Exploring Newcastle’s Potential as an Industrial Heritage Tourism Destination

Abstract

Coal, a prominent factor in the origins and growth of the European settlement of Newcastle (New South Wales, Australia) is not a part of the current city's narration. The city in some ways is still governed by the mines of the penal settlement but a tourist may remain oblivious to this when they visit. This paper looks at the tourism potential of Newcastle's mining heritage. It introduces the factors considered in terms of a heritage site, the importance of memories related to heritage structures, the role the industrial landscape plays in a city's social and economic life as well as rehabilitation aspects. This research was done based on qualitative and quantitative methodology drawing on a comparative analysis of case studies. The detailed analysis of four case studies on industrial heritage tourism was executed based on heritage value, transformed spaces, the businesses the sites support, factors of authenticity, site areas, revenue generation and average footfall. This research helps to identify the positive traits of Newcastle in terms of mining heritage tourism and opens the possibility of future research.

The Transformation Process of a Former Industrial Plant into an Industrial Heritage Tourist Site as Open Innovation

“…Another thing that needs underlining is the observation we made, that there are still areas all over the world with valuable heritage, that reveal a high potential to become tourist sites [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. Making OI from the revitalization process a valuable issue that has potential demand.…”

“…The main question one might ask is whenever there is still demand or need for such insight and knowledge transfer. The answer is positive, as many cases in the literature show-new regions that want or already started to transform from former industrial centers to tourist destinations that build their offers on industrial heritage can be found in various places all over the world, like: brownfields in Austria [43], iron and steel plants in Slovakia [44], oil shale mining regions in Estonia [45], coal mining industry in Newcastle (UK) [46], the automobile industry in Toledo (OH, USA) [47], diamond mines in South Africa [48], industrial and mining facilities in Cantal Urals (Russia) [49], the "Big Hole" in South Africa [35], or the industrial heritage of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) [50].…”

Sustainable Urban Regeneration Strategies in Korea’s Abandoned Mine Area Using Industrial Heritage

“…Inside, artworks and sculptures made by carving rock salt are preserved as they are. As a result, the economic effect was designated as a World Heritage Site for the first time by the UNESCO, with 1.5 million people annually [60]. e results of urban regeneration in the area and the contents of the project are shown in Table 6.…”

Evaluation of redevelopment priority of abandoned industrial and mining land based on heavy metal pollution

“…Six kinds of heavy metals, such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg), are listed for risk evaluation, however, these two Standards only purposed the environmental risk of single heavy metal, lacking the integrated pollution risks of total six heavy metals. Abandoned industrial and mining land has great potential for redevelopment, and the types of redevelopments mainly correspond with different priorities such as agricultural land, industrial site tourism, ecological land, and construction land [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. However, how to determine the priority of different types of redevelopment land needs further study.…”