NGO IMPACTO , was selected as one of the ten most promising projects amoung 850+ initiatives to address the most pressing global challenges. The project will test different methodologies in pilot communities, starting with Mexico , to enable indigenous women access markets and demonstrate their leadership in the post-COVID recovery.

This empowerment model , based on promoting a responsible tourism development, cultural transmission and fair-trade principles, will represent a novel community approach with a high global replication potential.

Visit the Weaving the Recovery - Indigenous Women in Tourism project webpage.

Inclusive Recovery of Cultural Tourism

The release of the guidelines comes within the context of the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development 2021 , a UN initiative designed to recognize how culture and creativity, including cultural tourism, can contribute to advancing the SDGs.  

UN Tourism Inclusive Recovery Guide, Issue 4: Indigenous Communities

Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism

The Recommendations on Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism provide guidance to tourism stakeholders to develop their operations in a responsible and sustainable manner within those indigenous communities that wish to:

• Open up to tourism development, or
• Improve the management of the existing tourism experiences within their communities.

They were prepared by the UN Tourism Ethics, Culture and Social Responsibility Department in close consultation with indigenous tourism associations, indigenous entrepreneurs and advocates. The Recommendations were endorsed by the World Committee on Tourism Ethics and finally adopted by the UN Tourism General Assembly in 2019, as a landmark document of the Organization in this sphere.

Who are these Recommendations targeting?

• Tour operators and travel agencies
• Tour guides
• Indigenous communities
• Other stakeholders such as governments, policy makers and destinations

The Recommendations address some of the key questions regarding indigenous tourism:

Download PDF:

• Recommendations on Sustainable Development of Indigenous Tourism
• Recomendaciones sobre el desarrollo sostenible del turismo indígena, ESP

UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture

The UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture bring together Ministers of Tourism and Ministers of Culture with the objective to identify key opportunities and challenges for a stronger cooperation between these highly interlinked fields. Gathering tourism and culture stakeholders from all world regions the conferences which have been hosted by Cambodia, Oman, Türkiye and Japan have addressed a wide range of topics, including governance models, the promotion, protection and safeguarding of culture, innovation, the role of creative industries and urban regeneration as a vehicle for sustainable development in destinations worldwide.

Fourth UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture: Investing in future generations. Kyoto, Japan. 12-13 December 2019 Kyoto Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Investing in future generations ( English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Japanese )

Third UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture : For the Benefit of All. Istanbul, Türkiye. 3 -5 December 2018 Istanbul Declaration on Tourism and Culture: For the Benefit of All ( English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Russian )

Second UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference’s on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development. Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. 11-12 December 2017 Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development ( English , French , Spanish , Arabic , Russian )

First UN Tourism/UNESCO World Conference’s on Tourism and Culture: Building a new partnership. Siem Reap, Cambodia. 4-6 February 2015 Siem Reap Declaration on Tourism and Culture – Building a New Partnership Model ( English )

UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage  

The first UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage provides comprehensive baseline research on the interlinkages between tourism and the expressions and skills that make up humanity’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH). 

Through a compendium of case studies drawn from across five continents, the report offers in-depth information on, and analysis of, government-led actions, public-private partnerships and community initiatives.

These practical examples feature tourism development projects related to six pivotal areas of ICH: handicrafts and the visual arts; gastronomy; social practices, rituals and festive events; music and the performing arts; oral traditions and expressions; and, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe.

Highlighting innovative forms of policy-making, the UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage recommends specific actions for stakeholders to foster the sustainable and responsible development of tourism by incorporating and safeguarding intangible cultural assets.

UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage

• UN Tourism Study
• Summary of the Study

Studies and research on tourism and culture commissioned by UN Tourism

• Tourism and Culture Synergies, 2018
• UN Tourism Study on Tourism and Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2012
• Big Data in Cultural Tourism – Building Sustainability and Enhancing Competitiveness (e-unwto.org)

Outcomes from the UN Tourism Affiliate Members World Expert Meeting on Cultural Tourism, Madrid, Spain, 1–2 December 2022

UN Tourism and the Region of Madrid – through the Regional Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports – held the World Expert Meeting on Cultural Tourism in Madrid on 1 and 2 December 2022. The initiative reflects the alliance and common commitment of the two partners to further explore the bond between tourism and culture. This publication is the result of the collaboration and discussion between the experts at the meeting, and subsequent contributions.

Relevant Links

• 3RD UN Tourism/UNESCO WORLD CONFERENCE ON TOURISM AND CULTURE ‘FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL’

Photo credit of the Summary's cover page:  www.banglanatak.com

Through our community-based approach, we design tourism experiences to support tradition-bearers and to ensure their communities benefit from having their cultural heritage shared with the world.

The Cultural Heritage Tourism Initiative uses research and presentation methods from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival to curate engaging, inclusive, and sustainable community-based tourism experiences. We help hosts convey their heritage by working together to create extraordinary experiences—both immersive and unforgettable—instilling a sense of place and leaving travelers with enduring memories.

Our process prioritizes an equitable relationship in order to ensure communities directly benefit from sharing their cultural heritage worldwide. Our work in tourism leverages other synergistic initiatives, such as the Center’s work with artisans and the Festival. Activities include cultural heritage documentation, participatory community engagement, destination assessment and asset inventory, experience design and product development, workshops and trainings, enterprise development, market access and linkages, policy reform, and strategic planning.

UPLIFT North Carolina

The Center’s partnership with UPLIFT North Carolina provides participatory workshops and mentorship, working with partners to support and develop festivals and cultural heritage tourism experiences that benefit both visitors and communities. Our partnership is focused on strengthening rural economies through bolstering quality tourism experiences. The two-year project began in July 2023.

UPLIFT supports tourism through community-driven efforts in rural North Carolina. This team works regionally—across county borders—to support local tourism leaders and practitioners in realizing their vision for tourism in their community. Their work supports natural, recreational, cultural, agricultural, culinary, built, and additional areas of tourism.

At the nexus of North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, Tunisia is a confluence of history and culture. Thousands of archaeological and cultural sites, including UNESCO-recognized Carthage, El Jem, and Kairouan, are a visual testament to its diverse heritage. Tunisia’s living culture is also vibrant, from medinas bustling with artisanal production to the traditional practices of Indigenous Amazigh communities. However, despite this abundance of cultural heritage, tourists visiting Tunisia seldom leave its low-cost Mediterranean beach resorts.

In 2021, we launched a partnership with the USAID Visit Tunisia Activity to research and document Tunisia’s living culture and develop equitable and sustainable models of community-based cultural heritage tourism. Our work includes training, mentorship, and exchange for local festival organizers and research-based product development to share Tunisia’s living culture with visitors and the world.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Situated in southeastern Europe, where Eastern and Western cultures meet, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a rich history of religious, natural, and cultural diversity. We partnered with USAID Turizam to highlight the contemporary cultural life of Bosnia and Herzegovina—experienced through music, dance, food, and craft. In 2021, we led workshops for more than a hundred cultural festival organizers, sharing best practice and case studies from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In 2022, we led workshops for more than a hundred tourism enterprises to share our approach to community-centered, research-based cultural heritage tourism product development, incorporating cultural practices into tourism experiences that promote cultural sustainability and exchange.

Prior to 2015, most visitors to Armenia stayed in the capital and ventured out only to visit iconic natural landscapes and built heritage sites. This model limited interaction and exchange between visitors and local people and concentrated tourism spending in the capital, Yerevan. With USAID Armenia, we co-created the My Armenia Cultural Heritage Tourism Program, a seven-year program that piloted a new, community-centered, and research-based approach to experiential tourism. The program concluded in December 2021, but the impact remains—a radically different approach to tourism and more than 150 resilient tourism and artisan enterprises.

By Rachel Barton

Layers of Armenia’s fascinating cultural heritage are embedded in the country’s pristine landscapes, which are dotted with ancient cave dwellings, mountain monasteries, fortresses, and Armenian  khatchkars  (cross-stones).

By Jackie Flanagan Pangelinan

Vahagn Hambardzumyan and Zara Gasparyan are the husband-and-wife team behind Sisian Ceramics. Founded in 2010, the studio they named for their hometown is located in Armenia’s Syunik Province.

By Tony Cohn

The oldest known evidence of winemaking was discovered in the Areni-1 cave complex. It’s this very site in southern Armenia that has had a major impact on how archeologists understand humanity’s earliest civilizations.

By Rebecca Wall

What makes a wine Armenian? Irina Ghaplanyan and Vahe Keushguerian emphasize the unique grape varietals indigenous to Armenia and the country’s exceptional  terroir .

By Halle Butvin

In October 2018, the My Armenian program hosted the second annual My Handmade Armenia Festival in Yerevan and celebrated the official launch of FestivAr Association of Armenian Festivals.

By Yuri Horowitz

In August 2020, Yerevan Magazine printed a special issue featuring opportunities to travel within Armenia, based on My Armenia research and collaborations.

Donors & Local Partners

• Ferring Pharmaceuticals USAID

Local Partners

• Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia Teryan Cultural Center

Email powered by MailChimp ( Privacy Policy , Terms of Use )

Take advantage of the search to browse through the World Heritage Centre information.

Understanding tourism at your destination

• Toolkit About the Sustainable Tourism Toolkit How to use this guide? Our Objective Resource Library
• Guides Strategic foundations Guide 1: Understanding Guide 2: Strategy Guide 3: Governance Guide 4: Engagement Core Delivery Guide 5: Communication Guide 6: Infrastructure Guide 7: Value Guide 8: Behaviour Guide 9: Investment Guide 10: Monitoring
• Case Studies Guide 1: Historic Town of Vigan Guide 2: Angkor Guide 2: Ichkeul National Park Guide 3: Melaka and George Town Guide 4: Avebury Guide 4: Old and New Towns of Edinburgh Guide 4: Great Barrier Reef Guide 4: Røros mining town and the circumference Guide 5: Røros Mining Town and the Circumference Guide 6: Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (United Kingdom) Guide 7: Røros Mining Town and the Circumference Guide 8: Wadi Al-Hitan Guide 9: Land of Frankincense

What this guide 1 will tell you

This guide 1 will help you understand why tourism matters, some key questions you may need to ask and answer, and some ways to fill evidence gaps, such as utilising other partner's resources. Continue reading below to follow our steps to success.

Steps to success

Why this matters.

Every business school in the world teaches, 'If you can't measure it, you can't manage it'. You cannot manage tourism or help shape it in progressive ways without having a basic understanding of what it is, how it affects people and places, and what it can potentially become with some inspired and progressive interventions. To ensure the scarce resources available for tourism development and heritage protection are utilized to their full effect, it is crucial a unified understanding exists across each destination regarding what is successful, what does not work, and what sustainable opportunities exist for growth or development. Not all tourism is good tourism; some forms of tourism are much more sustainable, while others may have a negative effect on the surrounding environment if not managed properly.

Almost all potential sites can benefit from better evidence and data – this is not just a heritage management issue, but a tourism destination issue. It is necessary you work to gather this information . Other places similar to your sites have successfully addressed these questions, and often with limited resources. You may find the examples most relevant to your situation in our Resources page .

Start with the basics define your terms of reference

Be clear on where and what your 'destination' is . A destination is the physical space in which a tourist spends their holiday or vacation. It includes a full range of services, products and experiences :

• The attractions people visit
• The accommodation in which they stay
• The transport arrival hubs
• The food and drink establishments utilised
• The retail outlets in which they shop
• The museums and galleries they visit
• Even the city, town, village, or homes where the local community resides.

A World Heritage site (WHS) can be a destination in itself. However, more often it is located in, or part of, a wider venue, forming the key , or one of the key, attractions of the place concerned. The UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme is based on the need to manage tourism at a destination scale – managing the issues simply within the boundaries of the World Heritage sites would be ineffective.

Defining your broader destination is extremely important in building foundations for sustainable tourism, and it can be particularly helpful to look at how other places have done this already. For example , Angkor Wat WHS is the attraction, but Siem Reap is the destination, or Uluru Kata Tjuta WHS (formerly known as Ayers Rock) is the attraction, while Alice Springs is the destination.

We offer guidance below that addresses tourism challenges at a destination scale. Therefore, it will be important to know and understand the geography of your location  - where it begins and also where it ends.

How much do you know about the destination?

Here are some basic questions you will need to answer about your destination. It may be useful to list your answers in a separate document to refer back to later.

Can you answer all of the following?

• How many tourists do you receive per year?
• How long do they stay in your destination?
• Who are your tourists? Where do they come from?
• Are you attracting the most advantageous segments of the tourism market? How do you perform relative to other comparable destinations?
• How do tourists arrive and move around your destination? Where do they go to afterwards?
• What are their motivations for coming? What do they know about your site?
• What do they care about? Do they understand your outstanding universal value (OUV)?
• What are the positive and negative social, economic, cultural, and ecological impacts caused by visitors? How do they affect the heritage management of the site?
• Where, and by whom or what, are these impacts experienced?
• How many people can your site/destination sustainably cope with and manage?
• Do you understand the scale, quality, capacity, and location of your tourism infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, travel providers, food and drink, leisure, retail)?
• How do your visitors spend their money? Who benefits from this spending? Who does not benefit?
• Who picks up the costs of the heritage?
• Who or what entity must be part of a partnership that would bring about positive changes to your destination?

If you cannot answer these questions , or similar questions specific to your site, you must dedicate some time to trying to find these answers before attempting to change anything. These answers will help you gather the necessary information to begin managing tourism in your location at a destination scale.

The four crucial issues you need to measure and understand, and why

Understanding tourism is the first step to managing your site more effectively. Surprisingly, few World Heritage sites collect accurate data on key tourism indicators. Good data is the key to both being able to monitor threats to the site or the host community, and ensuring interventions are effectively targeted. The following four topics are crucial to fully understanding tourism possibilities at your destination.

1) Supply side

To manage tourism effectively, destinations need to understand the supply side of the process – which involves undertaking an inventory of tourism assets and infrastructure, while assessing the scope for growth and the changes over time. The effectiveness of a destination relies on securing revenue and is heavily dependent upon the location, scale, capacity, and quality of the accommodation, transport system, food and drink, retail, leisure experiences, and visitor attractions. Every destination should have a simple and up to date inventory of its tourism assets and visitor attractions.

2) Demand side

Sites must also understand the demand side of the tourism sector :

• How many people want to visit? Is the demand growing or declining?
• Who are the visitors, and when do they visit?
• Why do they come, and how long do they stay?
• How much do they spend and what do they purchase?
• Where do they come from?
• What do they want to experience, and how do they learn about the site, its values, and the host community?
• Are visitors satisfied with the experience?
• How is all of this changing over time, and does the destination attract the most advantageous visitor segments?

This information is crucial because you may need to use it later for new investment possibilities and new or updated infrastructure . All destinations should at the very least measure visitor satisfaction levels.

3) Community voice – community impacts

It is critical that destinations think carefully about the potential positive and negative impacts that tourism may have on the host community and their intangible cultural heritage. Communicate with the host community to understand their needs, concerns, and aspirations. It is a basic tenet of sustainable tourism that host communities have a voice in shaping the tourism processes that affect them. There is tendency to think about the community's wishes after everything has already been decided – this is a grave mistake and one likely to breed mistrust and apathy on the part of local residents.

4) Heritage, cultural, social, and ecological impacts

Perhaps the most important issue when talking about World Heritage sites is understanding the heritage – what can and cannot happen in its proximity. We would hope that every site has a Heritage Management Plan that is clear about the impacts and opportunities that result from tourism, as well as the areas of concern and issues to be addressed. It is critical for effective heritage management that destination personnel understand and monitor the past, present, and potential future ecological, cultural, and social impacts of tourism. In many sites there will be ways to sustainably manage tourism and tourism growth, but site managers need to understand the point at which impacts are destructive and require intervention. The degree to which tourism businesses provide local career opportunities (with fair wages), equal opportunities, and occupational safety are important and worthy of analysis. Think carefully about 'liveability' as well as the visitor experience. It is also important to monitor risks and negative impacts over time so that areas of concern can be managed in the appropriate way at the appropriate times.

These four areas of action are critical to effective destination management . Every World Heritage site destination should evaluate their knowledge and understanding on these issues. This is not simply some form of onerous conservation regulation. It is as much about developing and managing the destination for the benefit of its businesses and host community, as it is about raising awareness concerning what can and cannot happen at sites recognised as the world's most important and valued historic places or natural landscapes.

Bring together the key data and evidence on your destination in one place

Create a simple inventory of the available evidence on tourism issues in the destination. This will save a lot of time for stakeholders and is a useful exercise for a conservation or management body, as well as for a commercial business.

Knowledge and understanding is powerful so spread it across the destination. Most tourism macro data is not market sensitive. It can usually be shared and analysed publically with no ill effects for the destination (though it may reveal certain weaknesses or difficulties if the destination is doing things less well than it should be). Surprisingly few World Heritage destinations can answer any or all of these questions with any supporting evidence. We would, therefore, recommend that you bring together any available evidence on the destination and make it accessible, as it will empower businesses and others to think strategically about the performance of the tourism sector.

Assess objectively whether enough is known about tourism in your destination

What are the gaps in your knowledge and evidence?

It will become apparent relatively quickly which key questions you cannot answer with the evidence currently available. Make a simple list of the topics you know and understand. Continue with a list of those you do not know, but think would be useful to know. This list is rather important for the stages that follow because you will be able to engage other partners in helping you fill the information gaps you find.

Who can fill the data/evidence gaps?

Identify, link, and connect different stakeholders who have an interest in better tourism. There are many ways to collect data without spending a large sum of money. Many World Heritage sites will be able to establish relationships with local or international universities, colleges, and schools, as well as private businesses willing to devote time, effort, and money to understanding tourism and its associated issues with supporting evidence. If all else fails, engaging interns and volunteers to use simple but robust survey techniques can shed light on the tourism market for the destination as a whole.

The point is that often there are other organisations willing to use the destination as a research location, creating a mutually beneficial relationship for all parties involved. Some destinations already have established Evidence and Impact Forums for interested specialist parties and academics; if asked, a surprisingly wide range of stakeholders could be interested in helping you undertake this research.

Some ways to get started

Do not be daunted by the number of things you do not know… begin your evidence gathering and analysis . You may even start to answer some of the key questions by simply buying a clipboard, standing on the street, and asking visitors some polite questions. If you can ask a couple hundred visitors the right questions , then you will begin formulating insights into tourism at your destination. Likewise, if you contact around 20 tourism businesses via face-to-face interviews or through an online survey , you will begin to create a picture of what is happening at your destination, what is working, and what is not. Simple observations can reveal a great deal – get a map and mark observations concerning crowding, litter, deterioration of the historic environment, or poor visitor experiences. Your efforts may not meet the highest standards of social science, but this is not important.

Some destinations will, of course, be well resourced to hire professional teams of experts to undertake robust analysis of these issues – and that is to be encouraged where possible – but most destinations have to do their best with a range of practical, DIY, and partner solutions. We are not demanding perfect analysis. Rather, we are arguing that some form is essential . If you are lacking an available human workforce, you may encourage visitors to fill out a short survey when booking with hotels or agencies, or leave one in their hotel rooms. If incentivised , perhaps with the possibility of winning tickets to a local show or a free dinner, it has been shown that people are far more likely to complete such surveys. The luckiest, or best-managed locations may already have a destination management organisation happy to lead a data gathering project on tourism, and their work may simply need to be influenced by heritage professionals to widen its scope.

As you gather new evidence make it public . However small your samples or tentative your conclusions, you should make these public so others can respond , help you widen the survey base, or simply disagree with your findings and replace the information with something better. Knowledge is never perfect or finished; it is the process of learning and finding the information that matters.

Assess sustainability meaningfully- can tourism ever be sustainable at your site?

Now that you are collecting and analyzing data, consider whether there are ways other than tourism to share your site and give your community a good quality of life. The global environment faces profound challenges due to our addiction to travel and the consumption of resources at unsustainable levels . Planes, trains, cars, and other forms of transport are a significant contributor to climate change through the burning of fossil fuels, and many communities face significant challenges in terms of water usage and the disposal of waste water and other solid wastes. The world is experiencing unprecedented levels of species extinction through habitat loss for food production, pollution, and over fishing, so now more than ever you need to assess whether you can justify tourism. If you are, in fact, able to do so, assess what kind of tourism can be accommodated that does not contribute negatively to the situation, either directly on a local basis or through externalities (e.g. CO2 emissions) on a global basis.

We need a new kind of tourism that does not contribute to environmental damage, climate change, pollution, and loss of ecosystems. Some sites are already making the tough decision not to open complete access to visitors. Instead they have chosen to share their stories and values through a greater online presence, or offering remote access to the site with accompanying narrative guides– for instance, St Kilda in Scotland is one example. When gathering data to understand tourism in your destination do not duck the toughest question of all – face it and think about it. If the need for tourism is so great and is effectively unavoidable for your community, then think about how you can manage or prevent its direct effects on a local basis. In parallel, find ways to offset or mitigate its externalities on a global basis, such as a scheme for carbon offsetting.

Guide 1 PDF version

English Russian

32 Cultural Tourism Destinations for Unique Cultural Trips

Disclaimer: This article includes affiliate links to the products we earnestly love and recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, we might make a teeny-weeny commission if you click on the link and decide to buy something. The money will be used to sustain this little cozy blog we call our virtual home.

As a cultural traveler, I always look for unique cultural experiences wherever I travel. Do you also believe in cultural travel or immersive travel? That being so, this round-up of the very best cultural tourism destinations in the world is sure to help you plan a soulful cultural trip.

Cultural Tourism: Introduction

I’m a sucker for meaningful travel experiences. Beach vacations don’t excite me as much as cultural trips.

What exactly is a cultural trip?

To put it simply, a cultural trip is a trip with a purpose or a goal.

It’s about experiencing, understanding, appreciating, embracing, and preserving different cultures and traditions worldwide.

It’s about getting off the beaten path & stepping out of your comfort zone.

It’s about meeting natives and forming meaningful connections.

It’s about eating local delicacies and staying in homestays.

It’s about being a part of cultural events, local festivals, and rituals .

It’s about gaining knowledge or learning a new skill.

It’s about volunteering and helping local communities thrive.

It’s about challenging preconceptions and bringing in fresh perspectives.

It’s about traveling slowly, sensibly, sustainably, and responsibly, not leaving footprints, and treading a little lighter on the planet.

It’s about not just thinking about yourself but caring about the world @ large.

Culturally immersive travel is all the more important in present times to deal with the dynamic challenges of globalization and multiculturalism.

Cultural tourism is vital in preserving culture and heritage to build a beautiful world and we, as travelers, have a social responsibility to make a positive impact on the local economy, environment, and communities whenever and wherever we travel and inspire others to do that too.

To get on with it, I collaborated with seasoned cultural travelers to bring together this guide to the best cultural destinations in the world that include exciting cultural countries that put forward experiential cultural travel experiences.

Cultural Tourism Destinations for the Best Cultural Experiences in the World

Needless to say, you can have a culturally immersive travel experience anywhere and everywhere in the world.

Each destination has a culture different than yours waiting to be explored and thus, it’s tough to choose a few, however, I’ve cherry-picked the countries that catch the eye for their strong culture and heritage and intrigue a cultural tourist.

Top Cultural Tourist Destinations in Asia

Nele van Hout from The Navigatio

Japan is one of the most unique and culture-rich countries in the world. It’s counted as one of the leading cultural destinations in the world for a reason.

Being an island, Japan was isolated from other countries for centuries, allowing it to develop its very own unique customs and traditions.

While many influences from outside are now being introduced in the country, Japan remains a travel destination like no other.

Japan is known as a country of many contrasts. The hyper-modern side can be enjoyed in big metropolitan cities like Tokyo, where you can play video games in arcades, be checked into a hotel by a robot, sing karaoke or ride the fastest train in the world (the Shinkansen).

But it’s the traditional side where Japan really differentiates itself from the rest of the world. When visiting, you can dress up in traditional wear, the kimono, before heading over to temples there were built over a thousand years ago – some of the most famous ones can even be found inside the big cities.

In Kyoto, the cultural capital of Japan, you can still find geishas to this day – these are women dressed in kimonos wearing unique white make-up who specialize in tea ceremonies and performance arts.

Here, you can (must) also take part in an official tea ceremony . Matcha (Japanese green tea) plays a big role in Japanese culture and Kyoto is the perfect place to learn about it.

When in Japan, you should consider staying in a ryokan for at least one night. This is a traditional Japanese inn, usually equipt with tatami floors (traditional straw floors) and sometimes they even have an onsen (Japanese hot springs).

They can be found all across the country, but the city of Hakone has a lot of them , including onsen. Some even come with a view of the majestic Mount Fuji .

De Wet & Jin of the Museum of Wander

One of the top choices for cultural trips around the world, few places can compete with the cultural magnificence of China.

The country has a rich and diverse history that spans over 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world.

The staggering wealth of cultural heritage scattered across the country can make deciding where to go in China challenging. Whether looking for historical landmarks, tea culture , fantastic food, ancient and modern art, traditional medicine, minority cultures, or unique cultural experiences, China delivers like a few others.

First-time visitors to China can experience the best of Chinese culture and history in the capital, Beijing. Besides seeing the famous historical landmarks like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace, they’ll also have many opportunities for a slice of  authentic Beijing  life.

Join the rest of Beijing and ride a bike along the wide and leafy bike lanes, or head to one of the parks to see people play chess, practice calligraphy or opera singing, or do ballroom dancing.  

No visit to China is complete without indulging in its incredible cuisine. In Beijing, that means Peking duck. For the best roast duck in Beijing, you must not miss Quanjude restaurant.

Art lovers, collectors, or those looking for a unique souvenir from China should visit Beijing’s antique market. Panjiayuan Antique Market is home to hundreds of vendors dealing in authentic Chinese antiques and replicas – the fun is finding the difference and bargaining until the price is right.

While Beijing has accommodations to suit every budget and taste, staying in a traditional hutong courtyard hotel is best if you want to immerse yourself in the real Beijing. The  Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel  in the Dongcheng district is the perfect base to see and experience the local side of Beijing.

One of the oldest civilizations in the world, India has a rich, vibrant, and diverse cultural legacy that makes it the ultimate cultural tourism destination.

Over the centuries, India has been invaded several times by diverse rulers leaving an indelible mark on its cultural fabric. You can see and feel the influence of diverse cultures in architecture, traditional customs, food, dance, music, festivities, and languages. It, without a doubt, is one of the best places for culture in the world.

The Indian cultural heritage, values, and traditions have shaped the history of Asia and the world for that matter.

From ancient temples and royal palaces to majestic forts and historical monuments, the plethora of heritage sites in India showcases the cultural vitality of the country.

Each Indian state with its distinctive cultural heritage deserves a special place among beautiful cultural destinations in India, however, some states and cities take a lead for their cultural and historic stature on the world stage like Varanasi, Jaipur , Delhi , Amritsar , Madurai, Hampi, Mysore, Khajuraho, Kochi , and Rishikesh.

Among the various destinations for cultural tourism in India, Varanasi (Benaras or Kashi) is indeed the symbol of Indian culture. “Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together,” penned Mark Twain.

One of the oldest living cities in the world, this sacred city on the banks of the Holy River Ganges is where people from across the world come to attain moksha (salvation). Its ancient temples, historic ghats, and revered Ganga Aarti offer unmissable cultural experiences. Without a doubt, Varanasi is one of the best cultural cities in the world.

With magnificent palaces, invincible forts, folk music, colorful festivals, and fairs – the royal cities of Rajasthan narrate the grandeur of erstwhile royals.

The unique temples of Tamil Nadu have great mythological and historical significance in Indian culture. The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai is the epitome of beauty and architecture and a must-visit for cultural buffs.

Khajuraho, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Madhya Pradesh beautifully mirrors the art and creativity of ancient India. One of a kind in the world!

Kerala is a melting pot of different cultures and traditions. You can sense the Arab, Chinese, and European influences, especially in Fort Kochi. You can visit Kerala Kathakali Centre to witness traditional dances such as the Kathakali or the classic martial arts form of Kalaripayattu. Art lovers can plan around Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the biggest contemporary art festival in Asia.

No cultural trip to India is complete without taking part in one of the colorful Indian festivals . Holi and Diwali are hit among cultural tourists. And of course, gorging on traditional Indian food is part and parcel of an immersive travel experience in India.

The Mughal monuments of Delhi , the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the Indo-Portuguese architecture of Goa, the Awadhi heritage of Lucknow, the artistic and literary heritage of Kolkata, the historic temples of Bhubaneswar, the Buddhist pilgrimage of Bodh Gaya, ancient ruins of Hampi, palaces and pilgrim sites of Mysore, and on and on – India is your answer to culture fix.

And how can I talk about Indian culture and not mention its ancient healing traditions – Yoga and Ayurveda that make India a leader in holistic wellness? From Rishikesh and Narendra Nagar to Kottayam, Allepey, Palakkad, and Mysore – there are endless Yoga and Ayurveda Ashrams & Resorts in India.

For an immersive Indian culture experience, book a stay at one of the unique heritage hotels or local homestays or wellness retreats in India.

Ami Bhat of Thrilling Travel

Known for its commitment to Gross National Happiness, Bhutan is a place where you will find how well-balanced the concepts of well-being and spiritual values are alongside economic development. The small landlocked country located in the eastern Himalayas is a perfect combination of culture, heritage, and nature.

The history of Bhutan dates back to the 8th century when Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, introduced Buddhism to the region. The country’s early history is characterized by the establishment of local chieftaincies, with the emergence of the Wangchuck dynasty in the early 20th century leading to the unification of the country.

It was in 2008, the country made the transition to a constitutional monarchy, with the king remaining the head of state but with a democratically elected government.

Every major town in Bhutan has a central Dzong (fort) which is not just a center of governance but also, a religious and cultural hot spot. A visit here not only allows you to appreciate the traditional Bhutanese architecture but gets you familiarized with the key customs and traditions of the country.

Besides these, there are several ancient monasteries and temples like Taktsang Monastery,  Chimi Lhakhang ( the fertility temple), and the Gangtey Monastery that one can visit.

No cultural experience is complete without a taste of the local meals. Bhutanese cuisine is known for its spiciness and use of chilies, and traditional dishes include ema datshi (chilies and cheese), phaksha paa (pork with vegetables), and momos (dumplings).

It is highly recommended that one experiences a stay in one of their traditional villages located in peaceful valleys like the Haa Valley and Phobjikha Valley. There are several farmhouses that provide authentic experiences including traditional stone baths.

Kaitlyn from Carry On Only

Vietnam is an ideal destination in South East Asia for those who wish to experience a diverse and fascinating culture. It’s a beautiful country brimming with endless cultural tourism attractions and thus, offers some of the best cultural vacations in the world.

The history of Vietnam is complex and includes significant events such as a 1000-year-long period of Chinese rule over northern and central Vietnam, a 1st century AD rebellion led by the Trung Sisters against Chinese domination, successful defense against Mongol invasion, French colonization during the 19th century, and the widely known Vietnam War.

Vietnam has a wide range of attractions that would interest culture buffs. These include the My Son Sanctuary, Cu Chi Tunnels, The Ancient Town of Hoi An (which features the Precious Heritage Art Gallery Museum , War Remnants Museum and the Independence Palace in Ho Chi Minh City , the imperial city of Hue, Bac Ha Market in Lao Cai, Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi , and floating markets along the Mekong Delta.

If you want to have a complete cultural experience, then choosing a Homestay in the Sapa area is the optimal way to do it. You can get an authentic taste of the daily life of the Black Hmong by staying in The Little Hmong House .

Vietnamese locals are renowned for their friendliness and hospitality towards tourists, making it easy for visitors to connect with them and learn about their vibrant culture and way of life.

If you want to experience a magnificent culture, visiting Vietnam is a must-do on your bucket list!

Alex and Leah of Alex and Lean on Tour

If you’re looking for an explosion of culture, look no further than Cambodia, one of the very best cultural places in the world.

The country has endless cultural attractions that you absolutely must visit. Whether it’s the famous sunset at Angkor Wat near Siem Reap or lesser-known gems such as the Battambang Bamboo train, there’s so much to experience in Cambodia.

Angkor Wat is an absolute must-visit for anyone traveling to Cambodia. The region has tons of temples, all representing something different about Cambodian culture. 

If you’re looking to explore off the traditional touristy track, make sure to visit Battambang and stay at the beautiful Sanctuary Villa which fully blends into the environment perfectly yet still has amazing facilities!

Similarly, if you love the hustle and bustle of a city that has an abundance of great food places, Phnom Penh’s the place to be. Full of every food imaginable 

Cambodia has a very fraught history and has only recently managed to dispose of the Khmer Rouge. This truly horrific regime attempted to restructure Cambodian society which ended up slaughtering millions of innocent people in prison and killing fields. It’s still a very poor country so make sure to be conscious and respectful when you visit! 

If you’re looking to relax Cambodian-style then why not also visit the beautiful Koh Rong islands in the southwest? You’ll have the chance to swim in the turquoise sea by day and bio-illuminant plankton by night!

Dotti from Travel Oasis

Sri Lanka is a fabulous destination for culture lovers. This little island is overflowing with cultural attractions due to its extensive history dating back millennia. 

The most obvious place to get a cultural fix in Sri Lanka is the cultural triangle. This region, in the center of the country, is where the Sinhalese civilization was born. It’s also where the bulk of Sri Lanka’s cultural attractions are: the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, Mihintale, the Dambulla cave temples, and the famous rock citadel of Sigiriya.

The largest of these is Anuradhapura , Sri Lanka’s first capital. It was one of the ancient world’s great metropolises at the time, with monasteries, massive dagobas, elaborate palaces, and water tanks. Many of these monuments still remain, not only as popular tourist attractions but as important Buddhist religious sites, so it’s common to see pilgrims paying visits. 

Just south of the cultural triangle is Kandy , the second-largest city in the country. Kandy is known as the cultural capital of Sri Lanka due to housing the famous Temple of the Tooth. This temple, which is open to the public, is said to hold a tooth from the Buddha and is of utmost importance to Buddhists worldwide. 

In the north of Sri Lanka is Jaffna, home to the majority of the country’s Tamil population. Jaffna is a great place to experience Sri Lanka’s Hindu culture, with shrines peppered throughout the region. The most famous is Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil, which dates back to the 13th century. 

There’s no better place to stay than Ceylonima Home Stay in Anuradhapura. Run by an incredibly welcoming family who goes out of their way to provide the best experience for their guests. From giving local tips to informal cooking classes in their own kitchen, this is a cultural experience not to miss.

Linda of Muy Linda Travels

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia comprising five main islands and more than 18,000 smaller islands located on ancient trading routes between Asia, and the Middle East.

With more than 300 ethnic groups, Indonesian culture is a blend of traditions, religions, and cultural practices. More than 85% of Indonesians are Muslim with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity making up the remaining numbers.  

Indonesia’s ancient religious monuments are a great place to start exploring the country’s rich history and culture. The Island of Bali has more than 10,000 Hindu shrines.

But  Indonesia’s most beautiful temples  can be found in Java. Majestic Borobudur, the largest Buddhist Temple in the world, and Prambanan Temple, the oldest and the largest of Indonesia’s Hindu Temples lie near Yogyakarta in Central Java. Both famous monuments are UNESCO world-heritage listed and recognized for their historical importance and cultural significance.   

In Central Java, the Sarasvati Hotel in Borobudur is a lovely place to stay. The elegant Dutch colonial-era building has a superb location near the entrance to the Borobudur Temple grounds. 

Indonesia has a history of Sultans that ruled local areas before and during the Dutch colonial rule. Royal Courts can be visited in Java, Bali, Borneo, and the Spice Islands. The Sultans were revered for their refinement and high culture. A highlight of visiting the Royal Palace in Yogyakarta is watching a live Gamelan and shadow puppet performance.  

In Java, the Batik Museum in Solo has a beautiful collection of traditional Indonesian Batik fabrics and sarongs, and in Bali, traditional Dance is performed regularly with evening performances in Ubud and around the island.  

Traditional Indonesian food is another way to explore the culture with dishes like, sate chicken and peanut sauce, Gado Gado, Babi Guling, Nasi Goreng, and Mi Goreng.  

