Heritage:

Culture, according to UNESCO, is a “set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and

emotional features of society or a social group. It encompasses, in addition to art and literature,
lifestyles, ways of living together, values systems, traditions and beliefs”. Cultural tourism  

Heritage tourism can be defined as the corpus of tangible - which encompasses natural, cultural
and built settings, historic places and landscapes - and intangible assets (either symbolic or
aesthetic) such as past and present practices, living experiences, expressions that communities
perceive as their own. (ICOMOS, 1999).

As Faulkner et al (2000) suggest, culture and heritage are closely connected, in the sense that
heritage reflects the past, while culture is reflecting the present state, or way of life. However,
Timothy and Boyd (2003) encompass the both is one, affirming that heritage is the “modern-day
use of elements of the past” (page??).

In the intro:

The festival encompasses living practices, combined with the heritage ruins. Relating to Du
Cros and McKercher`s (2016) tourist types, purposeful and sightseeing tourists will be targeted.
The purposeful tourist`s core director it visit a cultural attraction. It`s encounter with it directs
toward a deep experience. The sightseeing visitor`s motif to visit a cultural attraction is similar,
but the experience is more shallow.

This product will be a mingle between “heritage services” (Lopez-Bonilla, et al, 2010), which
refers to visits to historical sights and “manifestation of cultural tradition” (Lopez-Bonilla el al,
2010), such as folkloric events, arts, films (Bonet, 2003).

Definition: Ancestral tourism

Ancestral tourism is important for those visitors who feel they are rooted to a place and wish to
preserve the history so that it will be handed to the next generations. (Alexander et al, 2016) As
Timothy (1997) suggests, “personal heritage attractions draw people who possess emotional
connections to a particular place” (Timothy 1997, 753). For the attraction this is a positive thing,
as tourists will continue to come. The drawback of this situation is that there will be a pressure
heritage place / attraction to meet the individualized expectations and to deliver the
individualized experience (Alexander et al, 2016). Individualized means that visitors taking part
in ancestral tourism are more mindful, detain a vaster knowledge and their motivations are
strong (Wong, 2015). These all create a pressure in delivering a quality experience because they
must be involved net to the information delivery (Alexander et al, 2015). Upon all, as Garrod
and Fyall (2000) affirm, managers of these sites refuse to acknowledge the heritage attractions`
role in the tourism and are focused more on the preservation issue. UNESCO defines as the
most important responsibility of the management the conservation, preservation of the heritage,
keeping also a close connection with sustainable tourism development (in Alexander et al,
2016).

heritage tourism is a form of tourism in which visitors are presented a mediated version of the
past. Some visitors can perceive heritage tourism as self-discovery journeys. (Nuryanti, 1996).

In addition to it, heritage can be seen as “connect[ing] the past, present and future of a
destination” (Alexander et al., 2016, p. 546).

At a subjective level, heritage is the symbol of a nation, in which the community shares beliefs,
common culture, a historic homeland, all of which were passed from generation to generation
(Palmer 1999,319). Identity is also an important key term (Poria et al, 2006).

Nostalgia and deep emotion are ofter common when tourists travel to places associated with
their own history, or their own vocational interest. (Timothy and Boyd, 2006).

Experience: The product led heritage tourism in which exhibits were emphasised, with a strong
accent on educating through them has oriented towards the visitor`s preferences, visitor
experience (Apostolakis and Jaffry, 2005).

Tourists have different preferences in different contexts. Regarding public heritage attractions,
the objectives in delivering the visitor a positive experience must be balanced with intentions
and necessity of conservation (Chen and Chen, 2016). Chen and Chen (2016) affirm based on
their findings in their study regarding preferences at heritage sites that a method of boosting the
market appeal, would be to implement interactive interpretation.

