The diversity of the world’s cultures, both past and present, is one of the key attractions of travel. Governments, the tourism industry, and communities work hard to create unforgettable cultural products and experiences.
But are the economic benefits of these experiences shared equally with communities? Are they sustainable environmentally, are they culturally appropriate experiences to share, and do communities have control over how their culture is represented?
These questions are at the heart of the Cultural Tourism research theme. This research theme covers a range of intellectual property issues emerging in cultural and heritage tourism, and seeks to expand resources for those developing sustainable, community-based tourism, including indigenous groups.
Photos: A +Khomani guide at //Uruke Bush Camp Adventures prepares bread buns on a grill (R.F. Giraudo, used with permission); the Apache Heritage Reunion Event is held the second weekend of May each year at Fort Apache and Theodore Roosevelt School National Historic Landmark (J. Welch, courtesy of White Mountain Apache Heritage Program, used with permission); sand drawing at Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Port Vila (J. Mitchell, used with permission); Andean man in traditional dress (Cacophony (own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons).
The Cultural Tourism Working Group organized a community-based cultural tourism workshop and panel during the Stó:lo People of the River Conference, hosted by the Stó:lo Nation, in Chilliwack, B.C.
Does cultural tourism always exploit those whose culture is on display? What happens when communities are in charge of their own cultural tourism ventures?
Since 2009, IPinCH has been working with the Hokkaido Ainu Association and Ainu community members in Hokkaido, northern Japan, to address their desire for cultural and intellectual property policies and protocols to protect their heritage.
The Ngaut Ngaut rock shelter was the first “scientifically” excavated site in Australia in 1929, but it has much deeper meanings for local Indigenous people.
Cultural tourism has now become the “in” thing in Nunavik. In the early 1990s, the first few attempts saw little success, but there is now a “business” will to include tourism as a facet of economic development. As recently as April 2010, cultural tourism was a major topic at an economic summit in Kuujjuaq.
Indigenous Heritage and Tourism: Theories and Practices on Utilizing the Ainu Heritage, pp.141-151 (edited by Mayumi Okada and Hirofumi Kato, Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies)
Indigenous Heritage and Tourism: Theories and Practices on Utilizing the Ainu Heritage, pp. 17-32 (edited by Mayumi Okada and Hirofumi Kato, Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies)
Indigenous Heritage and Tourism: Theories and Practices on Utilizing the Ainu Heritage, pp. 5-14 (edited by Mayumi Okada and Hirofumi Kato, Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies)
Indigenous Heritage and Tourism: Theories and Practices on Utilizing the Ainu Heritage, pp. 153-157 (edited by Mayumi Okada and Hirofumi Kato, Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies).
Erin Hogg, IPinCH fellow and PhD student at SFU, chats with Isobelle Campbell, Chair of the Mannum Aboriginal Community Association, and Amy Roberts, Senior Lecturer at Flinders University, about their IPinCH-supported project in South Australia.
This Cultural Tourism Workshop, led by IPinCH Project Ethnographer, Alexis Bunten, involved participants from the Stó:lo Nation, Chehalis First Nation, Leqamel First Nation and Seabird Island.
Dave Schaepe is the Director and Senior Archaeologist at the Stólo Nation and the Stólo Research and Resource Management Centre and the co-chair of the IPinCH Cultural Tourism Working Group.
In southern Africa, the group of traditional hunter-gatherers known collectively by outsiders as the San (or Bushmen) continue to captivate the tourist's imagination, drawing domestic and international tourists who seek authentic cultural encounters with them.
This presentation explores the dialectic created between relatively recent written laws pertaining to the preservation and protection of cultural heritage, and the long-standing traditional oral practices and performances of peoples and communities whom these laws are intended to benefit.
Simon Fraser University is facilitating a workshop focusing on Aboriginal cultural tourism today at the Stó:lo People of the River Conference in Chilliwack.