Indonesia has much to offer and is a great destination for culture lovers. 

Emily from Emixglobe 

With a long history of colonialism blended with rich aboriginal culture, Taiwan has an extremely colorful fusion of cultural heritage unique from all its East Asian counterparts.

One of the best ways to experience the various forms of Taiwanese culture is to visit the many historic streets scattered throughout Taiwan. Each historic street has its own unique history and culture associated with it.

From these streets, you’ll be able to get a glimpse of how Taiwanese people have lived throughout the centuries; from well-preserved buildings left from the Japanese colonial period to the fascinating and unique Hakka culture of Taiwan.

Some of the most beautiful and notable historic streets in Taiwan include Jiufen and Lukang Old Street, both dating back to the Qing dynasty.

Jiufen was once a prosperous mining town and many have speculated it to be the inspiration for Ghibli’s spirited away due to striking similarities. Lukang used to be the second most prominent town in Taiwan and an important seaport rich in Hakka culture.

The Aboriginal culture is also an important part of Taiwanese culture. The Aborigines have lived in Taiwan for 6000 years, and there are officially 16 recognized tribes in Taiwan, each with its own unique language and culture.

The best way to experience the Aboriginal culture is to take their villages and immerse yourself in their daily way of life and participate in festivals and events.

South Korea

Mayi from SecretMoona

In recent years, South Korea has undergone tremendous cultural change. Thus when considering the country, we often think of K-Pop, K-Drama, K-Food, and high-tech.

But South Korea also offers something for those interested in history and culture.  A trip to South Korea is an invitation to discover 5,000 years of history, art, and culture.

Here, Chinese and Japanese influences can be seen in the rich heritage, but Korean culture displays a particular style. Starting with Seoul, a bubbling capital where futuristic architecture brushes shoulders with ancient palaces.

You can explore Bukchon Hanok Village. Surrounded by Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, and Jongmyo Shrine, Bukchon Hanok Village is home to hundreds of traditional houses called hanok, which date back to the Joseon Dynasty.

After the capital, I invite you to visit the other major places: Busan, the maritime, Gyeongju, the historic, Andong, the traditional…

The historical treasures of Gyeongju, in particular, will take you back in time. As the ancient capital of the kingdom of Silla and often referred to as ‘ the museum without walls ,’ the city displays neither tall buildings nor modern architecture.

While there, explore the city’s royal past at Tumuli Park, a peaceful park full of tumuli (large round grassy tombs), and visit the Gyeongju National Museum. As an important cultural center, it preserves and exhibits Silla’s rich history and culture.

Other must-sees are Cheomseongdae, the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia, and the Bulguksa Temple. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bulguksa Temple is home to the oldest cave temple in the country.

If you want to experience monastic life firsthand, you can stay there as part of a temple stay program and learn sunmudo, a traditional Buddhist Korean martial art, among other things. 

Another place to explore South Korea’s cultural and historical sights is Andong. The town is known for its traditional culture, and the main attraction is the Hahoe Folk Village, a Unesco World Heritage site.

The village has large tile-roofed residences, thatched roofs houses, and old pavilions. Stroll through the narrow streets, visit the traditional houses, and explore the Hahoe Mask Museum, with its intriguing collection of Korean and international masks.

Caroline of Veggie Wayfarer

A colorful treasure trove for cultural aficionados is located along the silk road in Central Asia. Uzbekistan was once at the very heart of trade between East and West, it comes therefore as no surprise that modern-day Uzbek culture is an eclectic mix of different civilizations which is reflected in the country’s architecture, music, and even cuisine.

Originally inhabited by nomadic tribes, and later ruled by a myriad of empires and kingdoms including the Samanids, Timurids, and the Khanate of Bukhara. The country was folded into the Soviet Union in the 20 th  century but regained its independence in 1991.

Luckily the gargantuan tiled mosques and traditional architecture were carefully preserved despite being depictions of an outlawed religion. Hospitality is of the utmost importance in Uzbek culture, being invited into someone’s home for a meal or a cup of tea is a common occurrence, although you might want to brush up on your Uzbek before attending.

While tourism in Uzbekistan has gained momentum in recent years, it still remains a wonderfully authentic place to visit.

Start your trip by  exploring Samarkand , with the majestic Registan Square being an absolute must-visit. Next hop on a train to Bukhara and stay with a local family at the Komil Bukhara Boutique Hotel .

End your cultural trip to Uzbekistan with little Khiva, which once held the largest slave market in all of Central Asia and was rivaled only by Bukhara in importance.

The night train from Khiva to Tashkent will bring you back to the capital, where all international airfare departs from.

Carine from We Did It Our Way

Armenia, a small country in the Caucasus, is a beautiful place with a long history & rich culture. Armenia has been on maps since the Bronze Age under different dynasties and kingdoms.

Being the first Christian nation, adopting the religion in 301 AD, many of the cultural sites in Armenia are churches.

With over 4,000 to choose from, the most notable ones are the Holy City of Etchmiadzin, where the Armenian equivalent of the pope resides, and Khor Virap, where the father of Christianity in Armenia was held captive for years.

But there’s more to do in Armenia than visit churches ! Visit the Genocide Museum to learn about the horrific genocide perpetrated by the Turks in 1915. The Areni-1 Caves, are archaeological digs where there are relics that pin Armenia as one of the birthplaces of wine-making.

The world’s oldest leather shoe was also found here, currently kept at the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan, where there are many other museums.

Other amazing places to visit in Armenia are the Garni temple, the only pagan temple in the country, dating back to the 1st century.

Karahunj, or Zorats Karer, is suspected to be the oldest astronomical observatory in the world. Khndzoresk is an old village that has been built into the side of the mountain, with caves and ruins to explore.

Almost every night, you can attend a concert or dance show in Yerevan or Gyumri. There are also a ton of festivals and events happening almost every weekend.

A great heritage hotel is the Tufenkian Old Dilijan Guest Rooms in Dilijan. They kept the allure of the architecture of the 1800s when the city of Dilijan was known as a blossoming center of culture, commerce, and cuisine.

There are also plenty of homestays to choose from . Just be careful as your hosts will likely feed you constantly, just a little sign of how much they appreciate you! 

For these reasons and so many others, Armenia is a great place to visit for culture buffs. In 2 weeks, you can easily take in the best sights in the country.

Best Cultural Travel Destinations in Europe

Raksha Nagaraj of Solopassport

Located at the eastern end of the Black Sea between Russia and Armenia, Georgia is a transcontinental country belonging to both Europe and Asia.

As per Georgia’s history, the country has gone through many political changes/rulers, including the rule of the Soviet Union and it was declared independent (again) in 1991.

Georgia is especially famous for its wine culture, as the country is the oldest wine-making country in the world that dates back to 6000 years B.C.

With more than 80% of the population practicing Orthodox Christianity, Georgia is one of the most traditional and religious countries to visit.

Georgia was also the site of the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts in the Greek mythological tale of Argonautica. There are many medieval churches around the country, including UNESCO World Heritage sites  Jvari Monastery and Bagrati Cathedral.

In fact, Georgia’s language, Mkhedruli script (alphabets), and dance are also recognized by UNESCO.

What makes the Georgians stand out is their hospitality and their respect for women. They believe that guests are Gods and make everyone feel at home and comfortable. The food in Georgia is also unique and they love their wine.

Their culture is best observed during their feast/festival called supra. During the feast, the role of the tamada/toastmaster is significant, and the culture of drinking the wine bottoms up irrespective of how big the glass/drinking horns called khantsi is.

One of the best ways to enjoy Georgian culture is by staying at a local hotel or homestay. Musmore Boutique Hotel , situated close to Liberty Square, is a budgeted hotel run by locals and is a great opportunity to interact and learn from them. The guests can also taste and try the local cuisine at the hotel.

Tamar of World by Weekend

If you’re looking for a travel destination rich in cultural heritage, then look no further than Turkey (Türkiye). One of the best cultural vacation destinations, Turkey has been at a cultural crossroads for millennia, giving the country its unique east-meets-west mix of cultures.

While visiting Turkey you’ll have the opportunity to explore ancient Greek ruins, explore Byzantine rock churches, and see the world’s best examples of Ottoman architecture.

Culture buffs should be sure to visit Istanbul , where Europe and Asia collide into one mega-city. Current-day Istanbul was the seat of power for the Ottoman sultans, who ruled for 600 years and whose empire spanned across southern Europe and the Middle East.

You can learn about the Ottoman Empire by visiting Topkapi and Dolmabahçe Palaces. While touring these two stunning palaces you will enter former bedrooms, private prayer rooms, and grand rooms for entertaining, giving you a sense of the lavish lifestyle of the sultans.

Turkey’s cultural significance, however, extends far beyond the busy streets of Istanbul. The ancient city of Ephesus , near current-day Izmir, was once an important Roman city and home to roughly a quarter of a million people.

The city was most famous for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Today, the temple is in ruins aside from one free-standing column. However, the ancient city of Ephesus still contains many exemplary well-preserved ruins, making it a must-visit for travelers interested in ancient history.

Not to be overlooked by culture buffs visiting Turkey is the region of Cappadocia . Nearly 2,000 years ago, this picturesque land of fairy chimneys became home to early Christian settlers.

The settlers built churches into the rocks, chiseling out the rooms by hand. They also painted beautiful religious frescoes on the walls and ceilings, many of which can still be viewed today. The best place to see these Byzantine Christian creations is the Goreme Open Air Museum , which contains 15 rock churches.

For a unique and immersive accommodation experience in Cappadocia , be sure to stay at a cave hotel . Traditionally, many inhabitants of the valley resided in cave dwellings carved into the rocks. Today, you can experience this traditional local lifestyle, without the risk of erosion, by staying in a cave yourself!

Cris from LooknWalk

Located in Southern Europe, La Bella Italia, together with Greece, is considered the birthplace of Western civilization. Home to 53 cultural and 5 natural UNESCO Heritage sites, as well as 14 traditions recognized as intangible cultural heritage, the largest number in the world, Italy is a must on your itinerary if you are a culture buff.

Between historical sites, art museums, and colorful traditions, your trip to Italy will be an immersive experience of its history and culture.

Italy’s history spans eons. Rome started its life as a small village in the 8 th  century BC. It grew into a republic, then an empire, spanning the entire Mediterranean basin, going as far north as Scotland and as far east as Mesopotamia and Arabia.

Reminders of this period dot Rome’s streets. Decades of war and the changes happening in nearby territories, eventually lead to the emergence of modern Italy.

When the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, its capital was Turin. It took 9 more years until Rome became the capital. But it wasn’t until after World War II that Italy became a republic again (1946).

Today, it’s one of the most popular travel destinations in the world and most travelers choose to discover Rome’s cultural and historical heritage.

Without a doubt, your cultural itinerary in Italy should start with visiting Rome’s Colosseum. And while you are here, tour the Vatican’s Museums, and go on a day trip to explore the   ancient city of Pompeii .

If you are also into art, plan a trip to Florence, home to a large concentration of world-famous masterpieces. Visit the Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, and Palazzo Vecchio. And while in the area, make sure to also check out Pisa with its famous Leaning Tower.

No cultural exploration of Italy is complete without getting to know its cuisine. Learn to make pizza in Naples or discover the secrets of orecchiette in Puglia.

When it comes to accommodation, farm stays will allow you to get immersed in the Italian lifestyle. Agriturismo Podere Campriano in the heart of Chianti, close to both Florence and Siena, is a family-owned farm that produces fantastic wine and olive oil. Aside from wonderful accommodations, they also offer cooking classes and wine tours.

Elle of Only in Germany

Dating back thousands of years, Germany or Deutschland was a pagan nation and an important center of the Holy Roman Empire . It played a significant part in the history of Europe.

Germany is a hub for culture enthusiasts, with museums, art houses, and collection centers scattered across the country. All these places narrate the story of Germany and have significant cultural importance. They are perfect for witnessing the magic of art, history, and culture.

If you are a culture enthusiast, Berlin, the capital city of Germany is one of the best cities to visit in Germany.

The Pergamon Museum on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Museum Island in Berlin houses long-buried treasures and monumental works worldwide, including Greek and Roman collections.

The Museum Brandhorst in Munich is the central venue for contemporary art, showcasing masterpieces from all over the world from the 1960s to the present.

With a host of musical theaters, opera houses, and live venues, Munich is a hub for performing arts and cultures. One must plan an evening catching traditional and classical performances at Deutsches Theater in Munich to get a dose of culture.

The Hamburg Art Hall is characterized by striking architecture, such as a historical staircase, study hall, or the atrium of the Gallery of Contemporary Art. It houses more than 150 works, including Meister Bertram and Caspar David Friedrich, and also offers a virtual tour. 

The Museum Ludwig in Cologne covers major approaches in contemporary art and the 20th century. It boasts the most extensive pop art collection in Europe, the third biggest Picasso collection in the world, one of the best collections of German Expressionism, and one of the most important collections of photography. 

The Ruhr Museum in Essen is located in the former coal preparation plant of the Zollverein colliery and provides information about the coal age to its visitors, focusing on the technical, historical, and cultural dimensions of the coal cage. Visitors can take a virtual tour of the museum and understand its history and its significance in real time. 

Germany’s museums have preserved culturally and historically significant memorabilia with the utmost care, allowing visitors to cherish a sneak peek into the world and era that went by.

Apart from museums and art galleries, palaces, castles, cathedrals, and monuments also display Germany’s rich cultural heritage. The world-famous cathedral in Cologne is a beautiful reminder of Germany’s glorious past.

Milijana from World Travel Connector

Spain is one of the top countries in the world for its rich cultural heritage. 

Spain has 49 World Heritage sites! Only Italy, China, and Germany have more World Heritage sites than Spain. 

The cultural heritage of Spain goes back to prehistoric times. The Cave of Altamira near Santillana del Mar in northern Spain and its paleolithic cave painting is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

But, the highest number of World Heritage Sites in Spain is related to medieval Spain. 

The Old Cities of Santiago de Compostela, Avila, Salamanca, Toledo, and the historic center of Cordoba are among the prettiest places in Spain and are World Heritage Sites. Gorgeous Seville is among the most beautiful cities in Spain as well.

UNESCO declared Seville’s Cathedral, Alcázar, and Archivo de Indias a UNESCO World Heritage site, too. Besides that, UNESCO’s protected Alhambra Place in Granada is the most visited site in Spain. The Alhambra Palace receives 2 million visitors a year. 

For a highly culturally immersive experience, Spain visitors can sleep in Paradors (historic buildings converted into luxury hotels). The first Parador in Spain was the Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos in Santiago de Compostela. 

However, hiking Camino de Santiago is the top culturally immersive experience in Spain to seek for. Most of the mentioned World Heritage sites are on the Camino de Santiago routes. Camino de Santiago, or St James Way, is among the most famous world pilgrimage and hiking trails.

Camino de Santiago is a net of medieval routes across Spain and Europe that lead to the tomb of Apostle James the Greater in Santiago Cathedral in Spain. UNESCO proclaimed the French Route and Routes of Northern Spain of Camino de Santiago a World Heritage Site.

Camino pilgrims visit historical places. Those places hold the finest examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture in Europe. In the last decade, over 200,000 pilgrims hiked Camino de Santiago.

So, if you seek one of the top culturally immersive experiences in a lifetime, prepare your  Camino de Santiago packing list  and head to Spain! 

Aixoise from All About Aix

France is widely regarded as one of the best destinations for culture lovers due to its rich history, stunning architecture, world-class art, and gastronomy.

It has a long and rich history, from the Roman Empire to the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the modern era.

The country is home to some of the world’s most renowned museums, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, which houses some of the most famous works of art in history, such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.

France has numerous historic sites, such as the Palace of Versailles, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and Eiffel Tower. And that is just in Paris. 

Beyond the capital region, other ancient cities with significant contributions to French culture and heritage include Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Avignon, and Nice, to name just a few. Each of these cities has its own unique features. 

Lyon is known for its gastronomic scene, Marseille for its seafood, Strasbourg for its architecture and Christmas markets, Bordeaux for its wine culture and architecture, Avignon for its papal palace and annual theater festival, and Nice for its beaches, art museums, and markets.

And for an art-inspired stay that combines art, relaxation, and gastronomy, I highly recommend visiting the region of Provence in the south of France , the birthplace of Paul Cézanne, a world-renowned Impressionist painter. 

Just 15 km north of Aix-en-Provence and 49 km north of Marseille, you can stay at Château La Coste , renowned for its impressive contemporary art and architecture collection. This heritage hotel offers guests a scenic location amidst vineyards and olive groves, all the while providing an exceptional culinary experience, wine tastings, spa treatments, and relaxation. The French are known for their “ joie de vivre” and the south of France is the perfect place to experience it.

Jo Koni from World Wild Schooling

Welcome to Greece, a country rich in history and culture that has captivated travelers for centuries.

Greece is located in southeastern Europe, on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. The country has a long and fascinating history that dates back to ancient times, and its culture has influenced the world in many ways.

Greece is known for its breathtaking natural beauty, from its idyllic islands to its rugged mountains and stunning beaches. But what really makes Greece stand out is its incredible cultural heritage.

Greece has been the birthplace of some of the most important figures in art, science, and philosophy, and its ancient ruins and monuments are some of the most impressive in the world.

For visitors to Athens, the Acropolis is a must-see attraction. This ancient citadel is home to the Parthenon, one of the most iconic buildings in Greece. The Temple of Poseidon in Sounion , just a short drive from Athens, is another must-visit destination. This temple sits atop a cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea, and the views are absolutely stunning.

But there’s much more to Greece than just Athens. The island of Delos, located just a short boat ride from Mykonos, is an incredible archaeological site that was once a thriving city.

The ancient theater of Epidaurus, located in the Peloponnese, is another must-see attraction. And the ancient palace of Knossos on the island of Crete is a fascinating glimpse into the world of the Minoan civilization.

For an immersive cultural experience in Greece, we recommend staying at the Kyrimai Hotel , located in the small town of Gerolimenas in the Mani region of the Peloponnese. This historic hotel has been beautifully restored and offers guests a chance to experience the traditional architecture and way of life in this part of Greece. The hotel’s restaurant serves traditional Greek cuisine made with locally-sourced ingredients.

Whether you’re interested in ancient history, breathtaking landscapes, or simply relaxing on the beach, Greece has something for everyone.

With its rich cultural heritage and welcoming people, it’s no wonder that Greece remains one of the most popular destinations in the world.

Czech Republic

Joanna from The World in My Pocket

The Czech Republic might be a small country in Europe, but it has such a rich culture and history.

The Czech Republic gave some very important people to the world: Frank Kafka, Sigmund Freud, and Gregor Mendel among many other notable novelists, philosophers, composers, and sportspeople.

The Czech Republic has a long history that saw the country divided between Bohemia and Moravia, as well as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because of its history, the cultures blended and influenced the way the country is now.

In the South of the country, in Moravia, you can visit the Lednice-Vatice domain with the two castles which belonged to the Liechtenstein family. Here you can also notice the English-style landscaped gardens, which are unique in the Czech Republic.

If you are into science, it’s always a great idea to take a  day trip to Brno  and visit the museum dedicated to Mendel and his work in genetics. You will find out there that Mendel was an Augustinian friar at St Thomas Abbey, where you can see an incredible exhibition of his personal belongings.

In the West of the country, you will find the spa towns, which are now on the UNESCO Heritage list. In Marianske Lazne, you can stay at the same hotel where King Edward VII of England used to often come for treatments. You can ask at the reception of Nove Lazne to see his cabin, which has the original chair he used in the spa treatment rooms.

Diana of Travels in Poland

Poland has a rich cultural heritage that spans centuries and has influenced the world in countless ways. 

Poland has a long and storied history, dating back to the Piast dynasty that ruled the country. Even before then, the legend of Lech is well known in Polish history. 

Over the centuries, Poland has experienced numerous invasions, wars, and political upheavals, including the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century when the country was divided between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 

During World War II, Poland was the center of some of the deadliest concentration camps, including Auschwitz Birkenau , which can still be visited today.

Despite this, Poland has managed to preserve its cultural identity through its traditions, customs, and artistic expressions.

Poland’s culture is a fusion of Slavic, Germanic, and Jewish influences. One of the most impressive cultural aspects of Poland is its architecture, with many historic buildings and landmarks still standing today. 

The Old Town of Kraków, the Wawel Castle, and the Royal Castle in Warsaw are all excellent examples of Poland’s rich architectural heritage.

Poland offers an array of experiences that celebrate its rich cultural heritage. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a must-visit attraction. The mine is a fascinating underground labyrinth of salt chambers, tunnels, and sculptures carved out of rock salt. 

Poland is also known for famous individuals including Marie Curie, Nicholas Copernicus, and Chopin. Visitors can also explore Poland’s museums and galleries showcasing these individuals. The Chopin Museum in Warsaw is a great example of a museum dedicated to the famous composer.

Hotel Pugetow is an ideal place to stay when in Krakow. It is a heritage hotel that was built in 1874 and is part of the Puget Palace complex and has rooms where duchesses and dukes had once stayed.

Poland’s rich cultural heritage is a testament to its resilience and creativity throughout its complex history and offers a wealth of cultural experiences that are sure to captivate and inspire visitors from around the world.

Abbey of Trips on Abbey Road

Croatia is considered a cultural gem in Europe, known for its rich history, stunning architecture, and beautiful natural scenery, as well as its lively music, dance, and culinary traditions.

There are countless museums, galleries, and even UNESCO heritage sites around celebrating this beautiful Baltic country. The history here spans back over 13 centuries, at least so you just know that there are some juicy stories and history around. 

One of the best things about Croatia’s cultural history is the rich tradition of folk dance. These dances vary from region to region. One of the most popular types of folk dance in Croatia is the kolo or circle dance, which is performed during religious holidays and other special occasions.

If you are visiting during one of the major holidays you may get lucky enough to see this dance performed in the town squares. Most of the time they wear traditional clothing as well. Women with big white hats and beautiful gowns, and the men keep it simple with black suits and traditional hats. 

For places to go in Croatia  for a cultural experience one of the most visited destinations is Dubrovnik , with its well-preserved medieval walls that surround the old town.

Another popular city in Croatia is Zadar . Here you will find a mix of Roman, modern, and medieval structures throughout the beautiful southern city. And if you are looking to get outside and explore the Plitvice Lakes National Park is amazing with dozens of cascading waterfalls and hiking paths to explore. 

Plitvice Panta Rei  is near the waterfalls and would be a perfect place to get an authentic and cultural stay in Croatia. 

Amber from Amber Everywhere

Culture lovers will quickly fall head over heels for Sweden, a Scandinavian country in Europe known for its coffee breaks, an affinity for the outdoors, and lively music scene.

Although Sweden shares some similarities with its Scandinavian neighbors, you’ll find many distinct cultural practices, many of which are apparent even to a first-time visitor. 

Perhaps the most popular among Swedes and visitors alike is the fika or coffee break. Often, coffee is enjoyed with chokladboll, a small, round chocolate treat.

You’ll notice immediately that most people in Sweden speak Swedish, although they tend to also speak other languages fluently. While you may not need to speak Swedish to navigate the country as a tourist, you’ll certainly experience more of Swedish culture if you have some experience with the language.

Try to learn a few words and phrases before you go to maximize your exposure to Swedish culture on your trip. 

If you have a chance to meet or get to know Swedish people, you’ll notice that they value egalitarianism and tend to dislike boasting. Additionally, the country values the environment and the outdoors, so you’ll tend to see more organic, sustainable, or eco-friendly products in Sweden.

You’ll also find plenty of people spending their holidays exploring the outdoors, from parks near Stockholm to longer trips to Abisko.

You can experience Swedish culture and the beautiful landscapes of Lapland by staying in the STF Abisko Turiststation in the Arctic Circle. From the Turiststation, you can see the northern lights, hike in Lapland, ice climb, and generally enjoy the beautiful outdoor scenery.

Scotland, United Kingdom

Kristine of Scotland Less Explored

The first images that come to mind when thinking of Scotland are kilts, bagpipes, castles, and whisky. And yes, this is part of Scotland’s culture and history but there is so much more to the country. Just like there are so many more places to explore in Scotland than in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

However, these are still great cities to visit and the Edinburgh Festival and Military Tattoo are worthy of specifically arranging a trip around. Both cities have many museums and theatre performances but to better understand Scottish culture you should also visit the highlands and islands.

Accounts of Scotland’s history often start with, unlike England, Scotland was not invaded by the Romans in the 1 st  Century AD. But sites such as Skara Brae (ruins of a village) in the Orkneys and the Callanish standing stones in the Outer Hebrides pre-date Stonehenge and even the pyramids in Egypt!

The Vikings also influenced Scotland which can be seen from the names of villages and locations. One of the most remarkable artifacts from this time is the Uig chessmen. The chess pieces are carved from walrus tusks and were found on a  beach in Uig  in 1831. They are on display at the National Museum in Edinburgh and Museum Nan Eilean in Stornoway.

Traveling through Scotland between May and September you can attend Highland Games with traditional sports such as cable toss and arts such as highland dancing accompanied by bagpipes. 

In the more remote parts of the country, you will find most of Scotland’s 1,000 castles. Many can be visited on a guided tour but the most intimate way to experience one is to stay overnight.

One of the best is Glenapp Castle Hotel south of Glasgow. As well as beautiful grounds the hotel offers great dining options and a fascinating whisky-tasting experience can be arranged. You will find whisky distilleries all over Scotland but the most authentic are on Islay or Speyside.

Top Cultural Heritage Tourism Destinations in North America

United states of america.

Dawn Robson from Culture Feasting

The United States is a cultural destination like no other. As the country grew and expanded through immigration, so did its abundant  culture .

In the Northeast, you’ll find that New York City is a tightly condensed metropolis filled with music, art, and theater. Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center will satisfy the music aficionado and there is Broadway for theater enthusiasts. With more than 6 million visitors each year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art should not be missed.

Music lovers should head South to New Orleans, Louisiana, known as the birthplace of Jazz, where every spring the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is held.  

For more live music make your way to Nashville, Tennessee, the Music City, to discover Country, Bluegrass, and Blues music at its source. Stroll through Music Row to see the recording studios of famous musicians such as Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton.

Plan a visit to Sante Fe, New Mexico, known for its abundant art scene and festivals. Uncover the culture of the indigenous people in the Southwest by visiting the Native American History Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in downtown Santa Fe. Explore the works and life of American artist Georgia O’Keefe.

To experience the art and history of the American cowboy culture visit The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Stay in a log cabin at Meadowlake Ranch just outside of Tulsa Oklahoma and participate in the many ranch activities such as horse riding and rope throwing.

From east to west, the United States is a country filled with cultural destinations waiting for you to discover.

Mal from Raw Mal Roams

With a complex history and fascinating Mayan heritage intertwined with the colonial past, Mexico is one of the most captivating countries to visit today.

Before the Spanish colonization in the early 16th century, Mexico was home to many brilliant pre-Colombian civilizations. First was the great civilization of Teotihuacán, built between 100 B.C. and 700 A.D. near what’s today Mexico City. 

Later on, came the Mayans, which were considered the most sophisticated and advanced civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The influence of their culture, language, and architecture is still present today in places like Chichén Itzá, Palenque, and Tulum.

Aztecs were the last great rulers when the Spaniards arrived. During colonial times, the Spanish left their mark on Mexico by constructing grand cities, ornate monasteries, and breathtakingly beautiful churches representing a unique blend of European style and Mesoamerican influence.

Today, the rich Mayan and colonial heritage merges with the vibrant modern culture, creating a unique blend unlike any other. There are many ways you can immerse yourself in Mexican culture. Start your journey by exploring Chichen Itza – the ruins of the most important Mayan city. If you a history buff, go ahead and also visit other grand structures such as Palenque, Coba, and Uxmal.

Delve into majestic cities such as Merida and Izamal, adorned with delightful colonial architecture, and stay in the converted haciendas such as San Miguel Arcángel Izamal.

Explore the mystical cenotes that were sacred to the Mayans. Indulge in the Mexican food that varies from region to region as you traverse this stunning country! And experience Mexico’s most important festivities, such as Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and Semana Santa (Easter).

Nikki of She Saves She Travels

Located in Central America along the Caribbean Sea, Belize is a phenomenal country to experience for those interested in history and the Mayan civilization. The Maya lived in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize.

A few of the most culturally significant sites in Belize are the Caracol Ruins, Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, and  Xunantunich Mayan Ruins , which are all located on the western edge of Belize near San Ignacio. Visitors can spend a day exploring each of these sites. Caracol and Xunantunich are Mayan cities with rich histories. Climb the pyramids and temples and let your tour guide explain the most important plazas and structures. 

Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave (also known as the ATM Cave) is a sacred and spiritual site for the Mayans. To see the ancient artifacts, you’ll need to wade in waist-to-shoulder deep water and trek through narrow passages within the cave.

The ancient Mayan civilization is also known for a modern-day discovery: chocolate! Visitors to Belize can find a chocolate-making tour in many of the major tourist areas and large cities. Cacao farms will even show you how to make chocolate as the Mayans did, and how it’s been converted in recent history to a much sweeter version of the original.

For a unique stay in Belize, consider the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge . Experience the lush, tropical rainforest with options to hike and discover hanging bridges along the way. Located in the heart of Belize, this 600-acre property is the right mix of relaxation and adventure for your Belize vacation!

Carley Rojas Avila of Home to Havana

Once considered an off-limits travel destination for travelers from the United States, policy changes in the past decade have made it easier than ever for travelers from the United States and beyond to visit Cuba.

One of the most complex and rich travel destinations in Latin America, Cuba offers everything from lush rainforests and soaring mountains to white sand beaches and world-class resorts.

One of the most interesting  things to do in Havana, Cuba  is to visit the Museo de la Revolución – Museum of the Revolution. Housed in the lavish former presidential palace, this museum houses important exhibits about the Cuban Revolution.

You can still see bullet holes on the outside of the building, maintained as a sign of the history of the taking of the palace during the Cuban Revolution. The museum’s outside patio area is home to a full-scale replica of the Granma, the ship Fidel Castro used to arrive in Cuba with a band of revolutionaries at the start of the Cuban Revolution. 

While Havana is a must on any traveler’s itinerary, make sure to head outside of Havana as well to experience another side of Cuba. The Viñales Valley is a perfect choice just a few hours west of Havana.

Stay at Finca Media Luna , an eco-farm with beautiful accommodations and delicious home-cooked Cuban food, for a great way to connect with locals and see a stunning part of Cuba.

If you’d prefer a beach getaway, the people beach resort town of Varadero is a great choice with plenty of amenities, while more remote, untouched beaches like Cayo Jutias and Playa Maguana outside of Baracoa are other great options. 

Top Cultural Destinations in South America

Martha from May Cause Wanderlust

Peru is a beautiful country for culture lovers because it has such a rich and varied cultural history. And the good news is you can explore a lot of Peru’s cultural tapestry in  two weeks in Peru .

It has been home to ancient civilizations, including the Incas, who conquered the high altitude of Peru’s mountains and plateaus with stone steps, agricultural terraces, and impressive landmarks. The most well-known is, of course, Machu Picchu, a stone citadel perched high in the Andes. But there are many other Inca ruins around Cusco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  

Then there’s the Nazca – an older civilization than the Incas, and more mysterious. Their legacy is the impressive Nazca lines, markings, and hieroglyphs on the desert floor, best seen from above. Scientists only have theories about their purpose and how they were constructed with such geometric regularity.

But the culture in Peru is not all a history lesson. To this day, there are pockets of preserved traditional culture, and one of the best places to experience this is Lake Titicaca. Here, island communities, still relatively isolated from the mainland, have preserved their traditional way of life.

A great way to immerse yourself in one of these cultures is a homestay on Amantani island , which is the most populated island, and known for its textiles and ceramics.

You can also do day trips from Puno to Taquile Island, also known for its textiles and its pretty archways, and the floating Uros islands, which are literally floating islands made from totara reeds.

And if you still haven’t had enough culture in Peru, modern Peru is known as a great foodie destination, with fresh, inventive cuisine and world-class restaurants.

Carley Rojas Avila of Explorers Away

Don’t let the dark periods of Colombia’s recent history weigh on you; Colombia is a vibrant and rich travel destination you’ll love exploring. With its delicious and varied regional cuisines, incredible dance and music traditions, and an array of natural and man-made attractions, it’s a destination anyone can love.

One of the highlights of a trip to Colombia is a visit to Ciudad Perdida, a “lost city” deep in the mountainous jungle near Colombia’s Caribbean coast. While would-be visitors have to embark on a four-day trek through the jungle to reach the expansive ruins and terraces of this indigenous city, it’s an adventure well worth the effort.

For a slightly less adventurous itinerary but just as memorable of an experience, head to Cartagena on Colombia’s northern coast. This historic city has impressive walls and forts dating back to the Spanish colonial era, as well as glimmering new skyscrapers and white sand beaches.

Make sure to stay in one of the restored colonial boutique hotels in Cartagena, such as Casa Pestagua , considered among the  best places to stay in Cartagena  after undergoing extensive refurbishing.

Best Cultural Tourism Destinations in Africa

Andy from Explore with Finesse

Kenya is a great destination for culture lovers due to its rich and diverse history. Located in East Africa, Kenya has been inhabited by humans for millions of years. Today, it is home to 42 different ethnic groups, each with its own unique traditions, language, and customs.

The Maasai people, for example, are known for their vibrant traditional dress, intricate beadwork, and their distinct way of life centered around cattle herding. Other ethnic groups include the Kikuyu, Luhya, and Luo.

Kenya was colonized by the British in the late 19th century and gained independence in 1963. Because of this, many Kenyans speak English in addition to the country’s other official language, Swahili. Today, Kenya is known for its stunning landscapes, wildlife, and diverse cultural heritage.

For culture buffs, a visit to the Maasai Mara National Reserve offers an opportunity to experience the Maasai culture firsthand. Visitors can witness traditional dance performances, participate in beadwork workshops, and even stay in a traditional Maasai homestay.

Another cultural attraction in Kenya that is worth visiting is  Diani , a coastal town located south of Mombasa. Diani is known for its beautiful beaches and unique blend of Swahili and European cultures. One of the oldest mosques in Kenya, the Kongo Mosque, can be found in Diani. This was built in the 14th century by Arab explorers and is still in use today.

For an immersive cultural experience, consider staying at the Giraffe Manor . Located in Nairobi, the hotel is set on 140 acres of indigenous forest and offers guests the opportunity to interact with endangered Rothschild’s giraffes that frequently visit the property. 

Trisha Agrawal from Try Wandering More

Egypt is home to the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza, one of the best cultural attractions. Being an ancient civilization, its history and culture date back to 3200 BC – over 5000 years ago. Mind-boggling!

The best bit is that one can see remnants of that age today through grand Egyptian temples dedicated to multiple gods, gigantic Pyramids, towering statues of Pharaohs, beautifully painted tombs, well-preserved mummies, and fascinating hieroglyphics. You’ll be completely drawn in and dazzled!

To immerse yourself in ancient architecture, head to the Pyramids around Cairo; the marvelous temples around Luxor, especially Karnak Temple (the second largest temple in the world); the tombs at the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, and Abu Simbel near Aswan.

To see the mummies of the pharaohs and the treasures hidden in the royal tombs, visit the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Egypt is, however, more than just the Pharaonic era. It’s also about all those that came after – Persians, Greeks, Romans, Caliphates, Mamluks, Ottomans, the French, and the English.

Egypt is, therefore, a blend of cultures while being primarily Islamic. This is very noticeable in the food and architecture. Visit Alexandria and the temples of Dendera, Edfu, and Philae to learn about the Greco-Roman era. Walk through the markets and mosques in Islamic Cairo to learn about the Islamic age.

Egypt also has biblical significance. It is where Moses grew up and eventually received the Ten Commandments. It is also where the Holy Family took refuge after fleeing Bethlehem. Visit the churches and synagogues at Coptic Cairo and climb Mount Sinai to see biblical stories come to life.

