Tourism and Heritage Journal

Recovery from genocide through tourism: Srebrenica City of Hope Project

Chiara Nencioni — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This manuscript is about how to recover from genocide through tourism. The focus is on Srebrenica, where genocide was committed by Serbs-Bosnian troops in July 1995. Tourism is a form of dealing with the genocide That is what Srebrenica City of Hope project does, fostering remembrance into the future, developing sustainable tourism, and strengthening the region economically. Focus is on community development, as well as natural and cultural heritage protection. In order to host visitors, 12 wooden houses were rebuilt according to traditional architecture. Tourists have the opportunity to stay overnight with host families, take part in guided excursions, enter in touch with the traditional soul of Bosnia, all of this while a new source of income opens up for the locals. The core of the project is the Srebrenica Memorial Centre and Cemetery in Potočari, whose aim is to preserve the memory of the genocide and fight against denial on the path of transitional justice and peace-building. Srebrenica City of Hope promotes tolerance, dialogue, and collective healing and moves forward by creating a network of people working together to cope with distressing memories. To this day, more than 2,600 persons joined the project, collecting visitors from five European countries.

Between cinema and literature: tourism around the figure of Marcel Pagnol in Provence

Yannick Gouchan — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) is an important figure of 20th century French culture as he played a considerable role in cinema from the 1930s to the 1950s and published an autobiographical literary work. Visiting Pagnol’s places allows to follow the itinerary of a playwright, then of a director, screenwriter and film producer, and finally of a writer who left a lasting mark. The article intends to show how Pagnol’s memory is enhanced today by elements relating to interplay (intermediality) between cinema and literature, so as to build a ‘popular-classic’ author figure. The article presents the link between Pagnol’s works, the tourist places and the tourist activities offered by the city of Aubagne around the author, considering that the intermediality at the heart of Pagnol’s artistic works is reflected in the organization of visits to tourist sites. These evoke simultaneously the locations of the films, the author’s biographical sites and the places transfigured by the books. Literary and film tourism around Pagnol in Provence has three main aspects, depending on the objectives sought by visitors: visiting the biographical authentic places, experiencing the places that correspond to imaginary territories in films and books, discovering an original landscape.

Witchcraft tourism in Catemaco, Mexico: a liquid modernity perspective

Mark Speakman — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The picturesque town of Catemaco in Mexico is popular with nature enthusiasts. However, it is also known as the “Land of the Witches” and has become a centre for witchcraft tourism. While most who participate in witchcraft are involved in innocuous white magic rituals, others are motivated by black magic, engaging in what is labelled malevolent tourism, rather than dark tourism. The study investigates, from a societal perspective, why individuals travel to take part in witchcraft practices in Catemaco. It uses Zygmund Bauman’s liquid modernity as a lens from which to view contemporary Mexican society and to consider whether the increasingly fluid, dynamic, and changing nature of society, which can result in personal distress and uncertainty, is a contributing factor towards witchcraft tourism at Catemaco. A qualitative approach is adopted that involves interviews conducted with participants who have travelled to the annual International Witchcraft Congress at Catemaco with the intention of participating in brujeria, along with further interviews undertaken with residents and a witchcraft practitioner. Findings suggest that witchcraft serves as a coping mechanism for certain individuals facing social challenges that have arisen from liquid modernity, such as relationship problems and work-related issues. While most of the participants required white magic rituals, a smaller, yet significant proportion were driven to indulge in black magic.

Inclusion of autism in Barcelona's cultural heritage workforce

Laura Bertran Serrano, Nur Abellan-Calvet — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological developmental disorder that affects the way people perceive and interact with other individuals, creating challenges in communication and social interaction skills. These difficulties negatively affect job search and retention. However, as society progresses in understanding this disorder, its exceptional abilities and potential to contribute to a variety of jobs is increasingly being recognized. This research focuses on discovering the best inclusive practices for integrating people with autism into the workforce in cultural institutions in Barcelona. Eleven interviews were conducted, 9 with employees with ASD and 2 with the representatives of their respective inclusive initiatives, in order to understand these projects and ensure their effectiveness. The results show that both share many similarities in their development. Through these analogies plus a comparison of academic literature, 15 tips have been compiled to facilitate the work integration of individuals with autism in cultural institutions.

