Tourism Research Links

Cultural Heritage Tourism

[Prepared by Margaret Paridean, REM Graduate Student]

Gateway Sites

  1. ICOMOS Canada http://canada.icomos.org/. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is an international non-governmental organization of professionals, dedicated to the conservation of the world's historic monuments and sites. ICOMOS provides a forum for professional dialogue and a vehicle for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of information on conservation principles, techniques, and policies. There are national committees around the world, each with their own websites. The focus of ICOMOS Canada is to share, on an international scale, information and expertise on cultural resources and preservation. The website provides papers, articles, a monthly bulletin and references for publications on heritage protection. It also provides links to agencies that manage Canadian World Heritage Sites such as Parks Canada. The main Canadian ICOMOS website is not as useful as some other websites that are affiliated with ICOMOS Canada, but which, unfortunately, are not directly linked. Some of the sites, however, have links to the ICOMOS Canada website. These include The Centre for Environmental Design Research and Outreach (CEDRO) http://www.ucalgary.ca/EVDS/CEDRO/culturaltourism/, affiliated with The University of Calgary and its Faculty of Environmental Design, developed this website in conjunction with the ICOMOS Canada Cultural Tourism Committee and the World Tourism and Education Research Centre (WTERC). The web pages provide a resource for those interested in cultural tourism, enabling them to link with information and cultural tourism practitioners around the world. The website provides broad-based cultural tourism resources and the Index of ICOMOS Canada Momentum bulletins http://canada.icomos.org/bulletin/, which contains over 30 Momentum bulletin articles offering very relevant and in-depth information on theoretical and practical aspects of cultural tourism.
  2. Culture and UNESCO http://www.unesco.int/culture/development/highlights/
    decade/tourism/html_eng/index_en.htm    . This website provides an international scope on cultural tourism. The website's aim is to work together with other agencies such as the World Tourism Organisation, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank, to devise strategies to preserve cultural heritage while promoting intercultural exchanges, thereby contributing to sustainable economic, social and cultural development. Some joint projects featured include "Silk Roads in Central Asia" and "Slave Routes". The website also features internationally-accepted cultural tourism principles and practices and many examples of these principles in application. There are also web links to many of the international organisations and agencies that are partnering in these cultural tourism initiatives.
  3. The World Heritage Newsletter http://www.unesco.org/whc/news/index-en.htm. Although not linked to the UNESCO culture site, this website makes available all 26 of UNESCO's World Heritage Newsletters from April 2000 to February 1993. Each newsletter is described with a table of contents and has a direct link. Some topics of interest to cultural and heritage tourism are: Conserving outstanding cultural landscapes (June 1993); Canals and cultural routes (June 1995); and Education & fostering awareness about heritage (March 1996).
  4. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) http://www.nasaa-arts.org/new/nasaa/artworks/ct_contents.shtml. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) mission is to advance and promote a meaningful role for the arts in the lives of individuals, families and communities throughout the United States. They empower state arts agencies through assistance that fosters leadership, enhances planning and decision-making, and increases resources. Although the emphasis is on the American cultural tourism scene, there is some useful information relating to the broader cultural tourism subject. Some examples include definition of cultural tourism, cultural visitor profiles, examples of state cultural tourism initiatives such as websites that target North Carolina cultural travellers, The Virginia African-American Heritage Trail and publications.

Other Sites

  1. Utah Heritage Tourism Toolkit http://history.utah.org/httoolkit/. Community awareness and interest in expanding, preserving, and managing heritage resources is growing around the world. The process of cultural tourism development is often complex and takes time and the proper tools. The Utah Division of State History Office of Preservation has developed the Heritage Tourism Toolkit, which is a package of practical tools that communities or groups can use to develop, manage, and protect their cultural and heritage resources. The toolkit is well organised, provides applicable information for researchers and useful methods for tourism practitioners from diverse jurisdictions.
  2. Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) www.canadatourism.com. The Canadian Tourism Commission offers a wealth of reference information on a broad spectrum of tourism areas. A useful tool for the cultural tourism researcher is the Reference Centre. Here one can search the CTC Library Catalogue using a simple search or more detailed search for a particular title. A keyword search using the terms "cultural tourism" turned up 62 references with complete bibliographical information. The publications are both Canadian and international, and are published as recently as the year 2000. The documents can be ordered through interlibrary loan.
  3. Australian Centre for Cultural and Media Policy (CMP) http://tkraken.itc.gu.edu.au/centre/cmp/los_4.html. CMP is operated out of the School of Film, Media & Cultural Studies at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. The Cultural Tourism and Heritage Links page provides a wide array of online cultural tourism resources. Although the emphasis is on the Australian cultural heritage scene, the website offers publications and links to related policy areas in other agencies, as well as links to overseas cultural tourism agencies and online research documents.

