Reflective Essay : Heritage and Cultural Tourism Management
1 Understand the growth and development of the heritage and cultural industry within travel and tourism (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, M1, M2, M3, D2, D3)
1.1 Analyze the growth and development of the heritage and cultural industry
The heritage and the cultural Tourism Industry play a significant role towards establishing the uniqueness about the cultural heritage of a country at the Global stage. The heritage and cultural based Tourism Industry as the sector is observed to generate about 28% of the UK tourism expenditure every year on an average (Smith, 2015). This section highlights the major events in history that facilitated the growth of the Heritage and Cultural Tourism and Travel Industry in UK.
Timeline to compare major events and developments of the heritage and cultural industry within travel and tourism
The capital city of London remains to be the most significant UK Heritage tourist location ever since the 19th century considering the huge historical heritage it possesses. The City is well known around the world for its exotic locations filled with museums, Opera theatres, galleries and the extremely specific UK Heritage locations that have been the Tourists attractions for the people around the world. The most significant step towards strengthening the performing arts cultural units was the reopening of the West End theatres in 1982 (Timothy, 2017). This is in the event of increase in the visitors from around the world as per the reports of the Society of West End Theatres. In addition, visitor numbers were observed to increase that marked the 5 million-visitor record in London’s Tate Modern and British Museum in 2001.
Edinburgh: Castle and Festivals- 1950s
The city of Edinburgh has been among the most populist tourist attractions in UK and is the second city after London in the number of International visitors. About 23% of the visitors that visit England have agreed Edinburgh Castle and the Festivals to be their main purpose for their visits. The development of the tourism in Edinburgh can be best illustrated with the instance of the festivals and the Edinburgh Castle (Jaafar et al. 2017). The major festivals in Edinburgh are the Tattoo festival, International Festival that entails Opera, music, dance and theatre festivals. In addition, the Fringe festival of Edinburgh is also a major visitor’s attraction. All these festivals have grown over the years and added to the cultural and heritage based tourism of the country.
Growth of the heritage industry
The cultural and heritage based tourism had cultivated the mass tourism industry in England post the Industrial Revolution prominent during the early years of the 20ths century such as the 1920s. The growth was observed in terms of the increased prosperity of the common population that enabled the working class belonging to the Tourism and travel industry with paid holidays, which was not the case previously (Throsby, 2016). The nature of the products and services of the Heritage and Culture based Tourism industry had dramatically altered post the Second World War and recorded a huge amount of enhancement between the years 196s and 1980s. The growth was observed in terms of increased use of the Airplanes and aircrafts for traveling by certain sections of the population. In addition, this facilitated increased opportunities for the tour operators towards offering better packages.
1.2 Discuss potential conflicts in the conservation of heritage and cultural Resources
Potential conflicts in the conservation of heritage and cultural resources in the case of Barcelona (Spain) and Venice (Italy)
Issues and the reason behind the Conflicts
The UN reports suggest that the Tourism industry accounts for about 9% of the Global GDP and therefore, is a major sector that requires effective awareness raising programs surrounding the resolution of different disputes or conflicts. The recent times have observed a great surge in the anti-tourism protests around the world in order to conserve the national culture and heritage in European regions like Barcelona (Spain) and Venice (Italy).
The conflicting issues that surfaced in anti-tourism protests in Barcelona rest with the concerns among the commoners over the unchecked surge in visitor and the impact of such bulk visitors on the domestic housing market of Barcelona (Sharpley and Telfer, 2015). This led to a wave of the anti-tourism protests that took violent turns and the protests had allegedly created “extremist environment” in Barcelona, as per reliable sources.
Similar scenario was observed in the tourist capital of Italy, Venice where the Government officials were observed to be in favor of cracking down on the anti-social behavior in tourist hotspots (Amir et al. 2015). The Government agreed on imposing bans through policy reforms on new tourist accommodations in Venice in an attempt to reduce the overcrowding.
Implications of the Conflicts
As per the understanding developed, it may be reasonable to state that the reality of the anti-tourism sentiments in the European nations have resulted from the problems faced by the common residents in terms of summer congestion. This is supported by the instance that in Venice about 55,000 residents host about 30 Million visitors every year (Smith, 2015). In the case of Barcelona, there is huge foot traffic in the streets in the pedestrian sections of the street along the Las Ramblas, which appears as a huge crowd leaving the stadium after an epic football match engaging in leisure activities.
