RELATED RESEARCH LITERATURE

International

Most communities have some form of heritage they identify with. Heritage is a
broad term that includes ‘anything that someone wishes to conserve or collect, and to
pass on to future generations’ (Howard 2003: 6). Cultural heritage is a subset of
heritage and may include both tangible aspects, such as buildings, memorials and
landscapes; and intangible aspects, such as cultural practices, oral traditions and
knowledge (McKercher & du Cros 2002; Heritage Council of Western Australia 2005). In
this report, we follow McKercher and du Cros (2002) by referring to the individual sites
and practices that constitute cultural heritage as ‘heritage assets’. Heritage assets are
those identified according to the definition of cultural heritage and represent significant
aspects of the cultural tradition of a community. Heritage assets the community
identifies with may or may not be the focus of attention for tourism activities and tourists.
However, it is important to identify the local cultural heritage within a defined region as a
first step toward developing cultural heritage tourism. Heritage assets differ from what
we label ‘heritage tourism products’ as heritage tourism products refer to only those
heritage attractions that are specifically developed for and promoted to tourists.

Cultural/heritage tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry

because there is a trend toward an increased specialization among tourists. This trend
is evident in the rise in the volume of tourists who seek adventure, culture, history,
archaeology and interaction with local people. Especially, nowadays people’ interest in
traveling to cultural/ heritage destinations has increased recently and is expected to
continue. For example, cultural/heritage sites are among the most preferred tourism
experiences in IRAN. People’s inclination to seek out novelty, including that of
traditional cultures, heritage tourism has become a major “new” area of tourism
demand, which almost all policy– makers are now aware of and anxious to develop.
Heritage tourism, as a part of the broader category of “cultural tourism”, is now a major
pillar of the nascent tourism strategy of many countries. Cultural/heritage tourism
strategies in various countries have in common that they are a major growth area, that
they can be used to boost local culture, and that they can aid the seasonal and
geographic spread of tourism. this research will evaluate Iran’s potential in the tourism
industry and especially cultural tourism development and tries to compare to turkey
because of their regional proximities and similarities in culture, attractions, and religion.
Because increasing international tourism arrivals as a way to generate more revenue
than oil.

Tourism

Overall, tourism is perhaps best conceptualized as a process of co modification

and consumption involving flows of people, capital, images and cultures (Lofgren, 1999;
Meethan, 2001). When examined more narrowly, however, two types of definitions
seem to dominate the literature: conceptual and technical. Burkart and Medlik (1981)
suggest that the conceptual definitions of tourism provide a broad theoretical framework
that identifies the essential characteristics of tourism including what distinguishes it from
similar, sometimes related, but different activities. For example, Mathieson and Wall
state, "tourism is the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal
places or work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those
destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs" (cited in Theobald, 1998,).

On the other hand, the technical definitions of tourism enable the value and
volume of tourism to be measured. According to Burkart and Medlik (1981), a detailed
technical definition of tourism must incorporate three specific aspects. The first aspect is
the purpose of travel or visit. "A technical definition of tourism must ... first define the
categories of travel and visits which are, and those which are not included for a
particular purpose". Secondly, the time element needs to be defined. "The minimum and
maximum period, in terms of length of stay away from home or in terms of length of stay
at a particular destination may have to be established for a particular purpose”. Thirdly,
a technical definition "has to recognize particular situations. ..and it has to be
determined whether they are or not regarded as tourism, for example sea cruises and
transit traffic" Burkart and Medlik therefore technically define tourism thus: tourism
represents various

forms of short-term travel and visits and is variously defined for particular purposes, by
reference to the purpose of travel or visit, duration and other criterion.

It should be noted that there has been considerable debate over technical definitions
because they vary from country to country, and there are often different technical
definitions appropriate for different purposes. Nevertheless, the definition provided by
the World Tourism Organization (WTO) is widely accepted and frequently used
(Richards, 1996b). According to the WTO tourism is "the activities of persons traveling
to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one
consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes" (Gee and Fyos-Sola, 1997).

Cultural tourism

The word “culture” means different things to different people. For the purposes of
this strategy, the definition of culture is adapted from the definition on the Cultural
capital of Canada website “Culture is the expression of ideas, experiences, and
customs of Canadians through the arts, heritage and festivals.

Arts refer to the expression of ideas and experiences through the fine arts. These
includes visual art such as painting and sculpture, crafts such as pottery and drum-
making, live performance such as dance, theatre, comedy, storytelling, circus, music,
opera, and literary readings, and media arts such as art films and multi-media
installations. The arts also refer to commercial products derived from artistic expression
such as music recordings, film and television, books and magazines. Heritage refers to
the ideas, experiences, and customs of groups are passed on to future generations, and
to the means of their preservation and recollection. Traditional cuisine, dress, religion,
and language are examples of elements of heritage.