While  planning your trip to Egypt , add a felucca ride or a cruise down the Nile to your itinerary to experience life along the river. Don’t miss staying at a historic hotel like Marriott Mena House in Giza that overlooks the Pyramids.

Whether you are a seasoned cultural traveler or a newbie who wants to embrace culturally conscious travel or a traveler who’s looking for a one-off-out-of-the-ordinary experience – we hear you. This hand-picked list of the best cultural holiday destinations is sure to inspire each one of you to plan your next cultural getaway.

Did we miss a destination you feel should grace this compilation? Let us know in the comments below!

Save the Best Cultural Trips Guide to Pinterest

Anjali Chawla

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

© 2024 Travel Melodies. All Rights Reserved.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

• African Studies
• American Studies
• Ancient World (Classics)
• Anthropology
• Asian Studies
• Black Studies
• Communication
• Criminology & Criminal Justice
• Environmental Studies
• Film & Media Studies
• Food & Wine
• Gender & Sexuality
• Global Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Legal Studies
• Literary Studies & Poetry
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Technology Studies

• View sample interior images >
• Download cover image >
• Create a flier for this title >

Destination Culture Tourism, Museums, and Heritage

• by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Author)
• September 1998
• First Edition
• Paperback $38.95,  £33.00

Title Details

Rights: Available worldwide Pages: 348 ISBN: 9780520209664 Trim Size: 7 x 10 Illustrations: 98 black-and-white photographs

About the Book

Destination Culture takes the reader on an eye-opening journey from ethnological artifacts to kitsch. Posing the question, "What does it mean to show?" Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett explores the agency of display in a variety of settings: museums, festivals, world's fairs, historical re-creations, memorials, and tourist attractions. She talks about how objects—and people—are made to "perform" their meaning for us by the very fact of being collected and exhibited, and about how specific techniques of display, not just the things shown, convey powerful messages. Her engaging analysis shows how museums compete with tourism in the production of "heritage." To make themselves profitable, museums are marketing themselves as tourist attractions. To make locations into destinations, tourism is staging the world as a museum of itself. Both promise to deliver heritage. Although heritage is marketed as something old, she argues that heritage is actually a new mode of cultural production that gives a second life to dying ways of life, economies, and places. The book concludes with a lively commentary on the "good taste/bad taste" debate in the ephemeral "museum of the life world," where everyone is a curator of sorts and the process of converting life into heritage begins.

About the Author

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is Professor of Performance Studies and of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations 

Acknowledgments 

Introduction 

part 1 The Agency of Display

Objects of Ethnography 

Exhibiting Jews 

part 2 A Second Life as Heritage

Destination Museum 

Ellis Island 

Plimoth Plantation 

part 3 Undoing the Ethnographic

Confusing Pleasures 

Secrets of Encounter 

part 4 Circulating Value

Disputing Taste 

Notes 

Index 

Related Books

A history of the western art market, art and the global economy, monument wars, art worlds, 25th anniversary edition, inside the white cube, eccentric modernisms, istanbul exchanges, gan's constructivism, forms of persuasion.

Heritage and Cultural Heritage Tourism pp 193–205 Cite as

The Partnership between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management: Key Actions at the International Level

• Hilary du Cros 4  
• First Online: 15 November 2023

117 Accesses

The nature of the partnership between tourism and cultural heritage management is discussed in this chapter. Ideally, sustainable cultural tourism should involve a partnership that satisfies both tourism and cultural heritage management stakeholders. The chapter discusses the parallel evolution of tourism and cultural management, which leads into a discussion of their role as potential collaborators. Six possible relationships that exist along the conflict/partnership continuum are then discussed. Full partnership represents one end while open conflict represents the other end. A case study is presented which explores the nature of the relationship and key actions at the international level for World Heritage properties regarding strategic planning and resilience building. Finally, recommendations are made for better information sharing and more collective problem-solving to move beyond peaceful coexistence to close partnerships between the sectors at international and destination levels.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution .

Buying options

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Listing of organizational abbreviations used in this article

UN World Trade Organization

Global Sustainable Tourism Council

International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property ICOMOS

International Council on Monuments and Sites

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNWTO

United Nations World Tourism Organization

Butler R (ed) (2017) Tourism and resilience. CABI International, Wallingford

Google Scholar  

du Cros H, Lee YSF (2007) Cultural heritage management in China: preserving the Pearl River Delta cities. Routledge/Abingdon, London

Book   Google Scholar  

du Cros H, McKercher B (2020) Cultural tourism, 3rd edn. Routledge/Abingdon, London

Esen SY, Alinoz GB (2021) The heritage resilience scorecard: performance measurement in risk governance of cultural heritage. Hist Environ Policy Pract 12(5):1–30

GSTC (2021) Athens joins GSTC. Available at: https:// www.gstcouncil.org/athens-joins-gstc/. Accessed 5 Dec 2022

Higgins-Desbiolles F, Chew B, Doering A (2021) Socializing tourism after COVID-19: reclaiming tourism as a social force? J Tour Futures ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). Follow journal https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-03-2021-0058

ICCROM (2021) ICCROM Sendai framework from 2015. https://www.undrr.org/implementing- sendai-framework/what-sendai-framework . Accessed 27 Apr 2022

ICOMOS (1976, 1999, 2021) Cultural tourism charter. https://www.icomos.org/en/resources/charters-and-texts . Accessed 27 Apr 2022

McKercher B, Ho SY, du Cros H (2005) The relationship between tourism and cultural heritage: evidence from Hong Kong. Tour Manag 26:539–548

Article   Google Scholar  

Noorashid N, Wei LC (2021) Coping with COVID-19: the resilience and transformation of community-based tourism in Brunei Darussalam. Sustainability 13(15):8618. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158618 . Accessed 27 Apr 2022

Resta V, Perossini F (2019) Resilient tourism in a resilient cultural heritage site. In: Kavoura A, Kefallonitis E, Giovanis A (eds) Strategic innovative marketing and tourism, Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12453-3_131 . Accessed 27 Apr 202

Sharma DG, Thomas A, Paul J (2021) Reviving tourism industry post-COVID-19: a resilience-based framework. Tour Manag Perspect 37:100786. ISSN 2211-9736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100786 . Accessed 27 Apr 2022

Smith-Christensen C (2021) Building resilience through visitor management and monetory innovation. Poster at living heritage and climate change Scientific Symposium August 2021 Special issue on destination tourism resilience research in Tourism Review International (2018), vol. 22

UNESCO (2000) Levuka Fiji action plan. Forum conducted UNESCO cultural heritage management and tourism: models for cooperation among stakeholders’ conference/workshop, Bhaktapur, Nepal 8–12 April 2000

UNESCO (2021) World heritage in the face of COVID-19. Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377667 . Accessed 28 Sept 2021

UNESCO Bangkok (2021) About. UNESCO sustainable tourism pledge. Available at: https://unescosustainable.travel/en/about-the-pledge . Accessed 28 Sept 2021

UNWTO (2004) Tourism congestion management at natural and cultural sites. UNWTO, Madrid

UNWTO (2021) UNWTO/UNESCO world conference on tourism and culture investing future generations. Available at: https://www.unwto.org/4th-unwtounesco-world-conference-tourism- and-culture-investing-future-generations . Accessed 29 Sept 2021

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

University of New Brunswick, St John, New Brunswick, Canada

Hilary du Cros

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

Department of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Thanik Lertcharnrit

Associate Director Southeast Archaeological Center (Retired), National Park Service, Tallahassee, FL, USA

George S. Smith

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter.

du Cros, H. (2023). The Partnership between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management: Key Actions at the International Level. In: Yu, PL., Lertcharnrit, T., Smith, G.S. (eds) Heritage and Cultural Heritage Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44800-3_16

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44800-3_16

Published : 15 November 2023

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-031-44799-0

Online ISBN : 978-3-031-44800-3

eBook Packages : Social Sciences Social Sciences (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 06 May 2021

The cultural and heritage tourist, SEM analysis: the case of The Citadel of the Catholic King

• Ricardo David Hernández-Rojas 1 ,
• Juan Antonio Jimber del Río   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6886-7434 1 ,
• Alberto Ibáñez Fernández 2 &
• Arnaldo Vergara-Romero 3  

Heritage Science volume  9 , Article number:  52 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

14k Accesses

14 Citations

4 Altmetric

Metrics details

This study researches the loyalty of travelers to destinations which include material cultural heritage. It analyzes the loyalty of visitors to a destination with cultural heritage sites in order to provide results which can be used to improve the management of the destination. This research used Warp-PLS 7.0 software with a structural equations model to evaluate the 8 proposed and validated hypotheses. A questionnaire was given to a sample of 499 tourists who visited The Citadel of the Catholic King in Córdoba and the statistical study of the replies gave results about the loyalty of visitors to a destination which includes cultural heritage. This study adds an innovative component by analyzing the moderating effect of perceived heritage quality and perceived cultural quality on the relationship of perceived value and visitor satisfaction. This study shows that visitor loyalty to The Citadel of the Catholic King depends on the visitor satisfaction with the cultural heritage, it also analyses how the quality perceived by the tourist modulates to varying degrees the relationship between perceived value and tourist satisfaction. Areas which can be improved at cultural heritage sites have been identified and these include the professionalization of tour guides specialized in cultural heritage sites, improving and showing the cultural importance of the heritage, the information available about the heritage and the access to the heritage. These findings are important for city managers when preparing projects to increase the loyalty and competitiveness of the city compared to other similar destinations with cultural heritage.

Introduction

Cultural material heritage has become a factor which can make a city more attractive to visitors. Adequate management of the heritage is essential to achieve visitor satisfaction during and after the visit as well as improve the visitor expectations before and the perceived quality after the visit. Continuous improvement of these aspects can be the differentiating factor for the loyalty of the visitor to the city. The strong competition for visitors between destinations with heritage and culture sites, especially UNESCO listed sites, means that making continual improvements to the management of these sites is essential. The current situation will only become more difficult in the future [ 1 ]. In view of this, visitor loyalty to a destination is an important factor to take into account, especially for tourist destinations in areas with cultural heritage [ 2 ]. This research makes a valuable contribution to this subject [ 2 ].

The Citadel of the Catholic King is material heritage that has a lot of historical and cultural relevance. Firstly, due to the cultures that used the site. The first record of the existence of the enclave comes from Roman culture when it was used as a way to defend the city against incursions made on the Guadalquivir River. After that it became the center of Arabic culture in Spain, being used as the residence of the city rulers. After the reconquest of Cordoba by the Catholic kings, it was transformed into a building where the monarchs could rest and relax. The Citadel of the Catholic King is also a place where important historical changes for Spain and the world happened. It was the place where Cristopher Columbus met the Catholic Kings, who were the Monarchs that unified Spain into a Kingdom [ 3 ]. The building that can be visited today was built by Alfonso XI in 1328 on the site of the Omeya Citadel (Arabic origin) [ 4 ]. From 1492 to 1811, it was owned by the holy Catholic inquisition. From 1822 to 1931 it was a prison and later used as a military installation until its transfer in 1955 to the Córdoba City Council, which now owns it and manages it as a tourist site [ 5 ]. The Alcázar was classified as a Historical Monument in 1931 and is in the area in Córdoba that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994. Currently, The Citadel of the Catholic King is the third most visited material heritage in Cordoba, the second being the synagogue of Cordoba and the first is the Mosque-Cathedral. In 2019 it had 615,737 tourist visits, and an average growth in visits of 10.69% in the last 10 years (Observatorio de turismo de Córdoba, 2019).

This study is based in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) [ 6 ], which is a model that has been fully tested for use in research on tourism [ 7 ], tourist satisfaction [ 8 ], heritage [ 9 ] and culture [ 10 ].

“The ACSI model has been used in multiple studies of satisfaction and loyalty in tourism in general and in heritage tourism [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].

The model is based on the expectations that are created before visiting a heritage tourism destination (expected quality). Tourists once they arrive at their destination, live the experience at destination, perceive the quality of different factors that build the perceived quality. Both constructs, (expected quality and perceived quality) relate to the perceived value, which compares the balance or imbalance between perceived cost at its destination and the value received at it. Once the tourist has internalized the perceived value, he is able to assess the level of satisfaction at the destination. The satisfaction level allows you to decide to recommend and repeat the destination (Loyalty).”

This study expands the existing literature about the satisfaction and loyalty of heritage and cultural tourists, since the expected quality of the heritage and cultural aspects are separated, as are the perceived cultural quality and the perceived heritage quality. The concept of moderating constructs is also added to the classic theory of the Structural Equation Model. Two hypotheses specifically analyze the modulating effect of the constructs perceived cultural quality and perceived heritage quality of the visiting tourist. This study is configured as follows: first the introduction, secondly there is the theoretical framework that explains the constructs of the theoretical model and structural equations, below explains the methodology used and the fourth section summarizes the results of the research. To finish the article we find the discussion and conclusions of the study, followed by a list of the references used in the article.

In recent decades Cultural tourism occupies a niche market with exponential growth in international tourism [ 20 ]. Visiting tourists have motivations perceptions and build their idea of satisfactory destination based on various factors. Cultural and heritage, as an important part of the demand for knowledge of the place visited, create the experience of the tourist's visit that allows to have the ability to make the decision to return, recommend and promote the destination as a prominent part of his historical heritage experience [ 21 ]. World heritage cities compete to offer recreational and cultural experiences that attract the greatest number of tourists with the desire to learn more about the history of the destination, enriching their knowledge and their life experience [ 22 ]. Ramires, Brandao, and Sousa describes cultural historical tourism as a social phenomenon [ 23 ]. Cultural heritage cities have to differentiate the difference from the competition, either including in their cultural offer local customs, centuries of history, art and traditions transmitted from generation to generation. Consequently, heritage tourism is important for the cities that have heritage sites [ 24 ].

In this context, the components that are related to satisfaction in the visit to the material heritage can cite how visitors seek new experiences, authentic contexts and unique or exceptional activities. Actions such as participation, hedonism, knowledge, nostalgia, history, novelty and local culture are the basic ingredients of a memorable and satisfying tourist experience [ 25 ], in the same line the authors [ 26 ] highlight how the experiences provided in the heritage present the same degree of satisfaction for visitors that aims to visit the material heritage itself as those who visit the heritage for the tourist experiences around it (theatrical visits, historical explanations). This, coupled with the fact that these activities are usually carried out on holidays and that holiday contribute to the satisfaction of life and its quality of life [ 27 , 28 , 29 ] in addition to adding congratulations and pleasurable effects to the activities carried out in the holiday period [ 30 ].

Studies have shown that loyalty to a visited place is directly related to the satisfaction and opinion of the visitor [ 31 , 32 ]. Studies which analyze loyalty in tourism have mainly looked into the attitude and intention of the visitor [ 32 ]. Academic studies can be grouped into two categories due to how loyalty is examined. The first group investigates repeat purchases, that is to say, tourists returning to a destination. The second, and far more interesting, group takes loyalty to mean recommending the tourist destination to other future tourists [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. This means that the tourist feels a connection with a destination and intends to visit it again in the future, while also recommending it to third parties [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. It should be pointed out that there are authors who warn that a tourist’s desire for new experiences may counteract the loyalty shown to the destination [ 40 ]. Studies which investigate loyalty to cultural heritage are mainly cognitive and use structural equations to predict intentions to return to or recommend a destination [ 41 , 42 ].

How comfortable the tourist felt at the destination and the monument visited is one of the most important factors when deciding to return to a destination, and therefore for visitor loyalty [ 35 , 38 , 43 ]. The perceived quality is usually considered one of the most important factors in research on tourist behavior [ 44 ]. Researchers define perceived quality as the overall accumulation of the tourist’s feelings about the experience at a destination [ 45 , 46 ]. Tourists value their experience as positive or negative for different attributes of the monument or destination [ 80 ]. Following on from this idea, the perceived value of a destination by a visitor is considered to be the most important indicator of their intentions to return to the chosen destination. It is possible that a customer does not buy a product or service because it is not considered value for money as the perceived value is not adequate for the price asked [ 47 ]. Studies by different authors explain that perceived value measures a tourist’s general assessment of their experience at a destination from the feelings they had there [ 48 , 49 ]. Cossío-Silva et al. obtain a realistic idea of tourist behavior by means of this variable and the results obtained can be useful for public institutions and organizations that offer tourism [ 50 ]. Customers who are aware of the value of a service or product sometimes expect particular benefits from it [ 51 ]. For this reason, perceived value is related to the usefulness of a purchase because the purchase has intrinsic benefits that satisfy the buyer’s needs [ 52 ]. A tourist who is interested in value will look for information and contemplate the idea fully before making a decision [ 53 ]. This means that perceived value affects the decisions of customers [ 54 ]. Perceived value can positively affect the loyalty of a customer [ 47 ] because customers who are aware of the value of a service make positive judgements about it, relating value to price and critically assessing all options.

This study analyses the relationship between the following variables, perceived heritage quality (PPQ) and the expected heritage quality (EPQ), perceived cultural heritage quality (PCHQ) and the expected cultural heritage quality (ECHQ), the perceived value of the visit as a whole (PV), satisfaction (SATISFAC) and loyalty (LOYALTY). In literature there are several studies including these variables, however few studies include modulating variables in the relationships between constructs [ 55 , 56 ]. The different authors who have used this type of theoretical model are shown in Table 1 .

The questionnaire with which the data was obtained was designed following various authors who have used constructs similar to those used in the theoretical model. The ACSI model has been used in multiple studies of satisfaction and loyalty in tourism in general and in heritage tourism [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].

The model is based on the expectations that are created before visiting a heritage tourism destination (expected quality). Tourists once they arrive at their destination, live the experience at destination, perceive the quality of different factors that build the perceived quality. Both constructs, (expected quality and perceived quality) relate to the perceived value, which compares the balance or imbalance between perceived cost at its destination and the value received at it. Once the tourist has internalized the perceived value, he is able to assess the level of satisfaction at the destination. The satisfaction level allows you to decide to recommend and repeat the destination (loyalty).

The variables which were investigated in this study are satisfaction and loyalty. These have been studied on several occasions in different areas by several authors [ 57 , 58 ]. Both variables are positively related showing that the probability of a visitor at a heritage site revisiting or recommending the destination is high [ 59 , 60 ] if they are satisfied with the visit. These are judgments made by tourists because of their experience at the destination, and these affect the likelihood of the tourist revisiting the site or city and their willingness to recommend it to friends and family [ 2 , 61 ].

Managers of cultural material heritage should have previous information about the visitors who visit the site in order to plan actions which will improve the visitor expectations about the heritage and cultural experiences. These modify the behavior of the tourist because of the relationship between the perceived value and satisfaction. This study uses structural equations with all the above variables and, as it also includes a new approach using moderating relationships at heritage sites, it is of academic interest. This research increases the contribution to academic literature around heritage, loyalty and satisfaction by adding culture on the visit.

There are not many Royal and historical Citadels (with a past dated at least from the Muslim era) in Spain which are put in tourist value and are visitable. The uniqueness that were the quarters of the Catholic kings, with a historical character and that are touristic. In particular, there are four: Royal Citadel Sevilla, Royal Citadel Madrid, the Muslim Citadel of Valencia and the Royal Citadel Almunia (Palma de Mallorca). In academic matters, different studies have been carried out from the historical or archaeological perspective [ 62 , 63 ] but not from the tourist management. The Citadel of the Catholic King of Cordoba is the most culturally, and architecturally significant. It belongs to the historic center of Cordoba being an inscription by UNESCO and is dated from roman times, an optimal conservation and valued for the tourism, therefore it is the most historical and cultural.

The aim of this study is to add to the information available about cultural heritage tourism, contribute to the improvement of the management of visits to the unique heritage sites and provide useful knowledge for cultural heritage managers and tourism companies. The most concrete objective is to detect how tourist experiences in culture and heritage increase satisfaction and loyalty by increasing visits, repetition and their recommendation. This research studies the loyalty of visitors to the cultural heritage site and to the city, along with the Satisfaction and Expectations of the tourists who visit The Citadel of the Catholic King. Scientific literature which studies cultural heritage tourism by investigating heritage and culture, and the influence on Perceived Quality at different Citadel s, is scarce. While it is true that there are some studies in tourism with modeling variables, the study in particular cases of heritage tourism in Spain (as a second country in the ranking of international tourists) is novel. It contributes to academic knowledge about the cultural and heritage aspects of material heritage. This means that it makes a contribution to the current knowledge of cultural heritage and city management.

Therefore this article contributes in several ways: first it contributes to scientific literature in the analysis of the modulation of cultural and heritage quality perceived in the relationship between perceived value in general and satisfaction, considering ranges of low values and high values, secondly, provides the study of the characteristics of the cultural and heritage tourism through the visit to a cultural heritage and third place, provides conclusions to achieve or loyalty improve to tourists cultural and heritage.

Hypotheses development

The variables used to measure the loyalty of the visitors to the city of Cordoba were, (1) The expected cultural quality of The Citadel of the Catholic King, (2) The expected heritage quality of The Citadel of the Catholic King, (3) The perceived cultural quality of The Citadel of the Catholic King, (4) The perceived heritage quality of The Citadel of the Catholic King, (5) Comparing the expected quality and the perceived quality we can estimate the perceived value, (6) Satisfaction, as an emotional or cognitive response of the visiting tourist, and (7) The loyalty that tourists feel as a result of their attitude and contact with the experience in destiny.

The following (Fig.  1 ) hypotheses were formulated using the existing literature:

Research model

Hypothesis 1 (H1)

The expected patrimonial quality (EPQ) positively and significantly influences the perceived patrimonial quality (PPQ). EPQ influences PPQ.

Hypothesis 2 (H2)

The expected cultural heritage quality (ECHQ) positively and significantly influences the perceived cultural heritage quality (PCHQ). ECHQ influences PCHQ.

Hypothesis 3 (H3)

The perceived cultural heritage quality positively and significantly influences the perceived value as a whole. PCHQ influences PV.

Hypothesis 4 (H4)

The perceived patrimonial quality (PPQ) positively and significantly influences the perceived value (PV) as a whole. PPQ influences PV.

Hypothesis 5 (H5)

The perceived patrimonial quality (PPQ) positively and significantly influences the relationship between perceived value (PV) and satisfaction (SATISFAC). PPQ moderates PV which influences SATISFAC.

Hypothesis 6 (H6)

The perceived cultural heritage quality (PCHQ) positively and significantly influences the relationship between perceived value (PV) and satisfaction (SATISFAC). PCHQ moderates PV which influences SATISFAC.

Hypothesis 7 (H7)

The perceived value (PV) influences the satisfaction (SATISFAC) with it. PV influences SATISFAC.

Hypothesis 8 (H8)

The satisfaction of the visitor to the cultural heritage positively influences their loyalty to it. SATISFAC influences LOYALTY.

Methodology

Questionnaire and data collection.

This study was conducted in Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain. Córdoba, as with its four UNESCO world heritage sites, has an extraordinary cultural and heritage offer, full of history, traditions and centuries of Arab, Jewish and Christian knowledge [ 64 ]. The data was collected with a questionnaire, which was given to tourists visiting the Citadel of the Catholic King. To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, the questions were based on previous similar studies [ 65 ]. To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, the questions were based on previous similar studies [ 66 ].

The information was collected using a questionnaire together with a personal interview with each tourist after their visit to Citadel of the Catholic King. The questionnaire was prepared in November 2019. The validation of the survey and the construction of the questions is based on consolidated indicators from previous research [ 114 , 115 ]. Once the indicators had been obtained, a two-stage refining process was used. First, the indicators proposed by an investigator were analyzed, then the final survey was tested and verified by a manager at the Citadel of the Catholic King. This meant that the validity of the indicators in the constructs of the proposed research model were checked twice.

The questionnaire consisted of five sections, which were, (1) Questions about the expected heritage quality, perceived heritage quality and perceived value at The Citadel of the Catholic King, which includes the Arabic and Christian heritage of the Citadel, the conservation of the heritage site and the culture on display (2) Questions about the expected cultural quality, perceived cultural quality and perceived value at the The Citadel of the Catholic King, which includes the Arabic culture of the Citadel, the Christian culture of the Citadel and the information available about the history of the monument, etc. (3) Questions about visitor satisfaction with The Citadel of the Catholic King, (4) Questions about the loyalty of visitors to The Citadel of the Catholic King, and if they would recommend it to their family, friends, and workmates (5) Questions about the sociodemographic profile. Tourists were informed of the academic purposes and the anonymity of the study before completing the questionnaire. Verbal consent was requested before the tourist completed the questionnaire. The anonymity of the respondent was guaranteed at all times. The questions in the first four parts of the questionnaire used a seven-point Likert scale, where one was the answer totally disagree and seven totally agree. Participation in the study was voluntary. The questionnaire contained 68 items, the sample data was collected through a personal questionnaire at different times of the day. The questionnaire was only given to tourists who had visited the Citadel of the Catholic King and its cultural heritage. The sociodemographic profile and the details of the trip were completed with closed questions. There were 499 valid questionnaires in the sample, which had a 95% confidence level and a sampling error of 3.25%.

Research data was tabulated and analyzed using (PLS-SEM), using Warp-PLS 7.0 software (ScriptWarp Systems, P.O. Box 452428, Laredo, Texas, 78045, USA).

Many authors have used in their studies the latent variables seen in Table 1 .

This section describes the results obtained after applying the structural equation models. First, a summary of the sociodemographic profile is shown, then the reliability and validity of the proposed model, and finally, the contrast of the eight hypotheses raised in the theoretical model.

Table 2 shows the sociodemographic profile. 45.5% of those interviewed were women, compared to 53.3 men, and 1.2% did not indicate their sex. The questionnaires were answered mainly by young people between 30 and 39 years old (31.1%) who had studied at the university (39.7%).

The relationship between the observed and latent variables is shown in Table 3 . The structural coefficients of the normalized model have also been calculated.

Analysis of the individual reliability of the items

In order to validate the proposed model, the validity and reliability of the reflective and formative constructs were analyzed.

The formative construct (loyalty) follows the recommendations according to Sarstedt et al. Regarding the convergent validity of the constructs, all the articles proposed in the model (Table 4 ) had a value > 0.707 [ 99 ].

With an analysis of the reflective constructs we can study the individual reliability of the elements with an analysis of the simple correlations of each observed variable with respect to the construct to which it belongs. Following Carmines and Zeller [ 100 ] maintaining the values of 0.707 are necessary for a variable to be accepted as part of a construct. Fifty-six of the sixty-six reflective elements have values > 0.707, therefore we can affirm that it has good reliability for the elements that make up each first-order construct. Once individual reliability had been studied, the validity and reliability of the constructs were analyzed [ 101 ]. The analysis consisted of evaluating collinearity and verifying that the value of the inflation factor variance (VIF) is > five. The results did not show collinearity in the variables used for the loyalty construct.

Likewise, Table 5 shows the analysis of the reflective constructs (expected heritage quality, expected cultural quality, perceived heritage quality, perceived cultural quality, perceived value and satisfaction) [ 102 ].

After this analysis, we can affirm that the results indicated a quasi-optimal individual reliability, since all the load values were above the minimum required threshold of 0.505 or 0.6 according to Fornell and Larcker [ 103 ] and Barclay, Higgins and Thompson [ 101 ].

In fact, the analysis revealed that the loads were statistically significant at 99.99%. Based on the results of these calculations, the measurement model was considered valid and reliable, which meant that the structural model could then be analyzed.

Analysis of the reliability of the first-order constructs

In order to confirm whether the observed variables rigorously and adequately measure the latent variable they represent, following Nunnally and Bernstein [ 104 ], the Cronbach’s Alpha and composite reliability values are taken, checking if they are higher or equal to 0.7 (Table 7 ). As all the values exceed this lower limit, the reliability of the first order constructs and their ability to measure Loyalty are confirmed. In our analysis, all the constructs exceeded a value of 0.9 (expected heritage quality, perceived heritage quality, expected cultural quality, perceived cultural quality, perceived value and satisfaction) which means that there can be no doubt about the constructs capacity for measuring Loyalty (Table 6 ).

Convergent validity

To evaluate the convergent validity of a set of variables, that is, if it explains one construct and not another, the mean variance extracted (AVE) is used, it is the acceptance criterion most commonly used in research to evaluate this concept (Table 7 ). Fornell and Larcker [ 103 ] determined that the minimum value of the AVE must be > 0.5, which means that the construct shares more than half of its variance with its indicators, the rest of the variance is explained by the error measurement [ 68 ]. The mean variance extracted is applicable to latent variables with reflective indicators. The nine Loyalty variables share more than 69% of their variance. Based on the results obtained, we can confirm that the measurements made are valid.

Discriminatory validity

To verify the discriminatory validity, in line with Barclay, Higgins and Thompson the cross-factor loads of indicators of a latent variable are checked against the indicator loads of the other latent variables (Table 8 ). Factorial loads must have greater value with their own variable than with the others evaluated in the model.

In addition, Henseler et al., in conducting simulation studies, demonstrated that the lack of validity is better detected by means of the HTMT ratio (Table 9 ). If the monotrait-heteromethod correlations (correlations between indicators that measure the same construct) are greater than heterotrait-heteromethod (correlations between indicators that measure different constructs) there will be discriminatory validity. Thus, the HTMT key figure must be below one (Gold et al. consider a value of 0.90).

In this sense, you can also use a resampling or bootstrapping to test whether the HTMT key figure is significantly different from one using the confidence interval. According to the criteria set, the confidence intervals for the HTMT must be less than one, allowing this criterion to be validated (Table 10 ).

Hypothesis testing

To verify the goodness-of-fit of the proposed model, different parameters that address said goodness were calculated in Tables 11 and 12 .

Once all the constructs (reflective and formative) have been verified and validated as well as the goodness of the fit of the model, we can affirm that the results obtained are adequate and justify their validity and applicability.

Then the significance of the Path Coefficient of each hypothesis was calculated (Table 13 ). This showed that all the hypotheses are compatible (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7 and H8).

Hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7 and H8 were all supported. This means that there is a positive and significant relationship between the expected and perceived cultural quality, and the expected and perceived heritage quality. There is also a positive and significant relationship between perceived cultural and heritage quality and the overall perceived value. The perceived cultural quality has a positive and significant moderating influence on the relationship between perceived value and satisfaction of the visiting tourist. There is a positive and significant relationship between the satisfaction and loyalty of visitors at the heritage site.

Figure  2 shows the values of the structural coefficients of the constructs. The limiting probability (p-value) of each one is used to validate the importance of the relationships between the constructs of the proposed model.

Path diagram of the proposed model with the p-value

Discussion and conclusion

The satisfaction of the tourists who visit cities with cultural heritage is the determining factor for loyalty to the city. The tourists and visitors who would repeat their visit also recommend and share their cultural and heritage experience with family, friends and co-workers. The public administration aims to preserve culture and heritage and maintain the sustainable value of the cultural heritage sites it manages. For private travel companies that have been trying for years to increase the number of visitors and the number of overnight stays, the loyalty of visiting tourists is the key to achieving their goal, which will also increase employment and the economy at the destination.

The analysis of the loyalty of tourists in the destination is important for obtaining excellence in tourist destinations. In this study, a model of structural equations was generated in which latent modulating variables of the main components that are part of satisfaction were implemented. The loyalty of the visiting tourist especially interested in the heritage and culture of the selected destination is analyzed. The results obtained in the study confirmed the hypotheses proposed in the theoretical model and can be used to improve the competitiveness of a destination.

The main variables that influenced the choice of the destination city were the cultural and heritage quality that I expected to find when choosing to visit a city declared a World Heritage Site and the recommendation and loyalty of other visitors to the destination [ 105 , 106 , 107 ].

At the end of the visit to a world heritage city, the tourist evaluates the gap between the cultural and heritage quality that he expects at the time he prepares the visit, collects information and creates a preconceived idea of the destination and the one he perceives once arrives at the destination, has an experience through the professionals, the accommodations, the monuments and the heritage city as a whole. All this set of sensations and perceptions converge in the satisfaction of the visiting tourist, it gave a feeling of satisfaction that made the visitors recommend it to others as a tourist destination.

Hypothesis 1

The expected cultural quality of the visitor positively and significantly influences the perceived cultural quality. In Fig.  3 , the sinusoidal behavior of this variable can be observed, and shows that for very high values of expected cultural quality there is no direct influence on perceived cultural quality. This result coincides with studies by [ 69 , 108 ]. Heritage managers must organize cultural activities at and around the heritage site. These activities increase the expected quality and therefore also the perceived quality. Visitors commented that they would like to see theatrical activities together with specialist guides at the destination to increase their satisfaction with the visit.

Hypothesis 1 ECHQ—PCHQ

Hypothesis 2

The expected heritage quality of the visitor positively and significantly influences the perceived heritage quality. In Fig.  4 the sinusoidal behavior means that for very high values of expected heritage quality there is no direct influence on the perceived heritage quality. This confirms studies by [ 71 , 92 ]. This result suggests that the digital information available online and the information on display at the destination must be increased. The tourists interviewed in the study claimed that there were not many references to this heritage site in terms of videos, photography, etc. and therefore they did not have any references for the expected quality of the heritage, which means that the perceived heritage quality was diminished.

Hypothesis 2 EPQ—PPQ

Hypothesis 3

The perceived heritage quality of the visitor positively and significantly influences the perceived value of the destination as a whole. Figure  5 shows how the perceived value changes as the perceived heritage quality increases. These results coincide with other studies about heritage [ 71 ]. This means that managers of heritage sites should think about improving the maintenance at the site.

Hypothesis 3 PPQ—PV

Hypothesis 4

The perceived cultural quality of the visitor positively and significantly influences the perceived value of the destination as a whole. Figure  6 shows the linear influence of perceived cultural quality on the total perceived value. This result coincides with the research of [ 109 ]. Heritage managers should be aware of the cultural quality of the heritage. A pile of stones means nothing without the culture that is attached to it. Therefore, heritage managers must make sure that the culture that is associated with a site is explained in the tourists visits.

Hypothesis 4 PCHQ—PV

Hypothesis 5 (Fig.  7 a)

The perceived cultural quality (PCHQ) of the visitor positively and significantly modulates the relationship between perceived value and satisfaction. Figure  7 b shows that for a range of low moderating variable values (perceived cultural quality-PCHQ), in the face of unit increases in perceived value (PV), satisfaction (SATISFAC) increases more than proportionately; for a range of perceived cultural quality high values (PCHQ), in the face of unit increases in perceived value (PV) visitor satisfaction increases less than proportionately. Therefore, for both low values and high values of perceived cultural quality (PCHQ) the satisfaction (SATISFAC) of the visiting tourist increases in the face of increases in perceived value (PV). This matches the results found by other authors [ 68 , 73 ]. This means that increasing the quality of the heritage helps to increase the overall satisfaction of the tourist with the experience lived.

a. Hypothesis 5 3D. PCHQ ⟶ (PV—SATISFAC). b Hypothesis 5 2D. PCHQ ⟶ (PV—SATISFAC)

Hypothesis 6 (Fig.  8 a)

The perceived heritage quality (PPQ) by the visitor positively and significantly moderates the relationship between perceived value (PV) and satisfaction (SATISFAC). Figure  8 b shows that in a range of low values of the modulating variable (perceived quality of equity-PPQ), in the face of unit increases in perceived value (PV) satisfaction grows more than proportionally. In a range of high values of the moderating variable, the relationship between perceived value and satisfaction is linear. This coincides with the results of studies by other authors [ 110 , 111 ]. That is, for both low values and high values of the modulating variable, satisfaction (SATISFAC) increases as the perceived value (PV) increases. We can say that in view of increases in the quality of the heritage, increasing the perceived value of the site increases the satisfaction of the tourist. Increasing the quality of perceived heritage helps to increase overall satisfaction with the tourist experience.

a. Hypothesis 6 3D. PPQ ⟶ (PV—SATISFAC). b Hypothesis 6 2D. PPQ ⟶ (PV—SATISFAC)

Hypothesis 7

The perceived value of the visit influences visitor satisfaction with the heritage site. Figure  9 shows that for values of − 1.8 and more the expected cultural quality has a linear and direct influence on perceived cultural quality and for very low values this behavior is reversed. This result has also been observed by other authors [ 105 , 112 , 113 ]. This result means that for the case being studied, and for cultural heritage in general, the visitor satisfaction can be increased by providing information about the history and the culture of the site. This can be done by having rooms dedicating to the cultures that inhabited the heritage site and explaining the significant milestones that took place there. A high entrance price without offering much cultural and heritage information is counterproductive for the perceived value.

