A road map for cultural heritage tourism

By Lionel WIJESIRI

The historic and cultural resources associated with people, events or aspects of a country's past give that country its sense of identity and help tell its story. These resources are the most tangible reflections of a country's heritage.

The recognition of an area's historic resources can bring about neighbourhood revitalisation, increased and sustainable tourism, economic development through private investment, and citizenship building.

That is why cultural heritage tourism had a key role to play in tourism development in our country.

What exactly is cultural heritage tourism? Cultural heritage tourism means travelling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes irreplaceable historic, cultural and natural resources.

Sri Lanka is gifted with splendid, millennia - old memorials and cultural artifacts in its ancient cities. The three demarcating points of the Cultural Triangle are; Kandy Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. The World Heritage Sites are Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Dambulla, Sigiriya, the walled colonial city of Galle; and nature's heritage; the Sinharaja Rain Forest and the Peak Wilderness.

Outlook

In 2010, Sri Lanka welcomed 654,000 tourists to the island, an increase of 46 percent year-on-year, in line with forecasts of a 50 percent increase for the year. Following a strong 2010, 2011 has been another positive year for Sri Lankan tourism. Arrivals over the first nine months of the year stand at 598,000, up by 34.3 percent year-on-year. With November and December historically being strong months for inbound tourism, analysts forecast a 40 percent growth in tourist arrivals for 2011 as a whole. This should take tourist arrivals to about 914,000. (Sri Lanka crossed the 750,000 figure a few weeks ago)

It is believed that the outlook is still bright for Sri Lanka's tourism and a forecast is made for a 55 percent rise in tourist arrivals to 1.42 million over the newly extended forecast period to 2016. Income from tourists should increase from US$575.00 million in 2010 to over one billion US dollars by 2016.

One challenge is ensuring that tourism does not destroy the very heritage that attracts visitors in the first place. Tourism is a competitive, sophisticated, fast-changing industry that presents its own challenges. It is generally a clean industry: no smokestacks or dangerous chemicals. But it does put demands on the infrastructure - on roads, airports, water supplies and public services such as police and fire protection.

Experiences

Who is the cultural heritage tourism traveller? One who seeks travel experiences that broaden and deepen his or her understanding of other places and people can be termed a cultural heritage traveller. Perhaps tired of the sameness of strip malls everywhere, today's traveller, it seems, is in search of the genuine or authentic experience of a country - in other words, what makes a community special.

Interestingly, visitors to historic sites and cultural attractions stay longer and spend more money than other types of tourists. However, perhaps the biggest benefits of cultural heritage tourism, is diversification of local economies and preservation of a community's unique character.

Because of the benefits, governments stimulate heritage tourism - by financing the conservation of cultural resources, providing financial resources for protection, marketing and promotion, improving authentic visitors' experience, and helping earn higher revenue from the cultural resources achieving economic and social benefits, providing financial resources for protection, as well as marketing and promotion. While tourism operators, heritage managers and communities have their own views and needs, there is a broad range of common interests and great potential for mutual benefit. Of common interest to all are providing appropriate public access, presenting and protecting the significance of places, and the need for sustainability - sustainability for businesses, for heritage places, and for the community.

Road map

The following principles have been derived from the international and national context of sustainable practice in both tourism and heritage.

* Recognise the importance of heritage places

A great deal of tourism relies on places with natural, indigenous and historic significance as fundamental assets on which tourism products are based. Recognising, describing, understanding and communicating significance is an essential part of heritage conservation and responsible tourism at heritage places. Understanding significance makes good business sense for tourism - it is one of the key selling points for products.

Tourism needs to be planned carefully to be appropriate to the significance of a place. Tourism will not be an option for some heritage places where it is incompatible with the significance or management objectives of a place.

To respect the cultural significance of places, people involved in tourism need to be sensitive to, and directly involve, cultural groups who have a special interest in them.

*Look after heritage places

Heritage conservation is a concern of responsible tourism. It ensures the long-term protection of heritage assets. The aim of heritage conservation is to retain the natural and cultural significance of places.

Each heritage place or area has its own particular significance and requirements for conservation. It is the responsibility of people planning tourism activities at heritage places to take all reasonable steps to avoid an impact on the natural and cultural significance of a place.

* Develop mutually beneficial partnerships

Developing active partnerships, alliances and open lines of communication between tourism operators, site managers, other businesses, local communities and indigenous people is the best way to build a sustainable tourism operation. Success depends on building relationships and, where appropriate, forming partnerships of benefit to both tourism and heritage.

Working with local people in the management, presentation and operation of tourism activities will foster ownership and understanding and contribute to positive outcomes for the visitor attraction and local community. Developing partnerships with indigenous custodians is crucial in the case of presenting indigenous heritage.

* Incorporate heritage issues into business planning

As with all business operations, sound business planning is the essential foundation of a successful heritage tourism operation.

A business plan will clearly establish the nature and purpose of the operation and how it will achieve business and heritage objectives. It is important to measure progress toward your objectives and adjust the plan if necessary.

A business plan which incorporates business and heritage objectives can be used to build support in business and heritage sectors. Ongoing research on the significance of places and visitor markets should be used to improve the targeting, marketing and protection of the product and inform reviews of business plans.

* Invest in people and places

Tourism involving heritage places should contribute to the conservation of heritage assets and to the economic and social well-being of local communities. Strategies which bring mutual benefits can be developed to benefit the place, the people involved and the local and regional community.

These can include increasing use of local goods and services, providing corporate contributions to conservation initiatives, technical assistance, training and education programs, direct involvement in management or upgrade of visitor facilities, improved visitor understanding of the significance of a place, or helping achieve other goals that the local community supports.

* Market and promote products responsibly

The significance of heritage places can be the basis for product definition in marketing and promotion.

The marketing and promotion of heritage places needs to recognise and respect their identified significance and the wishes of local communities - and not create unrealistic visitor expectations.

A balance needs to be found between meeting tourism needs for marketing, promotion and product positioning, heritage needs such as planning for the future use of places and appropriate use of images and the needs of visitors for accurate information.

* Provide high quality visitor experiences

Providing an enjoyable and enriching experience for visitors is the goal of everyone involved in heritage tourism. A common understanding of visitor needs and motivations by tourism operators and heritage managers is the basis for providing high quality visitor experiences.

High customer satisfaction is achieved through providing enjoyment for visitors, along with understanding of a place. Attention to detail and a commitment to high quality in the planning of activities, staff training, interpretation and provision of facilities and services will generate positive effects for businesses and heritage places.