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Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 2:52 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: REVIEW Pidhainy on Prideaux et al, Cultural & Heritage
Tourism in Asia & Pacific
> H-ASIA
> March 24, 2011
>
> Book Review (orig pub. H-Travel) by Ihor Pidhainy on B. Prideaux, Dallen
> J. Timothy, K. S. Chon, eds. _Cultural and Heritage Tourism in Asia and
> the Pacific_
>
> (x-post H-Review)
> ************************************************************************
> From: H-Net Staff <revhelp@mail.h-net.msu.edu>
>
> B. Prideaux, Dallen J. Timothy, K. S. Chon, eds. Cultural and
> Heritage Tourism in Asia and the Pacific. Routledge, 2008. viii +
> 330 pp. $120.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-415-36673-1.
>
> Reviewed by Ihor Pidhainy
> Marietta College
> Published on H-Travel (March, 2011)
> Commissioned by Guillaume P. De Syon
>
> _Cultural and Heritage Tourism in Asia and the Pacific_ serves as a
> good introduction to many of the issues that tourism studies deal
> with today, from questions of authenticity to the management and
> marketing of heritage sites. The editors all have expertise in the
> field: Bruce Prideaux is a professor in the School of Business at
> James Cook University, Dallen Timothy is a professor in the School of
> Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University, and
> Kaye Chon is a professor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism at
> Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The strengths of this collection
> of articles are that it is comprehensive in its topics, that it is
> far-reaching in its explorations of Asian cultures, and that it
> incorporates the research of almost forty authors from various
> disciplines and a variety of countries. The shortcomings are an
> uneveness in the quality of the papers and a shortage of
> illustrations and images, which would have enhanced the written text.
> That being said, this book serves as an excellent introduction to
> the field, specifically with Asia Pacific as its focus.
>
> The book collects together twenty-two papers, including the
> introduction and conclusion by Prideaux and Timothy. Many of the
> papers were presented at a conference and previously published in two
> issues of _Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research_ (2004); however
> a number of additional papers were added to this book. The body of
> the work is subdivided into four major parts: authenticity--the
> search for the real; the impacts of tourism on culture and heritage;
> planning, managing, and enterprise; and marketing.
>
> The introduction explains the four sections of the work and also
> discusses major trends in tourism studies. The first part deals with
> the ever tricky question of authenticity. As the editors note: "What
> is consistent in the debate on authenticity is its inconsistency" (p.
> 6). The second section concerns how tourism impacts heritage and
> culture--the "hangover" question concerning to what extent the party
> was worth it. The consistent answer here is that change is inherent
> with tourism and even the "purest" forms of heritage are altered
> within the framework of the marketplace. The third section deals
> with the practical/business aspects of handling heritage tourism.
> This section differs greatly from the first two sections, as the
> question becomes not whether to tour but how to tour most
> effectively. The final section deals with how to sell one's
> particular tourist site and nicely matches section 3. Prideaux and
> Timothy then discuss the major themes of tourism studies, which to a
> great extent concern the who and how of dealing with heritage. Nine
> categories are drawn up: authenticity, interpretation, heritage
> contestation, social exclusion, contested space, personal heritage,
> control, preservation, and management. Each of these themes is
> returned to throughout the volume.
>
> The first set of essays grouped under the heading of authenticity
> consists of a general introduction to authenticity and six papers
> which serve as case studies. Tazim Jamal and Steve Hill suggest
> definitions for what is authentic. They build upon the work of Dean
> MacCannell and others to develop their framework, which consists of
> three aspects (time, space, and approach) and three dimensions of
> authenticity (objective/real, constructive/sociopolitical,
> personal/phenomenological). They then describe how this works by
> plugging in various topics, such as specific tourist sites, tourist
> products, or general objects (e.g., country music) to produce what is
> considered authentic. Finally, they examine two aboriginal tourist
> sites in Australia as case studies for the Asia Pacific region. Anna
> Carr follows with an article that examines the ideal tourist and
> M??ori heritage sites in regard to authenticity. Carr notes the
> importance for the tourist industry of working with the M??ori and
> other members of the community "to ensure the authenticity and
> integrity of the culture or cultures ... are not compromised" (p.
> 45). Paul Leung Kin Hang's article on the traditional form of
> Chinese musical performance known as _nanyin_ (southern sound) argues
> that heritage tourism can actually revivify and preserve cultural
> heritage that is on the verge of disappearing. Eric Laws and Grace
> Pan follow with an essay on heritage tourism in Asia from the
> perspective of historical time. Using Lionel Casson's _Travel in the
> Ancient World_ (1994) as a guide, they argue that contemporary
> heritage sites in Asia would benefit tremendously from an examination
> of the tourism industry in the past. Ros Derrett and Justin St.
> Vincent Welch examine the authentic in the context of isolated,
> iconic farm sheds along a highway in New South Wales. This tourist
> "site," as the authors note, is distinct in its construction: it is
> an iconic image that Australians hold of the outback, and it is
> representative of the ordinary farming class. R. W. (Bill) Carter
> examines the problems of tourism growth in a case study of the
> Boracay Islands in the Philippines. In particular, he notes how
> negative environmental and social impacts were a result of "a lack of
> preparedness for rapid sporadic growth" (p. 101). The varied
> approaches these papers take on the theme of authenticity is seen in
> the wide array and variety of players involved in heritage tourism
> and the difficulty involved in defining the term "authentic."