Hypothesis 7 PV—SATISFAC

Hypothesis 8 was also confirmed, showing the direct influence that visitor satisfaction in a destination has on tourist loyalty. Figure  10 shows the sine behavior of this relationship. Only in very low extreme values and very high satisfaction, it has no effect on the loyalty of the visiting tourist. For non-extreme values of satisfaction, in the face of increased satisfaction, there are proportional increases in tourist loyalty. The results showed that satisfaction, quality and expectations are positive factors that influence the visitor's decision to return, and recommend a destination. This coincided with the results of other studies [ 108 , 114 ]. This study confirmed the relationship between the high satisfaction of the tourist with the heritage of Cordoba and the willingness of tourists to return and recommend the Citadel of the Catholic King. This means that tourists’ loyalty from cultural heritage to heritage is high, even though deficiencies that affected heritage expectations were also identified. These deficiencies included the lack of a website dedicated to the site and the lack of advertising. Deficiencies affecting tourist satisfaction were also found. These include the lack of specialized guides, the lack of theatrical visits, the lack of signs and indications and the lack of information on the culture and history of heritage. The latter affects loyalty. Although tourist satisfaction was generally acceptable, there were too many irregularities to achieve tourist loyalty.

Hypothesis 8 SATISFAC—LOYALTY

This study outlines a reachable goal for the managers of the heritage in Cordoba so that the experience of visitors to the city can be maximized. This means that having visitors who are satisfied with their visit becomes one of the main reasons to exhibit the heritage. The results of this study agree with those found in previous studies [ 59 , 115 ] which indicate that satisfaction has a positive influence on loyalty to the destination, and encourages the tourist to return to the destination in the future and to recommend it to family and friends. This study states the most important factors to achieve loyalty of heritage tourists in a city which has been home to various cultures, and where there are different heritage sites that show the cultures that have inhabited the city.

This study identifies various factors which visitors to the city consider important when visiting a heritage site. The conservation and cleanliness of the heritage site were valued highly, as was the fact that the heritage sites are inside, or close to, the historical city center. In this way, Cordoba unites and links the tourist to the destination, which positively influences loyalty to the city. The brand created by this set of heritage sites, together with the perceived quality of the visit are factors which can be used to attract tourists who want to experience local culture by visiting these sites [ 95 ].

As general conclusions regarding the theoretical implications this research demonstrates, supports and verifies how variables in tourism affect each other. Research, search and study of new relationships and new variables becomes essential. Therefore, we must continue to study the different variables and their relationships in favor of the loyalty of the tourist in the destination. The practical implications for managers of this type of heritage is the importance of focusing on those who visit the heritage: that is, you have to think about all the tourist flows, motivations, moods, but always with the aim of giving a complete tourist experience and the highest quality for those who visit the heritage.

The limitations of this study were due to the sample which was used. The data was obtained from heritage tourists at The Citadel of the Catholic King, which means that the collected data is only valid for one type of tourist at one destination. It would be desirable to study elsewhere where kings stayed overnight and placed their base outside the capital. Another limitation is to perform the study at a time, being convenient to do it temporarily to see the evolution. Similarly, measuring loyalty as the intention of future behavior is a limitation of this study. Finally, loyalty does not always mean accurate behavior, the tourist can have amazing behavior [ 116 ].

For future lines of research, this study could be carried out in other destinations in Spain such as Madrid or Ibiza which have Alcazares of Catholic kings placed in tourist value, and the results obtained in this work could be compared with those of other destinations. Another possible line of research could be to perform this same study, but aimed at international tourists, in order to examine their motivations and thus establish a segmentation of the touristic offerings of the community according to the type of tourist, national or international.

On the other hand, this study does not deepen and concrete in the tourist experiences around the culture and heritage of a historical heritage asset and how each one affects the value of loyalty and recommendation, therefore, is a future line of research.

Availability of data and materials

Availability of data and materials in the editorial manager.

Kim H, et al. Assessing the economic values of World Heritage Sites and the effects of perceived authenticity on their values. Int J Tour Res. 2018;20(1):126–36.

Article   Google Scholar  

Zhang H, et al. Destination image and tourist loyalty: a meta-analysis. Tour Manage. 2014;40:213–23.

Montejo Córdoba AJ. La rauda del Alcázar de Córdoba . 2006.

Redondo JFM, et al. Investigaciones arqueológicas en la Muralla de la Huerta del Alcázar (Córdoba). Anejos de anales de arqueología cordobesa. 2009;2:183–230.

Google Scholar  

Arjona Fuentes J. Potencialidad De Los Eventos De Religiosidad Popular Como Complemento a La Oferta De Turismo Cultural En La Ciudad De Córdoba (Appeal of Popular Religious Events as a Complement to Cultural Tourist Attractions in the City of Cordova) . Available at SSRN 2595585, 2014.

Fornell C, et al. The American customer satisfaction index: nature, purpose, and findings. J Mark. 1996;60(4):7–18.

Bezerra GC, Gomes CF. Determinants of passenger loyalty in multi-airport regions: implications for tourism destination. Tourism Manage Perspect. 2019;31:145–58.

Huang S, Weiler B, Assaker G. Effects of interpretive guiding outcomes on tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention. J Travel Res. 2015;54(3):344–58.

Jimber del Río JA, et al. Loyalty in heritage tourism: the case of Córdoba and its four world heritage sites. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(23):8950.

Cho M-H. A study of authenticity in traditional Korean folk villages. Int J Hosp Tour Adm. 2012;13(2):145–71.

de Sousa EM, et al. Innovation in explaining loyalty: extension of the ACSI model. Rev Admin Em Dialog. 2021;23(1):10–25.

Gao B, et al. When online reviews meet ACSI: how ACSI moderates the effects of online reviews on hotel revenue. J Travel Tour Mark. 2020;37:396–408.

Ali SS, Kaur R. An analysis of satisfaction level of 3PL service users with the help of ACSI. Benchmarking Int J. 2018;25(1):24–46.

Kim W-H. The impact of online reviews on customer satisfaction: an application of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Int J Tour Manage Sci. 2017;32(5):65–78.

Dani V. Measuring customer satisfaction for F&B chains in Pune using ACSI model . In: International Conference on Trade, Markets and Sustainability (Ictms-2013), 2014;133:465–472.

Sun K-A, Kim D-Y. Does customer satisfaction increase firm performance? An application of American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Int J Hosp Manage. 2013;35:68–77.

Ivanov V, Joseph K, Wintoki MB. Disentangling the market value of customer satisfaction: evidence from market reaction to the unanticipated component of ACSI announcements. Int J Res Mark. 2013;30(2):168–78.

Park T, Jaegal D. Understanding the satisfaction process of festival visitors through the revised ACSI model: the Andong Mask Dance Festival. J Tour Sci. 2005;28(4):87–105.

Ali SS, Kaur R. An analysis of satisfaction level of 3PL service users with the help of ACSI. Benchmarking Int J. 2018;25:24–46.

Altunel MC, Erkurt B. Cultural tourism in Istanbul: the mediation effect of tourist experience and satisfaction on the relationship between involvement and recommendation intention. J Destin Mark Manag. 2015;4(4):213–21.

Craik J. The culture of tourism. In: Touring cultures. Routledge; 2002. p. 123–46.

Poria Y, Butler R, Airey D. Links between tourists, heritage, and reasons for visiting heritage sites. J Travel Res. 2004;43(1):19–28.

Ramires A, Brandao F, Sousa AC. Motivation-based cluster analysis of international tourists visiting a World Heritage City: the case of Porto, Portugal. J Destin Mark Manag. 2018;8:49–60.

Burns L, Eaddy M, Moore C, Speno L, McRae H. Heritage tourism handbook: a how-to guide for Georgia. Atlanta, GA, USA: Georgia Department of Natural Resources; 2010.

Crespi-Vallbona M. Satisfying experiences: guided tours at cultural heritage sites. J Herit Tour. 2021;16(2):201–17.

Jensen O, Li Y, Uysal M. Visitors’ satisfaction at managed tourist attractions in Northern Norway: do on-site factors matter? Tour Manage. 2017;63:277–86.

Dolnicar S, Yanamandram V, Cliff K. The contribution of vacations to quality of life. Ann Tour Res. 2012;39(1):59–83.

Su MM, Wall G, Xu K. Heritage tourism and livelihood sustainability of a resettled rural community: mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site, China. J Sustain Tour. 2016;24(5):735–57.

McCabe S, Johnson S. The happiness factor in tourism: subjective well-being and social tourism. Ann Tour Res. 2013;41:42–65.

Gilbert D, Abdullah J. Holidaytaking and the sense of well-being. Ann Tour Res. 2004;31(1):103–21.

Paul J, Modi A, Patel J. Predicting green product consumption using theory of planned behavior and reasoned action. J Retail Consum Serv. 2016;29:123–34.

Buhalis D, López EP, Martinez-Gonzalez JA. Influence of young consumers’ external and internal variables on their e-loyalty to tourism sites. J Destin Mark Manag. 2020;15:100409.

Castro CB, Armario EM, Ruiz DM. The influence of market heterogeneity on the relationship between a destination’s image and tourists’ future behaviour. Tour Manage. 2007;28(1):175–87.

Chen C-F, Tsai D. How destination image and evaluative factors affect behavioral intentions? Tour Manage. 2007;28:1115–22.

Sato S, et al. Adventure tourism motivation and destination loyalty: a comparison of decision and non-decision makers. J Destin Mark Manag. 2018;8:74–81.

Kozak M. Repeaters’ behavior at two distinct destinations. Ann Tour Res. 2001;28(3):784–807.

Kozak M, Rimmington M. Tourist satisfaction with Mallorca, Spain, as an off-season holiday destination. J Travel Res. 2000;38:260–9.

Yoon Y, Uysal M. An examination of the effects of motivation and satisfaction on destination loyalty: a structural model. Tour Manage. 2005;26:45–56.

Chi CG-Q, Qu H. Examining the structural relationships of destination image, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty: an integrated approach. Tour Manage. 2008;29:624–36.

Hallak R, Assaker G, El-Haddad R. Re-examining the relationships among perceived quality, value, satisfaction, and destination loyalty: a higher-order structural model. J Vacat Mark. 2018;24:118–35.

Kang J-W, Lee H, Namkung Y. The impact of restaurant patrons’ flow experience on SNS satisfaction and offline purchase intentions. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag. 2018;30:797–816.

Yu T-W, Chen T-J. Online travel insurance purchase intention: a transaction cost perspective. J Travel Tour Mark. 2018;35:1175–86.

Yuksel A, Yuksel F, Bilim Y. Destination attachment: effects on customer satisfaction and cognitive, affective and conative loyalty. Tour Manage. 2010;31:274–84.

Wu H-C, Li T. A study of experiential quality, perceived value, heritage image, experiential satisfaction, and behavioral intentions for heritage tourists. J Hospital Tour Res. 2017;41(8):904–44.

Jin N, Lee S, Lee H. The effect of experience quality on perceived value, satisfaction, image and behavioral intention of water park patrons: new versus repeat visitors. Int J Tour Res. 2015;17:82–95.

Loureiro SMC, González FJM. The importance of quality, satisfaction, trust, and image in relation to rural tourist loyalty. J Travel Tour Mark. 2008;25:117–36.

Lichtenstein DR, Netemeyer RG, Burton S. Distinguishing coupon proneness from value consciousness: an acquisition-transaction utility theory perspective. J Mark. 1990;54:54–67.

Chang L-L, Backman KF, Huang YC. Creative tourism: a preliminary examination of creative tourists’ motivation, experience, perceived value and revisit intention. Int J Cult Tour Hospital Res. 2014;8:401–19.

Anderson EW, Sullivan MW. The antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction for firms. Mark Sci. 1993;12:125–43.

Cossío-Silva F-J, Revilla-Camacho M-Á, Vega-Vázquez M. The tourist loyalty index: a new indicator for measuring tourist destination loyalty? J Innov Knowl. 2019;4:71–7.

Bao YQ. Discerning store brand users from value consciousness consumers: the role of prestige. Adv Consum Res Vol Xxxi. 2004;31:707–12.

Chen C-F, Chou S-H. Antecedents and consequences of perceived coolness for Generation Y in the context of creative tourism—a case study of the Pier 2 Art Center in Taiwan. Tour Manage. 2019;72:121–9.

Pillai KG, Kumar V. Differential effects of value consciousness and coupon proneness on consumers’ persuasion knowledge of pricing tactics. J Retail. 2012;88(1):20–33.

Delgado-Ballester E, Hernandez-Espallardo M, Rodriguez-Orejuela A. Store image influences in consumers’ perceptions of store brands: the moderating role of value consciousness. Eur J Mark. 2014;48(9–10):1850–69.

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml VA, Berry LL. A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. J Mark. 1985;49(4):41–50.

Chang S. Experience economy in hospitality and tourism: gain and loss values for service and experience. Tour Manage. 2018;64:55–63.

Wong IA, Ji M, Liu MT. The effect of event supportive service environment and authenticity in the quality-value-satisfaction framework. J Hospital Tour Res. 2018;42(4):563–86.

Kuo N-T, et al. The asymmetric effect of tour guide service quality on tourist satisfaction. J Qual Assur Hosp Tour. 2018;19(4):521–42.

Alrawadieh Z, Alrawadieh Z, Kozak M. Exploring the impact of tourist harassment on destination image, tourist expenditure, and destination loyalty. Tour Manage. 2019;73:13–20.

Azhar ME, Prayogi MA, Sari M. The role of marketing mix and service quality on tourist satisfaction and loyalty at samosir. Rev Hospital. 2018;15:124–37.

Cronin Jr JJ, Brady MK, Hult GTM. Assessing the effects of quality, value, and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments. J Retail. 2000;76(2):193–218.

Cabeza Méndez JM. El Real Alcázar de Sevilla. Zabaglia. 2011;8:10–3.

Jiménez Castillo P, Navarro Palazón J, Alcázares. alcazabas y almunias durante el periodo taifa (siglo XI): los espacios palatinos al servicio de unos poderes en formación . 2016.

Csapo J. The role and importance of cultural tourism in modern tourism industry. In: Strategies for tourism industry-micro and macro perspectives. 2012;201–232.

Farooq MS, et al. Impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in Malaysia airlines: a PLS-SEM approach. J Air Transp Manag. 2018;67:169–80.

Ozdemir B, Çizel B, Bato CR. Satisfaction with all-inclusive tourism resorts: the effects of satisfaction with destination and destination loyalty. Int J Hospital Tour Admin. 2012;13(2):109–30.

Nguyen THH, Cheung C. Chinese heritage tourists to heritage sites: what are the effects of heritage motivation and perceived authenticity on satisfaction? Asia Pacific J Tour Res. 2016;21(11):1155–68.

Kempiak J, et al. The heritage tourist: an understanding of the visitor experience at heritage attractions. Int J Herit Stud. 2017;23(4):375–92.

Ganzaroli A, De Noni I, van Baalen P. Vicious advice: analyzing the impact of TripAdvisor on the quality of restaurants as part of the cultural heritage of Venice. Tour Manage. 2017;61:501–10.

Alazaizeh MM, et al. Giving voice to heritage tourists: indicators of quality for a sustainable heritage experience at Petra, Jordan. J Tour Cult Chang. 2019;17(3):269–84.

Thanou A, Tsiropoulou EE, Papavassiliou S. Quality of experience under a prospect theoretic perspective: a cultural heritage space use case. IEEE Trans Comput Soc Syst. 2019;6(1):135–48.

Mansor N, et al. Mosque tourism certification in Waqf management: a model by Ukhwah Samara. Soc Sci Human. 2015;23:291–304.

Donthu N, Yoo B. Cultural influences on service quality expectations. J Serv Res. 1998;1(2):178–86.

Tata J, Prasad S. Cultural and structural constraints on total quality management implementation. Total Qual Manag. 1998;9(8):703–10.

Gurung A, Prater E. A research framework for the impact of cultural differences on IT outsourcing. In: Global sourcing of services: strategies, issues and challenges. World Scientific; 2017. p. 49–82.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Chen C-F, Chen F-S. Experience quality, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions for heritage tourists. Tour Manage. 2010;31(1):29–35.

Jeon MM, Kang MM, Desmarais E. Residents’ perceived quality of life in a cultural-heritage tourism destination. Appl Res Qual Life. 2016;11(1):105–23.

Lee S, et al. Heritage tourism in Singapore Chinatown: a perceived value approach to authenticity and satisfaction. J Travel Tour Mark. 2016;33(7):981–98.

Agyeiwaah E, et al. Understanding culinary tourist motivation, experience, satisfaction, and loyalty using a structural approach. J Travel Tour Mark. 2019;36(3):295–313.

Thi K, et al. The effects of service quality on international tourist satisfaction and loyalty: insight from Vietnam. Int J Data Netw Sci. 2020;4(2):179–86.

Marshall PA. Cultural influences on perceived quality of life. In: Seminars in oncology nursing. Elsevier; 1990.

Pouso S, Uyarra MC, Borja Á. The recovery of estuarine quality and the perceived increase of cultural ecosystem services by beach users: a case study from northern Spain. J Environ Manage. 2018;212:450–61.

Mohseni S, et al. Attracting tourists to travel companies’ websites: the structural relationship between website brand, personal value, shopping experience, perceived risk and purchase intention. Curr Issue Tour. 2018;21(6):616–45.

Nilson TH. Value-added marketing: marketing management for superior results. McGraw-Hill Book Company; 1992.

Pandža Bajs I. Tourist perceived value, relationship to satisfaction, and behavioral intentions: the example of the Croatian tourist destination Dubrovnik. J Travel Res. 2015;54(1):122–34.

Tom Dieck MC, Jung TH. Value of augmented reality at cultural heritage sites: a stakeholder approach. J Destinat Market Manag. 2017;6(2):110–7.

Gallarza MG, Maubisson L, Rivière A. Replicating consumer value scales: a comparative study of EVS and PERVAL at a cultural heritage site. J Bus Res. 2020;126:614–23.

Qi L, et al. Time-aware distributed service recommendation with privacy-preservation. Inf Sci. 2019;480:354–64.

Hallak R, Assaker G, El-Haddad R. Re-examining the relationships among perceived quality, value, satisfaction, and destination loyalty: a higher-order structural model. J Vacat Mark. 2018;24(2):118–35.

Cheng BL, et al. Service recovery, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: evidence from Malaysia’s hotel industry. Int J Qual Serv Sci. 2019;11:187–203.

Hosany S, Prayag G. Patterns of tourists’ emotional responses, satisfaction, and intention to recommend. J Bus Res. 2013;66(6):730–7.

Domínguez-Quintero AM, González-Rodríguez MR, Paddison B. The mediating role of experience quality on authenticity and satisfaction in the context of cultural-heritage tourism. Curr Issue Tour. 2020;23(2):248–60.

Veasna S, Wu W-Y, Huang C-H. The impact of destination source credibility on destination satisfaction: the mediating effects of destination attachment and destination image. Tour Manage. 2013;36:511–26.

Assaker G, Vinzi VE, O’Connor P. Examining the effect of novelty seeking, satisfaction, and destination image on tourists’ return pattern: a two factor, non-linear latent growth model. Tour Manage. 2011;32(4):890–901.

San Martín H, Herrero A, García de los Salmones MdM. An integrative model of destination brand equity and tourist satisfaction. Curr Issues Tour. 2019;22(16):1992–2013.

Gómez-Zapata JD, Espinal-Monsalve NE, Herrero-Prieto LC. Economic valuation of museums as public club goods: why build loyalty in cultural heritage consumption? J Cult Herit. 2018;30:190–8.

Verma A, Rajendran G. The effect of historical nostalgia on tourists’ destination loyalty intention: an empirical study of the world cultural heritage site—Mahabalipuram, India. Asia Pacific J Tour Res. 2017;22(9):977–90.

Fu X. Existential authenticity and destination loyalty: evidence from heritage tourists. J Destin Mark Manag. 2019;12:84–94.

Henseler J, Chin WW. A comparison of approaches for the analysis of interaction effects between latent variables using partial least squares path modeling. Struct Equ Model. 2010;17(1):82–109.

Carmines EG, Zeller RA. Reliability and validity assessment, vol. 17. USA: Sage publications; 1979.

Book   Google Scholar  

Barclay D, Higgins C, Thompson R. The partial least squares (PLS) approach to casual modeling: personal computer adoption ans use as an Illustration. 1995.

Hair JF, Ringle CM, Sarstedt M. Partial least squares: the better approach to structural equation modeling? Long Range Plan. 2012;45(5–6):312–9.

Fornell C, Larcker DF. Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: algebra and statistics. USA: SAGE Publications; 1981.

Nunnally JC, Bernstein IH. Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1978.

Su L, Hsu MK, Swanson S. The effect of tourist relationship perception on destination loyalty at a world heritage site in China: the mediating role of overall destination satisfaction and trust. J Hospital Tour Res. 2017;41(2):180–210.

Santa-Cruz FG, López-Guzmán T. Culture, tourism and world heritage sites. Tour Manag Perspect. 2017;24:111–6.

Cossío-Silva F-J, Revilla-Camacho M-Á, Vega-Vázquez M. The tourist loyalty index: a new indicator for measuring tourist destination loyalty? J Innov Knowl. 2019;4(2):71–7.

Chen H, Rahman I. Cultural tourism: an analysis of engagement, cultural contact, memorable tourism experience and destination loyalty. Tour Manag Perspect. 2018;26:153–63.

Oriade A, Schofield P. An examination of the role of service quality and perceived value in visitor attraction experience. J Destin Mark Manag. 2019;11:1–9.

Sánchez-Sánchez MD, De-Pablos-Heredero C, Montes-Botella JL. A behaviour model for cultural tourism: loyalty to destination. Econ Res Ekonomska Istraživanja, 2020;1–18.

Elmoussaoui M. The phenomenological significance of dwelling in architecture. The case of Eastern Beka’a Valley-Lebanon. 2020.

Liu Y, et al. Understanding the relationship between food experiential quality and customer dining satisfaction: a perspective on negative bias. Int J Hosp Manag. 2020;87:102381.

Alnawas I, Hemsley-Brown J. Examining the key dimensions of customer experience quality in the hotel industry. J Hosp Market Manag. 2019;28(7):833–61.

Prayag G, et al. Understanding the relationships between tourists’ emotional experiences, perceived overall image, satisfaction, and intention to recommend. J Travel Res. 2017;56:41–54.

Su Y, Teng W. Contemplating museums’ service failure: extracting the service quality dimensions of museums from negative on-line reviews. Tour Manage. 2018;69:214–22.

Bodet G. Loyalty in sport participation services: an examination of the mediating role of psychological commitment. J Sport Manag. 2012;26(1):30–42.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

This research received no external funding.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Policy, Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, Universidad de Córdoba, Plaza de Puerta Nueva S/N, 14002, Cordoba, Spain

Ricardo David Hernández-Rojas & Juan Antonio Jimber del Río

Management, International Relations, University of Science and Technology, Fujairah, UAE

Alberto Ibáñez Fernández

Department of Research, Ecotec University, Samborondón-Ecuador and Espiritu Santo University, Samborondón, Ecuador

Arnaldo Vergara-Romero

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization, AV-R and RDH-R; methodology, JAJR and AI-F; software, JAJR and RDH-R; validation JAJR; RDH-R and AV-R; formal analysis, JAJR; RDH-R; AI-F; investigation, AV-R and RDH-R; resources, AV-R and RDH-R; data curation, RH-R and AI-F; writing—original draft preparation, AV-R; writing—review and editing, AV-R, AI-F; visualization, AV-R; supervision, JAJR; project administration, N/A; funding acquisition, N/A.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Antonio Jimber del Río .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Hernández-Rojas, R.D., del Río, J.A.J., Fernández, A.I. et al. The cultural and heritage tourist, SEM analysis: the case of The Citadel of the Catholic King. Herit Sci 9 , 52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00525-0

Download citation

Received : 25 February 2021

Accepted : 23 April 2021

Published : 06 May 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00525-0

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Heritage tourism
• Cultural heritage
• Structual ecuation model

Understanding the Surge in Cultural Tourism: An In-depth Look into Its Popularity

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on Published: August 3, 2023  - Last updated: August 4, 2023

Categories Travel

You’ve probably heard the term ‘cultural tourism’ buzzing around travel circles, but have you ever wondered why it’s so popular? It’s more than just a trend.

Cultural tourism lets you dive deep into the heart of different societies, providing an up-close view of diverse traditions, customs, and ways of life.

Imagine walking through ancient ruins, participating in vibrant festivals or learning local crafts; it’s about experiencing a culture firsthand rather than observing from afar.

It’s not just about taking photos for your social media feed; it’s about expanding your knowledge and understanding of the world.

This article will guide you through the reasons behind cultural tourism’s popularity, its future prospects, and offer some tips on planning your own immersive adventure.

So let’s explore why more tourists are trading standard vacations for this enriching travel experience.

Key Takeaways

• Cultural tourism provides an up-close view of diverse traditions and customs, allowing for a firsthand experience of a culture.
• It expands knowledge and understanding of the world, while also ensuring cultural preservation and the passing down of traditions.
• Cultural tourism offers a distinct experience from mainstream tourism, providing immersive experiences beyond mere sightseeing.
• The role of media, including travel shows and social media influencers, and the economic impact of cultural tourism also contribute to its popularity.

Understanding the Concept of Cultural Tourism

Understanding the concept of cultural tourism involves more than just visiting historical sites or watching traditional dances. It is about immersing yourself in the very heartbeat of a society, experiencing its customs, traditions, and way of life. It requires appreciating and respecting another culture’s way of living. Cultural tourism involves exploring art forms, religious practices, and even participating in local festivals.

Cultural preservation plays a crucial role in cultural tourism. It ensures that these rich traditions are not lost but passed down through generations. Tourism policies also come into play by creating an environment conducive for tourists to learn while ensuring respect towards the host culture.

In essence, cultural tourism is popular because it offers a distinct experience from mainstream tourism. It allows you to walk away with valuable insights into diverse cultures.

Desire to Experience Other Cultures First-hand

Imagine stepping into a world so different yet so captivating, immersing yourself in the customs and traditions of an unfamiliar land. That’s the allure of exploring new civilizations first-hand. Cultural tourism lets you do just that, offering a rich tapestry of experiences that stretch beyond mere sightseeing.

With cultural immersion experiences, you get to:

• Spend time with locals, learning their ways and absorbing their wisdom.
• Participate in traditional activities or crafts, gaining insights not accessible through books or media.
• Savor authentic regional cuisines cooked by local chefs.

In cultural tourism, authenticity is paramount. It’s about more than just visiting; it’s about deeply connecting with people and places. This desire for genuine connections and immersive experiences fuels the popularity of cultural tourism.

Pursuit of Knowledge

In your quest for knowledge, there’s no better way than diving headfirst into new experiences and soaking up the wisdom of different societies. Cultural tourism offers this opportunity on a silver platter. It’s not just about sightseeing; it’s an explorative journey that quenches your thirst for historical learning and artistic exploration.

You can traverse through time, from ancient civilizations to contemporary cultures, discovering how past events have shaped today’s world. Artistic exploration becomes a sensory feast as you witness diverse art forms – be it painting, sculpture, or dance – each narrating a unique story of its people.

Cultural tourism is popular because it transforms travel into an enriching educational experience. So pack your curiosity and embark on this enlightening adventure!

Personal Growth and Development

There’s no denying that delving into new experiences can significantly contribute to your personal growth and development. Cultural tourism offers a unique opportunity for this, providing an avenue for personal introspection and cultural immersion.

When you journey into new cultures, you’re not just observing different traditions or customs. You’re connecting with the essence of human diversity, broadening your horizons while deepening your understanding of the world. It challenges your perceptions and biases, compelling you to reassess what you thought you knew about people, their way of life – even yourself.

This process of self-discovery through cultural exploration is transformative. It expands your empathy, fosters tolerance, and enhances your worldview. So embrace cultural tourism; it’s more than a vacation—it’s a journey towards becoming a better version of yourself.

The Role of Media in Promoting Cultural Tourism

Imagine immersing yourself in the vibrant cultures of the world right from your living room, thanks to travel shows and documentaries.

With social media’s influence, you don’t just have to visualize it; you can experience it virtually, even interact with locals before stepping foot on their land.

The role of media in promoting cultural tourism has become increasingly essential, making distant cultures accessible and inspiring us to explore them firsthand.

Travel shows and documentaries

You’re sitting comfortably on your couch, engrossed in a travel documentary that transports you to the vibrant streets of Tokyo, making cultural tourism incredibly appealing without even leaving your living room. The allure lies not just in the exotic locales but also in the way these places are presented by charismatic show hosts.

Documentary filming and the influence of show hosts play a critical role in this:

• They narrate captivating stories about historical landmarks.
• Their enthusiasm is infectious and engages viewers emotionally.
• They provide firsthand experiences about local cultures and traditions.
• They introduce viewers to authentic local cuisine, highlighting its connection to regional culture.

In essence, travel shows and documentaries work as virtual tour guides, making cultural tourism popular from the comfort of your home.

Social media influence

Switch on your phone and the world is at your fingertips, thanks to the immense influence of social media. It’s a significant player that’s making cultural tourism more popular than ever.

You see, it’s not just about snapping selfies anymore. The ‘Influencer Impact’ has changed the game. Instagram stars and travel bloggers are showcasing diverse cultures, traditions, and hidden gems from around the globe.

These viral destinations often become bucket-list entries for their followers who yearn for authentic experiences. They’re using platforms like Instagram or YouTube to share captivating stories and vivid imagery which inspire others to explore these culturally-rich locales themselves.

Social media is acting as a window into different cultures, promoting understanding and appreciation in an engaging way. And you can’t deny – it adds an exciting dimension to cultural tourism!

Economic Impact of Cultural Tourism

You’ll find it fascinating how cultural tourism significantly bolsters local economies by creating jobs, generating income, and fostering entrepreneurship. The tourism policies enacted to safeguard cultural heritage preservation translate into substantial economic gains.

Here’s a snapshot:

Such impacts can revitalize struggling regions or diversify the economic base of an area. Cultural tourism isn’t just about appreciating diversity; it’s also a catalyst for sustainable economic growth.

Environmental Impact of Cultural Tourism

While cultural tourism can be a boon to local economies, it’s important to consider its potential environmental impact. Done right, cultural tourism can result in sustainable practices that preserve and enhance the natural environment.

• Tourists visiting heritage sites often contribute to their maintenance and conservation efforts.
• Sustainable practices, such as eco-friendly accommodations and transport options, are increasingly associated with cultural tourism.
• Community involvement is crucial in ensuring these practices are maintained. Locals take ownership of protecting their cultural heritage and the surrounding environment.
• The enhanced appreciation for nature nurtured by cultural experiences can inspire tourists to adopt more environmentally friendly habits.

So remember, your travels don’t just impact you – they shape the world around us too!

The Thrill of Adventure and Discovery

Shifting gears from the environmental implications of cultural tourism, let’s delve into the element that truly fuels its popularity: the thrill of adventure and discovery. There’s an innate curiosity within you, a desire to uncover new cultures, heritage sites or historical landmarks.

Adventure preparation and discovery methods play a pivotal role in this quest. The table below elucidates this further:

In essence, preparing well amplifies your adventurous spirit while innovative discovery methods help you experience culture at its most authentic. So go ahead! Immerse yourself in the excitement of cultural tourism—it’s your passport to understanding our diverse world better.

The Role of Cultural Festivals and Events

Imagine being swept up in the vibrant whirl of a local festival, each beat of the drum resonating with your heartbeat, every splash of color etching an unforgettable memory. This is what cultural tourism offers you – an immersive experience that’s more than just sightseeing.

Now picture this:

• You are contributing to something bigger – festival financing. Your participation supports local economies by funding these grand spectacles and sustaining traditions.
• Not only does your ticket purchase help fund the event, it also helps finance future festivals.
• You’re aiding in creating job opportunities for locals and boosting small businesses.
• You’re supporting event sustainability. By choosing events mindful of their environmental impact, you demonstrate responsible tourism.
• Opting for eco-friendly events shows respect for the host cultures and their environment.

Cultural tourism isn’t merely a pastime but a pathway to global understanding and unity.

The Growth of Cultural Tourism Industry

The growth of the cultural tourism industry is evident as you journey through various world traditions. It’s clear to see that the industry of immersive travel experiences has flourished exponentially. Cultural tourism is no longer a niche market; it’s a booming industry, thanks in part to well-crafted tourism policies that emphasize cultural preservation.

These policies not only cater to your longing for unique and authentic experiences but also safeguard local customs and heritage. By choosing cultural tourism, you’re supporting the communities you visit while quenching your thirst for knowledge. You’re contributing to an eco-system that values diversity, respects tradition, and promotes mutual understanding.

So next time you plan your travels, consider this: Cultural tourism isn’t just popular because it’s interesting or exotic – it’s popular because it makes a positive impact on both travelers and host communities alike.

Challenges and Solutions in Cultural Tourism

As you explore the realm of cultural tourism, you’ll find that there are certain challenges. These challenges include overtourism and issues around cultural sensitivity and respect. Overtourism can lead to environmental damage and strain on local resources. A lack of cultural sensitivity can result in misunderstandings or even offense. However, by being aware of these potential pitfalls, we can work towards solutions. These solutions will allow us to enjoy the richness of diverse cultures while preserving their integrity for future generations.

Overtourism

You might’ve heard the term ‘overtourism’ thrown around, which refers to the negative impacts of too many tourists flocking to a particular cultural hotspot. It’s when infrastructure and resources are strained, locals feel pushed out, and cultures become degraded under the sheer weight of visitors.

This is where tourism regulation steps in as an immediate solution. Regulations may limit visitor numbers or implement timed entries on popular sites, ensuring that tourism doesn’t overwhelm local communities.

But it’s not just about restrictions; sustainable strategies are key. These can include encouraging off-peak travel or promoting lesser-known destinations to spread tourism more evenly.

So while overtourism poses challenges, with thoughtful planning and respect for local culture, we can ensure our love for travel doesn’t spoil what makes these places special.

Cultural sensitivity and respect

Navigating unfamiliar destinations, it’s essential to remember that your actions can greatly impact the communities you visit, particularly when it comes to their traditions and customs. Cultural etiquette isn’t just about being polite; it’s a way of showing respect for diversity appreciation.

In the spirit of cultural sensitivity:

• Imagine how you’d feel if someone disregarded your culture or beliefs.
• Understand that what might seem strange to you could be deeply meaningful for others.
• Be open-minded, willing to learn and adapt.
• Remember that observing can sometimes be more respectful than participating.
• Ask questions politely if you’re unsure about something.

By doing so, you not only enrich your travel experiences but also contribute towards preserving these precious cultural heritages.

The Future of Cultural Tourism

Looking towards the horizon, it’s clear that cultural tourism isn’t just a passing trend – it’s molding the future of travel in fascinating ways.

Advancements like virtual reality tours are bringing faraway cultures right into our living rooms, allowing us to experience unique traditions and landmarks without leaving home.

But don’t worry, nothing can replace the thrill of actual travel. Instead, these innovations inspire curiosity and promote sustainable practices. You’ll be more inclined to respect local customs and protect natural resources when you understand their value firsthand.

So as we move forward, brace for a future where cultural immersion is possible from anywhere in the world yet still encourages responsible exploration.

It’s an exciting time to be a traveler indeed!

How to Plan a Cultural Tourism Trip

Planning your next journey with a focus on immersion in local traditions and heritage can be an eye-opening experience, revealing the vibrant tapestry of human societies just waiting to be explored. Here’s a simple guide to help you plan your cultural tourism trip.

Firstly, consider budgeting considerations such as travel costs and dining expenses. You’ll need to balance these with accommodation choices that allow you to immerse yourself in local culture without breaking the bank.

