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Cultural Tourism and Sustainability

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2017) | Viewed by 73390

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Prof. Dr. Vinod Sasidharan

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Guest Editor

School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4514, USA
Interests: evaluation and implementation of grass-roots tourism initiatives; engaging local community participation in planning and decision making for sustainable tourism development; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) based assessment of destinations; Corporate Social Responsibility evaluation in tourism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The first United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Conference on Tourism and Culture (held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, February 2015) asserted the significance of cultural tourism and its stakeholders, i.e., governments, private corporations, civil society, and local communities, in promoting and achieving sustainable development outcomes. Cultural tourism, in its myriad forms, can be a powerful tool for meeting sustainable development goals, provided the culture-tourism nexus is managed in a responsible manner through effective stakeholder collaboration. As cultural tourism grows rapidly around the globe, a critical review of the relationship between this ‘sector’ and the long-term sustainability of people, places, and events, is vital at this crucible of newly emerging sustainable development policies.

This Special Issue is intended to examine the linkages between cultural tourism and sustainable development and to generate new knowledge and insights into the dynamic relationship between the two concepts. The Guest Editor welcomes papers on all aspects related to the topic. Scholars from interdisciplinary fields are invited to contribute to this Special Issue by submitting comprehensive reviews, case studies, or research articles that focus on scientific methods and innovative statistical analyses.

Prof. Dr. Vinod Sasidharan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Governance: ethical decisions, responsibility to and consulting local audiences
Community Responsibility: community resiliency, local sustainability
Cultural Relevancy: connecting sustainability concepts to core values of destination
Maintaining Authenticity: historic integrity with modern sustainability solutions
Preservation Theory and Science: changing preservation standards for sustainability
Curating Actions: building awareness of sustainability practices through education and messaging

Published Papers (6 papers)

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3131 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Community Leadership in Rural Tourism Development: A Tale of Two Ancient Chinese Villages

by Keshuai Xu, Jin Zhang and Fengjun Tian

Sustainability 2017, 9(12), 2344; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122344 - 15 Dec 2017

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 8126

Abstract

Researchers are paying increasing attention to questions of community leadership and rural tourism development. Based on leadership theories and the literature on community leadership and tourism development, this study developed a framework for community leadership in rural tourism development and used it to examine two ancient Chinese villages. We used the longitudinal case study method to collect data, and we used textual analysis to analyze these data. The results show that the rebel leadership characteristic of confrontational actions played an important role in starting the tourism industry in both villages. However, this leadership was difficult to maintain because community leaders and residents had limited power compared to that of outsiders. Losing control of tourism development in the two villages led to banal management, which prevented the emergence of strong community leadership. In the future, we argue that resilient community leadership should be nurtured in the two villages to address more complex problems occurring in tourism development, such as those characterized by vision tensions and conflicts of interest among the stakeholders affected by tourism development. Finally, we suggest that, based on the longitudinal method, future research can focus on the relationship between resilient leadership and the resilience of tourism communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Tourism and Sustainability)

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11612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cultural Heritage and Urban Tourism: Historic City Centres under Pressure

by María García-Hernández, Manuel De la Calle-Vaquero and Claudia Yubero

Sustainability 2017, 9(8), 1346; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081346 - 04 Aug 2017

Cited by 234 | Viewed by 30114

Abstract

Historic city centres of European cities are one of the most important elements of the European cultural heritage. They are places that attract many visitors due to their relevance in terms of heritage, but the recent growth of tourist flows constitutes a threat to the conservation of their values. In some European cities, such as Venice or Barcelona, the debate has taken to the streets, and there is significant social mobilization taking place, with very belligerent positions against tourism (anti-tourism, tourismphobia). The mass media also generates discourse on the topic and places the debate on urban tourism sustainability at the forefront of the public debate. In this context, this article reviews the state of the art on tourism impact and identifies, describes and evaluates the different dimensions of tourist pressure based on a case study: the historic centre of the city of Donostia-San Sebastián (Basque Country, Spain). The main goal of the research is to help determine how tourist pressure affects the safeguarding of “historic urban landscapes” and the desirable or desired models of city and tourist destination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Tourism and Sustainability)

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850 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measuring Sustainable Indigenous Tourism Indicators: A Case of Mah Meri Ethnic Group in Carey Island, Malaysia

by Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran, Sarjit S Gill, Sridar Ramachandran, Ahmad Shuib, Tom Baum and Syamsul Herman Mohammad Afandi

Sustainability 2017, 9(7), 1256; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071256 - 18 Jul 2017