This influences the regular activities such as the local shopping, transportation accessibility and simple walking around the city of the residents, especially in the intensely populated areas, as it becomes extremely challenging in the presence of such massive visitor strengths. The local communities also suffer significantly due to over-tourism as the transportation in the host countries get occupied by the visitors (Amir et al. 2015). The social mobilization that had surfaced following incidents of conflict due to the problems of overcrowding and over tourism in the European and other countries of the world complete the academic and the economists across the world to debate the idea of sustainability of the Tourism Industry. The case studies of Barcelona and Venice also illustrate the attitude of the government towards mitigating the complexities of the conflicts and converting the national culture and heritage through effective urban planning and regulation and channeling the tourism activities.
Task 2: reflective essay
The purpose of heritage and cultural attractions in meeting the needs of different customers (LO2, AC2.1, M1, M2, M3, D2, D3)
The purpose of heritage and cultural attractions in meeting the customer needs
Different heritage and cultural attractions of a particular country helps in improving the economy of the country by attracting a major moiety of tourists in the country. It is important to note that cultural tourism is concerned with the region or the culture that specifies the lifestyles of the people of the area. Each of the cultural heritage destinations of UK has their specific purposes that help in meeting different customer needs of different tourists. For example, British Museum in particular attracts a specific segment of tourists that is different from the potential customers of the Queen’s House (Richards, 2016). However, from the experiences of the field trip to the British Museum, the National Maritime museum and the Queen’s house I have identified that each of destinations have certain type of tourists and some of the common category of tourists as well. The international tourists for enhancing their knowledge regarding the history and the culture of the country usually consider the mentioned heritage and cultural attractions (Camarero et al. 2015). In order to understand the purpose of these places in meeting the needs of the customers it is important to understand the different purposes that the visitors of these places have and they varies from pleasure to entertainment (Horner and Swarbrooke, 2016). Cultural motivation is one of the potent motivational factors for the customers of the tourism industry. The aforementioned heritage and cultural destinations are driven by the cultural motivation and the need of personal development of the visitors.
Explanation of the main purpose of the British Museum, the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich park and the Queen’s House
This is one of the most popular and old museums of the country that has become one of the most selected destinations for the visitors of the country. This museum focuses on the art and culture and thus this public institution has been dedicated to human history. The permanent collection of the Museum has approximately 8 million works of Art (British Museum. 2018). The chief purpose as it is evident from the collection of the museum is to attract the art connoisseurs and the cultural enthusiasts of the world. The sponsorship by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport suggests that the place is an exceptional place for visitors who tend to visit places for the love of art and history (Jung et al. 2018). The chief purposes can be recorded as follows:
- It has become one of the important source of enrichment of the visitors by promoting the need of knowledge of art, history and culture
- They provide the visitors an experience of accessing the vast art collection free of cost
- The place is one of the important visiting spots for global scholars and enthusiasts of history and Arts
Customer categories: This particular Museum consists of a large number of artifacts from the globe and several significant souvenirs from different British colonies and thus the place attracts visitors who have interest in art, culture and history. Due to the cultural and historic importance of the place, it attracts tourists of all age groups and people with varied interests. The art gallery and different events and exhibitions organized in the venue attract auctioneers, connoisseurs, painters and artists as well.
The national Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum is considered to be the largest of this kind globally and the collection of the museum is filled with stories of exploration and human behavior. This museum contains different pieces that tell stories regarding Britain’s exploration of the sea and helps in learning about greatest British Admirals and the Royal Navy (email@example.com, 2018). Thus, the purpose of the place is to attract people who have interest in British Navy and different historic battles. Several lectures by the curators attract university students, educationists and scholars. The place due to its potential as a source of historical knowledge is considered as an important venue for school tours as well.
Customer categories: This museum caters the customer needs of the following tourist categories
- Students and teachers
- Visitors looking for personal development of their knowledge
- International visitors who are willing to explore different information regarding British navy
- Children for enhancing their knowledge and interest in British navy
Greenwich Park and Queen’s house
This place is known as the oldest enclosed Royal Park that was formerly a hunting grpounds of the Royals. This place currently maintains a vast 183-acre grassland that provides an urban sanctuary for deer, foxes and over 70 species of birds (visitlondon.com. 2018). The moot purpose of the spot is to provide a wide range of facilities in order ensure meeting a variety of customer needs and demands. The place is appropriate for people of different interest and purposes as this sopt includes child friendly boating lake, tennis courts, the Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum. The place is also widely used for filming locations.