Connecting and communicating with the past started in the 20 th century, after a century in
which the past was not important and the focus was on implementing the new with the
consequence of destroying the past. In their attempt to communicate with the past, travellers`
demands have become more and more ramified. (Nuryati, 1996). According to Nuryati (1996),
travellers seek the new through by going back, by returning to the traditional. This is embodied
in tastes and styles that reflect the past. When mass is less and less valued, and demand for
more specialized, more individualized products and services is growing, this indicates the
seeking of authenticity (Urry, 1990).

Why is it heritage tourism appealing for the post-modern traveller? Because it gives him or her
the possibility to make a connection between the bygone and the present. It is the space where
endless personal interpretation can be made through the intellect and imagination both in
giving and receiving information. Through this post-modern travellers immerse in own
fabricated individual journeys which allow them to reach self-discovery (Nuryanti, 1996).

In order to justify the choice in involving different assets of culture, such as folklore, built
heritage, traditional food and customs for the creation of the cultural product Tilden`s (1977:9)
six principles of interpretation will be used. Interpretation (SEE ON MOODLE)

If the interpretation is not delivered to create a connection between the visitor and what is
presented or described, it will become a sterile one. As such, the need to know the visitor`s
personality is important. Secondly, only providing information - which constitutes a part of the
interpretation - , is not equal to interpretation. In order to avoid this, different forms of
delivering the message will be used. The third principle can be named as a synthesis and a
solution for the first two, meaning that interpretation is multilateral, because it requires
approaches from different angles such as historical, architectural, or scientific. Further on, for
the modern traveller, interpretation must be conveyed as a provocation, and less as instruction.
The fifth principle is concerning with message conveyed. This should encompass the whole
rather than a selection. Finally, for different types of visitors different methods of interpretation
should be conveyed.

The most important objective of a World Heritage site is preservation. Although these sites
were not intended for tourism, World Heritage Sites play the role of a magnet that attracts
travellers visit a region, a town, or a country. This means that there must be placed a strong
focus also on tourist needs and tourist experience. One tool that facilitates the positive
experience is interpretation. Interpretation is important because it adds value; It helps visitors to
understand the particular features, unique context of the place or site (Gilmore, 2007).

Nuryanti (1996) however states that along preservation, heritage also requires that its
importance, significance be transmitted to the visitor, because this will lead to a clearer
understanding of it in the framework of the present. This requires creativity when it comes to
the interpreters. They must allow and encourage visitors to reconstruct the heritage through
their own vision, through personal interpretation. Also, because of the tourists` different needs,
interpreters must be able to challenge the multilateral tourist market.

When exploring the possible activities at the site, the base on which these will be chosen will be
firstly to provide an exceptional experience and satisfaction, which will guarantee the success
and the incentive to continue and make a tradition out of it. As Chen and Chen suggest (2016),
when a new cultural product in introduced, behavioural intentions and experiential quality
must be implemented next to the quality of the service, which is associated to experience. The
experiential quality is associated with the psychological outcome of the participation. It
encompasses the perceived value, the image and overall experience. Behavioural intentions
refer to revisiting intention, and high probability of recommending it. (Chen and Chen, 2010).

As it is about a world heritage site, the carry out of the project will paying high attention on the
preservation, will take measure to ensure that there is no damage made to it, and will balance
the fragility of the site with the tourism infrastructure. (Du Cros, 2001).

Experience:

Experience, according to Jovivic (2016) is the most active relationship between tourists and
attractions, but it depends on the cultural level of the visitors / tourism. According to
McKercher and du Cros`s typology, the cultural level is high when it comes to highly motivated
clientele, because they perceive the cultural encounter as a form of self-enrichment, of further
learning.

Heritage is contextualized by authors like Dewar (2003) and Hewison (1987) as a part of the past
transmitted into present, either concretized in images of the past (such as buildings) or
inheritance. Timothy and Boyd (2003) further enlarge the realm of heritage to the present assets
such as contemporary culture, language. Heritage is also an important identity tool.
Furthermore, it constitutes a sense of belonging, of having roots; it is a living part of the history
(Trinh and Ryan (2016).

