HISP 323 Heritage Tourism Fall Semester 2013

Course Objectives (1) Understand heritage tourism as a distinct and evolved form of travel-based learning and cultural representation. (2) Explore the categories of actors, zones of activity, and motives for the creation of heritage tourism. (3) Develop understanding of the distinct frames of analysis of tourism, including ethnographic, administrative, economic, cultural, and historical. (4) Understand how heritage tourism works at the national, state, and local levels in the United States.

Four part harmonies to this course (1) A theory of Heritage Tourism and one historic explanation for American Heritage Tourism (2) Explore the mechanics of arts production in leisure time. (3) Understand how architecture plays into the realm of tourism. It is both the container and the cultural production. (4) Really focus on how the mission of the National Park Service has been reworked both expanding its mission and redefining what is central to the visitor experience.

Tests A midterm on Wednesday October 9 th A final examination on Wednesday, December 11 th 3:30-6:00 p.m.

Assignments In-class—participation Out-of-class assignments –Analysis of a heritage attraction –Analysis of the organization and genesis of one of the 47 NPS Heritage Area partnerships.

Types of Tourists – first phase Explorers – quest for discovery (planet shrinking, few in numbers) Elite – seek experience of indigenous and willing to pay for it. Off-beat – seek to get away from tourist crowds, or heighten the tour, put up well.

Types of Tourists - modern Unusual – participates in organized tours of unusual places. Interested but happier with safe foods, not native feast Incipient Mass – steady flow. Tourism is one sector of total economy. Popular destinations. Guided tours and western hotels. Mass tourism – built upon middle class income and values, you get what you pay for. Charter tourists – arrive en masse focused on the tour experience and expect everything is seamlessly planned and prepared.

Impact of Tourists Type of TouristAdaptation to local norms Explorer accepts fully Elite adapts fully Off-beat adapts well Unusual adapts somewhat Incipient Mass seeks Western amenities Mass expects Western amenities Charter demands Western amenities

Tourist, attractions, destinations Tourist--temporarily leisured person who voluntarily visits a place away from home for the purpose of experiencing a change. Attraction—A natural or cultural production commodified, or branded to yield a predictable tourist experience. Destination—An area themed or branded by the cluster of attractions clustered by a narrative, or branded as a coherent experience.

Types of Tourism Ethnic tourism – quaint and exotic, off the beaten path Cultural tourism – picturesque, vanishing lifestyles of pre-industrial Historical tourism – glories of the past, tourist industry to service. Renamed: Heritage Environmental tourism – primarily geographic driven man-land relationships Recreational tourism – sand, snow, sea, sex. Relax or enhance health through contact with nature. Gambling is indulgence away from home.

Tourism stages the world as a museum, even as museums try to emulate the experience of travel. Nowhere is the reciprocity, or recursiveness, of the museum effect experienced more keenly than at such well-functioning tourist destinations as Ellis Island, a heritage production that has become the master port of entry for all Americans, regardless of historical period or conditions of a person's arrival. Such a claim for Ellis Island, of course, is deeply problematic. It ignores the chief ports of entry for Americans of non-European descent, as well as immigrants from the post-1965 era. Such historical misrepresentation, however, is far from casual: it is endemic to the entire project of heritage. Steven D. Hoelscher, review of Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage.

Frames of Analysis Administrative – How is it managed Economic – Revenue generated Ethnographic – How does it work Cultural – What does it mean Historic – How has changed

Geographical Coverage Our course will focus almost entirely on North America, principally the United States