Ethnic Tourism as an Opportunity for Sustainable Development of Intangible Heritage in Superdiverse Neighbourhoods A Study of Rotterdam s West-Kruiskade District and The Hague s Paul Krugerlaan District

This article demonstrates that ethnic tourism offers an important opportunity for the tourist marketing of highly diverse neighbourhoods that were formerly known as "problem areas." Ethnic tourism also offers the prospect of safeguarding intangible heritage in a highly diverse context, for which Steven Vertovec coined the concept of superdiversity , to refer to current levels of population diversity that are significantly higher than before. Conurbations such as The Hague and Rotterdam are committed to ethnic tourism for economic development and to the enhancement of the quality of life in these formerly deprived neighbourhoods. It is an international trend, which can be seen in all major superdiverse cities in Western Europe. We show that ethnic entrepreneurs play a key role in these processes. They bring economic development by attracting ethnic tourists even from countries outside Europe. We illustrate these processes via examples, learnt from City Silks in The Hague, which attract customers from as far away as Morocco for its ethnic wedding costumes, and from Bharat Lachmansingh in Rotterdam, which has been selling traditional and ritual products for 37 years from the Surinamese/Indian culture, with clients from countries such as Belgium, Germany, France and England in addition to the local Surinamese/Indian population. We demonstrate that these ethnic entrepreneurs fulfil the role of cultural brokers , as custodians of intangible heritage. As experts in traditions, these entrepreneurs provide information, sell products that are indispensable for the practice of this intangible heritage and are often involved in organizing intangible heritage events. In this sense, they contribute to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. We also demonstrate that these ethnic neighbourhoods present themselves as meaningful places where one can see and experience various forms of intangible heritage. It is demonstrated that there are various tensions in these processes. Between commerce and culture, between tourism and heritage, between safeguarding intangible heritage and economic development, and last but not least, between various stakeholders, for example residents of a neighbourhood, ethnic entrepreneurs, tourism industry, area developers and city governments. One issue especially addressed is the challenge of folklorisation. It is undeniable that festival-like forms such as Chinese New Year and Keti Koti are brought forward as powerful markers of a neighbourhood, and such festivals may also be of interest to tourists. But it is also shown that the marketing of "authentic" intangible heritage has its limits, and that this kind of branding can also lead to folklorisation, often referred to all the challenge of Disneyfication . It may attract new tourists but does not always benefit the communities.