>
> The second set of essays deals with the impact that tourists and
> tourism have on heritage. The five essays can be divided into two
> types: those which deal with developed societies and those which deal
> with indigenous or primitive societies. This bald characterization
> points out what is of interest and what kind of tourists are involved
> in what. The two "developed" examples are taken from Japan and Hong
> Kong. Malcolm J. M. Cooper, Masakatsu Ogata, and Jeremy S. Eades
> note that cultural heritage preservation in Japan tends to value form
> over the actual object and the incorporation of foreign culture in
> theme parks. A second example is in Pamela S. Y. Ho and Bob
> McKercher's paper on the management of heritage resources in Hong
> Kong. Three of the papers in this section deal with how locals
> manage their own culture. Christine Vogt et al. discuss the views of
> Alaskans on Kodiak Island in regard to both the positive and negative
> effects of tourism. Alison J. McIntosh, Frania Kanara Zygadlo, and
> Hirini Matunga examine Maori tourism through the prism of Mao
> cultural values and epistemology. This paper in particular serves as
> a nice case study of how cultural outlooks change one's perspective
> on heritage and tourism. Ilika Chakravarty's paper deals with the
> complexities of heritage studies of Sindhudurg Fort, India. The
> locals here both desire and fear heritage tourism, which is
> economically uplifting but also transforming in its effects.
> Finally, R. W. Carter and R. J. S. Beeton's paper constructs a theory
> of tourist impact on heritage culture and a proposed model for
> curbing its negative impacts. This paper's theoretical implications
> are important in consideration of the other papers.
>
> The third set of essays concerns the management of heritage tourist
> sites. Four of the papers deal with specific places, while one deals
> with how to make cultural sites accessible to people with
> disabilities. The first three papers deal with sites in China. Jing
> Li analyzes the complexity of the question of modernity in the
> Chinese context by examining the Dai, a minority people whose culture
> heritage is very different from that of the Han Chinese. Their
> heritage site is managed by the state with great approval by the
> indigenous community, who desire modernity and access it through
> commodifying themselves as a unique unchanging product. Sandra Leong
> and Hilary du Cros's paper is a critique of a proposal for the
> further development of an area that is home to another indigenous
> people, the Mosuo, whose matrilineal culture is of enticing interest
> to outsiders. Dianne Dredge's paper discusses what she describes as
> the "global-local dialectic" in the development of a site in Hangzhou
> dedicated to Liangzhu culture (the name given to a Neolithic culture
> found here and elsewhere in China). These three papers underscore
> the complexity of state management of heritage sites that are either
> indigenous or prehistoric. The two papers that follow deal with the
> specifics of management for tourists. Shane Pegg and Norma J. Stumbo
> discuss the need to make tourist sites accessible to physically
> challenged persons. Douglas G. Pearce and Raewan Tan examine how
> distribution channels work, distinguishing tourist sites in New
> Zealand by type of tourist (group or individual). In particular,
> they discuss Wellington, the capital, and Rotorua, a Maori resort.
>
> The final section deals with how to more effectively market tourist
> sites. Glenn F. Ross presents a rich paper on senior heritage
> tourism: he examines the reasons seniors travel and the ways they
> travel, and he presents a structural model to explain this. Donald
> E. Hawkins examines what a World Heritage Site is, how such sites can
> be made into competitive clusters, and how this might be implemented
> in Indonesia. Warwick Frost examines a non-European heritage site in
> Australia, Pearl Luggers, Broome. He notes how the company offers a
> rich understanding of the complexities (and exploitations) of the
> earlier history of pearl gathering, and contrasts this with the
> general "conservative Eurocentric view of Australia's history and
> culture" seen at other sites (p. 313).
>
> The last paper in this section and the conclusion to this book is
> also by Timothy and Prideaux. They review four important underlying
> foundations examined in this work: the immensity of heritage
> resources, the impact and unacceptable change that tourism wrought,
> the notion of heritage branding, and the issue of of power and
> politics as a dynamic in heritage culture. After exploring these in
> some detail, and focusing on how empowerment of locals (in whatever
> form this takes) comes about, the editors return to authenticity,
> suggesting that it is "virtually impossible to achieve in the modern
> world" (p. 319).
>
> The book thus comes full circle. It is my opinion that the editors
> are correct in claiming that they have presented a rich study of a
> wide range of important themes in tourism studies. The
> appropriateness and importance of Asia Pacific in this field is also
> noted. The weaknesses of this volume mentioned above should not
> distract those interested in making use of an area-focused work with
> numerous interesting case studies. The book is recommended both for
> scholars in the field and for classroom use.
>
> Citation: Ihor Pidhainy. Review of Prideaux, B.; Timothy, Dallen J.;
> Chon, K. S., eds., _Cultural and Heritage Tourism in Asia and the
> Pacific_. H-Travel, H-Net Reviews. March, 2011.
> URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=25033
>
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
> Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
> License.
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