Remember, planning leads to better experiences. So, take your time and choose wisely. Enjoy discovering new cultures!

Case Studies of Popular Cultural Tourism Destinations

Get ready to explore some fascinating case studies of popular cultural tourism destinations. These renowned destinations celebrate local traditions and heritage, offering immersive experiences that allow you to truly delve into the soul of a place.

Let’s start with Kyoto, Japan. This city is known for its serenity, with traditional tea ceremonies, a vibrant geisha culture, and ancient temples. The preservation of its historic charm is evident in its destination branding.

Next, we have Marrakech, Morocco. This city is famous for its vibrant souks and aromatic cuisine. Exploring the local cuisine here is a sensory delight that immerses you in the culture.

Moving on to Puebla, Mexico. This destination is renowned for its Talavera pottery and Mole Poblano, showcasing how food can be an integral part of cultural tourism. The unique flavors and traditions of Puebla make it a must-visit for food enthusiasts.

Let’s not forget about Rome, Italy. This city is a living testament to history, with iconic landmarks that serve as powerful brand ambassadors. Everywhere you turn in Rome, you’ll encounter a piece of history.

Lastly, we have Jaipur, India. This city is home to heritage sites that showcase intricate architecture and colorful festivals. Exploring Jaipur allows you to immerse yourself in the rich cultural tapestry of India.

Each of these destinations has a unique story waiting to be discovered by curious travelers like you. So pack your bags and get ready to embark on a cultural adventure!

Tips and Advice for Cultural Tourists

Having explored various case studies of popular cultural tourism destinations, you might feel inspired to embark on your own journey. As you prepare for this enriching experience, it’s important to remember certain tips and advice that can make your cultural tourism more enjoyable and respectful.

Firstly, immerse yourself fully in the experience by exploring local cuisine. This not only tantalizes your taste buds but also gives you a deeper understanding of the culture.

However, while indulging in this exploration, ethical considerations should be at the forefront. Be conscious of the environmental footprint you leave behind and show respect for local customs and traditions.

Remember that cultural tourism isn’t just about what you take away from it; it’s equally about appreciating and respecting the cultures you encounter along your journey.

Destination Stewardship Center

Extending the work of the national geographic center for sustainable destinations..

Cultural Heritage Tourism

Topic Editor: Lucy Matthews

Heritage, Architecture, Cultures, G astronomy These links provide resources for enhancing the interaction between tourism and the human story of the locale. Scroll down to see Pertinent Findings: The Case for Heritage Tourism.

Cultural tourism is: “A type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/products relate to a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions.”  – UNWTO

Pertinent Blog Posts

• 19 Lessons from 41 World Heritage Sites – Swen Lorenz tells us what he’s learned about WH.
• Advice for a Basque Destination – Jonathan Tourtellot is interviewed by Urdaibai Magazine about building responsible tourism in this culturally rich region.
• America’s Unheralded Gift to Tourism – 2016 was the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act.
• Anna Maria Island Restoration – A Florida island saves its historic character and engages in sustainable stewardship in the face of increased tourism and development.
• By Their Bootstraps: Homemade Heritage Tourism in Peru – A look at one of the 2021 Green Destinations’ Top 100 Destination Sustainability Stories from Jeniffer Stephanie Diaz Santivañez, Promotor Touristico.
• Challenging Hit-and-Run Tourism in Cultural Heritage Sites – Engelbert Ruoss.
• Neolocalism and Tourism – Dr. Christina Cavaliere writes about the multi-author book she co-edited on neolocalism – including the term’s intersection with heritage tourism.
• Rural Tunisians Join to Initiate Restorative Tourism – In a Green Destinations’ Top 100 Destination Sustainability Stories entry from 2021, a rural Tunisian region works together to reduce outmigration through cultural tourism.
• Saving Cultural Heritage – Chris Flynn of WTACH looks at opportunities to save  culture through tourism in the case of the Singapore Hawkers.
• The Nisga’a Offer an Indigenous Tourism Model – Bert Mercer with Laura Hope explains developing culturally sensitive tourism in Canada.
• Tourism Success Means Protecting Shared Assets   – Jay Walljasper looks at Cinque Terre, Italy.
• World Heritage: Will It Really Bring More Tourism to the U.S.? Case in point: Poverty Point, La. – Jonathan Tourtellot.

Organizational Resources

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation  (US) Independent federal agency that recommends preservation policy for the President and Congress and provides information on how to  work with Section 106  and on Training and Education .

African World Heritage Fund (Africa) The inter-governmental AWHF provides grants to support UNESCO World Heritage sites and candidate sites in Africa to protect cultural and natural heritage.  

AIA-ATTA Guide to Best Practices for Archaeological Tourism (US-Global) These useful guides from the Archaeological Institute of America and Adventure Travel Trade Association come in versions for site managers and for tourists.

Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation  (US-Global)  Learn about opportunities for culturally related funding for developing countries through the US Department of State.  

American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (US) – AIANTA offers resources for indigenous tourism including a Cultural Heritage Tourism planner , trainings , a website for Indian Country travel and more.

Europa Nostra (Europe) “The European Voice of Civil Society committed to Cultural Heritage” engages in knowledge-sharing, site advocacy, and procedures for the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards.

European Capitals of Culture (Europe) This EU program helps promote tourism to destinations throughout Europe.

European Heritage Alliance 3.3 (Europe) Follow links to EU and Alliance member  documents related to heritage policies and promotion.

Global Sustainable Tourism Council   (Global)  Their Destination Criteria includes a section on cultural sustainability.

International Council on Monuments and Sites (Global)  This nongovernmental organization for conservation of heritage collects and disseminates expert information on conservation principles, techniques, and policies. The ICOMOS International Scientific Committees page lists a host of specialty committees that each provide additional information.

National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers  (US) Find your US State HPO who can help protect your site.

National Park Service (US) Find out how to take local preservation action  and how your community can achieve National Heritage Area designation .

National Trust for Historic Preservation (US)  This D.C.-based nonprofit offers various services. Hotels occupying buildings more than 50 years old can apply for membership in the marketing program Historic Hotels of America , which publishes a directory and provides a central reservation service. The forum includes networking events, conference and hotel discounts, and announcements about grants, awards, and other opportunities.

National Trust for Historic Preservation Library, University of Maryland (US)  This extensive collection of American preservation resources includes books, maps, journals, postcards, architectural records, and more.

Preservation Directory  (US & Canada)  Preservation Directory provides listings of conferences, grants, articles, organizations, historic real estate and more, along with heritage tourism-specific resources such as museums & historic structures, historic lodging, and historic tours.

The World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage (Global)  WTACH is an NGO membership organization working across stakeholders to balance the needs of tourism and cultural heritage.

UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme (Global)  Facilitates collaboration between tourism and heritage stakeholders for responsible tourism at heritage sites. The page has links to useful toolkits and guides.

UNESCO World Heritage List  (Global/Regional)  Check out the comprehensive list of World Heritage Sites. Find your regional WH Centre: Africa , Asia & Pacific , Europe & North America , Latin America and the Caribbean .

UNWTO Tourism and Culture (Global) Find links to relevant UNWTO declarations, conferences and research.

World Monuments Fund   (Global)  Search for case studies similar to your project. The biennial World Monuments Watch highlights heritage sites in danger.

Educational Opportunities

Professional Certificate in Cultural Heritage Tourism (US) This program from The George Washington University’s School of Business in partnership with AIANTA focuses on indigenous cultural tourism.

Undergraduate Certificate, Cultural Heritage Tourism (US)  This online certificate program from Indiana University readies students for careers in heritage tourism and related fields, and includes an internship experience.

MSc Tourism Development & Culture (UK-Europe)  This joint Master’s program from the University of Glasgow provides opportunities to study part of the time at universities in Malta, Sweden, and Portugal.

MA Cultural Heritage Management (US)  This online Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins explores both tangible and intangible forms of cultural heritage.

Pertinent Findings: The Case for Heritage Tourism

Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe  The collaborative CHCFE report led by Europa Nostra shows the benefits of heritage for a variety of key European sectors.

Historic Preservation: An Overlooked Economic Driver  This 2018 study finds impressive economic impacts of heritage tourism for Rhode Island.

The Case for Responsible Travel: Trends & Statistics 2017   Section 4 of this CREST report discusses Cultural Values, Diversity, and Heritage, including the business case.

The Economic & Fiscal Impacts of Heritage Tourism in New Jersey   This 2013 report finds that heritage tourism is beneficial to the economy of the state of New Jersey.

The Economic Impact of National Heritage Areas   These US National Park Service  reports from 2013-2017 illustrate the positive economic impacts of Heritage Areas.

The Importance of Cultural Heritage Tourism   AIANTA pulled together this infographic with sourced statistics.

Do you have research or links to add to this list? Let us know! Comment or contact us.

Editor for this page: Lucy Matthews.

About Lucy Matthews

Lucy has MA's from King's College London in Tourism, Environment & Development and Terrorism, Security & Society, and has managed the World Travel & Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.

• More Posts(3)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please enter an answer in digits: 3 × 5 =

• Politics & Social Sciences
• Anthropology

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: $31.86 $31.86 FREE delivery: Thursday, April 25 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Buy used: $19.90

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage First Edition

Purchase options and add-ons.

• ISBN-10 0520209664
• ISBN-13 978-0520209664
• Edition First Edition
• Publisher University of California Press
• Publication date September 5, 1998
• Language English
• Dimensions 7 x 1.5 x 10 inches
• Print length 348 pages
• See all details

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

From the inside flap, from the back cover, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., destination culture, university of california press.

Moon rocks, a few small strips of meat dried Hidatsa-style before 1918, dust from Jerusalem, "a knot tied by the wind in a storm at sea," bottle caps filled with melted crayon made for skelley (a New York City street game), "a drop of the Virgin's milk," pieces of the dismantled Berlin Wall.1 Each object is shown to the public eye protected and enshrined. Were the criterion of "visual interest" to determine what should be exhibited, such rocks, bits of meat, dust, knots, and toys, if saved at all, would await attention of another kindperhaps by microscope, telescope, laboratory test, nutritional analysis, written description, diagram, or report of miracles. Why save, let alone display, things that are of little visual interest? Why ask the museum visitor to look closely at something whose value lies somewhere other than in its appearance?

To suggest that objects lacking visual interest might be of historical or cultural or religious or scientific interest, while seeming to offer an answer, actually compounds the problem because it leaves unexplored several fundamental assumptions, first among them the notion of artifactual autonomy. It is precisely this autonomy that makes it possible to display objects in and of themselves, even when there is little to inspect with the eye.2

Ethnographic artifacts are objects of ethnography. They are artifacts created by ethnographers. Such objects become ethnographic by virtue of

being defined, segmented, detached, and carried away by ethnographers. They are ethnographic, not because they were found in a Hungarian peasant household, Kwakiutl village, or Rajasthani market rather than in Buckingham Palace or Michelangelo's studio, but by virtue of the manner in which they have been detached, for disciplines make their objects and in the process make themselves. It is one thing, however, when ethnography is inscribed in books or displayed behind glass, at a remove in space, time, and language from the site described. It is quite another when people are themselves the medium of ethnographic representation, when they perform themselves, whether at home to tourists or at world's fairs, homelands entertainments, or folklife festivalswhen they become living signs of themselves.

The artfulness of the ethnographic object is an art of excision, of detachment, an art of the excerpt. Where does the object begin, and where does it end? This I see as an essentially surgical issue. Shall we exhibit the cup with the saucer, the tea, the cream and sugar, the spoon, the napkin and placemat, the table and chair, the rug? Where do we make the cut?

Perhaps we should speak not of the ethnographic object but of the ethnographic fragment. Like the ruin, the ethnographic fragment is informed by a poetics of detachment. Detachment refers not only to the physical act of producing fragments but also to the detached attitude that makes that fragmentation and its appreciation possible. Lovers of ruins in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England understood the distinctive pleasure afforded by architectural fragments, once enough time had passed for a detached attitude to form. The antiquarian John Aubrey valued the ruin as much as he did the earlier intact structure.3 Ruins inspired the feelings of melancholy and wonder associated with the sublime. They stimulated the viewer to imagine the building in its former pristine state. They offered the pleasure of longing for the irretrievable object of one's fantasy. Nor were ruins left to accidental formation. Aesthetic principles guided the selective demolition of ruins and, where a ruin was lacking, the building of artificial ones.4 Restoration may be re-

Image not available

"Dried meat, Hidatsa style. Collected by Gilbert Wilson, pre-1918? Beef." From the exhibition The Way to Independence: Memories of a Hidatsa Indian Family, 1987. Photo by Randy Croce, Minnesota Historical Society.

sisted in cases in which the power of the ruin is its capacity to signify the destructive circumstances of its creation; the skeleton of the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima does just this. In the case of the Ellis Island restoration, a fragment of the ruin is exhibited as such, in a vitrine, as part of the story of the site. A history of the poetics of the fragment is yet to be written, for fragments are not simply a necessity of which we make a virtue, a vicissitude of history, or a response to limitations on our ability to bring the world indoors. We make fragments.5

In considering the problem of the ethnographic object, it is useful to distinguish in situ from in context, a pair of terms that call into question the nature of the whole, the burden of interpretation, and the location of meaning.

The notion of in situ entails metonymy and mimesis: the object is a part that stands in a contiguous relation to an absent whole that may or may not be re-created. The art of the metonym is an art that accepts the inherently fragmentary nature of the object. Showing it in all its partiality

enhances the aura of its "realness." The danger, of course, is that museums amass collections and are, in a sense, condemned ever after to exhibit them. Collection-driven exhibitions often suffer from ethnographic atrophy because they tend to focus on what could be, and was, physically detached and carried away. As a result, what one has is what one shows. Very often what is shown is the collection, whether highlights, masterpieces, or everything in it. The tendency increases for such objects to be presented as art.

The art of mimesis, whether in the form of period rooms, ethnographic villages, re-created environments, reenacted rituals, or photomurals, places objects (or replicas of them) in situ. In situ approaches to installation enlarge the ethnographic object by expanding its boundaries to include more of what was left behind, even if only in replica, after the object was excised from its physical, social, and cultural settings. Because the metonymic nature of ethnographic objects invites mimetic evocations of what was left behind, in situ approaches to installation tend toward environmental and re-creative displays. Such displays, which tend toward the monographic, appeal to those who argue that cultures are coherent wholes in their own right, that environment plays a significant role in cultural formation, and that displays should present process and not just products. At their most mimetic, in situ installations include live persons, preferably actual representatives of the cultures on display.

In-situ installations, no matter how mimetic, are not neutral. They are not a slice of life lifted from the everyday world and inserted into the museum gallery, though this is the rhetoric of the mimetic mode. On the contrary, those who construct the display also constitute the subject, even when they seem to do nothing more than relocate an entire house and its contents, brick by brick, board by board, chair by chair. Just as the ethnographic object is the creation of the ethnographer, so too are the putative cultural wholes of which they are part. The exhibition may reconstruct Kwakiutl life as the ethnographer envisions it before contact with Europeans, or Hungarian peasant interiors, region by region, as they are thought to have existed before industrialization. Or the display may project a utopian national whole that harmoniously integrates regional diversity, a favorite theme of national ethnographic museums and Ameri-

can pageants of democracy during the first decades of this century. "Wholes" are not given but constituted, and often they are hotly contested.6

Representational conventions guide mimetic displays, despite the illusion of close fit, if not identity, between the representation and that which is represented.7 Indeed, mimetic displays may be so dazzling in their realistic effects as to subvert curatorial efforts to focus the viewer's attention on particular ideas or objects. There is the danger that theatrical spectacle will displace scientific seriousness, that the artifice of the installation will overwhelm ethnographic artifact and curatorial intention.

The notion of in context, which poses the interpretive problem of theoretical frame of reference, uses particular techniques of arrangement and explanation to convey ideas. The notion expressed in a 1911 history of the British Museum that "the multifarious objects in the Ethnographical Gallery represent so many starting-points in the world's civilization" places those objects in context, not in situ.8 That context is signaled by the title of the chapter devoted to the Ethnographical Gallery, "Civilization in the Making."

Objects are set in context by means of long labels, charts, diagrams, commentary delivered via earphones, explanatory audiovisual programs, docents conducting tours, booklets and catalogs, educational programs, lectures and performances. Objects are also set in context by means of other objects, often in relation to a classification or schematic arrangement of some kind, based on typologies of form or proposed historical relationships. In-context approaches to installation establish a theoretical frame of reference for the viewer, offer explanations, provide historical background, make comparisons, pose questions, and sometimes even extend to the circumstances of excavation, collection, and conservation of the objects on display. There are as many contexts for an object as there are interpretive strategies.

In-context approaches exert strong cognitive control over the objects, asserting the power of classification and arrangement to order large num-

"Room of Sarkvz from the second half of the nineteenth century." Biri Balogh Adam Museum. Photo by Gabler Csaba. Copyright Kipzvm|viszeti Alap Kiadsvallalata, Budapest.

"Popular art relics of the Bukovinian Szikelys." Biri Balogh Adam Museum. Photo by Gabler Csaba. Copyright Kipzvm|viszeti Alap Kiadsvallalata, Budapest.

bers of artifacts from diverse cultural and historical settings and to position them in relation to one another. Plants and animals arranged according to the Linnaean classification affirmed the goodness of the divine plan in Charles Willson Peale's museum in Philadelphia during the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. A. H. L. F. Pitt Rivers preferred to arrange his series of weapons according to formal criteria, from the simplest to the most complex, to tell the story of mankind's inexorable evolution through stages of racial and cultural development.9 Even when the objects themselves are not arranged according to such conceptual schemes but according to geographic area, the viewer may be encouraged to "frame for himself a few general principles for which he can seek out specimens."10

Whether they guide the physical arrangement of objects or structure the way viewers look at otherwise amorphous accumulations, exhibition classifications create serious interest where it might otherwise be lacking. "Than the Ethnographical Gallery in the British Museum there is no department the educational significance of which is so likely to be unappreciated," wrote Henry C. Shelley in 1911, adding that visitors are inclined to indulge in laughter and jokes when confronted with "objects illustrating the manners and customs of what are known as the savage races."11 For instruction to supplant amusement, viewers needed principles for looking. They required a context, or framework, for transforming apparently grotesque, rude, strange, and vulgar artifacts into object lessons. Having been saved from oblivion, the ethnographic fragment now needed to be rescued from trivialization. One way of doing this was to treat the specimen as a document.

The problematic relationship of in situ and in context, which are by no means mutually exclusive approaches, is signaled by Oleg Grabar in his comment about Islamic objects: "[T]hey are in fact to be seen as ethnographic documents, closely tied to life, even a reconstructed life, and more meaningful in large numbers and series than as single creations."12 Such objects, in Grabar's view, are inherently multiple, documentary, and con-

The Artist in His Museum. 1822, by Charles Willson Peale. Oil on canvas, 103 3/4 in. W 79 7/8 in. Acc. no.: 1878.1.2. Courtesy of the Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Mrs. Sarah Harrison (The Joseph Harrison, Jr. Collection).

tingent. They were never intended to hold up to scrutiny as singular creations. Moreover, they are at their most documentary when presented in their multiplicity, that is, as a collection. Grabar diffuses their status as artifacts by according them higher value as "documents," as signs that point away from themselves to something else, to "life." At the same time, he hyperbolizes their status as artifacts by advocating that they be examined in "large numbers and series," a task anticipated and facilitated by the collecting process itself and well suited to typological exhibition arrangements.

Though once multiple, many ethnographic objects become singular, and the more singular they become, the more readily are they reclassified and exhibited as art. The many become one by virtue of the collection process itself. First, collecting induces rarity by creating scarcity: escalating demand reduces the availability of objects. Second, collectors create categories that from the outset, even before there is demand, are marked by the challenges they pose to acquisition: "By creating their own categories, all collectors create their own rarities."13 Third, the very ubiquity of the kinds of objects that interest ethnographers contributes to their ephemerality. Commonplace things are worn to oblivion and replaced with new objects, or are viewed as too trivial in their own time to be removed from circulation, to be alienated from their practical and social purposes, and saved for posterity.14 But no matter how singular the ethnographic object becomes, it retains its contingency, even when, by a process of radical detachment, it is reclassified and exhibited as art.15

Indeed, the litmus test of art seems to be whether an object can be stripped of contingency and still hold up. The universalizing rhetoric of "art," the insistence that great works are universal, that they transcend space and time, is predicated on the irrelevance of contingency. But the ability to stand alone says less about the nature of the object than about our categories and attitudes, which may account for the minimalist installation style of exhibitions of "primitive art." By suppressing contingency and presenting the objects on their own, such installations lay claims to the universality of the exhibited objects as works of art.

Ethnographic objects move from curio to specimen to art, though not necessarily in that order. As curiosities, objects are anomalous. By definition, they defy classification. Nineteenth-century advocates of scientific

approaches to museum exhibition complained repeatedly about collections of curiosities that were displayed without systematic arrangement. But how could exhibitors be expected to arrange systematically objects that in their terms were unclassifiable? In what category might one exhibit the knot tied by the wind during a storm at sea that was donated to Peale's Museum at the end of the eighteenth century? Probably indistinguishable in appearance from a knot tied by human hands on land during calm weather, this object was an episode in an amazing story waiting to be retold rather than a member of a class of objects relevant to scientific taxonomies of the period.

What we see here are objects that had outlasted the curatorial classifications that once accommodated them in Renaissance cabinets and galleries. Singularities, chance formations that resulted from the "shuffle of things," did fall into a broad category, namely, mirabilia. 16 This category included the very large and the very small, the misshapen and the miraculous, and the historically unique: for example, a hat with bullet holes associated with a specific historic event.17 By the nineteenth century, such objects were anomalous to natural historians interested in taxonomies of the normal, not the singularities of chance formation, though figures such as Joseph Dorfeuille continued to make teratology (the study of the malformed or monstrous) a major attraction in their museums.18

Exhibition classifications, whether Linnaean or evolutionary, shift the grounds of singularity from the object to a category within a particular taxonomy. For a curiosity to become classifiable it had to qualify as representative of a distinguishable class of objects. Peale, for example, was reluctant to show items that fell outside the Linnaean classification ac-

"Specialized Tests for Sense of Elegance. Quality in Fur. . . . Arrange these ten samples in the order of your feeling for their elegance if made into a woman's 'best coat'. . . . Be guided by your own personal liking or feeling of appreciation. . . . Be not influenced by knowledge of cost or fashiontry to respond to real quality." Copyright 1934 by the Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore. Reproduced with permission.

cording to which he arranged objects in his museum in Philadelphia during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. His exhibits of plants and animals were normative: they featured typical members of each class. The comprehensiveness of the classification and orderly arrangement of Peale's collection testified to the purposiveness and goodness of God's creation, a message reinforced by quotations from the Bible mounted on the walls. With his fine American specimens, Peale intended to refute the view of Buffon, an eighteenth-century naturalist, that New World species were inferior to those of Europe. A mark of the seriousness and scientific nature of such exhibitions was the absence of freakish aberrations.19

In contrast, the exhibit for the International Eugenics Conference at the American Museum of Natural History in 1932 subjected to orderly arrangement the very anomalies (trembling guinea pigs, triplets, a picture drawn by a color-blind man, deformed eyeballs) that a century earlier would have appeared as curiosities defying classification. The structure of genetic inheritance now provided the matrix for the orderly display of nature's mistakes, long an attraction in cabinets and freak shows, and for eliminating such errors in the futuresterilization, antimiscegenation laws, and selective mating.20 A logical outgrowth of the exhibition of racial types and the evolution of mankind, such eugenics exhibitions offered classifications that included the visitors themselves. These were interactive displays, for attendants handed out pedigree charts and blank schedules issued by the Eugenics Record Office and encouraged visitors to take tests for taste threshold and artistic capacity, for example, to rank fur samples. A "Eugenic Sterilization" exhibit was nearby.

Displays in the dime museum tested credulityRipley's Believe It or Not. Scientific exhibits struggled to achieve intelligibilitythe object lessons of Dr. George Brown Goode, director of the U.S. National Museum. Exhibitions of art faced a different challenge. Refusing to define the objects in his collection either as curios (singular anomalies) or as ethnographic artifacts (representative examples of a class of objects), Hadji Ephraim Benguiat, a prime lender of Jewish ceremonial art to the Smithsonian Institution at the turn of the century, thought of his possessions as objects of art, a status derived from their perfection and his connoisseurship. Benguiat identified the classificatory skills of the art collector with his powers of discrimination. At the climactic instant of acquisitioneach time he or she accepts or rejects an objectthe collector "classifies." Benguiat was interested in only one category, the perfect. This category was coterminous with his entire collection, seen as a supreme singularity made up of many singular artifacts. They were displayed accordingly.

Jewels and gems dazzle. They invite appreciation, not analysis. There is no place in this empire of things, ruled by the collector of collectors, for copies, photographs, models, homologues, dioramas, or tableaus. There is no place here for displaying continuous series of objectswithout regard for the artistic excellence of each and every oneto make some historical point, no place for a system of classification that would array objects within theoretical hierarchies. Unmitigated excellence in everything shown, ubiquitous singularity, and the unifying principle of the collector's powerthis is the message of the jewel box.

No matter how perfect this collection and each object within it, however, Benguiat's treasures could be reclassified for scientific purposes, and in the various exhibitions where they were featured, they moved from category to category.21

Not all that the ethnographic surgeon subjects to cognitive excision can be physically detached, carried away, and installed for viewing. What happens to the intangible, the ephemeral, the immovable, and the animate? The in-

"Collection of Oriental Arms and Armor." Some of the arms shown here "belonged to the notorious brigand 'Katirjiani,' who was such a lover of fine arms that he frequently attacked a caravan and sacrificed the lives of his men just to acquire other specimens of arms, as the jewelled or inlaid decoration was always executed according to the personal taste of the owner, so that there are seldom two alike." From Fine Art Portfolio Illustrating Some of the Exhibits of the H. Ephraim Benguiat Museum Collection and the Historical Damascus Palace (St. Louis: Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904), 29.

tangible, which includes such classic ethnographic subjects as kinship, worldview, cosmology, values, and attitudes, cannot be carried away. The ephemeral encompasses all forms of behavioreveryday activities, story-telling, ritual, dance, speech, performance of all kinds. Now you see it, now you don't. The immovable, whether a mesa, pyramid, cliff dwelling, or landform, can be recorded in photographs but presents formidable logistical obstacles to those who would detach and carry it away. The animate has been collected, both dead and alive. Dried, pickled, or stuffed, botanical and zoological specimens become artifacts for the museum. Alive, flora and fauna present storage problems that are solved by gardens and zoos in which living collections are on view. But what about people? Bones and mummies, body parts in alcohol, and plaster death masks may be found in museums. Living human specimens have been displayed in zoos, formal exhibitions, festivals, and other popular amusements.

If we cannot carry away the intangible, ephemeral, immovable, and animate, what have we done instead? Typically, we have inscribed what we cannot carry away, whether in field notes, recordings, photographs, films, or drawings. We have created ethnographic documents. Like ethnographic objects, these documents are also artifacts of ethnography, but true to what I would call the fetish-of-the-true-cross approach, ethnographic objects, those material fragments that we can carry away, are accorded a higher quotient of realness. Only the artifacts, the tangible metonyms, are really real. All the rest is mimetic, second order, a representation, an account undeniably of our own making. We have here the legacy of Renaissance antiquarians, for whom "visible remains" were used to corroborate written accounts. Objects, according to Giambattista Vico, were "manifest testimony" and carried greater authority than texts, even contemporaneous ones.22

The priority of objects over texts in museum settings was reversed during the second half of the nineteenth century. Goode operated according to the dictum that "the most important thing about an exhibition was the label," a point restated by many who worked with him.23

The people's museum should be much more than a house of specimens in glass cases. It should be a house full of ideas, arranged with the strictest attention to system.

I once tried to express this thought by saying "An efficient educational museum may be described as a collection of instructive labels, each illustrated by a well-selected specimen (emphasis in original).24

Museums were to teach "by means of object lessons," but objects could not be relied on to speak for themselves.25

The curatorial charge was to create exhibitions that would "furnish an intelligent train of thought" by using objects to illustrate ideas.26 Reacting to the apparent lack of logical arrangement in displays of art collections in many European museums and the low status to which so many private museums in America had descended, Goode had long insisted that the museum of the past was to be transformed from "a cemetery of bric-a-brac into a nursery of living thoughts."27 His model for the public museum was the public library, though he believed that exhibitions had even greater potential as a medium of popular education. Objects were to be read like books: "Professor Huxley has described the museum as a 'consultative library of objects."'28 Curators were to objectify texts and textualize objects, hence the importance of an organizational scheme for arranging objects and labels to explain them and the willing acceptance of copies, casts, impressions, photographs, diagrams, and other surrogates for primary artifacts. Since the main purpose of a public museum was to educate, "for the purposes of study a cast was as good as an original," and in some cases better.29 Copies came to play a special role.

Though proclaimed as a new approach to the exhibiting of objects, the textualized object was not new; it had been featured in demonstrations and illustrated lectures for centuries. Anatomy lessons were conducted at public dissections as early as the fourteenth century in Bologna, where, as the scholar read the anatomy text, the demonstrator dissected the body, and the ostensor, the one who showed, pointed a wand at the part of the body under consideration.30 The French anatomy lesson during the seventeenth century was "a great social event that the whole town attended, with masks, refreshments, and diversions."31

The increasing emphasis on ostensionon showingduring the nineteenth century suggests a shift in the foundation of authoritative knowledge from a reliance primarily on rhetoric to an emphasis on information, particularly in the form of visual facts.32 By the end of the eighteenth century, Peale could boast that in the lecture room of his museum, presentations were illustrated with real specimens from his collection, consistent with Jean-Jacques Rousseau's admonition that "teachers never substitute representation for reality, show for substanceto teach, in short, from actual objects."33 In this respect, Peale was in tune with a more general tendency of the period toward the "decidedly empirical or evidential nature of lecturing," though even under the guise of science, objects were used for their dramatic effect: "William Hazlitt was appalled at one of Carlisle's lectures on human emotions to find a dissected heart and brain being circulated among the audience."34

In many ways, the approach to museum exhibitions advocated by Goode during the latter part of the nineteenth century should be seen in relation to the illustrated lecture, its history and requirements. Complaining in 1891 about the decline of "entertainments worthy of civilized communitiesconcerts, readings, lectures"and the rise of illustration, including the diagram, blackboard, and stereopticon, Goode wanted the museum to fill the gap left by the decline of lectures and scientific, literary, and artistic societies.35 The written label in an exhibition was a surrogate for the words of an absent lecturer, with the added advantage that the exhibited objects, rather than appear briefly to illustrate a lecture, could be seen by a large public for a longer period of time.

It is precisely in these terms that Washington Matthews introduced his lecture "Some Sacred Objects of the Navajo Rites" at the Third International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Someone has said that a first-class museum would consist of a series of satisfactory labels with specimens attached. This saying might be rendered: "The label is more important than the specimen." When I have finished reading this paper, you may admit that this is true in the case of the little museum which I have here to show: A basket, a fascicle of plant fibres; a

few rudely painted sticks, some beads and feathers put together as if by children in their meaningless play, for the total of the collection. You would scarcely pick these trifles up if you saw them lying in the gutter, yet when I have told all I have to tell about them, I trust they may seem of greater importance, and that some among you would be as glad to possess them as I am. I might have added largely to this collection had I time to discourse about them, for I possess many more of their kind. It is not a question of things, but of time. I shall do scant justice to this little pile within an hour. An hour it will be to you, and a tiresome hour, no doubt; but you may pass it with greater patience when you learn that this hour's monologue represents to me twelve years of hard and oft-baffled investigation. Such dry facts as I have to relate are not to be obtained by rushing up to the first Indian you meet, notebook in hand. But I have no time for further preliminary remarks, and must proceed at once to my descriptions.36

In this demonstration of connoisseurship, the ethnographer is a detective who toils long and hard to decipher material clues. This master of induction competes both with the native informant and with other ethnographers, not for the objects, but for the facts that comprise his descriptions. His lecture is a long label, a performed description that elevates what would otherwise be viewed as "trifles." Neither the modest specimens nor the dry facts are expected to interest the listener. Rather, it is the ethnographer's own expenditure of time and efforthis expertisethat creates value.

This effect is achieved rhetorically, for the more unprepossessing the evidence, the more impressive the ethnographic description. Characterizing his own recounting of the facts as "minute to a tedious degree" and "not one half the particulars that I might appropriately have told you," Matthews admits to having reached the limits of his ability to describe when challenged by the drumstick on the table. Not even the Navajo can describe in words how the drumstick is made, "so intricate are the rules pertaining to its construction." Apologizing for not having fresh yucca on hand with which to demonstrate the process, Matthews offers to take anyone who is interested to the "yucca-covered deserts of Arizona" where he can "show him how to make a drum stick." In this way, Matthews con-

fronts two basic problems in ethnographic display. First he makes the apparently trivial interesting by performing ethnography (the illustrated lecture). Then he addresses the limitations of verbal description by offering to play Indian (the demonstration).37 The profusion of facts that Matthews presents to his listeners, his apologies for their dry and tedious character notwithstanding, is a classic case of what Neil Harris has identified as the operational aesthetic"a delight in observing process and examining for literal truth."38

Not only inanimate artifacts but also humans are detachable, fragmentable, and replicable in a variety of materials. The inherently performative nature of live specimens veers exhibits of them strongly in the direction of spectacle, blurring still further the line between morbid curiosity and scientific interest, chamber of horrors and medical exhibition, circus and zoological garden, theater and living ethnographic display, scholarly lecture and dramatic monologue, cultural performance and staged re-creation. The blurring of this line was particularly useful in England and the United States during the early nineteenth century because performances that would be objectionable to conservative Protestants if staged in a theater were acceptable when presented in a museum, even if there was virtually nothing else to distinguish them. This reframing of performance in terms of nature, science, and education rendered it respectable, particularly during the first half of the nineteenth century. If in the scientific lecture the exhibitor was the performer, ethnographic displays shifted the locus of performance to the exhibit proper and in so doing, made ample use of patently theatrical genres and techniques to display people and their things.

In what might be characterized as a reciprocity of means and complementarity of function, museums used theatrical crafts of scene painting for exhibits and staged performances in their lecture rooms, while theaters used the subjects presented in museums, including live exotic animals and humans, and the technologies demonstrated there in their stage productions. Museums served as surrogate theaters during periods when

theaters came under attack for religious reasons, while theaters brought a note of seriousness to their offerings by presenting edifying entertainment. In the drama of the specimen, the curator was a ventriloquist whose task it was to make the object speak. Through scenarios of production and function, curators converted objects into stories: they showed the process by which ceramics and textiles were manufactured, step-by-step, or how they were used in daily life and ceremony. The Smithsonian anthropologist Otis T. Mason was explicit on this point in 1891 when he defined "the important elements of the specimen" as "the dramatis personae and incidents."39

Human displays teeter-totter on a kind of semiotic seesaw, equipoised between the animate and the inanimate, the living and the dead. The semiotic complexity of exhibits of people, particularly those of an ethnographic character, may be seen in reciprocities between exhibiting the dead as if they are alive and the living as if they are dead, reciprocities that hold for the art of the undertaker as well as the art of the museum preparator.

