Cultural heritage and tourism – an introduction
Authors: Knežević Žana 
Published: August 2017

The book Cultural heritage and tourism – An Introduction is written by Dallen J. Timothy, professor at the Arizona State University, an enthusiast when it comes to cultural heritage, a person who has visited more than 120 countries. It is divided into two sections. Through the 12 chapters of the first section, the reader can become familiar with general concepts and issues related to cultural or heritage tourism, while in the second section, the reader will learn more about heritage tourism attractions.In the introductory chapter, structure and content of the book are presented. This chapter, Cultural heritage and tourism, starts with a description of the history of heritage tourism underlining important historical moments in heritage tourism such as The Seven Wonders, The Grand tour or Thomas Cook’s experience, which could be regarded as the origin of modern heritage tourism.A simplified definition of heritage is presented here: it is what we inherit from the past and use in nowadays. The author also introduces us to basic division of heritage on cultural (tangible and intangible) and natural. Further on, relationship between heritage tourism and cultural tourism is explained along with the problems of defining these terms. In the book, the author uses these two terms synonymously.In the second and third chapters, the importance of demand and supply of heritage tourism products and experiences are examined. General pattern of tourism demand is presented in the second chapter. The chapter focuses on the motivations of tourists and non-tourists in their consumption of cultural heritage. To understand the demand, geographic, demographic and psychographic characteristics of tourists are analyzed. Since the demand for all types of tourism is not constant and it changes with the economic, environmental, political and other changes, the so-called demand shifters are a subject of this chapter as well.In the next chapter, the author presents heritage sites which attract visitors and tourists. Most of them, such as museums, archeological sites and ancient monuments, religious sites, living culture, industrial heritage, difficult heritage or sites of death are further elaborated in the second part of the book, in chapters 14 – 21. A short description of additional services, which are an indispensable part of heritage supply, such as food, accommodation and transportation, is also presented in the third chapter.The spatial characteristics of heritage resources are discussed in the forth chapter along with the basic distinction between global, national, local/regional and personal heritage.The issue of authenticity is also one of the subjects of the book and it is discussed in the fifth chapter; decades old conceptual debates on this issue are presented. Is authenticity intrinsic to objects, artifacts and locations being visited, is it the tourists’ perception, or it does not matter at all? How to measure authenticity? All these questions are dealt with within this chapter.Many destinations are marketing themselves as unique and authentic, often even when the authenticity is questionable. Destinations are prone to use words such as “authentic”, “unique”, “sustainable” to sell their products, or to boost their image. The author describes these marketing tools in the twelfth chapter Marketing the past for today. Other marketing concepts are also discussed here. UNESCO World Heritage Sites is another example of attracting people.The author mentions World Heritage Site Angkor Wat in Cambodia as an example, but the example of Preah Vihear temple1 was omitted here although it would be an excellent example of this as it presents a very complex issue, showing how World heritage sites are great generators of income but also how putting some heritage on World heritage list could be a potential source of conflict situation. There are also some other aspects of World heritage sites (such as Dresden case) which could fit in the topic which are not presented in the book.Heritage is very often used or abused as a tool for achieving certain goals, especially political ones. What elements of heritage should be presented to tourists and which elements should be ignored – is usually a decision of politics. The use of heritage for touristic purposes is shown in the 6th chapter.Unfortunately, when conflicts or wars break out, one of the first goals is to destroy cultural heritage of the group, since it presents the essential component of the group identity. Through the topic War and its impact on the past, which is also a part of this chapter, the author explains this issue. Although many well known examples are presented, the author did not mention Hague Convention for the protection of Cultural property in the event of Armed Conflict, which is very important in such situations.It often happens that because of a great number of tourists, some of the most famous monuments of the world are seriously threatened. Much bigger problem than their age and natural processes of erosion are hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit them each year. Impacts of tourism can be negative, but also positive. Physical, socio-cultural impacts and economic impacts of heritage tourism are examined in the 7th chapter. How to deal with a great number of tourists and what techniques can be used to affect visitor behavior is explained in chapter 13, in which the author also addresses the financial problem, which the heritage sites managers are facing today.Unlike natural heritage, cultural heritage is not a renewable resource.Since it is also very easily damaged and destroyed, it is important to protect it from a legal aspect (topic of chapter 8), but also to conserve it properly. The importance of heritage conservation is discussed in the 9th chapter and it exami- nes the most common approaches to conservation problems such as preservation, renovation and restoration. What heritage is worthy to protect – the decision is often a political one, but can also be considered from the economic, scientific and social aspects.A very interesting chapter is the chapter 10, where the reader can learn about the methods of storytelling. Although the title of this chapter, Telling the story: Interpreting the past, may be associated with dissonant heritage2, the chapter presents the ways of telling stories in an interesting way so the visitors would want to learn more, or even visit the place again. It is also a very useful chapter since it provides the basic tools for making heritage places sustainable.The next chapter is also valuable as it provides information on how to make effective plans for meeting specific goals e.g. to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism and, at the same time, increase the positive impacts of tourism.The concluding chapter summarizes all topics discussed in the previous chapters. Generally, the book proves to be interesting and useful: a number of issues, current debates, concepts and practices are presented. It can be regarded as a thorough introduction into the topic of cultural or heritage tourism since all relevant topics in the field are covered and clearly explained using a number of interesting examples.The text can be useful for all those dealing with cultural heritage and tourism management, especially for the students, as it offers a good basis for understanding of the topic. Students may also find the form of the book helpful, in which each chapter has an overview of the learning objectives, and in the conclusion, a list of review questions as well as a long list of recommended literature for that topic.