Cultural Tourism and Sustainable Local Development (New Directions in Tourism Analysis)

With the exponential rise in leisure mobility, tourism has increasingly become of great economic significance. Cultural heritage, such as museums, churches, historical landscapes, urban parks, and exhibitions attract many visitors and countries, regions and cities which house such historico-cultural amenities have seen increasingly large waves of tourists.While an avalanche of tourists has a positive impact on the local economy, such modern mass tourism also brings about negative externalities such as congestion, decline in quality of life, low access to cultural amenities and loss of local identity; to the extent that the sustainability conditions of a locality might be endangered. This tourism dilemma is particularly pronounced in cities with a rich cultural past, such as Venice, Naples and Amsterdam.Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of leading scholars from North America and Europe, this book examines these issues and puts forward innovative methodologies and best case practice for future cultural conservation policies.