Ethnographic displays are part of a larger history of human display, in which the themes of death, dissection, torture, and martyrdom are intermingled. This history includes the exhibition of dead bodies in cemeteries, catacombs, homes, and theaters, the public dissection of cadavers in anatomy lessons, the vivisection of torture victims using such anatomical techniques as flaying, public executions by guillotine or gibbet, heads of criminals impaled on stakes, public extractions of teeth, and displays of body parts and fetuses in anatomical and other museums, whether in the flesh, in wax, or in plaster cast.40 The body parts arrived not only as byproducts of dissections but also as a result of amputations, for example, the trigger finger of a villain.41 Effigies of men tortured and executed in the very cages in which they were displayed were an attraction at the M|nster Zoo.42

Ethnographic subjects were easily incorporated into such modes of display.43 The remains of the deadtattooed Maori heads, Aztec skulls, and

bones removed from Indian graveshad long been excavated and shown as ethnographic specimens. Live subjects provided expanded opportunities for ethnographic display. While live, human rarities figured in museological dramas of cognitive vivisection. When dead, their corpses were anatomized and their bones and fleshy body parts incorporated into anatomical exhibits. The vanitas mundi was a way of exhibiting dissected materials: one such anatomical allegory was created out of the skeleton of a fetus, tiny kidney stones, a dried artery, and a hardened vas deferens. Articulated skeletons, taxidermy, wax models, and live specimens also offered conceptual links between anatomy and death in what might be considered museums of mortality.44

"Specimens on Shelf." Wax models, circa 18501920. Top, left to right: Recklinghausen's disease of breast; active erysipelas on face; gangrenous ulceration of lip and nares; rupia (tertiary syphilis) of face. Bottom, left to right: arms of infants bearing vaccinia (cowpox) on sixth to eighth day, on ninth to tenth day, and on fourteenth to sixteenth day; arm bearing roseola varicella (chicken pox). Collection of the M|tter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Photo Arne Svenson, copyright 1993.

Wax models as a form of three-dimensional anatomical illustration were commonly used to teach medicine, especially pathologies of the skin, and were featured in anatomical displays open to the public. Rackstrow's Museum of Anatomy and Curiosities, which was popular in London during the mid-eighteenth century, offered visitors wax replicas of the human body in various states of health and disease, inside and out, including reproductive organs and fetuses, some of them preserved in alcohol rather than represented in wax.45 With the rising interest in racial typologies and evolution during the mid-nineteenth century, Sarti's Museum of Pathological Anatomy in London, and others like it, became the place to exhibit culturally constructed anatomical pathologies (parts of a Moorish woman's anatomy), missing links in the evolutionary sequence (wax figures of African "savages" with tails), and wax tableaus of ethnographic scenes.46 As early as 1797, Peale had completed wax figures for "a group of contrasting races of mankind" that included natives from North and South America, the Sandwich Islands, Otaheite, and China. The faces are thought to have been made from life casts. The figures were outfitted with appropriate clothing and artifacts. Half a century later, the Gallery of All Nations in Reimer's Anatomical and Ethnological Museum in London featured "the varied types of the Great Human Family," including the Aztec Lilliputians that shortly before had appeared live in the Liverpool Zoo.47

The "gallery of nations" idea, which since the late sixteenth century had served as the organizing principle for books devoted to customs, manners, religions, costumes, and other ethnographic topics, was easily adapted to the exhibition of ethnographic specimens.48 A logical spinoff was the monographic display. Nathan Dunn's celebrated Chinese collection, which was installed in Peale's museum in 1838 and moved to London in 1841, offered, according to a diarist of the period, "a perfect picture of Chinese life."

Figures of natural size, admirably executed in clay, all of them portraits of individuals, are there to be seen, dressed in the appropriate costume, engaged in their various avocations and surrounded by the furniture, implements and material objects of daily existence. The faces are expressive, the

attitudes natural, the situation & grouping well conceived, and the aspect of the whole very striking and lifelike. Mandarins, priests, soldiers, ladies of quality, gentlemen of rank, play-actors and slaves; a barber, a shoemaker and a blacksmith employed in their trades; the shop of a merchant with purchasers buying goods, the drawing room of a man of fortune with his visitors smoking and drinking tea & servants in attendance; all sitting, standing, almost talking, with the dress, furniture and accompaniments of actual life. Some of the costumes are of the richest and most gorgeous description. Models of country houses and boats, weapons, lamps, pictures, vases, images of Gods, and porcelain vessels, many of them most curious and beautiful, and in number, infinite. Mr. Dunn was in the room himself and explained to us the nature and uses of things.49

Saloon of a Chinese junk. From Illustrated London News, 20 May 1948. Photo courtesy Guildhall Library, Corporation of London.

The attention in this description to the individuation of faces reflects the more general preoccupation with "types" and the notion of physiognomy as a key to moral character.50

Physiognomic types and their racial implications were presented not only in galleries of nations and in the later "types of mankind" exhibitions but also in crowd scenes and group portraits of life in contemporary European and American cities, as well as in the literature of the period. So great was the fascination with physiognomy that at Peale's museum, where portraits of great men "etched the outlines of genius" and those of "savages" revealed their physiognomy, museum visitors could take home as a souvenir their own silhouette, made with great exactitude thanks to a mechanical device, the "physiognotrace," invented in 1803 and demonstrated in the museum gallery.51

Dunn's Chinese exhibition inspired other such displays, notably, scenes of daily life at the Oriental and Turkish Museum during the 1850s in London. Viewers were astonished by the wax figures, which a journalist of the time praised for their realism: "[T]he arms and legs of males are rough with real hair, most delicately appliedactual drops of perspiration are on the brows of the porters."52 Clearly, the mannequins were more than clothes hangers, for not only ethnographic artifacts but also physiognomy was on display.

It is precisely the mimetic perfection of such installations, and perhaps also their preoccupation with physiognomy, that so disturbed Franz Boas, who resisted the use of realistic wax mannequins in ethnographic recreations. They were so lifelike they were deathlike. Boas objected to "the ghastly impression such as we notice in wax-figures," an effect that he thought was heightened when absolutely lifelike figures lacked motion.53 Furthermore, wax as a medium more nearly captured the color and quality of dead than living flesh, and in their frozen pose and silence wax figures were reminiscent of the undertaker's art, a connection that wax museums capitalized on in deathbed and open casket scenes featuring famous persons.

Fear of verisimilitude did not inhibit Artur Hazelius, who in his effort to present Sweden "in summary" began installing wax tableaus"folklife pictures"in the 1870s. Inspired by genre paintings, these senti-

mental scenes in wax integrated costumes, furniture, and utensils that Hazelius had collected in Sweden and other parts of Scandinavia. Featured not only in his Museum of Scandinavian Ethnography, which opened in 1873, but also at world's fairs in 1876 (Philadelphia) and 1878 (Paris), these displays utilized techniques Hazelius had seen at the many international expositions and museums he visited. He used the habitat group, a fixture of natural history museums. He turned to the wax tableau, which, like the tableau vivant, was often modeled on a painting or sculpture and captured a dramatic moment in a narrative. He also drew on the period room and travel panorama. By 1891, he had realized his dream of exhibiting Swedish folklife in "living style" at Skansen, his open-air museum. In addition to buildings, plants, and animals, the museum featured peasants in native dress, traditional musicians and artisans,

The Infant's Death, one of several "Swedish character groups" in the main building of the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1876. This "living picture" was based on Amalia Lindegren's painting (1858) and was shown again in 1878 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 26 August 1876, p. 409.

costumed receptionists and guides, restaurants, craft demonstrations, and festivals. Hazelius's Skansen museum became the prototype for hundreds of other open-air museums throughout Europe, many of them still functioning today.54

People have been displayed as living rarities from as early as 1501, when live Eskimos were exhibited in Bristol. A Brazilian village built by Indians in Rouen in the 1580s was burned down by French soldiers, an event that pleased the king so much that it was restaged the following day.55 "Virginians" were featured on the Thames in 1603.56 Over a period of five centuries, audiences flocked to see Tahitians, Laplanders, "Aztecs," Iro-

Open-air museum of Skansen. Reprinted with permission from the American Association of Museums, copyright 1927. All rights reserved.

quois, Cherokees, Ojibways, Iowas, Mohawks, Botocudos, Guianese, Hottentots, Kaffirs, Nubians, Somalis, Sinhalese, Patagonians, Tierra del Fuegans, Ilongots, Kalmucks, Amapondans, Zulus, Bushmen, Australian aborigines, Japanese, and East Indians. They could be seen in various cities in England and on the Continent, in taverns and at fairs, on the stage in theatrical productions, at Whitehall, Piccadilly, and Vauxhall Gardens, along the Thames, at William Bullock's London Museum (better known as Egyptian Hall because of its architectural style), in zoos and circuses, and, by the latter half of the nineteenth century, at world's fairs.57

Basically, there were two options for exhibiting living ethnographic specimens: the zoological and the theatrical. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the distinction between zoological and theatrical approaches was often unclear and both were implicated in the staging of wildness, particularly in Carl Hagenbeck's productions. The zoological option depended on traditions of displaying exotic animals, including the circus, which featured trained animals, and the zoo, where live exotic specimens were shown in cages, in fantastic buildings, and, eventually, in settings re-creating their habitat in realistic detail, though here too animal acts could be found. It was not uncommon in the nineteenth century for a living human rarity to be booked into a variety of venuestheaters, exhibition halls, concert rooms, museums, and zoosin the course of several weeks or months as part of a tour.

London Museum, or Egyptian Hall, was dubbed the "ark of zoological wonders" by at least one observer of the period, because of the wide range of live exhibits, human and animal, presented there.58 While the term "ark" evokes the discourse of natural theology, as opposed to natural history, and suggests that the sheer variety of divine creation rather than scientific classification was the focus, Bullock found in environmental displays a fine way to combine theatrical effect, the experience of travel, and geographic principles.

During the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, geography was also an omnibus discipline devoted to all that is on the earth's surface, including people in their environment; geography subsumed anthropology and ethnography as subfields. Location on the earth's globe and relationships of specimens to landforms, climate, and local flora and fauna offered an alternative principle for arranging exhibitions of animals and people

Carl Hagenbeck's Sinhalese caravan. From Die Gartenlaube, no. 34 (1884).

and encouraged environmental displays that showed the interrelation of elements in a habitat. Those who collected their own specimens, had firsthand knowledge of their habitat, and controlled how their materials were exhibited were more likely to present animals and people in their home environments. Like Bullock, who collected material for his displays while traveling and then tried to re-create the places he had visited, Peale hunted for many of his specimens himself, mounted them, and created settings for them based on his observations while hunting.

The passion for close visual observation on the spot had transformed how landscapes were experienced and described during the eighteenth century and shaped how specimens brought into galleries were exhibited, to the point that the experience of travel became the model for exhibitions about other places.59 Visitors were offered the display as a surrogate for travel, and displays in turn participated in the discourse of travel, the

subject of chapter 3. Billed as travel experiences, panoramas were narrated by travelers who served as guides-at-a-distance through landscapes they had personally traversed. Individuals who had assisted hunters and collectors abroad were brought into exhibitions both to complete the scene and to comment on it, thus transferring to the re-created travel setting the roles of native guide and animal handler.

Returning from Mexico in 1823 with casts of ancient remains, ethnographic objects, specimens of plants and animals, and a Mexican Indian youth, Bullock designed an exhibition that would make visitors feel like they were in Mexico enjoying a panoramic view of Mexico City (painted on the wall) and intimate contact with its inhabitants. An observer of the period reported that "[i]n order to heighten the deception, and to bring the spectator actually amidst the scenes represented, [he presented] afac simile [sic ] of a Mexican cottage and garden, with a tree, flowers, and fruit; they are exactly the size of their natural models, and bear an identity not to be mistaken." To complete the effect, Bullock installed the Mexican Indian youth in the cottage and had him describe objects to the visitors "as far as his knowledge of our language permits," thus making him do double duty as ethnographic specimen and museum docent.60

William Bullock's exhibit of Mexico. Lithograph by A. Aiglo, 1825. Photo courtesy Guildhall Library, Corporation of London.

The moment live people are included in such displays the issue arises: what will they do? In considering the options for presenting people in "living style," it is useful to distinguish staged re-creations of cultural performances (wedding, funeral, hunt, martial arts display, shamanic ritual) and the drama of the quotidian (nursing a baby, cooking, smoking, spitting, tending a fire, washing, carving, weaving).61

In a highly popular African display mounted in 1853 at St. George's Gallery, Hyde Park, thirteen Kaffirs "portrayed 'the whole drama of Caffre life' against a series of scenes painted by Charles Marshall. They ate meals with enormous spoons, held a conference with a 'witchfinder' . . . , and enacted a wedding, a hunt, and a military expedition, 'all with characteristic dances,' the whole ending with a programmed general mjlie between the rival tribes."62 Two decades earlier, in 1822, Bullock had a Laplander family and live reindeer perform at Egyptian Hall, where they drove their sledge around a frosty panorama fitted out with their tents, utensils, and weapons. The Laplanders had been brought to care for the reindeer, who, it was hoped, could be introduced into England, but when this proved impractical, the Laplanders were recycled as ethnographic exhibits.63 Ethnologists in London kept track of new ethnographic arrivals and took advantage of their presence for their research.64

Whereas the notion that native life was inherently dramatic allowed it to be staged and billed as theater, the ability of natives to perform, and particularly to mime, was taken by some viewers as evidence of their humanity. Charles Dickens, who was otherwise disdainful of the people in live ethnographic displays, commented on seeing the Bushmen in Egyptian Hall in 1847, "Who that saw the four grim, stunted, abject Bushpeople at the Egyptian Hallwith two natural actors among them out of that number, one a male and the other a femalecan forget how something human and imaginative gradually broke out in the ugly little man, when he was roused from crouching over the charcoal fire, into giving a dramatic representation of the tracking of a beast, the shooting of it with poisoned arrows, and the creature's death."65 The Bushmen were installed against a scenic African background, and in addition to offering the "cultural performances" that so captivated Dickens, they slept and smoked, nursed an infant, and otherwise went about the business of daily

William Bullock's exhibit of Laplanders. Engraving by Thomas Rowlandson, 1822. Photo courtesy Guildhall Library, Corporation of London.

Bushmen, with their agent, on display at Egyptian Hall. From Illustrated London News, 12 June 1847. Photo courtesy Guildhall Library, Corporation of London.

life.66 What is so extraordinary about Dickens's statement is the implication that what makes the Bushmen human is not their ability to hunt but their ability to mime the huntthat is, their ability to represent.

As the everyday life of others came into focus as a subject for exhibition, ethnography offered, at least for some, a critique of civilization. In his 1911 account of the British Museum, Henry C. Shelley commented, "Perhaps the hilarity with which the ordinary visitor regards the object lessons of ethnography arises from his overweening conceit of the value and importance of his own particular form of civilization. No doubt he has much in common with that traveller who lost his way on his journey and described the climax of his experience in these words: 'After having walked eleven hours without having traced the print of a human foot, to my great comfort and delight, I saw a man hanging upon a gibbet; my pleasure at the cheering prospect was inexpressible, for it convinced me that I was in a civilized country."'67 This is the ethnological effect in reverse: our own barbarity is experienced as civilized.

The drama of the quotidian feeds on what John MacAloon calls a genre error: one man's life is another man's spectacle.68 Exhibitions institutionalize this error by producing the quotidian as spectacle, and they do this by building the role of the observer into the structure of events that, left to their own devices, are not subject to formal viewing. Following Dean MacCannell's analysis of "staged authenticity," such exhibitions "stage the back region," thereby creating a new front region.69 In what is a logical corollary of the autonomous object, people, their realia and activities, are mounted in a hermetic aesthetic spacefenced off in a zoological garden, raised up on a platform in a gallery, placed on a stage, or ensconced in a reconstructed village on the lawn of the exhibition groundsand visitors are invited to look.

There is something about the seamlessness of the commonsense world, its elusiveness, that makes such genre errors so appealing. For the quotidian, by virtue of its taken-for-grantedness, presents itself as given, natural,

just there, unnoticed because assumed. It becomes available for contemplation under special conditions, most commonly through the repetition that produces boredom, or through the comparisons (induced by contrast, incongruity, violation, and impropriety) that call the taken-for-granted into question.70 The task of creating fissures that offer evidence that the ordinary is really there propels the fascination with penetrating the life space of others, getting inside, burrowing deep into the most intimate places, whether the interior of lives or the innermost recesses of bodies. In making a spectacle of oneself, or others, "what is private or hidden becomes publicly exhibited; what is small or confined becomes exaggerated, grand or grandiose."71 The everyday lives of others are perceptible precisely because what they take for granted is not what we take for granted, and the more different we are from each other, the more intense the effect, for the exotic is the place where nothing is utterly ordinary. Such encounters force us to make comparisons that pierce the membrane of our own quotidian world, allowing us for a brief moment to be spectators of ourselves, an effect that is also experienced by those on display.

Imagine being installed in a room at an exhibition where one's only instruction was to go about one's daily chores just like at homemaking coffee, reading the New York Times, working at the computer, talking on the phone, walking the dog, sleeping, flossing, opening the mail, eating granola, withdrawing cash from a money machinewhile curious visitors looked on. The challenge in such displays is to avoid "performance," that is, to maintain an asymmetrical reciprocity, whereby those who are

"Great ExcitementIndian Lady Throwing Out Dishwater" at the World's Columbian Exposition. From Chicago Sunday Herald, 17 September 1893.

Contents of a New York apartment. Displayed at the New-York Historical Society, 1995. Inventory, an installation by Christian Boltanski for Lost: New York Projects, a Citywide Project of the Public Art Fund. Photo by Dorothy Zeidman.

being watched go about their business as if no one were paying attention to them, though we have long known that what we observe is changed by virtue of being observed. Or, closer to home, imagine that the contents of your apartment are removedeverything in your medicine cabinet, kitchen cupboards, and wardrobe, your refrigerator and sofa, vacuum cleaner and radio, socks and laxativesand installed in a local museum. Christian Boltanski effected precisely such a removal at the Baden-Baden Kunsthalle in 1973 and more recently at the New-York Historical Society in 1995. Titled "Inventory," the installation served as "an ironically pathetic museum dedicated to an anonymous person," someone close at hand and very much alive, though the experience was more like viewing the personal effects of the deceasedperhaps forensic evidence gathered by the police from the scene of a crimeor the possessions of a displaced person, whether confiscated or abandoned.72

The reciprocity of the museum effect can be triggered by a simple "turn of the head," which bifurcates the viewer's gaze between the exotic display and her own everyday world. A visitor to the Bushman exhibition at Egyptian Hall in 1847 commented, "It was strange, too, in looking through one of the windows of the [exhibition] room into the busy street, to reflect that by a single turn of the head might be witnessed the two extremes of humanity."73 The pane of glass that separated the illusion of being somewhere else from the immediacy of life on London streets was eliminated in presentations that depended in part for their effect on intensifying just such incongruities. In George Catlin's display in London in 1844, "[t]he spectacle of Red Indians encamped [in four wigwams] and demonstrating their horsemanship on the greensward at Vauxhall, where eighteenth-century beaux had strolled with the belles of Fanny Burney's set, must have been one of the more striking sights of the day."74

"Fjte Champjtre at Charlton Housethe North American Indians encamped in the park." Sketched by G. Harrison. Illustrated London News, 5 July 1845.

To those who complained that "to place the savage man in direct contrast with the most elaborate of man's performances is too abrupt a proceeding, besides being useless," Dr. John Conolly, president of the Ethnological Society of London, answered in 1855 that the inclusion of ethnological exhibits at the Crystal Palace in Sydenham offered valuable contrasts. In his view, these displays "set off the splendour of . . . [man's] performances when his social advantages are enlarged" and showed that everyone can "emerge from barbarism and want to refinement and enjoyment"a message both of British superiority and of optimism in the perfectibility of humankind.75

The incongruity of intercalating two different quotidians reaches an apotheosis of sorts in displays that presented exotic people not in their native habitat but in ours. Ironically, at least one observer of pygmies playing the piano in a well-appointed drawing room on Regent Street in 1853 thought this arrangement preferable to having them "set up on a platform to be stared at, and made to perform distasteful feats," for among other things, "the visitor literally gives them a call, and becomes one of their society," which is to say one's own society. These pygmies had learned English and acquired the "rudiments of European civilization."76

Once the seal of the quotidian is pierced, life is experienced as if represented: the metaphors of life as a book, stage, and museum capture this effect with nuances particular to each metaphor. Like the picturesque, in which paintings set the standard for experience, museum exhibitions transform how people look at their own immediate environs. The museum effect works both ways. Not only do ordinary things become special when placed in museum settings, but the museum experience itself becomes a model for experiencing life outside its walls. As the gaze that penetrated exhibitions of people from distant lands was turned to the streets of European and American cities, urban dwellers such as James Boswell reported that walking in the streets of London in 1775 was "a high entertainment of itself. I see a vast museum of all objects, and I think with a kind of wonder that I see it for nothing."77

Bleeding into the ubiquity of the commonsense world, the museum effect brings distinctions between the exotic and the familiar closer to home. Calibrations of difference become finer. The objects differentiated draw nearer. One becomes increasingly exotic to oneself, as one imagines how others might view that which we consider normal: writing about the danse du ventre in the Little Cairo area of the Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Frederic Ward Putnam commented that visitors might assume wrongly that this dance was "low and repulsive" because they did not understand it, but that "the waltz would seem equally strange to these dusky women of Egypt."78

In America and England during the 1890s, recently arrived immigrants became the ethnographic other, in part as a way of creating social distance under the threatening conditions of physical proximity. A paper entitled "Mission-Work among the Unenlightened Jews," which was delivered at the Jewish Women's Congress in 1893 at the Chicago World's fair, characterized immigrants in London and New York as "half-dressed, pale-skinned natives in our own towns" and noted that "Borrioboola Gha has been supplanted by 'Whitechapel,' 'Mulberry Bend,' and the nearest district tenements."79

The trope of the city as dark continent and the journalist and social reformer as adventurer-ethnographer was common in such mid-nineteenth-century accounts as Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor (18611862).80 One of the attractions of poor neighborhoods was their accessibility to the eye, their "intimacy at sight." Any stranger could see openly on the streets what in better neighborhoods was hidden in an inaccessible domestic interior, a closed carriage, or under layers of clothing. At the turn of the twentieth century in New York City, one writer remarked,

Mankind is not only the noblest study of man, but the most entertaining. People are more interesting than things or books, even newspapers. The East Side is especially convenient for observation of people because there are such shoals of them always in sight, and because their habits of life and manners are frank, and favorable to a certain degree of intimacy at sight. Where each family has a whole house to itself and lives inside of it, and

the members never sally out except in full dresshats, gloves, and mannersit is hopeless to become intimately acquainted with them as you pass on the sidewalk. You may walk up and down Fifth Avenue for ten years and never see a Fifth Avenue mother nursing her latest born on the doorstep, but in Mott or Mulberry or Cherry Street that is a common sight, and always interesting to the respectful observer. When the little Fifth Avenue children are let out, if they don't drive off in a carriage, at least they go with a nurse, and are clothed like field daisies, and under such restraint as good clothes and even the kindest nurses involve. But the East Side children tumble about on the sidewalk and pavement hour after hour, under slight restraint and without any severe amount of oversight, hatless usually, barehanded and barefooted when the weather suffers it.81

Maypole on a Lower East Side street. From E. S. Martin, "East Side Considerations," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 96 (May 1898).

The blend here of repulsion and attraction, condemnation and celebration, so typical of the reception of ethnographic displays in exhibition halls, reveals that the source of the critique is also the basis of the appeal. "Intimacy at sight," which suggests a kind of social nakedness, combines with the "view from the sidewalk" to verge on what might be termed social pornographythe private made public. Or rather, disparities in class and in cultural definitions of private and public are exploited here: the discrepancy between what others make public that we consider private also generates voyeuristic excitement in zoos, particularly in primate displays. Similarly, in madhouses, which from the early seventeenth century in Europe also combined confinement with display, the public was free to enter and observe the ravings of lunatics.82 While respectability has the power to control access to sight, to conceal, poverty, madness, children, animals, and the "lower" orders of humankind reveal by exposing themselves fully to view. Historically, ethnography has constituted its subjects at the margins of geography, history, and society. Not surprisingly, then, in a convergence of moral adventure, social exploration, and sensation seeking, the inner city is constructed as a socially distant but physically proximate exoticand eroticterritory. Visits to this territory tempt the adventurer to cross the dangerous line between voyeurism and acting out.83

Slumming, like tourism more generally, takes the spectator to the site, and as areas are canonized in a geography of attractions, whole territories become extended ethnographic theme parks. An ethnographic bell jar drops over the terrain. A neighborhood, village, or region becomes for all intents and purposes a living museum in situ. The museum effect, rendering the quotidian spectacular, becomes ubiquitous.

In contrast with the panoramic perspective of all-encompassing classifications, in situ approaches to the display of the quotidian work in a panoptic mode whereby the viewer sees without himself being visible. The panoramic approach lays out the whole world conceptually in a Linnaean classification or evolutionary scheme or experientially in a scenic effect, which makes such technologies of seeing as the eidophusikon, a small mechanical theater, and the related theatrical panorama and dio-

rama, so appealing. Offered a supreme vantage point, the viewer is master of all that he surveys. The view is comprehensive, extensive, commanding, aggrandizing. As a prospect, it holds in it scenarios for future action.84

In contrast, the panoptic approach offers the chance to see without being seen, to penetrate interior recesses, to violate intimacy. In its more problematic manifestations, the panoptic mode has the quality of peep show and surveillance: the viewer is in control, like a warden in a prison. In its more benign mode, the panoptic takes the form of hospitality, a host welcoming a guest to enter a private sphere.85 A recent guide to ethnographic re-creations of "homes" at the Field Museum in Chicago exemplified the panoptic mode: "Each of the houses has had part of the walls and roof removed so you may peek inside."86 The issue is the power to open up to sight differentially, to show with respect to others what one would not reveal about oneselfone's body, person, and life.

Live exhibits as a representational mode make their own kinds of claims. Even when efforts are taken to the contrary, live exhibits tend to make people into artifacts because the ethnographic gaze objectifies. Where people are concerned, there is a fine line between attentive looking and staring. To make people going about their ordinary business objects of visual interest and available to total scrutiny is dehumanizing, a quality of exhibitions that was not lost on some viewers in London during the nineteenth century who complained about live displays on humanitarian grounds.87

Live displays, whether re-creations of daily activities or staged as formal performances, also create the illusion that the activities you watch are being done rather than represented, a practice that creates the effect of authenticity, or realness. The impression is one of unmediated encounter. Semiotically, live displays make the status of the performer problematic, for people become signs of themselves. We experience a representation, even when the representers are the people themselves. Self-representation is representation nonetheless. Whether the representation essentializes (you are seeing the quintessence of Balineseness) or totalizes (you are seeing the whole through the part), the ethnographic fragment returns with all the problems of capturing, inferring, constituting, and presenting the whole through parts.

"War DanceIndian Department," at the Metropolitan Fair in Manhattan, 1864, one of several Sanitary Fairs organized during the Civil War. Such performances, in combination with displays of artifacts, helped raise money for the medical care of the wounded, who had been dying in large numbers because of unhygienic conditions. The reciprocity of disappearance and exhibition, the former a condition for the latter, is expressed by one reporter, as follows: In the Fourteenth Street Buildings BIERSTADT'S INDIAN WIGWAM has been constantly crowded by visitors desiring to study the habits and peculiarities of the aborigines. Several performances have been given daily by the Indians. Our sketch represents a WAR DANCE, as given on several occasions to the intense gratification of all spectators. Historically, no feature of the fair has greater interest than this in which the life of those who, only a little while ago, held undisputed possession of our continent, is reproduced by a handful of the once absolute tribes for the pleasure of the pale-faced race, whose ancestors pushed them into obscurity and historical oblivion. Harper's Weekly (23 April 1864): 260.

We might distinguish between the museum as a form of intermenta tomb with a viewand the live display, which is not without its own relationship to disappearance, as Native American performances in the nineteenth century attest. These metaphors have roots in the history of interment and incarceration as display traditions in their own right. Differences between them are expressed in the sensory organization of display.

The partiality so essential to the ethnographic object as a fragment is also expressed in the fragmentation of sensory apprehension in conventional museum exhibitions. With the important exceptions of popular entertainment, opera, masques and banquets, and avant-garde performance, among others, the European tendency has been to split up the senses and parcel them out one at a time to the appropriate art form. One sense, one art form. We listen to music. We look at paintings. Dancers don't talk. Musicians don't dance. Sensory atrophy is coupled with close focus and sustained attention. All distractions must be eliminatedno talking, rustling of paper, eating, flashing of cameras. Absolute silence governs the etiquette of symphony halls and museums. Aural and ocular epiphanies in this mode require pristine environments in which the object of contemplation is set off for riveting attention. Rules posted at the entrance and guards within ensure that decorum prevails. When reclassified as "primitive art" and exhibited as painting and sculpture, as singular objects for visual apprehension, "ethnographic artifacts" are elevated, for in the hierarchy of material manifestations the fine arts reign supreme. To the degree that objects are identified with their makers, the cultures or civilizations represented by works of art also rise in the hierarchy.

In contrast with conventional exhibitions in museums, which tend to reduce the sensory complexity of the events they represent and to offer them up for visual delectation alone, indigenous modes of display, particularly the festival, present an important alternative. As multisensory, multifocus events, festivals may extend over days, weeks, or months. They

"'Tamil Theatrical Company.' From South India, their performances are of extraordinary length, and last sometimes for twelve hours." From Souvenir of Ceylon: 24 Choice Photographic Character Studies (Colombo, Ceylon: Plbti, n.d.).

require selective disattention, or highly disciplined attention, in an environment of sensory riot. The closeness of focus we expect to sustain in silence for a one-hour concert is inappropriate for events so large in scale and long in duration. Participants in the Ramlila, a festival and ritual drama that extends over many days in northern India, bring food, sleep through parts of the event, talk to their neighbors, get up, walk around, leave, return. All the sensesolfactory, gustatory, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, visualare engaged. The experience tends to be environmental, as episodes of the drama are enacted in various locations, rather than hermetically sealed into an aesthetic space created by a proscenium, frame, or vitrine. Sensory saturation rather than sensory atrophy or single-sense epiphany is the order of the day. Sensory apprehension and attention must be structured differently in such events.

The festival, both as it occurs locally and as an anthology of ethnographic displays, can be seen as a form of environmental performance. Though museum exhibitions can also be considered a form of environmental theatervisitors moving through the space experience the mise-en-schne visually and kinestheticallythey tend to proceed discursively. Arts festivals are generally less didactic and less textual. They depend more on performance, reserving extended textual analysis, to the degree that it is offered, for the program booklet, in this way avoiding the awkwardness of discoursing about living people in their very presence.

There is a convergence of sensibility here between ethnographers interested in the festival as a display genre and the discovery by the historical avant-garde of the theatricality of everyday life and their interest in vernacular genres. Rejecting the conventions of classical European theater, with its dependence on the dramatic text, formal theater architecture, and mimetic conventions, Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, and eastern European directors working during the interwar years looked to Balinese and Chinese performance and European folk and popular forms for new artistic possibilities. Their artistic sensibility valorized forms that were otherwise of strictly local or ethnographic interest and offered the possibility of experiencing them with a distinctly modernist sensibility as models of pure theatricality. They created new audiences for "ethnographic performances" and a hospitable climate for festivals that excerpted and re-presented them.

Tourists who have difficulty deciphering and penetrating the quotidian of their destination find in festivals the perfect entrie. Public and spectacular, festivals have the practical advantage of offering in a concentrated form, at a designated time and place, what the tourist would otherwise search out in the diffuseness of everyday life, with no guarantee of ever finding it. Typically, local festivals are simply put on the tourist itinerary. A 1981 brochure issued by India's Department of Tourism does just this.

Why festivals? Because they celebrate the joy of life. The Indian calendar is a long procession of festivals. The traveller may come when he pleases,

a spectacle always awaits him. If you find yourself in the right place at the right time, it is possible to go through the calendar with a festival daily! It may be the harvest in the south, the golden yellow of short-lived spring in the north, the seafront spectacle of Ganesh's immersion in Bombay, the fantastic car festival of Puri, the snake-boat races in Kerala or the Republic Day pageant in New Delhi. Each is different. Every region, every religion has something to celebrate. . . . Take in a festival when you come to India. No land demands so much of its legendsor, in celebrating the past, bedecks the present so marvellously.

Chinese New Year. Chinatown, New York, 1985. Lion dance by Pak Hok martial arts club in front of a restaurant. Photo by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.

While large festivals can usually absorb tourists with ease, producers may take steps to keep casual observers away from smaller events they might overwhelm. Still other local ceremonies that are extremely costly to produce thrive as a result of tourist interest and dollars: cremations in Bali, which require vast sums of money, can now occur on a larger scale and more often thanks to the revenues generated by tourists who pay to attend them.

Festivals are cultural performances par excellence. Their boundaries discernable in time and space, they are particularly amenable to encapsulation. Because whole festivals generally offer more than the casual traveler can consume, and because such complex events do not travel well, entrepreneurs often excerpt local festivals and incorporate their parts into other kinds of events. In an effort to make such attractions more profitable, as well as to restrict the access of tourists to areas of local life declared off-limits, events are adapted to the special needs of recreational travelers. Events staged specifically for visitors are well suited for export because they have already been designed for foreign audiences on tight schedules. Exported events developed for international expositions may be brought back home in the hope of attracting tourists into the local economy. Balinese performances developed for the Colonial Exposition in Paris in 1931 were brought back to Bali, where versions of them continue to be presented to tourists.

Import the tourist? Or export the village and festival? These processes are reciprocal. Ethnographic displays are not only a way to re-create the travel experience at a remove. Increasingly, these displays are introduced at the travel destinations themselves, where they may displace the travel experience altogether. All of Polynesia is represented on forty-two acres of the Hawaiian island Oahu, at the Polynesian Cultural Center: according to a 1985 promotional brochure, "[m]ore people come to know and appreciate Polynesia while touring these beautifully landscaped grounds than will ever visit those fabled islands."88

As mass tourism has grown in the postwar period, festivals of all kinds have proliferated with the explicit intention of encouraging tourism. A 1954 guide to festivals in Europe makes this very point.

[The abundance of festivals] means fun for everyone who wants to frolic with our friends abroad when they are in their most festive moods, or they can frolic with us if they are so inclined. . . . [Americans want to satisfy their] curiosity about how other people live. . . . As everyone knows, just about the best time to see the most people in any region is at a festival. That is also a fine time to learn what interests or amuses them, because a festival invariably reflects the character of the region in which it takes place and dramatizes the economic and recreational attractions, as well as the spiritual and aesthetic aims of the people.89

We have here the major tropes of ethnographic display, from the perspective of the tourism industrythe promise of visual penetration; access to the back region of other people's lives, the life world of others as our playground; and the view that people are most themselves when at play and that festivals are the quintessence of a region and its people.90 To "frolic with our friends abroad" becomes the paradigm for intercultural encounter. The foreign vacationer at a local festival achieves perfect synchrony: everyone is on holiday, or so it seems. But to know a society only in its festival mode, filtered through the touristic lens of spectacle, is to raise another set of problemsthe illusion of cultural transparency in the face of undeciphered complexity and the image of a society always on holiday. To festivalize culture is to make every day a holiday.

The living quality of such performances does not make them any less autonomous as artifacts, for songs, tales, dances, and ritual practices are also ethnographically excised and presented as self-contained units, though not in quite the same way as material artifacts. You can detach artifacts from their makers, but not performances from performers. True, artifacts can be photographed and performances can be recorded. But artifacts are not photographs and performances are not recordings. While the pot can survive the potter (though it too will eventually crumble to dust), music cannot be heard except at the moment of its making. Like dance and other forms of performance, musical performance is evanescent and in

Purim. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1982. Hasidic children, one costumed as the Biblical high priest Aaron and the other wearing an apron in the form of a Yiddish eye chart, deliver customary gifts of prepared food. Photo by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.

Storefront in Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1982. The sign says "CLOSED" in English and "OPEN" in Yiddish. Photo by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.

need of constant renewal. To achieve for drumming the sense of "realness" conveyed by the physical presence of the drum, we need the drummer. But a drummer drumming is no less an ethnographic fragment. The proscenium stage, master of ceremonies, and program booklet are to the drummer what the vitrine, label, and catalog are to the drum. The centrality of human actors in performance and the inseparability of process and product are what distinguish performances from things. While an artifact may be viewed as a record of the process of its manufacture, as an indexical signprocess is there in material tracesperformance is all process. Through the kind of repetition required by stage appearances, long runs, and extensive tours, performances can become like artifacts. They freeze. They become canonical. They take forms that are alien, if not antithetical, to how they are produced and experienced in their local settings, for with repeated exposure, cultural performances can become routinized and trivialized. The result may be events that have no clear analogue within the community from which they purportedly derive and that come to resemble one another more than that which they are intended to re-present.

