Cultural Tourism and Intangible Heritage: A Critical Appraisal and Policy Guidelines

The relationship between tangible heritage and tourism is a delicate issue due to the commercial excrescences of tourism which often endanger the preservation of historical sites or buildings. This is even more so with the relationship between intangible heritage and tourism, as traditions and social practices are extremely vulnerable because of their immaterial nature. Hence, the key question is: How can sustainable forms of tourism be developed in order to respect the integrity of the intangible heritage? As tourism is often seen as a threat to cultural diversity, UNESCO is hesitant to invoke the help of the tourism industry for the preservation of traditions. At the same time, tourism is considered indispensable because it brings in revenues that can be used for the safeguarding of cultures. Moreover, tourism could strengthen local people’s self-respect by attracting new markets of visitors interested in their traditions. This chapter argues that cultural tourism can contribute to the sustainable preservation of intangible heritage, but that warrants are necessary to realize this objective. That is why various policy guidelines are proposed to counter the risk of commodification. Provided that the assistance and the collaboration of communities who still practice living traditions are guaranteed, it is possible to develop successful projects from which both tourism and the intangible heritage can profit