Cultural tourism is one of the fastest growing and largest tourism markets globally. It is defined as travel to experience and participate in the tangible and intangible cultural heritage offerings of a community. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe published a report on the management of cultural heritage for local and regional development in January 2025.
The report, titled “Culture without borders: Cultural heritage management for local and regional development” focuses on the importance of cultural heritage as a socio-economic catalyst and a powerful tool for sustainable development, urban regeneration, and tourism. The cultural tourism market is diverse, and includes:
- Historic places: This includes buildings, monuments, and other historic places.
- Museums and art galleries: This includes museums of all types, from art museums to history museums to science museums.
- Cultural events and festivals: This includes events and festivals that celebrate the culture of a community, such as music festivals, food festivals, and religious festivals.
- Cultural landscapes: This includes landscapes that have been shaped by human activity, such as agricultural landscapes, industrial landscapes, and urban landscapes.
The Congress calls on local and regional authorities to invest in, support, and promote cultural heritage, integrating it into related policies, programs, and actions. The Congress recommends that the governments of member states promote cultural tourism as a means to support the development of regions and urban areas, adopting a “responsible tourism” approach.
Positive and negantive aspects of cultural tourism
While cultural tourism has several positive impacts on local communities, including creating jobs in various sectors like tourism, hospitality, and retail. It also generates income for local businesses and communities, promotes cultural understanding and exchange between visitors and locals, and provides incentives to preserve and protect cultural heritage sites and traditions.
But cultural tourism can also have negative impacts on local communities, such as overcrowding at popular tourist destinations, environmental damage like pollution and habitat destruction, and the commercialization of culture which can erode the authenticity of cultural heritage sites and traditions.
In this spirit the report by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe highlights the importance of managing cultural tourism in a sustainable way to ensure that it benefits local communities and does not harm cultural heritage sites and traditions.
Source: Council of Europe
Printed edition available on Bokus.com and Adlibris.se etc. more is on the way
The eBook available is also available in Google Play Books, Apple Books and Bokon.se more is on the way