Embedded in the flow of life, artifacts and performances that have historically interested ethnographers are contingent: they are not generally made to stand alone, set off for exclusively aesthetic attention. Forms that are perfectly satisfying in their indigenous settingchants, drumming, a cappella ballads, repetitive dance stepschallenge audiences who are exposed to them on stages where they are used to seeing opera and ballet. Professional folkloric companies adapt such forms to European production values. To hold the interest of new audiences, folkloric troupes design a varied and eclectic program of short selections. They also depend on musical accompaniment (such as piano or orchestra), European harmony, concertized arrangements and vocal styles on the model of European opera, and movement styles on the order of ballet to reduce the strangeness and potential boredom of a cappella song, unison music, and repetitive (and not apparently virtuosic) dance for unfamiliar audiences. To meet strict time requirements and deliver exactly what has been advertised and announced in a printed program, improvisation may be curtailed, if not eliminated. A tightly coordinated ensemble of trained professionals, often more or less the same age and physical type, wear stylized,

often uniform, costumes while executing highly choreographed routines with great precision. A frontal orientation accommodates the proscenium stage, to which is added theatrical effects (sound, lighting, sets). There is a tendency toward the virtuosic, athletic, dramatic, and spectacular.

The repertoires of folkloric troupes typically include excerpts from festivals and ritualsweddings, healing ceremonies, and hunting rituals are favorites. While such excerpts allude to the contingent nature of music and dance, they partake of theater, having been severed from their local social and ceremonial settings and reclassified as art. At the same time, the proprietary rights to the material have been transferred from local areas to the "nation," where regional forms are declared national heritage. National troupes typically perform traditions from across the land, no matter what the personal histories of the performers. Since everyone can perform everything and everything belongs to everyone, differences do not differentiate. Polyglot programs, besides offering variety, generally represent an "imagined community" in which diversity is harmoniously integrated. Difference is reduced to style and decoration, to spice of life. Cultural difference is then praised for the variety and color it adds to an otherwise bland scene.

Such choices in repertoire and style are ideologically charged. Folkloric troupes attempt to find a middle ground between exotic and familiar pleasures and to bring these forms (and their performers) into the European hierarchy of artistic expression, while establishing their performances as national heritage. The more modern the theater where the troupe performs the better, for often there is a dual message: powerful, modern statehood, expressed in the accoutrements of civilization and technology, is wedded to a distinctive national identity. The performance offers cultural content for that identity. Such assertions are not confined to the concert stage. They are implicated in claims to territorial sovereignty, the drawing of political boundaries, the choice of official language, and many other matters of vital concern in the tension among nation, state, and culture. Claims to the past lay the foundation for present and future claims. Having a past, a history, a "folklore" of your own, and institutions to bolster these claims, is fundamental to the politics of culture: the possession of a national folklore, particularly as legitimated by a national museum and troupe, is cited as a mark of being civilized.

As a venue for the representation of culture, the festival derives its celebratory tone and environmental approach to staging from the joyful events associated with the traditional feasts and fjtes that honor a religious anniversary, event, or personage. But unlike feasts (the etymological root of festival ), which do what they are about, festivals of the kind that interest us here re-enact, re-present, and re-create activities and places in a discrete performance setting designed for specular (and aural) commerce.91 Such events acquire a distinctive (if plural) semiotic status. Quivering with issues of authenticity and iconicity, these events tend to make a clear separation between doers and watchersor among kinds of doerseven with efforts to encourage "participation."

These issues are dramatized by the highly successful Festival of American Folklife, produced annually since 1967 on the Mall in Washington, D.C., by the Office of Folklife Programs at the Smithsonian Institution. This pioneering program is sensitive to the issues raised here and addresses them by experimenting with new ways to present folklife to the public. Two cases are particularly instructive here: the Festival of India and the Old Ways in the New World programs. Seen in historical perspective, these programs blend the national and state pavilions and ethnographic villages, long a staple feature of world's fairs, and the homelands exhibitions and festivals that celebrated immigrant "gifts" during the first half of this century.92

Recognizing the festival as a readymade genre of presentation, the 1975 guidelines for the Festival of American Folklife advised the following:

Because many genres survive in the context of esoteric community celebrations and rituals, large scale traditional celebration events should be used as organizing structures for "Old Ways in the New World" programs. Such events can be parades, processions, picnics, festivals, religious ceremonies, wedding festivities, or any similar event in which performing arts are closely associated with other traditional expressive forms. . . . Celebration events should allow direct participation by Festival visitors.93

However connected it may be to what communities do at home, the festival within a festival is a re-creation. At its most mimetic, it offers a sumptuous alternative to the sensory atrophy of the bare stage.94 The festival-within-a-festival format also presents formidable ethnographic and logistical challenges, particularly at the points where the two festivals are incompatible.

This insight guided the decision in 1985 to embed a festival within a festival within a festivalthe mela within the Festival of India within the Festival of American Folklife.

The Mela program on the Mall is really a fair within a fair. It is a composite mela, compressing both space and time to present selectively only a few of India's many traditions. Just as a mela would in India, the program encourages visitors to learn about and participate in Indian culture. The structures on the Mall have been built largely with natural and handcrafted materials from India, while the site itself has been designed to reflect indigenous Indian concepts.95

The mela, the fair that accompanies religious festivals in India, did indeed offer an ingenious format for displaying many kinds of artifacts, activities, and people (dance, music, acrobatics, street performers, religious observance, food, architecture, crafts) as they are integrated in their native setting. But of course this mela was to occur during a festival of our own making, and our festival and those of India are not necessarily compatible. Smithsonian festivals are events produced for the public with the taxpayers' dollars: they are not-for-profit ventures and studiously avoid the slightest hint of commercialism. Things are not for sale, except at the one small gift shop inconspicuously positioned at the edge of the main events. Goods are carefully selected for their appropriateness, and sales-persons are expected to be well informed about the objects, their makers, and their makers' communities. They offer items relating to all the exhibits.

Indian fairs, by contrast, are full of things to buy. Each craftsperson and stall keeper competes with the others to sell goods. The Smithsonian mela on the Mall was a representation of a commercial environment,

Mela exhibition, Festival of American Folklife, Washington, D.C., 1985. Habib-ur-Rehman fashions a taziya, a facsimile tomb of Hussein, out of tied bamboo and cut paper. In the background are photo- text panels explaining Indian religions, fairs, festivals, cosmological concepts, and aesthetic traditions. Photo courtesy the Smithsonian Institution.

which, while mimetically very complete, paradoxically stopped short of commercial exchange. Indeed, it was necessary to post signs in the stalls to indicate that the goods were not for sale. Perhaps as a concession to authenticity, visitors were actually allowed to make purchases at a few designated stalls as well as in the sales tent. What do you get when a commercial Indian fair is embedded inside a noncommercial Smithsonian festival? Stalls of goods for sale that cannot be sold.96

Food presented a similar problem. Clearly, the Department of Health would not countenance unlicensed vendors from India feeding visitors to the Mall. Instead, an Indian hotel chain catered the festival from a central

"These items are for display only," with graffiti "(they're dummies)," on signs in a market stall. Mela exhibition, Festival of American Folklife, Washington, D.C., 1985. Photo by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett.

post in the mela. Even were Department of Health requirements to be met, festival planners would probably encounter the resistance of local vendors to any intrusion on their economic turf by traditional cooks brought in for the day. Local commerce effectively inhibits efforts to re-create the culinary environment of traditional festivals.

Though intended as an evocative re-creation, ethnographically accurate and authentic in most details, the festival-within-the-festival is a distinct type of performance event, and the visitor inevitably experiences it as such. Though the intention may be to create the illusion of being in India, it is the re-creation itself that is experienced, with all of its tensions and ambiguities. When carried to extremes, as in the case of first-person interpretation at Plimoth Plantation, visitors experience the thrill of the hyperreal and at the same time perceive the fragility of the membrane that has been constructed to separate the present place and time from that which has been reconstructed.97

"Old and New at Caesarea's Ancient Theatre." Israeli folk dance ensemble at an archeological site near Haifa, ca. 1966. Copyright by "Palphot," Herzlia.

Raising yet another set of problems, the Old Ways in the New World program integrated the national pavilion, foreign village, and homelands exhibition in an attempt to juxtapose folk artists in immigrant communities with their counterparts in their home countries. This was also a way to involve foreign countries in a festival of American folklife. But the assumption of a Jewish "old world" presented insurmountable problems. There was no Old World, as the European Jewish communities, from which most American Jews derive, were largely destroyed during the Holocaust.98 Eliding differences between Old World and homeland, Israel was selected as the Jewish Old World for the purposes of the festival. But the "old ways" of American Jews were not to be found in the newly formed Jewish state, which was itself a case of new ways in a New World. Nor was Israel willing to be cast as the repository of the old ways of American Jewsquite the contrary.

"Amnon Oved (left) and Moshe Oved dance traditional Yemenite dances at the Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. [1976]. They are one of six groups of Israeli Jews who are demonstrating the richness of traditions found in Israel today." Photo courtesy the Smithsonian Institution.

When working with the Ministry of Education and Culture in Israel to identify appropriate performers for the Jewish section of the Bicentennial Festival of American Folklife in 1976, I was instructed to bring the finest exponents of "authentic" traditional art forms. Some of the performers who met this standard were born in Yemen, Morocco, or Iraq and were advanced in years. Israeli cultural officials wanted to send Israeli folk dance troupes, arguing that they were young, athletic, lively, versatile, and specially adapted for the stage. Not only were the professional folk dance troupes costumed and choreographed, but, I was told, they had been trained to perform the music and dance of the many different Jewish communities living in Israel, as well as the horas and other dances associated with the new state. Their performances conformed to professional standards and were stylized to reduce their strangeness. These were precisely the groups the Smithsonian's Office of Folklife Programs had in-

structed me not to bring. The Israeli officials complained further that my choices would present entirely the wrong image of contemporary Israel and would offer a poor performance to boot: Israel and its culture were not to be represented by old immigrants performing exotic music of the Diaspora. Even to the extent that we succeeded in bringing traditional performers of our choice, we still faced the problem of relating these traditions to those of Jewish immigrants in America.

A key to the appeal of many festivals, with their promise of sensory saturation and thrilling strangeness, is the insatiable and promiscuous human appetite for wonder. The irreducibility of strangeness, a feature of tourist discourse more generally, inscribes on the geography of the exotic a history of receding thresholds of wonder: as exposure exhausts novelty, new ways to raise the threshold of wonder must be found.99 The passion for wonder also accounts for the primacy of spectacle as a presentational mode and for the tension between the very unspectacular nature of much material that we might want to present and the audiences' expectation that they will get a good show. Given the special way that spectacle works (clear separation of observer and actor, primacy of the visual mode, and an aggrandizing ethos), the spectacle of festival evokes what MacAloon has characterized as diffuse wonder or awe and precipitates intellectual and moral ambiguity, even with the various efforts to mitigate the effects.

We complain of ritual degenerating into spectacle, into sheer show. Historically, however, we have long valued the inscrutable strangeness of the exotic as an end in itself. The appeal of the villages on the Midway of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago depended largely on such mystification, and many multicultural festivals today still feed this appetite while at the same time encouraging understanding and reflection by offering "interpretation." That we objectify culture has long been recognized; festivals, however, also objectify the human performers and implicate them directly in this process. This is an inherently problematic way to confront cultural questions, for spectacle, by its very nature, displaces analysis and tends to suppress profound issues of conflict and marginalization. The more ethnographic festivals and museum exhibitions

succeed in their visual appeal and spectacular effect, the more they re-classify what they present as art and risk appealing to prurient interest.

Fighting the spectacular and the illusion of re-creation, the Office of Folklife Programs at the Smithsonian Institution has long advocated what might be called an ascetic approach to staging.

Costumes used only for stage performances, or for other exoteric purposes, are not appropriate for the Festival. This matter should be thoroughly reviewed in the field and reiterated in formal invitations and correspondence with participating groups and individuals.

In 1974, all the Greek-American participants, and most of the foreign Greek participants wore ordinary clothes throughout the five-day presentation. Costume was not a part of the two Greek-American glendis held on the Mall, because it is not customarily worn at glendis in this country. A few elderly participants from Greece wore traditional clothes every day, as they always do at home.100

The concern that costumes that are worn only for stage performances not be donned for the Smithsonian presentation presents a paradox: from the perspective of many participants, the folklife festival is a stage performance, so why not wear costumes? There is a conflict here between two aesthetics.

As the Smithsonian's guidelines suggest, festivals organized by dominant cultural institutions such as museums and state folklife programs or funded by state and federal agencies share a performance discourse that often stands in contrast (if not in opposition) to the ways communities stage themselves. These differences are more than matters of taste and style; they offer different approaches to the marking of authenticity. Hallmarks of the festivals mounted by professional folklorists in the past include a focus both on performers who claim the forms they perform as their birthright and on the traditional components of their repertoire. Performance practices that entail an adaptation to the concert stage are discouraged, despite the fact that communities have often developed their own troupes, costumes, repertoires, choreography, musical arrangements, interpretations, dramatizations, and other conventions for presenting their performing arts on the concert stage for themselves and for outsiders.

Such adaptations, often derided as touristic kitsch, are studiously avoided by folklorists in favor of a very different set of conventions, many of which have evolved specifically for the "folklife festival." Typically, solo performers and ensembles are selected from among those who normally play at a community's festivities. Wearing ordinary clothing, they play on a bare stage within a large tent, the audience seated on bleachers or benches, or they play on a concert stage in an indoor auditorium. Hightech sound equipment and professional stage technicians ensure the best possible acoustics and documentary recording of the event. Explanatory text panels may be mounted near the entrance to the tent, and a large photomural of the performer's home environment may serve as a backdrop. An informed "presenter" introduces the performers, with sensitive explanations about the history, context, and meaning of what the audience is about to hear. The program booklet supplements the presentation with illustrated essays about the communities and traditions featured at the festival. Formal concerts are complemented by interactive and didactic workshops, demonstrations, lectures, and films.

Performers are discouraged from the use of electronic instruments (though there are exceptions), "ethnic costumes," nontraditional repertoires, concertized performance styles, choreography adapted for the stage, and other overtly theatrical concessions. There is thus a suppression of representation markers and a foregrounding of presentation markers, an avoidance of the suggestion of "theater" and an attempt to achieve the quality of pure presence, of a slice of life. Given the history of national troupes and pavilions and homelands exhibitions, it is easy to see why groups would expect to appear in costume and in organized troupes. This is, after all, the public face, as they have constructed it, of their private lives. And given the way that spectacle brings authenticity into question, it is easy to see why an ascetic aesthetic to staging should appeal to festival producers aiming to present rather than represent that life.

The interest in displaying performance or in using performance as a way of displaying culture is, like the series of objects arranged to show a con-

tinuous historical process, linked to particular theoretical orientations. First, performance-oriented approaches to culture place a premium on the particularities of human action, on language as spoken and ritual as performed. Such approaches resist stripping the observed behavior of contingency in order to formulate norms, ideals, and structures of competency.101 Second, cultural performances as units of analysis have offered a distinct methodological advantage to those grappling with large and complex societies, where approaches that worked well in small settings are inadequate.102 The Manchester school of social anthropology found in "social dramas"events that involved a breach of some kind and efforts to deal with ita useful way to focus cultural analysis.103 The sociologist Erving Goffman brought a dramaturgical approach to the analysis of ordinary social life in his own milieu. Third, performance, whether a focus for research or the basis of ethnographic display, is compatible with efforts among folklorists, ethnomusicologists, and anthropologists to deal with issues of diversity, pluralism, cultural equity, and empowerment, particularly when participants can control how they are represented.104

The issue of who is qualified to perform culture is thorny because it reveals the implicit privileging of descent over consent in matters of cultural participation.105 Though the guidelines for producing folklife festival programs stress visitor "participation," they are also usually clear in specifying that the "performers" at the festival are to be those to whom the arts "belong" by virtue of their having been acquired in a traditional manner and setting, that is, by insiders from insidersby descent, though this distinction is not rigidly applied. "Outsiders," those who have chosen to learn the art even though they were not born into the communities that transmit it, are generally considered revivalists and may be excluded on this count, though here too the matter is more complicated. Thus those who are licensed to do are distinguished from those who are mandated to watch. The event is to be structured, however, in ways that will allow the watchers to "participate," a notion that generally stops short of permitting them to perform the tradition themselves, except as they are invited to join a procession or the group dancing and singing.

The curatorial problem in folk festivals is the delicate one of determining not only what meets certain standards of excellence but, first

and foremost, what qualifies as authentic folk performance. As a result, performances at folk festivals are often artifacts of the discipline of folklore, whatever else they may be. We speak of the Child ballads, the Grimm mdrchen, the Perrault fairy tales, and other traditional forms that have been canonized in printed collections, museum exhibitions, commercial recordings, and folk festivals. We also create the criteria by which the multiplicity of forms we find can be sorted into their "preferred" and "residual" categories.106

There is a danger in what Stuart Hall calls self-enclosed approaches, which, "valuing 'tradition' for its own sake, and treating it in an ahistorical manner, analyze cultural forms as if they contained within themselves from their moment of origin, some fixed and unchanging meaning or value." 107 Further, those who organize folk festivals must accept the responsibility for representing those they include in "their most traditionalist form."108 While folklife festivals attempt to represent traditions that would otherwise not be exposed, it is also the case that those who perform tend to be represented exclusively in traditional terms.

Following Hall, we might consider the opposition of folklore/not folklore, not as a descriptive problem or a matter of coming up with the right inventory of cultural forms, but rather in terms of the "forces and relations which sustain the distinction, the difference" between what counts as a genuine tradition, a revival, fakelore, or elite culture. Hall suggests that the categories tend to remain, though the inventories change, and that institutions such as universities, museums, and arts councils play a crucial role in maintaining the distinctions: "The important fact, then, is not a mere descriptive inventorywhich may have the negative effect of freezing popular culture into some timeless descriptive mouldbut the relations of power which are constantly punctuating and dividing the domain of culture into its preferred and its residual categories."109 Similarly, by aestheticizing "folklore"no matter what is gained by the all-inclusive definition of folklore as the arts of everyday lifewe are in danger of depoliticizing what we present by valorizing an aesthetics of marginalization.

Though there are still many festivals devoted to the traditions of a single ethnic group, large-scale events sponsored by city, state, and federal

Factory workers in Troy, New York, present a Ukrainian wedding party, as remembered from their native village, at the homelands exhibition in the State Educational Building in Albany, New York, 1920.

agencies are generally multicultural in nature. They participate in the discourse of pluralism, of unity in diversity. They risk what might be termed the "banality of difference," whereby the proliferation of variation has the neutralizing effect of rendering difference (and conflict) inconsequential.110 This is the effect, by design, of the pageants of democracy so popular during the first decades of this century.111 Though offered as an alternative to the brutal efforts of nativists to suppress difference and preserve the preeminence of Anglo stock and culture, the unity-in-diversity discourse can also have a neutralizing effect.

In festivals of cultural performances, respectability and decorum, values of the dominant cultural institutions that stage the event, tend to diffuse the oppositional potential so essential to festivals. For this and other reasons, these festivals have a tendency to reinforce the status quo even as enlightened organizers and performers struggle to use them to voice oppositional values. Carnival represented is carnival tamed. In the case of the

homelands exhibitions and festivals, immigrant organizations were already doing a good job of supporting a wide variety of cultural activities. "National festivals" organized by immigrant groups in American cities during the last decades of the nineteenth century attracted tens of thousands of participants. In the homelands exhibitions and festivals organized during the first half of this century, "cooperation" between Americanization agencies and immigrant groups, however well-intentioned, also involved co-optation. Homelands exhibitions were designed to gain the trust of immigrants, who, it was hoped, would allow themselves to be helped by Americanization organizations. These events were not simply displays of immigrant giftscrafts, music, dance, and wholesome values. Equally importantand the organizers were explicit on this pointthey were good public relations for the Americanization workers and social reformers, who were themselves on display. Through such exhibits and festivals, they could show their success in working with immigrants and lobby for increased support.

Exhibitions, whether of objects or people, are displays of the artifacts of our disciplines. They are for this reason also exhibits of those who make them, no matter what their ostensible subject. The first order of business is therefore to examine critically the conventions guiding ethnographic display, to explicate how displays constitute subjects and with what implications for those who see and those who are seen. Museum exhibitions, folkloric performances, and folklife festivals are guided by a poetics of detachment, in the sense not only of material fragments but also of a distanced attitude. The question is not whether an object is of visual interest, but rather how interest of any kind is created. All interest is vested.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition (September 5, 1998)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 348 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520209664
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520209664
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1.5 x 10 inches
• #448 in Anthropology (Books)
• #675 in Trade
• #3,077 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)

About the author

Barbara kirshenblatt-gimblett.

I was born and raised in Toronto's downtown immigrant neighborhood in the immediate postwar years. My mother came to Canada in 1929 and my father in 1934, both of them from Poland.

For the last forty years I have been interviewing my family and especially my father. After much pleading, my father finally agreed to paint what he could remember about his childhood in Poland. That was in 1990 and he was 73.

The result is a book and exhibition, They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust, which coincide with my father's 91rst birthday. This has been a family project and great blessing for all of us. The exhibition will open at the Magnes Museum (Berkeley) on September 9, 2007 and travel to The Jewish Museum (NYC) and Jewish Historical Museum (Amsterdam), among others.

This project grows out of my ongoing research and writing on East European Jewish culture. How gratifying to come full circle from Image Before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864-1939, which I co-authored with the beloved Lucjan Dobroszycki in the 1970s. This book accompanied an exhibition and formed the basis for a film, which is now on DVD. I am also leading the core exhibition development team of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which will open in Warsaw in 2010.

Today, I am University Professor and Professor of Performance Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. My more recent books include Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage; The Art of Being Jewish in Modern Times (edited with Jonathan Karp); and the edited volume Writing a Modern Jewish History: Essays in Honor of Salo W. Baron, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2006.

I have been living on the Bowery since 1974 with my husband, Max Gimblett, who is an artist (http://www.maxgimblett.com). When time permits, I bake sourdough rye bread and make barley soup that come as close as possible to the daily fare of my parents in pre-World War II Poland.

You'll find the recipe on my Amazon blog.

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Winter is here! Check out the winter wonderlands at these 5 amazing winter destinations in Montana

• Travel Guide
• Sustainability

Why Is Linking Ecotourism With Cultural Heritage Tourism Important?

Published: November 14, 2023

Modified: December 28, 2023

by Loree Wessel

Introduction

Ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism are two flourishing sectors in the travel industry. Both offer unique experiences to visitors, promoting sustainability and preservation of natural and cultural resources. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the significant benefits that can be derived from linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism.

Ecotourism can be defined as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local communities. It focuses on minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and maximizing the positive contributions to conservation efforts and community development. On the other hand, cultural heritage tourism refers to travel that emphasizes the exploration and appreciation of a destination’s historic and cultural assets. It aims to sustain and promote the traditional practices, customs, and artifacts of a community or region.

The connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism lies in their shared values of sustainability, the preservation of natural and cultural resources, and the promotion of community well-being. By integrating these two forms of tourism, destinations can create a synergy that benefits both the environment and local communities.

In this article, we will delve deeper into the importance of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. We will explore the economic, environmental, and social benefits that arise from such a connection. Additionally, we will discuss how this linkage contributes to sustainable development and the challenges and considerations that come with it.

Definition of Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of sustainable tourism that promotes responsible travel to natural areas. It focuses on conserving the environment, supporting local communities, and educating visitors about the importance of conservation and sustainability. The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.”

One of the key principles of ecotourism is minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment. This includes reducing pollution, conserving resources, and protecting wildlife and ecosystems. Ecotourism also aims to provide economic opportunities for local communities, supporting their livelihoods and empowering them to be active participants in tourism development.

To be considered true ecotourism, the activities and experiences offered must adhere to certain guidelines and principles. These include:

• Environmental Conservation: Ecotourism seeks to protect and conserve the natural environment, including ecosystems, flora, fauna, and biodiversity. This involves promoting sustainable practices such as waste management, energy efficiency, and habitat restoration.
• Community Engagement: Ecotourism places a strong emphasis on involving and benefiting local communities. It aims to provide economic opportunities, support cultural preservation, and empower communities to be stewards of their natural resources.
• Education and Interpretation: Ecotourism seeks to educate visitors about the value of the environment and cultural heritage. It provides opportunities for learning and interpretation, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural sites visited.
• Ethical Considerations: Ecotourism promotes ethical practices, respect for local customs and traditions, and sensitivity towards social and cultural issues. It strives to minimize cultural and social disruptions and ensure that tourism activities have a positive impact on local communities.

Overall, ecotourism is more than just a leisure activity; it is a responsible and sustainable approach to travel that aims to preserve the environment, support local communities, and promote awareness and education. By engaging in ecotourism, travelers can have a meaningful and enriching experience while contributing to the conservation and well-being of our planet.

Definition of Cultural Heritage Tourism

Cultural heritage tourism is a form of travel that focuses on experiencing and appreciating the cultural and historical assets of a destination. It involves visiting sites, landmarks, and communities that hold significant cultural, historical, and artistic value. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines cultural heritage as “the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes inherited from past generations.”

Cultural heritage tourism aims to support the protection, preservation, and promotion of a destination’s cultural resources. It involves immersing oneself in the traditions, customs, arts, and architecture of a community or region. The experiences offered in cultural heritage tourism often include visiting museums, archaeological sites, historical buildings, festivals, traditional crafts demonstrations, and engaging with local communities.

To be considered cultural heritage tourism, the activities and attractions should have a strong connection to the cultural identity and history of the destination. This can include tangible heritage, such as ancient ruins or historic sites, as well as intangible heritage, such as traditional knowledge, storytelling, music, and cuisine.

Cultural heritage tourism offers numerous benefits, both for travelers and the local communities. For travelers, it provides an opportunity to gain insights into the rich history, traditions, and lifestyles of a place. It creates a deeper understanding and appreciation of different cultures and fosters cross-cultural connections and mutual respect.

For local communities, cultural heritage tourism can serve as a vital economic driver. It generates revenues and job opportunities, supporting local businesses and craftspeople. It also encourages the preservation and revitalization of cultural practices, traditions, and skills, which may have been at risk of fading away.

Furthermore, cultural heritage tourism promotes the conservation and sustainability of cultural resources. By raising awareness and generating interest, it encourages the protection and maintenance of historical sites and the transmission of cultural knowledge to future generations.

Overall, cultural heritage tourism celebrates the diversity of human history and cultural expression. It offers a way to connect with the past while contributing to the preservation and economic vitality of communities. By engaging in cultural heritage tourism, travelers have the opportunity to be immersed in fascinating stories, traditions, and experiences while supporting the safeguarding of our shared cultural heritage.

The Connection between Ecotourism and Cultural Heritage Tourism

Ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism share a strong connection as they both promote sustainability, conservation, and community engagement. While ecotourism focuses on the preservation of natural areas and wildlife, cultural heritage tourism centers around the exploration and appreciation of a destination’s cultural assets. However, these two forms of tourism are intertwined and often overlap due to the interdependence between nature and culture.

One of the key connections between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism is the reliance on the environment for both natural and cultural resources. Many cultural heritage sites are located in natural areas, such as archaeological sites in forests or historic buildings near natural landscapes. The interaction between human activities, cultural practices, and the natural environment is an essential aspect of both ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism.

Furthermore, protecting and preserving natural areas is often crucial for the conservation of cultural heritage. The landscapes and ecosystems surrounding cultural sites play a significant role in maintaining their integrity and authenticity. For example, the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia are not only significant for their architectural and historical value but also for the surrounding forests that are critical for the maintenance of the site’s structural stability.

Cultural heritage tourism can also contribute to the conservation of the environment. By raising awareness and educating visitors about the cultural significance of natural areas, it fosters a sense of responsibility towards environmental conservation. This connection encourages tourists to engage in sustainable practices and support conservation initiatives in the destination.

Moreover, the integration of cultural heritage into ecotourism experiences enhances the overall tourism product. Visitors are not only able to appreciate the natural beauty of an area but also the cultural traditions, artistic expressions, and historical narratives that have shaped the landscape. This combination creates a more holistic and enriching experience for travelers, allowing them to develop a deeper understanding and connection with the destination.

Importance of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

Linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is of paramount importance for several reasons. This connection allows for a more holistic and sustainable approach to tourism, benefiting the environment, local communities, and visitors alike.

One of the key advantages of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is the ability to create a diverse range of experiences for visitors. By combining the exploration of natural areas with the appreciation of cultural heritage, destinations can offer a well-rounded and immersive travel experience. Visitors can enjoy activities such as exploring archaeological sites, hiking through protected forests, and interacting with local communities, gaining a deeper understanding of the interplay between nature and culture.

The connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism also enhances the economic benefits for local communities. By promoting and preserving cultural heritage assets, destinations can attract a wider range of tourists, resulting in increased visitor spending and job creation. The revenue generated from tourism can then be reinvested in conservation efforts, cultural preservation initiatives, and community development, contributing to long-term sustainable development.

Environmental conservation is another significant advantage of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. By integrating sustainable practices with cultural heritage experiences, destinations can raise awareness about the importance of preserving natural areas and wildlife habitats. Visitors can witness firsthand the relationship between cultural heritage sites and the natural environment, fostering a sense of responsibility and inspiring environmentally conscious behaviors.

Linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism also promotes social and cultural benefits. It encourages the preservation and revitalization of cultural traditions and practices, providing a platform for local communities to showcase their heritage and share their knowledge. This enhances cultural pride, fosters intercultural understanding, and promotes respect for diverse cultures and traditions.

Furthermore, the connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism contributes to sustainable development. By promoting responsible travel, supporting local businesses, and prioritizing conservation efforts, destinations can ensure the long-term viability of their natural and cultural resources. This helps to safeguard the unique identity and authenticity of a place, attracting more environmentally conscious and culturally curious travelers.

Economic Benefits of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism offers numerous economic benefits, both for the destination and local communities.

First and foremost, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism expands the tourism product offering, attracting a wider range of visitors and increasing tourism revenue. By combining natural attractions with cultural experiences, destinations can appeal to a broader audience, including those interested in both nature and history. This diversification of the tourism product leads to longer stays, increased visitor spending on accommodations, local businesses, attractions, and services, and an overall boost to the local economy.

The connection between these two forms of tourism also creates new employment opportunities for local communities. As the demand for sustainable and immersive tourism experiences grows, more jobs are created in various sectors such as eco-guiding, heritage interpretation, handicraft production, traditional arts and performances, and hospitality. The revenue generated from tourism activities not only supports the livelihoods of individuals directly employed in the industry but also stimulates the local economy through indirect employment, such as suppliers and service providers.

Moreover, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism encourages entrepreneurship and small business development. Local craftspeople, artists, and artisans can showcase and sell their traditional products, contributing to the preservation and promotion of indigenous arts and crafts. This empowers local communities, preserves cultural traditions, and provides an alternative source of income that is closely tied to the sustainable use of natural and cultural resources.

Furthermore, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism can lead to increased investment in infrastructure and services. As tourism demand grows, destinations often invest in improving transportation, accommodations, visitor facilities, and conservation efforts. These infrastructure developments not only enhance the visitor experience but also benefit the local community by improving access to essential services and creating opportunities for further economic growth beyond the tourism sector.

Additionally, the economic benefits of linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism ripple through the local economy. Local businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and transportation providers benefit from increased tourist demand and spending. This, in turn, supports other sectors and stimulates economic diversification, promoting overall economic resilience and reducing dependency on a single industry.

In summary, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism has substantial economic advantages. It boosts tourism revenue, job creation, entrepreneurship, and investment in infrastructure and services. By capitalizing on the natural and cultural assets of a destination, this linkage fosters sustainable economic development and supports the well-being and prosperity of local communities.

Environmental Benefits of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

Linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism brings about numerous environmental benefits, contributing to the conservation and preservation of natural resources and ecosystems.

One of the key environmental advantages is the promotion of sustainable practices and the integration of conservation efforts. Ecotourism emphasizes responsible travel and encourages visitors to minimize their negative impact on the environment. By combining it with cultural heritage tourism, destinations can educate travelers about the delicate balance between nature and culture, fostering a respect and appreciation for the natural environment.

Furthermore, the preservation of cultural heritage sites often requires the protection and conservation of surrounding natural areas. Many historical landmarks and cultural sites are located in environmentally significant regions, such as coastal areas, forests, or mountainous landscapes. By emphasizing the interplay between cultural heritage and the natural environment, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism highlights the importance of protecting these ecosystems and habitats.

Linking these two forms of tourism also encourages a greater awareness and understanding of environmental issues. Through interpretive programs, guided tours, and educational activities, visitors gain insights into the ecological significance of the area and learn about the impacts of human activities on the environment. This awareness raises consciousness about the need for conservation and sustainable practices not only during their visit but also in their daily lives.

Moreover, the economic benefits derived from linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism can create incentives and financial resources for conservation initiatives. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be channeled towards environmental protection, habitat restoration, and biodiversity conservation. These financial resources provide essential support for local conservation organizations and government agencies working to safeguard the natural resources and ecosystems.

Additionally, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism can contribute to the promotion of sustainable transportation. By encouraging visitors to engage in eco-friendly modes of transportation, such as cycling, walking, or using public transportation, the carbon footprint associated with travel is reduced. This helps to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of tourism, including air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Overall, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is beneficial for the environment. It promotes sustainable practices, raises awareness about environmental issues, supports ecosystem conservation, and provides financial resources for environmental protection. By integrating these two forms of tourism, destinations can foster a symbiotic relationship between nature and culture, ensuring the preservation and enjoyment of both for future generations.

Social and Cultural Benefits of Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism provides numerous social and cultural benefits, creating opportunities for personal growth, cross-cultural exchange, and community empowerment.

One of the key social benefits is the promotion of cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. By combining natural attractions with cultural experiences, linking these two forms of tourism encourages visitors to engage with local communities, learn about their traditions, and gain insights into their way of life. This fosters mutual respect, tolerance, and empathy, promoting a more inclusive and connected global society.

The connection between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism also empowers local communities and promotes the preservation of cultural traditions. By involving local communities in tourism activities, such as homestays or cultural performances, it provides economic opportunities and supports the continuation of traditional practices. This helps to maintain cultural diversity, strengthen cultural identity, and preserve intangible cultural heritage.

Furthermore, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism promotes the preservation and revitalization of traditional arts and crafts. Visitors have the opportunity to engage with local artisans and learn about their craftsmanship, such as pottery-making, weaving, or traditional painting. The cultural exchange that occurs in these encounters not only supports the livelihoods of artisans but also encourages the transmission of traditional knowledge to future generations.

The cultural heritage component of the tourism experience also stimulates cultural pride and self-esteem within local communities. By valuing and showcasing their cultural heritage, local residents gain a sense of pride in their traditions, history, and achievements, bolstering their sense of identity. This, in turn, strengthens community cohesion, social bonds, and cultural confidence.

Moreover, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism creates opportunities for education and learning. Visitors, through guided tours, interpretive programs, and cultural interactions, gain knowledge about the historical, cultural, and environmental significance of the destination. This enriches their understanding of the world, fosters intellectual growth, and encourages lifelong learning.

Additionally, the economic benefits generated through the linkage between these two forms of tourism can contribute to community development. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be reinvested in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and other social services, improving the quality of life for local residents. It also provides resources for social initiatives such as the preservation of historic sites, the establishment of cultural centers, or the support of community-based enterprises.

In summary, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism brings about significant social and cultural benefits. It promotes cross-cultural understanding, empowers local communities, preserves cultural traditions, stimulates cultural pride, and provides opportunities for education and community development. By embracing the connection between nature and culture, tourism becomes a force for fostering cultural appreciation, social cohesion, and sustainable development.

Sustainable Development through Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism offers a pathway towards sustainable development, balancing environmental conservation, cultural preservation, community empowerment, and economic prosperity.