Museums, art galleries, and historic sites are some of the means used to preserve the
elements of heritage and to interpret them to a broader public. Festivals are a means of
bringing ideas, experiences, and customs to a broad public in a concentrated package
over a brief period of time. Festivals can occur around many themes or forms of
expressions, in both arts and heritage – for example, dance, particular genres of music,
film, theatre, particular ethnic traditions, and so on.” In addition, the project team
provides the following definitions of cultural tourism and cultural product.

Cultural tourism is tourism motivated wholly or in part by interest in the historical, artistic
or lifestyle/heritage offerings of the tourism destination, be it a community, region, group
or institution.

Cultural tourism is not new; since ancient times it has been a motivation for travel,
although only among a tiny minority of the general public. The “Grand Tour” was once
considered an essential part of a “gentleman’s” education. Today, it is a worldwide
mass trend that people travel to experience other cultures. But it is only since the early
1980s that cultural tourism has been recognized as distinct from recreational tourism.
Although the statistics show a definite increase in the number of tourists participating in
cultural tourism, actually defining this market segment is a challenge. While most
definitions agree that cultural tourism involves the consumption of culture by tourists, a
number of difficulties do exist. For example, what kinds of culture should be included
within the scope of cultural tourism? Does a visit to a museum turn an entire trip into a
cultural tourism experience? Are tourists who engage in cultural consumption actually
culturally motivated? Does this even matter? (Richards, 1996b). To further complicate
matters, cultural tourism is composed of two elements that are in themselves difficult to
define: 'culture' and 'tourism'. The following section will arrive at a definition of cultural
tourism beginning with an examination of the terms 'culture' and 'tourism'. Rather than
providing a detailed overview of all the various definitions that exist for these two
elements, however, a discussion of the way they are used will be carried out instead.
Reviewing 'culture' and 'tourism' in this way nicely leads to the ensuing discussion of
cultural tourism

as product and cultural tourism as process (Craik, 1997; Richards, 1996a, b; Robinson,
1999b).

TOURISM AND CULTURAL TOURISM

Tourism is generally defined as; “Tourism comprises the activities of persons

traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one
consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes” (WTO, 1993).

Tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industries and also one of the
biggest income generators especially developing countries. According to the World
Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism supports 234 million jobs world-wide,
which represents 8.7% of total employment or 1 in every 11.5 jobs (WTTC, 2006).

Cultural tourism, on the other hand, can be defined in a variety of ways. But there are
two basic approaches in the definition of cultural tourism: the “sites and monuments” or

descriptive approach, and the experimental or conceptual approach (Bonink, 1992 cited
in MacDonald, 2004). Some definitions are therefore focused primarily on the attractions
visited (Fyall and Garrod, 1998; Gee and Fyos-Sola, 1997), while others choose to
focus on visitors’ motivations and perceptions rather than on specific site attributes
(Poria et al, 2001; Zeppel and Hall, 1991). Cultural tourism can also be separated into a
product-based approach and a process-based approach which can be matched with
sites and

monuments and experiments in that order (MacDonald, 1999:21). The product-based

approach and “sites and monuments” or descriptive approach typically outline the types
of attractions visited by cultural tourists. The definition of World Tourism Organization
(WTO) is very crucial example for this approach; “Cultural tourism refers to a segment
of the industry that places special emphasis on cultural attractions. These attractions
are varied, and include performances, museums, displays and the like. In developed
areas, cultural attractions include museums, plays and orchestral and other musical
performances. In less developed areas, they might include traditional religious
practices, handicrafts, or cultural performances” (Fyos-Sola, 1997:120).
Reference:

Poria, Y., Butler, R. and Airey, D. (2001) “Clarifying Heritage Tourism”, Annals of
Tourism Research, 28(4), 1047-104912

Craik, J . (1997). The culture of tourism. In C. Rojek and J.Urry, Touring cultures:
Transformations of travel and theory (pp. 1 13-1 36). New York: Routledge.

McKercher, B. (2002). Towards a classification of cultural tourists. International journal

of tourism research, 4,29-38.

Richards, Cultural tourism in Europe, (pp. 71-86). Wallingford: CAB International

Gee, C.Y., and Fayos-Sola, E. (1 997). International tourism: A global perspective.

Garrod, B. and Fyall, A. (2001). Heritage tourism: A question of definition. Annals of

tourism research, 28 (4), 1049- 1052.

Gratton, C. and Richards, G. (1 996). The economic context of cultural tourism. In G.

Butler, R. (1999). Tourism - An evolutionary perspective. In J.G. Nelson, R. Butler and

G. Wall, Tourism and sustainable development: monitoring, planning, managing,

decision making (2nd ed.) (pp.33-62). Waterloo: University of Waterloo.