The place caters the needs of a vast range of customer categories. For instance, people can visit this place for personal interests like spending quality time with their family and for site seeing as well. The tennis lovers are also attracted through the tennis courts. On the other hand, international tourists visit this place for experiencing great scenic beauty of the Greenwich Meridian Line and London (visitlondon.com. 2018). People for exquisite Royal observatory prefer this heritage attraction.
Evaluation of how the attractions meet the needs of different visitors
In spite of the fact that Cultural heritage and tourism is two mutually independent phenomena, the overwhelming growth of tourism industry in UK has significantly included the heritage in the cultural business of UK.
From my experience of visiting these places, I have understood that different cultural and heritage attractions has their own desired tourists and visitors. The British Museum is one of the favorites of people who have interest in arts, history and culture. On the other hand, the Greenwich is a place that has different types of visitors place like the Greenwich Park, Maritime museum and Queen’s House. Therefore, the target customer of the spot is vast and it caters different needs of the tourists from different categories.
Task 3 (LO3, AC 3.1, 3.2, M1, M2, M3, D1, D2, D3)
LO3: Understanding the roles, responsibilities and ownership of organisations in the heritage and cultural industry
The present scenario that is associated with the heritage and cultural industry tends to emphasise on the fact that, there are certain assigned roles and responsibilities of ownership of the organisations that are predominant within the tenets of the cultural and heritage industry in the travel and tourism sector. Thus, from this point of view it can be said that, the effective management of heritage and cultural sites tend to vary in accordance with the ownership styles that are being perceived by the heritage and cultural industry (Bartlett and Beamish, 2018).
3.1 Evaluation of the implications of different types of ownership on the management of heritage and cultural sites
Ownership of heritage and culture
Some of the heritage and cultural sites and essentially managed by the joint as well as public private partnership. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the roles, responsibilities and ownership of organisations present n the heritage and cultural industry.
Public ownership: in U.K., it has been found that, the management of heritage and cultural sites are tentatively monitored and controlled by the government of the country. It is to be noted that, The National Heritage Collection contains more than 400 sites in England and ranges from the prehistoric stone circles. It includes Stonehenge and parts of Hadrian’s Wall. The physical remains of the history of nation are considered a rich source. However, the Commission essentially believes the fact that, right approach lays in the fact that, it helps in making management and maintenance of the National Heritage Collection that is associated with self financing, which upfront investment as well as greater commercial freedom. In addition to this, the National Trust is dedicated towards the preservation of cultural heritage of a definite geographic region. This trust operates as a private non-profit organisation in U.K (Triandis, 2018).
Private ownership: the management of the cultural and heritage sites as well as the overall controlling and monitoring of the sites need to be assessed. In addition to this, it is equally important to emphasise on the fact that, the overall management in the current scenario of the travel and tourism sector is based on the management of cultural and heritage sites for the preservation of the sites for tourists (Balmer, 2017).
The major UK heritage organisations, which look after the controlling and monitoring of the heritage sites in the country, are English Heritage and National Trust. It is to be noted that, these heritage organizations act as a manifestation of the definite methods and processes that needs to be taken into account. Thus, these organisations play an important role in the addressing the objectification of the heritage processes (Hewison and Holden, 2016).
Formed in the year 2015, English Heritage is one of the major registered charity organisations. It helps in the management of the National Heritage Collection. In addition to this, the National Heritage Collection essentially contains of over 400 of the historic buildings, sites and monuments of England. These sites are more than 5,000 years old. The predominant historic sites under this definite portfolio are namely Dover Castle, Tintagel Castle, as well as Stonehenge along with the best preserved parts of Hadrian’s Wall. This definite heritage organisation was essentially built in order to combine the definite roles of the existing bodies. In UK, it managed to emerge from a prolonged period. It was in the year 1999, that the organisation managed to merge with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England along with the National Monuments Record. It helped the country in bringing the significant resources that helps in the identification along with the survey of the historic environment of England (Throsby, 2016).
The National Trust of England is essentially dedicated with the preservation of the cultural heritage of definite geographic region. In UK, the National Trust is focuses on the principal role in order to ensure the preservation of the historically significant items. The National Trust of UK usually operates as private non-profit organisations. However, the heritage organisation establishes collaboration with the best practices that are predominant within the heritage and cultural industry that mandatorily support the associative processes, which help in the beneficial aspects of travel and tourism sectors (Robertso, 2016).