Festivals

Festivals are interdependent with the places where they are organized, because fulfil the
cultural but also the tourist attraction specifics. Those who participate at festivals have the
opportunity to enhance their cultural knowledge, but can also socialize. They are also
dependant on each other because there two important elements are displayed: interconnection
between entertainment and authenticity. (Mahika et al, 2015).

Festival: target market

The target market will mostly constitute of residents of the local environment. According to a
study conducted by Mahika et al (2015), Romanian people feel a strong need for attending
festivals, and almost a half of the participants declaring that there are not enough festivals in Romania.
Thus this product will be valid from the supply demand perspective as well. The motivations of
Romanian locals to take attend festivals mostly enter in the category of the purposeful and
sightseeing types. The majority attend them because of the need to relax, but cultural needs are
also very prominent, like experiencing (other) cultures, or for sightseeing. Emotional and
personal motifs play also an important role in attending, like nostalgia, adventure, spiritual
needs, developing their knowledge (Mahika, 2015).
IMPACTS:

This festival`s importance relies not in gaining economic profit, but to revive in the region the
sense of pride in their traditions and heritage because festivals ``contribute to the revealing and
honouring of cultural traditions`` (McKay, 1997). As Mahika et al (2015) conclude, they help in
promoting but also in the preservation of the identity of communities. The festival will be used
as a tool for local pride boost. However, the festival will bring revenue for those locals who
participated in the retailing of traditional food and drinks, but it will make, through its nature, a
great effort in preservation and in education to the important of preservation of fragile sites or
customs (Getz, 1990).

Other impacts will concern the development to tourism in the area, the attraction of tourists
from other region. On the longer term, this will lead to generation of revenue to the local
community.

As for the socio-cultural impact, the festival will help promote the culture of the region. For the
local community, the event will give the opportunity to take part in activities that involve
learning and deepening the knowledge about the local treasure, but will also provide a space
for fun and leisure. (Mahika et al,2015).

The festival will not have an immediate and major economic impact, because it has free entry,
apart from food and beverage services, but on the longer term, indirectly, as good festivals in
general, it will contribute to attracting more tourists and more visitors to the heritage sites, and
though the nearby localities, it will improve the image of the destination around the heritage
and will make it more known (Popescu and Corbos, 2012).

AUTHENTICITY

Based on Smith el al (2010), authenticity will be defined according to three perspectives. The
first is the objective authenticity. This refers to those products and experiences such as objects in
museums that are perceived as authentic materials, or events, customs, traditions of cultures.

Constructive authenticity refers to the authenticity that is constructed by the individual`s

personal characteristics and worldview, which are influenced by external factors such as
politics, society and culture. Based on this, authenticity is perceived based on people`s own
convictions of what authenticity means and represents. Authenticity in this case is purposefully
assigned to themes, events, or others that signify…... As an example, flags and national hymns
can be mentioned (Smith et al, 2010). An also important attribute of it is that it is created over
the passing of the time.
Existential authenticity (McLaued): this form of authenticity is related to the individuals` need
for the authenticity of their lives. It is person centred (Yi et al, 2017). Existential authenticity can
be personal, where the travellers are “concerned with the authenticity of their personal life” (Yi,
2017), but also intrapersonal, involving ties to family, like the desire to enhance relationships or
relations with the communities met through travelling (Wang, 1999), which arouse the need for
help, communication, interaction (Chen and Chen, 2011).

As Yi et al (2017) suggest, when defining heritage tourism both objective and experiential
authenticity or in other words, the real objects and people`s own perspectives need to be
analysed. Thus, a visitor to a heritage place will experience authenticity both by relating their
experiences to the real sites, objects and to their experience with their encounter(s) with the
locals.

Because tourists visit cultural sites, events do not have the same depth of experience.

Cccording to Timothy and Boyd (XXXX), in heritage tourism, people want to take away with
them good experiences after visiting the heritage sites. This is defined in the experiential terms
(previously discussed in the authenticity subchapter).

MARKET:

Visitors at World heritage sites, according to Timothy and Boyd (2003) are largely “motivated
by the belief that such objects really are linked to the remote past.”