Challenges for Promotion of Heritage Tourism

Abstract

This chapter appreciates the growing significance of heritage tourism, even in a place well-known as a fun-based modern destination. This study is based on an exploratory research which used qualitative research to study issues related to the promotion of heritage tourism in the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of this chapter was to identify challenges faced by the public and private tourism organizers for heritage tourism in the country. This original research employed the Delphi techniques and interviewed renowned heritage and cultural experts. Critical realism ontology was applied to analyze the qualitative data where themes emerged as the key challenges. Five themes emerged from the research that could be replicated to study heritage tourism challenges in other countries. A subsequent study to identify and assess solutions and strategies for these challenges is the suggested future study for this chapter.

Volume 1 - Issue 1

“…International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) defined "heritage" as a broad concept that includes tangible assets such as natural and cultural environment, encompassing landscape, historic places, and build environment as well as intangible assets such as the collection of past and continuing cultural practices, knowledge, and living experiences (ICOMOS, 2002). Heritage tourism can be divided into two sectors: natural heritage and cultural heritage (Seraphim & Haq, 2019). The natural heritage includes natural spectacles, such as jungles, lakes, mountains and coastlines, while cultural heritage encompasses the history made by people and its various expositions (Chhabra, Healy, & Sills, 2003).…”

“…Meyer & Schwager (2007, p.2) described the customer experience as "the internal and subjective reactions and feelings experienced by consumers when they have any direct or indirect contact with the company". Tourist involvement enhances the experience, as the tourist becomes a part of the tourism process through activities such as scuba diving, rafting, and bungee jumping (Seraphim & Haq, 2019). In this study on experiential heritage tourism, the direct or indirect contact with the tourism products and services will be measured as customer involvement 2.4.…”

“…Cary (2004, p. 63) further explains that the memorability of a tourist experience depends upon unplanned, incidental, and casual moments for tourists that "simultaneously produces and erases the tourist as a subject". The memorability of a tourist includes the unexpected help from tourism providers, for example free drinks or sweets, a lift in personal car due to unavailability of taxis, or a free copy of the city guide (Seraphim & Haq, 2019). Tourism operators realize that higher the memorability of any tourism experience, in turn, higher will be the loyalty, travel frequency, and feedback by the travelers (Andrades & Dimanche, 2014).…”

“…A tourist will be satisfied if he/she achieve what he/she expected before the trip. For example, for heritage tourists it could be a thorough knowledge of the history of the place (Seraphim & Haq, 2019).…”

“…A destination acts as a stage where various tourism agents become actors and continuous learning for customers can transform the tourism experience into an innovation (Haq and Medhekar, 2016;Hjalager, 2010). Therefore, in modern markets, the heritage tourism product, or rather an experience, can be presented as an innovation in tourism (Haq & Medhekar, 2017;Seraphim and Haq, 2019).…”