Tourist geography in Jane Austen: Bath spa destination and origin of tourism as a social phenomenon

María Dolores Sánchez Sánchez, María Asunción Sánchez Sánchez — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Tourism took shape in the England of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century as a social phenomenon and an economic reality, with thermalism becoming an essential habit in the leisure of the upper classes. In order to confirm, through literary sources, that the origin of modern tourism as a social phenomenon is already present in Georgian England, and that Bath is a pioneering example of the creation of a tourist destination, an understudied approach of social practices around a tourist place is proposed, since there are few studies that deal with it from literature. The analysis is carried out through two novels by Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1818) and Persuasion (1818), assumed as representative for the construction of a historical discourse of tourism in Georgian England. The incorporation of stays in Bath into its plots shows with detailed precision the already common social practice, for certain classes, of thermal tourism. The geographical tourist space is analysed with particular attention to social and leisure habits. Thus, the consolidation of tourism as a social phenomenon that transforms the areas in which it develops into tourist destinations is ascertained.

The dark attractions of literature in Europe - marketing communication of dark literary tourist attractions connected to the two World Wars and the Cold War

Titanilla Virág Tevely — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Dark literary tourism is a lesser-known subcategory of both dark tourism and literary tourism, incorporating elements from both in terms of attractiveness and tourist motivations. This study explores the impact of literary works and their film adaptations on the attractiveness of dark tourism destinations, particularly those related to the First and Second World Wars, and the Cold War, such as the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach – combining analysis of the chosen sites’ websites and in-depth interviews with their visitors – the research examines how marketing strategies align with tourist motivations. Key findings show that curiosity and a desire for learning are primary motivations for visitors, with literature serving as a catalyst for a more emotional engagement. The relationship between consuming literary works, watching their film adaptations, and visiting related sites shows the storytelling’s role in shaping tourist behavior. This study provides insights for service providers and Destination Marketing Organizations on optimizing marketing strategies that incorporate literary elements. Recommendations are proposed to enhance historical remembrance through collaborations between book publishers, filmmakers, and tourist attractions, potentially including book tours to ensure the remembrance of the darkest side of history.

The role of traditional commercial spaces in urban evolution: a morphological study of the medina of Tlemcen

Nadia Boudalia, Amine M. Kasmi, Giulia Annalinda Neglia , Abdessamad Alili — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Traditional commercial spaces in Islamic cities, particularly souks in Maghreb medinas, have been fascinating urban fabrics in terms of continuity and change of economic activities and urban morphology. The commercial district of Tlemcen, a medieval medina, followed a pattern worth exploring. Therefore, this article examines how changes and growth in urban morphology can affect Tlemcen’s commercial district in terms of distribution and redistribution of activities, transformation of streets, and growth and location of stores. Indeed, the concentration of specialized streets, with chains and networks of stores offering similar items, has been continually affected by their changing positions within a constantly evolving morphological system.

The idea put forward is that although the layout of the traditional commercial district has changed throughout time and space, the commercial pattern has continued to evolve and adapt around its key axes, while maintaining the character of the medina. This research also highlights these spaces’ symbolic and cultural values, as well as their role in preserving urban identity and collective memory. Thus, an urban morphology analysis was conducted to verify this hypothesis by comparing urban patterns from medieval to present. This research is also based on the fieldwork consisting of participant observations and semi-structured interviews.

La Ricarda: heritage of conflict

Isabel Graupera-Gargallo — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Case study of La Ricarda, a family residence designed by Antoni Bonet Castellana, located in El Prat de Llobregat. The study highlights its historical and artistic significance within the framework of Catalan cultural heritage. La Ricarda is an outstanding example of rationalist architecture, and its design and construction during the Francoist regime are examined, considering that the architect was in exile at the time. Additionally, the article explores the connection between Club 49 and La Ricarda, which served as a regular venue for avant-garde artistic events in Barcelona. One of the objectives of the article is to identify La Ricarda as a clear example of “conflict heritage,” a conflict that has been intrinsically linked to the history of the residence up to the present day. The study discusses its heritage value, both tangible and intangible, and assesses its relationship with the local community and the general public. Finally, La Ricarda is proposed as a methodological case study to enable university anthropology students to develop sociocultural engagement strategies. The methodology employed in the article is based on qualitative research techniques.