Roles and responsibilities
After attaining the extensive knowledge regarding the heritage organizations of UK, it is important to understand the roles and responsibilities of that are assigned to them. They are as follows:
- This heritage organisation helps in the attainment of authenticity. It implies the fact that, with the use of careful and precise research, this organisation separates fact from fiction, in order to bring fascinating truth to their tourists in UK.
- The pursuing of highest standards within the premises of the organisation are associated with the services, which provide the visitors to the quality of communication that is one of the significant aspects of travel and tourism sector
- English Heritage aims at securing the preservation of the ancient monuments along with historic buildings that includes maritime heritage.
- Promotion of public enjoyment and advancement of knowledge regarding the information of monuments and buildings.
- Coordination of development of the National Heritage Protection Plan as well as the implementation of the English Heritage Action Plan.
- The Commission has also proposed an eight year programme, which emphasises on the splitting of management of the different types of services in order to deliver the preservation of the cultural heritage sites in UK (De Groot, 2016).
- National Trust of UK helps in the preservation and protection of the heritage of the people and spaces for every visitor visiting the heritage and cultural sites (Chitty, 2016).
- With over several conservators in the heritage organisation, it is important to note that, National Trust of UK is working hard to preserve the protected heritage and cultural sites.
- One of the major conservations of the National Trust is the Textile Conservation Studio, which is based in Norfolk and is a characteristically specialist conservation (Babić, 2015).
3.2 Analysing the roles and responsibilities of organisations in the heritage and cultural industry
The predominant areas of roles and responsibilities that are essentially assigned to the heritage and cultural industry tends to play an important role in the preserving of the cultural sites in an effective manner. They are as follows:
- The first and foremost responsibility that is played by the heritage organisation has an advisory role in the definite historic development of the environment. It plays a significant role in the preserving of the sites and buildings that are of historic importance.
- Management of change within the premises of the historic environment and are involved in the varied issues of planning, which is related to the proper change management processes (Timothy, 2017).
- The heritage organisation helps in seeking opportunities along with the implementation of the changes that help in the enhancement of the historic environment in UK (Babić, 2015).
Task 4: Different methods and media of interpretation within the heritage ad cultural industry for tourists
From my visit through the field trip at British Museum, The National Maritime Museum, The Greenwich Park and The Queen’s house, it has been identified that each of the organizations has a specific memo through which they communicate their purposes and services to the potential customers. The methods that are used for the interpretation are:
- Signs and labels
Signs and labels are considered the most inexpensive means that is widely used for communicating with the tourists. The symbols and placards are employed at the doors of the outdoor locations. Although signs and labels have certain advantages and can be understood by tourists from different parts of the world, it can be aesthetically unpleasant as well (Camarero et al. 2015). In The British Museum, these are provided as the direction guidelines for the visitors and in Greenwich, the labels are used to provide instructions to the visitors.
- Leaflets and guidebooks
Leaflets and the guidebooks are widespread printed foundation of information, it helps the tourists to find the locations of the tourist destinations, and they work as the directory as well. Guidebooks are often considers as a memento the heritage destination. Some of the disadvantages of the printed guidebooks and leaflets are they need to reprinted time to time in order to include the changing details of the venue.
- Touch-screen stalls
These are the latest process of interpretation that has contributed in the possibility for the tourists the superior level of selection. This form of on-print media has been helpful for the contemporary visitors who rely on the digital media more than the print media.
Technological advancement has significantly changed the communication method that was previously used in the British Museum and the Greenwich. Other than the signage board that depicts the details of each of the collections, the stories related to each artifact is told through touch screen walls and multimedia as well (Cetin and Bilgihan, 2016). Visual media is another important medium that is used in Maritime Museum in order to provide the visitors the necessary historical information regarding the materials that are part of the vast collection of the museum. In UK the Culture and heritage tourism is largely dependent on the digital media and stories written on pamphlets are another important method (Yuan et al. 2018). Creatively designed brochures and leaflets are circulated at Greenwich that is informative in nature and aesthetically pleasing as well. Using attractive themes help in transmitting the important information to the culturally different visitors. In this regard, it is also important to note that utilization of the online stories and using social networking sites for updating the events and the exhibition are used in the industry (Coccossis, 2016). The visitors as important guides use the informative official pages of British Museum and the Queen’s House as well.