Additional Gateway Sites [Prepared by Michael Wong, SFU Graduate Student]

  1. Griffith University http://www.gu.edu.au/centre/cmp/los_4.html The Griffith University in Australia has an well-organised website for cultural and heritage tourism for the Australia/New Zealand region. In addition, this gateway offers links to various Art & Culture Ministries located around the world, which include Japan, Italy, Iceland, Greece, and Brazil. This page offers publications on economic indicators of Australia, on-line books on cultural tourism, and links to governmental agencies related to promoting cultural tourism in Australia. Two links from this site include the UNESCO World Heritage Center http://www.unesco.org/whc/nwhc/pages/
    home/pages/homepage.htm     which provides information on the UNESCO convention and those countries participating in this important pact that protects historical sites. One can find information to world heritage sites by either subject topics or by geographical regions. Some of the categories include natural, fossil, biosphere, tropical, cultural and historic regions and The Organisation of World Heritage Cities http://www.ovpm.org/main.asp which consists of over 164 cities that are listed as heritage urban areas. The purpose of this site is allow government administrator access to information that will help maintain these world heritage sites. Links to many of these 164 cities are found on the site with information such as history, population and location. In addition, many city links provide further connections to their museums and cultural events.
  2. City University Arts Policy and Management Resources http://www.city.ac.uk/artspol/index.html This comprehensive website is operated from the City University, London England under the direction of Mr. Patrick Boylan. The gateway has links to hundreds of website located in the UK and around the world. Some of the highlights of this site include links to governmental and intergovernmental agencies connected to cultural tourism, international cultural non-governmental organisations, information on international treaties and conventions related to the cultural tourism. This site offers convenient connections to cultural ministries located around the world, and contains reviews of UK cultural tourism publication. Two interesting links from this site include Virtual Library Museum http://vlmp.museophile.com/ which provides hundreds of link to museums world-wide and links to museum related subjects. Some of the museums represented include the country of Italy, Japan, Austria, Canada, Russia, Romania, and countries from Africa and Latin America and Ministere de la Culture http://www.culture.fr/ which is operated by the French Ministry of Culture and it provides information on cultural news in France and throughout Europe. One can also find the annual budget of the French Cultural Ministry, calendar of cultural events in France, on-line cultural expositions, databases, publications, and statistical figures related to cultural tourism. This site is entirely in French.
  3. The Canadian Heritage Information Network http://www.chin.gc.ca/e_main_menu.html. This internet site is operated by a Canadian federal agency and it provides a gateway for cultural information within Canada. Guests can access information to museums located within Canada and social & archaeological museum artefacts. There is an online forum that allows professionals in the field of cultural heritage to share ideas and exchange information. Visitors to this site can view an online virtual exposition and order various publications related to Canadian heritage. Links from this site include Artefacts Canada http://www.chin.gc.ca/Artefacts/e_artefacts_canada.html where information is classified into three categories, namely, humanities, archeological and natural sciences. In the humanities section, there is information on archaeology, decorative & fine arts, and history. The archaeological age contains material on more than 70 thousand sites found in Canada and the natural science page has information on approximately 28 thousand species and the Canadian Heritage Publication http://www.chin.gc.ca/Resources/Publications/e_publications.html which provides electronic access to on-line publications and allows guest to order manuscripts related to heritage tourism. Additionally, the webpage offers resources such as classification systems and software for gallery and museum product.
  4. Website for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). http://www.nasaa-arts.org/new/nasaa/artworks/ct_contents.shtml. This American site provides a definition of cultural tourism and provides an overview of the industry. The site gives statistics on cultural tourism in American by providing revenue, market share, number of people employed in the field, the most popular activities for American and international travellers, and provides current trends in the industry . The site also describes cultural activities that occur in the specific parts of the United States and provides a calendar for cultural events. In addition, publications on various tourism topics such as the US Department of Transport and Travel Industry of America can be downloaded from the website. Links from this site include the National Heritage Area http://www.ncrc.nps.gov/heritage/program.htm which has been created by various levels of the American government in an attempt to preserve unique cultural and natural landscapes across America. Researchers can locate heritage sites on a virtual map, obtain a contact list and view legislative citation on specific landscapes in America. It also includes links to The National Park Service - Links to the Past http://www.cr.nps.gov/ provided by the American National Parks Service provides links to the past by offering information on cultural topics such as archaeology, historic buildings & structures, general history, and military history. In addition, it offers programs such as American Indian Liaison Office, and Cultural Resource Diversity Initiative.