Landscape for Cultural Tourism: an affair to unfold

Keywords: cultural tourism, landscape, theoretical overview, tourist experience, landscape stewardship, Western/ European tourism
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 39

Abstract

The significance of landscape to the tourism experience is well-established and considered paramount. So is culture to landscape, e.g. in the cultural constitution of landscape, which serves as a resource, a setting, a context, a background but also a product for consumption by tourism of all sorts. This study explores the reciprocal relationship between landscape and tourism, specifically in the context of cultural tourism, whereby the landscape assumes its full significance and multifaceted role in a fulfilling tourist experience. The paper engages in a critical discussion/ assessment of the benefits, pitfalls and potential of landscape for cultural tourism practices and development and vice versa, on the basis of an overview of relevant scientific literature, with an emphasis on the Western/ European-centered cultural tourism experience.

Cultural tourism patterns and practices have been exploding and diversifying, seeking ever new thrills and attractions in response to society’s changing cultural concepts and demands (i.e. the intangible, the digital, the ‘green’) and to various human and environmental crises with a serious bearing on the role of landscape for tourism. Some of these emerging trends and patterns point to growing tourist preferences for smaller urban and rural/semi-rural destinations, favoring more ‘natural’, individualized and ‘protected’ forms of travel where the landscape seems poised to figure very prominently. As crises challenging contemporary societies continue to evolve, the landscape seems to be regaining its place, role and purpose in spatial/ land stewardship and decision-making as well as in human everyday lives and in the realms of tourism and recreation.