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 8469

Abstract

Sustainable tourism emphasises responsible utilisation of economic, socio-cultural and environmental resources for tourism development. Extant literature in sustainable tourism leans towards subjective and qualitative description in explaining the dynamic nature of the trans-disciplinary indicators of sustainability. However, few mechanisms have been proposed or developed to quantify the indicators measuring sustainable tourism in an indigenous ethnic context. The current study measures 61 sustainable indigenous tourism indicators of the Mah Meri ethnic group that comprise three constructs, namely, community resources, community development and sustainable tourism. Simple random sampling was employed for data elicitation and a weighted average score using R software as the basis of analysis was used to produce a sustainable indigenous tourism barometer (SITB). The study identifies 11 sustainability dimensions from the initial three main constructs that are treated as the relationship aspects in this study. Based on the Sustainable Indigenous Tourism Barometer (SITB), community participation, empowerment, economic and socio-cultural sustainability are found to be the main influencing dimensions of sustainability of the Mah Meri ethnic group. However, natural resources, financial resources and environmental sustainability indicated weaker relationships in explaining sustainability of the Mah Meri ethnic group. Based on the SITB, the results demonstrate that the Mah Meri ethnic group are a “potential sustainable” tourism stakeholder. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Tourism and Sustainability)

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399 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Visitors’ Experience, Place Attachment and Sustainable Behaviour at Cultural Heritage Sites: A Conceptual Framework

by Piera Buonincontri, Alessandra Marasco and Haywantee Ramkissoon

Sustainability 2017, 9(7), 1112; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071112 - 26 Jun 2017

Cited by 90 | Viewed by 14331

Abstract

Sustainable tourism research has attracted wide interest from scholars and practitioners. While several heritage sites are mandated to provide optimum visitor satisfaction with increasing competition in the market, managers of heritage sites face growing challenges in striking a balance between consumption and conservation. This calls for promoting more sustainable behaviours among consumers of heritage. This study proposes a conceptualization of sustainable behaviour for heritage consumers. Using the attitude–behaviour relationship underpinned by the Theory of Reasoned Action, it develops and proposes a conceptual framework that integrates visitors’ heritage experiences, their attachment to heritage sites, and their general and site-specific sustainable heritage behaviour and presents their interrelationships as proposed hypotheses. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for heritage site managers are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Tourism and Sustainability)

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1767 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study Informing Policy on Chinese Ancient Town Tourism Based on a Tourist Satisfaction Survey: A Case Study in the City of Chengdu

by Yan Liu, Shaowei Ning, Isao Oyama and Li Li

Sustainability 2017, 9(7), 1087; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9071087 - 22 Jun 2017

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5005

Abstract

This paper discusses the customer satisfaction of tourists in Chengdu and proposes corresponding countermeasures for tourism development of Chinese traditional areas. The Customer Satisfaction (CS) analysis method is applied to draw the following conclusions: visitors are satisfied with the historical landscapes—such as traditional historical streets, historical buildings as well as waterside landscapes, natural landscapes and infrastructures—which are the key points in the future development of tourism, and are essential to maintain. On the other hand, priority should be given to improving the current shortfalls, namely the protection and improvement of traditional culture, such as the spirit and experience of local life, as well as the experience of traditional culture. In this regard, it is recommended that direct measures are taken, such as preventing the loss of local residents and calling for a return of indigenous people to their hometowns to maintain local traditional cultures. What is fundamentally necessary is to help local residents understand tourists’ desperate demands for local traditional cultural resources. In parallel, it will be important to inspire local residents to value and celebrate their traditional cultural lives and resources. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Tourism and Sustainability)

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373 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Residents’ Attitude toward Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Development: An Integration of Two Theories

by Chi-Ming Hsieh, Bi-Kun Tsai and Han-Shen Chen

Sustainability 2017, 9(6), 903; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9060903 - 27 May 2017

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5657

Abstract

Understanding residents’ attitudes is critical for successfully developing cultural tourism in aboriginal protected areas. This study developed an integration model combining two theories to identify the key determinants of indigenous residents’ attitudes toward cultural tourism development. Social exchange theory stresses the impact of the benefits derived from tourism on indigenous residents’ attitudes toward tourism development. Social capital theory embeds clear rationales for strengthening the internalization process of the formation of residents’ shared values and understanding, enabling them to trust each other and thus support tourism development. The present study was conducted within two indigenous communities in Eastern Taiwan. The results revealed that cultural tourism benefits and structural and relational capital effectively predict indigenous residents’ attitudes toward tourism development; structural capital plays a critical mediating role in the relationship between tourism benefits and residents’ attitudes. The managerial implications provide recommendations for aboriginal community developers or practical sectors to avoid problems or costs caused by tourism development when promoting cultural tourism activities within indigenous communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cultural Tourism and Sustainability)

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