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Without
any doubt, artefacts from ancient times are highly attractive for the tourism
sector. Because of their uniqueness, archaeological sites, historical ruins,
monuments, landscapes and their narratives all figure on the itineraries of tour
operators and are therefore widely, if not massively, visited by tourists.
Although the interest of such a large audience has become an
accepted fact and phenomenon, debates between the
disciplines related to heritage on one hand and the industry
of tourism on the other are becoming all the more intense,
if not conflicting, as to how to interpret heritage and to
integrate it socially, historically and economically in our
contemporary societies. That is why Wageningen University,
the University of Leuven and the Dutch Project Organization
Limes, with the cooperation of GAIA-heritage, are organizing
a two-day symposium entitled ‘Visiting the Past, Meeting the
Limes’.
Aim |
The aim of the Symposium is to gather experts from a wide
disciplinary background and to acquire, through
presentations, discussions and workshops, a better knowledge
and understanding of the multiple meanings and uses of
heritage today. The various stakeholders, whether tourists,
planners, local residents, archaeologists, historians, local
and international entrepreneurs, or landscape and urban
designers have different interpretations and make different
usage of heritage. For some, it is a subject of scientific
research, for others a means of livelihood, a symbol of
identity, of belonging, etc.
The conference intends to explore and debate the ways in
which planning and design practices can optimize meanings
and uses, thereby satisfying stakeholders’ diverging
interests. In addition, this event aims at producing an
interdisciplinary research agenda on tourism and heritage
and to create a professional network to promote further
research and knowledge sharing.
The Limes
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To support the theoretical, policy, and practice
presentations, special attention will be granted to the
archaeological remains of the Limes, the defense lines at
the borders of the Roman Empire. The Limes runs from the
United Kingdom, through North and Central Europe, and
resumes in the Middle East and North Africa. They offer
interesting contrasts across countries for the purpose of
the Symposium. In the Netherlands, for example, very little
is still visible; barely more than a ‘landscape narrative’
carefully embedded in landscape design and linked to
recreational policies and place-making. By contrast to the
Dutch Limes, the remains in Jordan are substantial but
isolated in the desert close to the Iraqi and Syrian
borders. Despite their importance, they lack proper
conservation measures and adequate tourism infrastructure.
In the United Kingdom, the Hadrian Wall is a top-end tourist
attraction and is intentionally well integrated into the
landscape.
As historical landmarks of the past and tourist sites of the
present, the Limes remains highlight a wide spectrum of
protection practices and valorization methods for tourism
use of common heritage sites that are of a similar nature
and type but located in different regional, cultural,
political, economic, and scientific protection conditions
and contexts. In turn, the Symposium, through the
presentations, discussions and workshops, will explain the
differences in meaning and consequently suggest and explore
measures and methods of protection and presentation to
tourism. This comparative approach will provide debate
topics to understand and explore further optimal matches
between tourism and heritage.
Background Information
Tourism and heritage experts |
The relationships between heritage and tourism experts are
not entirely unproblematic and more often than not tainted
with mutual skepticism. Representing different communities
of practices and professional milieus, and thus varying
interests, they do not always work hand in hand.
For professionals involved in heritage conservation and
protection, mass tourism is perceived as a threat because of
the negative impacts on sites as well as the simplistic or
biased representation and interpretation of the place, its
history and present signification(s). Nevertheless, given
its enormous economic weight, the tourism industry, the
largest in today’s global economy, provides the economic,
but also political and social legitimacy for heritage
protection, presentation, and use. Indeed, the sector of
tourism generates the revenues necessary for funding further
excavations campaigns, restoration works, and adopting
conservation measures. Although most benefits and revenues
are indirect, the conservation and presentation of heritage
in this context are seen as an investment to attract
tourists and their expenditures.
By analyzing the relationships between tourism and heritage,
the Symposium aims to bring the spheres of heritage
conservation and tourism closer to one another and to
develop synergies among them. Planning and design
practitioners should conceive and use heritage as a cultural,
social and economic asset whilst striving to protect and
enhance it.
The multiple meanings of heritage |
Heritage, like history, is a socio-cultural and, sometimes,
a political construction. What is deemed “valuable” heritage
is always defined as such by certain segments of society and
influenced by social, political, and scientific practices
and contexts. Within these practices, a selection process
operates according to a set of defined and undefined
criteria. In all contexts, even the most regulated, this
process does not go on uncontested and undebated. Except for
a few truly unique sites, the final selection is often a
compromise that fits into the criteria and that satisfies
the different interests represented and lobbied for.
As such, the valuation of heritage is a process which will
always be subjected to scientific as well as political,
economic and local sensibilities and therefore various
interpretations. Consequently, those conflicts and dilemmas
are found again when planners and designers wish to
integrate heritage and tourism. Different questions emerge,
and it is the role of the Symposium to address them:
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Does
the tourism representation of heritage lead to simplistic
“thematisation” and popularization of the site and thereby
the loss of the sense of place?
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What aspects of experts’ knowledge are actually communicated
to tourists and how?
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How
can the distinct values, multiple meanings, and uses of
heritage be translated in planning and design practices?
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If tourism is an important social demand and at the same
time a source of income for heritage, how can heritage
specialists and decision makers reach the adequate balance
between the protection of heritage, its values and the
tourism use of a site?
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Et Cetera |
Tourism Conferences 