One of the key aspects of sustainable development is the conservation and preservation of natural resources. By integrating ecotourism practices into cultural heritage tourism, destinations can promote responsible travel, minimize negative environmental impacts, and raise awareness about the importance of environmental sustainability. This ensures the long-term viability of the natural environment, safeguarding ecosystems, biodiversity, and the planet’s natural heritage.

Furthermore, the linkage between these two forms of tourism supports the preservation of cultural heritage. Through the promotion of traditional arts, cultural performances, and the preservation of heritage sites, cultural heritage tourism emphasizes the value of cultural preservation. This helps to maintain cultural diversity, foster intercultural understanding, and promote social cohesion.

Additionally, the economic benefits derived from linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism contribute to sustainable development. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be reinvested in the conservation of natural and cultural resources, community development initiatives, and the improvement of public infrastructure and services. This promotes economic resilience, creates job opportunities, and enhances the overall quality of life for local residents.

Linking these two forms of tourism also encourages community empowerment and involvement. By engaging local communities in tourism activities, such as homestays, guided tours, or cultural performances, destinations enable residents to be active participants in tourism development. This empowers communities to take ownership of their cultural heritage, share their knowledge, and benefit economically from the tourism industry.

Moreover, the linkages between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism promote educational opportunities. Visitors have the chance to learn about the natural environment, cultural traditions, and local history, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the destination. This exchange of knowledge and ideas benefits both visitors and local communities, contributing to lifelong learning and personal growth.

Furthermore, the connection between these two forms of tourism enables destinations to set sustainable development goals and establish frameworks for monitoring and evaluation. By integrating sustainability principles into tourism practices, destinations can track their progress towards environmental, social, and economic objectives. This ensures that tourism development aligns with the long-term goals of sustainability and contributes to the overall well-being of local communities and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

In summary, linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism is essential for achieving sustainable development. It promotes environmental conservation, cultural preservation, community empowerment, and economic prosperity. By embracing the connection between nature and culture, destinations can create a positive impact on the environment, foster intercultural understanding, empower communities, and generate economic benefits that support long-term sustainable development goals.

Challenges and Considerations in Linking Ecotourism with Cultural Heritage Tourism

While linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism brings about numerous benefits, there are also several challenges and considerations to navigate. It is important to address these challenges to ensure the sustainable development of tourism and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

One of the main challenges is striking a balance between visitor experiences and the preservation of fragile ecosystems and cultural sites. Managing visitor numbers, implementing infrastructure that minimizes environmental impact, and enforcing regulations to protect cultural heritage are all vital measures. This requires comprehensive planning, monitoring, and the involvement of local communities and relevant stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the destination.

Another challenge is ensuring the authenticity and integrity of cultural heritage experiences. The commercialization of cultural practices and the pressure to cater to tourist expectations can sometimes lead to the dilution or commodification of traditions. It is crucial to work closely with local communities and cultural experts to ensure that the representation of cultural heritage remains respectful, accurate, and aligned with the community’s values.

Infrastructure development can also pose challenges in linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. Achieving a delicate balance between providing necessary facilities for visitors without compromising the landscapes, habitats, and cultural authenticity can be a complex task. Careful planning, environmental impact assessments, and sustainable design principles are vital to mitigate the impacts of infrastructure development.

Moreover, tourism can exacerbate social and cultural issues, particularly when there is a mismatch between visitor expectations and the community’s aspirations for cultural preservation and self-determination. Engaging local communities in decision-making processes, providing fair economic opportunities, and respecting local customs and traditions are essential considerations to address potential conflicts and ensure social inclusiveness.

Funding and resource allocation can also pose challenges in linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. Securing financial resources and technical expertise for sustainable tourism development, cultural preservation, and environmental conservation requires long-term planning and collaborative efforts between governments, private sectors, and local communities.

Last but not least, the impacts of climate change present a significant challenge in linking ecotourism with cultural heritage tourism. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and shifts in ecosystems can threaten both natural and cultural assets. Adaptation measures, such as infrastructure resilience plans, community capacity building, and sustainable land management, are necessary to safeguard against these challenges.

By recognizing and addressing these challenges and considerations, stakeholders can work together to create a sustainable balance between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism. Through careful planning, community engagement, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation, destinations can ensure the preservation of natural and cultural resources while providing meaningful and enriching experiences for visitors.

The linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism is a powerful collaboration that leads to numerous benefits for destinations, communities, and travelers. By combining the preservation of natural areas with the exploration of cultural heritage, this connection creates a more holistic and sustainable tourism experience.

Through the integration of ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism, destinations can promote responsible travel, minimize environmental impacts, and support the preservation of cultural traditions. Visitors can enjoy immersive experiences that foster cross-cultural understanding and appreciation, promoting social cohesion and intercultural respect.

The economic benefits derived from linking these two forms of tourism contribute to community development, job creation, and entrepreneurship. The revenue generated from tourism activities can be reinvested in conservation initiatives, infrastructure development, and the revitalization of cultural heritage. This supports the long-term sustainability of both natural and cultural resources, benefiting local communities and preserving the uniqueness and authenticity of the destination.

Moreover, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism presents opportunities for education, learning, and personal growth. Visitors gain insights into the interplay between nature and culture, fostering a deeper understanding of the importance of environmental conservation and cultural preservation. This knowledge can be carried beyond the tourism experience, influencing behaviors and promoting sustainable practices in daily life.

However, challenges such as managing visitor impacts, maintaining authenticity, addressing social and cultural issues, financing sustainable development, and adapting to climate change must be addressed. Collaborative efforts among stakeholders, including local communities, governments, and the private sector, are crucial in ensuring the sustainable development of tourism and the preservation of natural and cultural resources.

In conclusion, the linkage between ecotourism and cultural heritage tourism offers a pathway towards sustainable development, providing economic, environmental, social, and cultural benefits. By embracing this connection, destinations can create a harmonious balance between nature and culture, offering meaningful and immersive experiences while safeguarding the planet’s natural and cultural heritage for future generations.

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

This article is free to read if you register or sign in.

Simply register at no cost.

Questions or problems? Email [email protected] or call 0711 046 000 .

TOURISM SUCCESS

Kenya positioned as key cultural, heritage tourism destination, kenya’s cultural diversity and rich heritage has been a key tourist attraction..

• Some of the key cultural attractions in the destination are the Maa culture, Coastal region cultures and heritage sites such as Lake Turkana Park, Lamu old town and Fort Jesus among others.

• Balala said that the ministry was working towards packaging the experiences with more people now travelling for cultural experiences into the destination.

Kenya’s position as a rich cultural and heritage destination has received a boost following the awarding of Olergesaille Village as the best tourism village by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

Kenya’s cultural diversity and rich heritage has been key tourist attraction and has been the main avenue for the destination to connect with the world through experiences offered and learning.

With the variety of ethnicities across the different regions in the country and many UNESCO world heritage sites, Kenya is positioned as a key cultural and heritage tourism destination in Africa.  

Some of the key cultural attractions in the destination are the Maa culture, Costal region cultures and heritage sites such as Lake Turkana Park, Lamu old town and Fort Jesus among others.

While handing over the UNWTO Best Tourism village certificate to Olergesaille village in Magadi, Kajiado County, Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Najib Balala said that the ministry was working towards packaging the experiences with more people now travelling for cultural experiences into the destination.

“Kenya has over 40 ethnic groupings and with this comes a cultural richness that is loved, and that people from across the world want to experience," Balala said.

He added, "Our goal is to continue showcasing to the world that we have so much more for them to enjoy while in the destination. I congratulate Olergesaile village for putting Kenya on the global map, and I encourage even more of this going forward.” 

Olergaesaille village  also known as Olorgesailie is among 44 villages from 32 countries that were recognised by UNWTO during the 2021 general meeting in Madrid, Spain.

The villages were awarded for having met the criteria of standout natural and cultural resources as well as for their innovative and transformative actions and commitment to the development of tourism in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Located in   Olergesaille   conservancy, the village is the custodian of one of Kenya’s rich prehistoric sites which are of global interest as it helps to piece together human history and development.

It is famous for the hand axes unearthed here, many of which date back almost one million years and are some of the oldest ever found.

Most of the axes are egg-shaped with razor-sharp edges for cutting and hewing perfectly formed tools to fit a human hand.

Because early humans camped here, there is an abundance of tools that are categorized as belonging to the Acheulean period.

The location also offers a unique insight into our early ancestors Homo Erectus, and into the evolution of other early human species, with evidence of continuous hominid activity from 1.2 million to 490 thousand years ago.

"Sustainability is key for Kenya’s tourism industry and therefore the work that has been undertaken on the prehistoric site, which is under UNESCO’s tentative list of 2010, is of utmost significance," KTB CEO Betty Radier said.

Radier added that this also proves that Kenya is truly the cradle of mankind with the kind of pre-historic artefacts unearthed here and in Turkana”

Founder of the Maa village Olergesaille, Charles Leshore said they are humbled to receive the UNWTO best tourism village recognition which is a testament to the work that has been undertaken by the community.

"Our model is adopted to combine the community, conservation and tourism business which are our key pillars.   I  encourage other community projects in Kenya to leverage on global platforms like UNWTO to showcase the contribution they make in enriching visitor experience in Kenya,” Leshore said.

Other key attractions and activities are a Prehistoric Stone Tools Factory, the Maa Museum, Mt. Olergesaille, Mt. Oletepesi, the Donkey Phenomenon, breath-taking landscapes, and the Maasai culture.

Activities such as mountain climbing and hiking and bird watching are also key attractions.

Patrol cars, motorcycles to boost war on poaching

Let's save the nairobi national park, most popular, we will construct night club at uhuru park – sakaja, stay calm, avoid speculation, mwaura after chopper crash, lusaka meets ford kenya youth to counter tawe movement, kdf chopper crash: senior military officials feared dead, kenya to host african union aacc secretariat – ruto, latest videos, police in turkana arrest kdf soldiers who slapped, disarmed colleague, the news brief: job losses loom as state targets academic fakes to ..., sign up for the free star email newsletter and receive the latest kenya news daily..

UNESCO heritage workshop focuses on sustainable tourism in waterside ASEAN communities

The UNESCO workshop, ‘Integrating Living Heritage and Creative City to Sustainable Tourism in Waterway Cities of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand’ (‘Integrating Living Heritage’ workshop) was held in the heritage destination town of Nan Old City, Thailand, from 4 to 7 February 2024. The workshop was designed for tourism professionals from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Thailand to engage in an exchange of knowledge and expertise towards developing sustainable tourism models for waterside cities in the three regional Member States—and others, by extension—of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

The workshop for trans-boundary networking among the three neighboring countries was made possible with the generous support of the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA), ASEAN-Türkiye Cooperation, K11, International Training Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (CRIHAP), and ONYX Hospitality Group. The workshop was facilitated in collaboration with The City Connext and b.Consulting Cambodia.

The ‘Integrating Living Heritage’ workshop aimed to foster meaningful connections among its participants and catalyze various mechanisms for sustainable tourism initiatives in the region, with Nan Old City serving as an illustrative case study. At the core of the workshop was a series of UNESCO-curated activities designed to foster cross-cultural exchange and empower local communities. Led by experts from UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok, the Thailand Community-Based Tourism Institute (CBT-I), Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA), panel sessions delved into the essence of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and its pivotal role in shaping inclusive tourism experiences, sustainable tourism, creative cities, and creative tourism. 

The workshop explored various interconnected topics such as the role of Community-based Tourism (CBT) as a catalyst for sustainable development, and the creation of the CBT social business model. Immersive field visits complemented the programme to allow participants a firsthand experience of Nan’s vibrant culture. In addition, hands-on workshops provided participants with practical skills and tools to navigate the complexities of sustainable tourism development, such as the crafting of compelling narratives that might resonate with diverse audiences, to designing innovative tourism experiences rooted in the local culture and community.

Throughout the workshop, participants learned how to integrate elements of ICH into tourism practices, while building robust networks for future collaboration. Interactive group activities, such as community-based inventorying simulations and role-playing exercises, provided experiences in navigating the complexities of sustainable tourism development. Networking sessions facilitated knowledge-sharing among professionals from diverse backgrounds, including fashion brands, hotels, restaurants, universities, and local municipal authorities and NGOs, reflecting the role of all stakeholders in collaboratively shaping the future of sustainable tourism in the region. 

With a large enrollment of youth, the workshop highlighted UNESCO’s priority in empowering young leaders to actively contribute to cultural preservation efforts while embracing innovative approaches to tourism development. Youth participation further underscored the importance of intergenerational dialogue in driving sustainable change.

UNESCO is organizing more seminars on sustainable tourism for ASEAN professionals until June 2024. Receive the latest update on planned events and more information by visiting the project portal and the project page .

#SustainableTourism #IntangibleCulturalHeritage #CreativeCities #ASEANWaterwayCities 

Reporting for this article was contributed by Yizheng Gu, an intern supporting the work of the Culture Unit of the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok.

Special thanks to the Development Nan Youth Club and City Connext for the photography and video production.

More from UNESCO Bangkok

Related items.

• Cultural heritage
• Intangible cultural heritage
• Intangible heritage
• Cultural tourism
• Creative cities
• Sustainable Tourism
• Region: Asia and the Pacific
• UNESCO Office in Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education
• SDG: SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
• SDG: SDG 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• SDG: SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• See more add

This article is related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals .

More on this subject

Other recent news

Cultural Tourism: Alaska Native Heritage Center ready to rouse a sleeping economic giant

Research shows cultural tourism is on the rise in Indian Country, because travelers crave authenticity and want deeper experiences with Indigenous peoples – a trend that could help Alaska tribes develop their own tourism businesses.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is one of five Native groups that will receive federal money to expand cultural tourism. The Heritage Center’s director, Emily Edenshaw, predicts it will benefit the state’s entire travel industry.

“It’s a sleeping giant,” Edenshaw said. “It’s untapped.”

Edenshaw says it’s an opportunity to re-think tourism in Alaska, which she believes has come to rely too much on wildlife and scenery to draw tourists.

“Come and see the mountains and the brown bears -- and come explore and discover and go on the glaciers and look at the berries,” says Edenshaw, reciting the typical travel industry pitch that she says needs to be updated. “What about the Indigenous experience? Our people have been here for 10,000 years, in some cases even longer than that.”

The Heritage Center will receive about $50,000 to boost tourism. The money comes from the Office of Indian Economic Development, under the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has partnered with the American Indian Alaska Native Travel Association (AIANTA) to oversee the grants.

The association’s director, Sherry Rupert, says it’s a good time to invest in Indigenous tourism.

“Visitation to our communities is increasing. That’s why we’re so interested in supporting efforts up in Alaska,” Rupert said. “Alaska has the largest number of federally recognized tribes than in any other state. There is so much potential there for these small communities.”

Rupert says cultural tourism not only creates jobs and economic opportunity, but also helps tribes hold on to their heritage.

“I think it really sparks a light and really sparks that pride in who they are, so it helps us to preserve our cultural identity.”

Edenshaw says the AINATA grant will be used to create a new position, a cultural tourism navigator, who will work with other communities to develop their own visitor experiences.

The grant will also be leveraged with other public and private funds – and will augment ongoing efforts at the Heritage Center to study on the impacts of cultural tourism.

“We need to get the data. We need to know how many jobs it creates. We need to know the economic impact through a cultural tourism lens,” said Edenshaw. “And the truth is, this has never happened in Alaska.”

As the Alaska Native Heritage Center approaches its 25 th anniversary, Edenshaw says tourism is not just about how Alaska Native cultures lived in the past. She says it’s also about their future.

Edenshaw hopes that as Indigenous tourism grows, it will help to bridge cultural divides within the state by giving Alaskans an appreciation for Native cultures, as well as generate empathy and understanding for some of the struggles and historical trauma Native peoples have faced.

Other organizations to receive AINATA funding for cultural tourism are: the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York, The Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce in South Dakota, the Shonto Economic Development Corporation in Arizona, and the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association in Honolulu.

52 Tips for Responsible and Sustainable Tourism

S ustainable Tourism, also known as Responsible Tourism, creates better communities to live in and better destinations to visit.  It minimizes negative economic, environmental and social impacts of travel.

With Responsible Tourism, travelers often enjoy otherwise remote locations while making positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage.  At times, there is even a volunteer component.  To follow are my all-time favorite 52 perfect travel tips and places to visit for responsible tourism. 

1. Support Remote Villages

Visit the remote villages at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in India to observe Nepalese folk dances, songs and skits showcasing an amazing local history. Supporting local communities is important in eco-tourism.

2. See the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania

Travel to the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.  With its 2000 feet high walls, you can expect to see lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, hippos, flamingos, jackals, rhinos, antelopes, many birds and other animals.

3. Visit Katitawa Salasaca in Ecuador

Visit the Katitawa Salasaca Community located near the village of Baños, Ecuador for volunteer work with children at local school.  This amazing program was reviewed in the New York Times.

4. Blyde River Canyon and the Three Rondawels in Mpumalanga

Check out the Blyde River Canyon and the Three Rondawels in Mpumalanga, South Africa.  This canyon consists mostly of red sandstone and is one of the largest canyons on Earth.  The huge, round rocks, are thought to be reminiscent of the houses or huts of the indigenous people, known as rondavels.

5. Knuckles Mountain Range in Sri Lanka

The Knuckles Mountain Range in Sri Lanka, a newly designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known for ecotourism and rare untouched beauty.

6. Humacchuco in Peru

Enjoy a visit to Humacchuco in Peru for a day of untouched mountain beauty, authentic food and gorgeous vistas.

7. Pramuka Island’s Coral Reef in Indonesia

Witness the dedication to preserving Pramuka Island’s coral reefs by observing coral reef evaluation procedures, and then set off on an exciting island exploration adventure.

8. See Qutab Minar in Delhi

Make a trip to Qutab Minar (also known as Qutb Minar) located in Delhi .  Built in 1192, it is the tallest minaret tower, Humanyun’s Tomb and an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

9. Akchour Village in Morocco

Visit Akchour Village, Morocco, for viewing the amazing waterfalls and hiking to the natural arch named God’s Bridge.

10. Train from Kandy to Rozella

Travel aboard an antique train from Kandy to Rozella, both in Sri Lanka, to experience views of one of the highest concentrations of waterfalls in the world

11. Visit Freiberg, Germany Sustainable Model District

Visit Freiberg, Germany known as the jewel of the black forest.  The community is a “sustainable model district” and uses solar power is used to power many of the households.  There is a farmers’ market every day except Sundays and Freiberg is a foodie heaven and most restaurant kitchens use local ingredients.

12. Visit Fort McMurray, Alberta for the the Aurora Borealis

The shimmering, neon green curtain of the Northern Lights also known as the Aurora Borealis makes for unforgettable nights in Edmonton.  Head north to Fort McMurray , Alberta’s northernmost city, to experience the mysteries of constellations that spellbind residents and visitors alike in the crisp night sky. For the best Northern lights viewing head a few minutes out of town.

13. Visit the Chimborazo Fauna Reserve Ecuador

Travel to the Chimborazo Fauna Reserve Community in the center of Ecuador, volunteer with a local school at more than 10,000 feet in elevation; enjoy spectacular panoramas of the upper Andes.

14. See the Grasslands of Gorumara Park in Dooars

Experience the grasslands of Gorumara Park in Dooars, India for sighting the Asiatic one-horned rhino as well as many elephants.  Gorumara offers great diversity of plants and animals as well as a large variety of flora and fauna.

15. Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda

Visit Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda where the mighty River Nile explodes through a narrow gorge with deafening perfection.

16. Play Soccer in Vicos, Peru

Immerse yourself in the soccer-crazed community of Vicos, Peru, by engaging in a friendly game with the locals. Afterwards, connect with the heart of the community by interacting with the school children.

17. Visit the Ancient Sri Lankan Veddhas Tribe

Embark on an unforgettable journey to encounter the elusive Veddah tribe, Sri Lanka’s ancient inhabitants. Guided by these skilled hunters, you’ll venture into the heart of the wilderness to witness the majestic wild elephants in their natural habitat.

18. Red Fort UNESCO World Heritage Site

Take a tour of Red Fort UNESCO World Heritage Site and Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque of India and a wonderful preservation of Indian heritage.

19. Explore Yellowstone in Wyoming

Check out Yellowstone in Wyoming for the charismatic wolves.  Reintroduced in 1995, these amazing predators often make an appearance in Lamar Valley.  Also, likely to be seen are elk, bison, coyote, bear, moose and deer.

20. See the Baobab Trees in Tanzania

Soaring high above the plains of Arusha, Tanzania, the majestic baobab trees stand as silent sentinels, their colossal trunks reaching up to 98 feet into the sky. These gentle giants dwarf the creatures that gather beneath their shade, even the mighty elephants, of which up to six thousand may roam the region.

21. Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in South Africa

Travel to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Hoedspruit, South Africa to learn about local conservation efforts.  Visit orphaned, injured and even poisoned animals, get an ‘up close and personal’ experience of these incredible creatures.  Attend a guided tour during which they hear about these problems and the challenges associated with conservation and habitat protection.

22. Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia

Visit the pristine wilderness of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, Canada where you can stay at the eco-lodge, King Pacific Lodge on a fishing trip.

23. Explore the Visit the Galapagos Islands

Embark on an unforgettable adventure to the Galapagos Islands, a sanctuary of breathtaking natural beauty and extraordinary wildlife. Where the weather is perpetually perfect and 97% of the islands are protected, you’ll encounter a menagerie of otherworldly creatures that will leave you awestruck.

Encounter the captivating pink iguanas, their vibrant scales adorning the volcanic landscapes. Admire the unique blue-footed boobies, their nimble feet carrying them across the rugged terrain.

Marvel at the Sally Lightfoot crabs, their nimble movements painting the shores with bursts of color. And don’t miss the opportunity to witness the majestic giant tortoises, their ancient shells bearing witness to the islands’ rich history.

24. Talassemtane National Park in Morocco

Travel to the National Reserve of Talassemtane National Park in Morocco.  This location is currently being considered as a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the rare endemic species of fir trees.  Moroccan Fir is unique only in this particular place.

25. Hawksbill Turtle Hatchery in Jakarta Bay

Visit a Hawksbill turtle hatchery in Jakarta Bay, Indonesia to get hands-on experience with these amazing creatures.

26. Build an Adobe Mud in Peru

Try participating in building an adobe mud kitchen construction to include cooking source installation in the Andes Mountains of Peru.

27. Try a Sri Lankan River Bath

Participate in a local Sri Lankan custom of an unforgettable river bath experience.  Explore the riverbanks viewing amazing flora and extensive wildlife or enjoy a tuk-tuk ride back to the village of Kandy.

28. Visit the Taj Mahal in Agra

Visit perhaps the most famous and beautiful monument of love; the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.  It was commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his pretty wife Mumtaz Mahal and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

29. Learn About Hydroelectricity in Jaldhaka

Travel to Jaldhaka, India famous for the Hydel Power Station.  The cost of hydroelectricity is relatively low, making it a competitive source of renewable electricity. The hydroelectric complex produces no direct waste and has a considerably lower output level of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than fossil fuel-powered energy plants.

30. Visit El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico

Journey to the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles group for El Yunque National Forest.  It is the sole tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest System and offers a stunning example of immense biodiversity.

31. Visit Mayan Ruins in Belize

Visit the Mayan ruins in Altun-Ha, Belize then enjoys a nature viewing cruise down the Belize River for sightings of crocodiles, manatee, iguanas, exotic birds, bats and monkeys.

32. See the Wildlife in Kampala, Uganda

View elephants, buffalo, bushbucks, lions, hippos, crocodiles, and a variety of bird species outside Kampala, Uganda.

33. Cotopaxi National Park n Ecuador

Travel to Cotopaxi National Park is a protected area in Ecuador.  The volcano that lends its name to the park is located within its boundaries and is among the tallest active volcanoes in the world.

34. Visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Uluru

Visit with Aboriginals at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. The area is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings.

35. See the Sigiriya Rock Fortress in Sri Lanka

35. Explore the UNESCO World Heritage Site from the 5th century A.D. Sigiriya Rock Fortress in the Matale District of Sri Lanka.  This unforgettable lion rock citadel is also renowned for its ancient paintings.

36. Explore Huaraz, Peru

Take a panoramic seven-hour journey to the remote Peruvian town of Huaraz.  The spectacular landscapes along the way will amaze as you ascend to the 10,000+ feet altitude!

37. Lake Manyara in Tanzania

Lake Manyara in Tanzania is a serene and beautiful alkaline lake that hosts thousands of flamingos and a diversity of other bird life.

38. Visit the Historic Agra Fort

Travel to the historic Agra Fort, another UNESCO World Heritage Site located in India. This was the location that four of the mighty rulers from the Mughal dynasty ruled their enormous empire in the Indian Sub-Continent.

39. Learn about the Ancient Tea Gardens in Lava

Visit the ancient tea gardens and historic Buddhist monastery in Lava, India. The Dalai Lama, on his visit to Kalimpong in the year 1956 presented a set of rare manuscripts “Kangyur” of 108 volumes to the monastery.

40. Visit Dambulla Rock Temple

Explore the UNESCO World Heritage Site from the 1st century B.C. Dambulla Rock Temple is also known as the Golden Temple.  This still functional ancient edifice remains the best-preserved in Sri Lanka.

41. Visit Chefchaouen in Morocco

Walk the streets of Chefchaouen to visit the blue medina, observe the local life of Berber people and contemplate the Andalusian architecture which still persists today. 

Meet local teachers and students eager to exchange stories.  Assist with the school for garden beautification project then participate in bread making workshop.  This is the life of typical northern Morocco.

42. Buy Recycled Crafts & Jewelry in Jakarta

Watch local artisans utilize recycled materials to make crafts, jewelry and other household items in Jakarta, Indonesia.

43. Trek the Mindo Tropical Rain Forest in Ecuador

Venture into the heart of Ecuador’s Mindo Valley, where the enchanting Mindo Tropical Rain Forest, also known as the “Cloud Forest”.

Visit established environmental stations, where you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the rainforest’s delicate balance and the importance of conservation efforts. Witness the remarkable transformation of this ever-expanding forest, the only one of its kind in the world, and marvel at the power of nature’s resilience.

44. Kruger National Park in South Africa

Tour the amazing Kruger National Park in South Africa.  It is one of the greatest game reserves in the world; offering vast, unspoiled and beautiful wilderness.  See the world as it was thousands of years ago, the Big Five safari will not disappoint.

45. Experience the The Elephant Pilgrimage in Pinnawala

The Elephant Pilgrimage in Pinnawala has been designed for nature lovers.  10% of the world’s elephant population is concentrated on the small island of Sri Lanka.

46. Volunteer in Gorubathan, India

In Gorubathan, India, participate in various community awareness programs teaching on various subjects such as HIV/Aids, Human Trafficking, Child Labor, Drug Addiction, Medical/Eye Screening or other necessary community outreach. Learn more here .

47. Visit a Monkey Sanctuary in Honduras

Travel to the gorgeous island of Roatan, Honduras where eco-adventure awaits. Zipline through the jungle treetops, visit a monkey sanctuary and a farm for the protected black iguana, found only on Roatan.  Later dine like a local on green iguana, an island delicacy.

48. Volunteer in New Delhi

Volunteer in New Delhi, India visiting homes in the slums to see the lifestyle and culture as well as to interact directly with the villagers, share ideas and experiences to educate locals to improved living conditions. Learn more here .

49. Learn about Polynesian Cultural Heritage in Laie

Soak up Polynesian Cultural Heritage in Laie on the island of Oahu, Hawaii for the ultimate display of the cultures, diversity and spirit of the nations of Polynesia.

50. Tour Copenhagen by Bike

Go bicycling in Copenhagen, Denmark a city with a rich history of maritime industry, business, culture, and tourism.  This is It is perhaps the most environmentally conscious city on earth.

51. Visit the Ecuadorian Upper Amazon Basin

Travel back in time to the Ecuadorian Upper Amazon Basin.  The area is home to several indigenous nations such as Secoyas, Huaorani, Shuaras, Sionas, Cofanes and Quichuas, each one with its own characteristic features such as language, customs and own vision.

52. Spin the Globe and Live Your Passion

The only boundaries are your imagination!

Recommended Travel Resources

* World Nomads provides travel insurance for travelers in over 100 countries. As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads or any other travel insurance company. This is information only and not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.  

• Travel Insurance: World Nomads *.
• Transport: CheapOAir and Skyscanner (Best Sites to Research Flight Prices) 
• Best Car Rental Deals: Rentalcars.com
• Best Sites to Find Hotel Deals: Hotels.com and Booking.com
• My Favorite Hotel Review Website: TripAdvisor
• Best Tours: Viator and Get Your Guide

Follow  52 Perfect Days  on

  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Pinterest  |  Instagram

The post 52 Tips for Responsible and Sustainable Tourism appeared first on 52 Perfect Days .

How Abu Dhabi is Celebrating Its Precious Historic Landmarks

Perhaps one of the most special things about the Middle East is its knack for balancing its rich history and traditions with the ever-mounting list of innovations that surround it. And keeping the past — and its value — at the forefront, Abu Dhabi has found a new way to celebrate its landmarks.

Al Ibrahimi Building. Photo: Courtesy Abu Dhabi Department Of Culture And Tourism

Launched last year by the Abu Dhabi Department Of Culture And Tourism (DCT), the  Modern Heritage Building Plaque Programme is the capital’s effort to celebrate its historical sites and remind all who visit that these spaces hold special meaning. Each site that qualifies is then eligible for maintenance and rehabilitation.

United Arab Emirates University. Photo: Courtesy Abu Dhabi Department Of Culture And Tourism

“The iconic buildings recognized as modern heritage sites are integral to Abu Dhabi’s cultural fabric, reflecting our rich heritage and evolution,” explained His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT. “It is our mission to safeguard and promote these landmarks and we commemorate the first step in our journey as we highlight and protect Abu Dhabi’s modern heritage sites for future generations. The recognition ceremony reiterates the shared responsibility that we have with the community to preserve these sites.”

Zayed Sports City. Photo: Courtesy Abu Dhabi Department Of Culture And Tourism

As of February 2024, the first plaque belonging to the programme was mounted onto the walls of the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi in Qasr Al Hosn, which was officially counted as the first of 62 modern heritage sites identified by DCT. Come April, more plaques are now being placed all over Abu Dhabi as a symbol of recognition and respect for the monuments, buildings and spaces that have stood the test of time.

Fish Market at Mina Zayed. Photo: Courtesy Abu Dhabi Department Of Culture And Tourism

The complete list also includes mosques, shopping areas, parks, hotels, taxi stands, fire stations, hospitals and schools. Among the list, you’ll find a mix of well-known spots, as well as hidden gems: The National Theatre, Radisson Blu Hotel & Resort – Abu Dhabi Corniche Omairah Building, Radisson Blu Hotel & Resort – Abu Dhabi Corniche Omairah Building, Al Maqta Conservation Area, Former Al Jazeera Hospital, Sheikh Zayed Sports City, The Armed Forces Officers Club and Hotel, and Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort are just some noteworthy names. You can check out the complete list here .

Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Thani Mosque. Photo: Courtesy Abu Dhabi Department Of Culture And Tourism

Vogue Recommends

Youssra receives a special honor at the beirut international women film festival.

Meghan Markle’s First American Riviera Orchard Product Revealed By Her Friends

UAE Rainstorm: Everything to Know About the Weather This Week

Etel Adnan: 5 Things To Know About The Lebanese American Poet And Artist

Suggestions, vogue collection, vogue edition.

Arabia Chevron

Australia Chevron

Brasil Chevron

China Chevron

Czechoslovakia Chevron

España Chevron

Germany Chevron

Greece Chevron

Hong Kong Chevron

India Chevron

Italia Chevron

Japan Chevron

Korea Chevron

México Chevron

Nederland Chevron

Paris Chevron

Polska Chevron

Portugal Chevron

Russia Chevron

Singapore Chevron

Taiwan Chevron

Thailand Chevron

Türkiye Chevron

Ukraine Chevron

© 2024 Nervora Fashion, Inc. and Condé Nast. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Nervora Fashion, Inc. and Condé Nast.

• Logout Login
• Adventure Holidays
• Weekend Getaways
• Driving Holidays
• Travel News

Top Searches

India Adventure Sports

World Remote Rewarding Places

Hamad International Airport

World Heritage Day

UP Sky Glass Walk

Dubai Airport Travel Advisory

Vrindavan to soon have a 70-storey skyscraper temple to boost tourism

Times of India TIMESOFINDIA.COM / TRAVEL NEWS , UTTAR PRADESH / Created : Apr 17, 2024, 12:30 IST

You're Reading

To accommodate this influx, the temple complex is set to feature one of the largest parking facilities, multi-level parking capable of accommodating up to 3,000 cars concurrently.

To accommodate this influx, the temple complex is set to feature one of the largest parking facilities, multi-level parking capable of accommodating up to 3,000 cars concurrently. Read less

More from Travel News

Cities known for their signature colours; India’s two on the list

Comments (0).

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

Comments ( ) Sort: Newest UpVoted Oldest Discussed Down Voted closecomments

SIGN IN WITH

Or post without registration.

Visual Stories

Popular Galleries

World Heritage Day 2024: India’s 5 remarkable sites that draw millions every year TRAVEL TRENDS , INDIA

Pilgrimage destinations in India for the summer TRAVEL TRENDS , INDIA

World’s most remote, yet rewarding, places to visit TRAVEL TRENDS , WORLD

Trending stories.

Journey through the enigmatic Pinnacles, one of the world's weirdest landscapes

UP: Sky glass walk, like Lord Rama's bow and arrow, to open in Chitrakoot

World Heritage Day 2024: India’s 5 remarkable sites that draw millions every year

10 cities in India struggling with overtourism

• Doha’s Hamad International Airport crowned as the best airport in the world
• 1 Vrindavan to soon have a 70-storey skyscraper temple to boost tourism
• 2 Canada reduces staff at Indian missions: Will visa services be impacted?
• 3 Saudi Arabia changes Umrah visa rule; to remain valid for 3 months from issuance date
• 4 Italy and Spain launch Digital Nomad Visa: what does it mean?
• 5 Delhi Airport ranked among world’s top 10 busiest airports: ACI report

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO DESTINATIONS, ITINERARIES, THINGS TO DO, RESTAURANTS, NIGHTLIFE and LOTS MORE!

FOLLOW US ON

Places to visit.

• Places to visit in Bangalore
• Places to visit in Mumbai
• Places to visit in Delhi
• Places to visit in Goa
• Hotels in Goa
• Hotels in Jaipur
• Hotels in Shimla
• Hotels in Mumbai

Things To do

• Things to do in Goa
• Things to do in Mumbai
• Things to do in Bangalore
• Things to do in Delhi

Travel Inspiration

• Visa on arrival for Indians
• Honeymoon Places in india
• Hill Stations in India
• Weekend getaways in Mumbai
• Weather in Delhi
• Weather in Chennai
• Weather in Bangalore
• Weather in Mumbai

Best Beaches

• Goa Beaches
• Mumbai Beaches
• Pondicherry Beaches
• Kerala Beaches
• Restaurants in Bangalore
• Restaurants in Chennai
• Restaurants in Pune
• Restaurants in Jaipur
• Hill Station near Delhi
• Winter trip to Ladakh
• Places to visit in Kerala
• Winter Honeymoon Destinations
• UK visa guide for Indians
• Winter Trip to Manali
• Vaishno Devi Yatra
• Special Train Ticket Booking
• HP inter-state Bus
• Honeymoon Destinations India

Latest News

• A journey through the enigmatic Pinnacles in Australia, one of the world's weirdest landscapes
• UP: First-ever sky glass walk, resembling Lord Rama's bow and arrow, to open in Chitrakoot
• Dubai Airport releases travel advisory amid heavy rainfall; Indian consulate issues helpline numbers

Congratulations!

You have been successfully added to the mailing list of Times of India Travel. To complete the subscription process, kindly open your inbox and click on the confirmation link which has been emailed to you.

Share with friends

Thank You for sharing! Your friend will receive the article link on email mentioned.

• (For more than one recipient, type addresses separated by commas)