ABSTRACT
Tourism strategies implemented all over the world have often been demonstrably far from sustainable. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its dramatic effects on the tourism sector worldwide present a unique transformative opportunity to reframe tourism in more sustainable ways. This article uses qualitative research methods and ethnography to advance knowledge on the impacts, both positive and negative, of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and heritage sites, as perceived by local stakeholders living and/or working at six popular heritage destinations in Sub-Saharan Africa, located in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. The article discusses ways to rethink heritage-based tourism strategies more sustainably, according to the viewpoint of the research participants, and identifies new emerging tourism opportunities triggered by the pandemic, cutting across different local contexts to highlight more widely generalisable research findings. Identified strategies include diversifying tourism products at heritage sites;improving tourism marketing, visitors' experience, and infrastructures;fostering more inclusive, co-operative, and integrated tourism and heritage management systems;increasing awareness of local resources while promoting ecotourism and responsible travel;and supporting economic diversification and local entrepreneurship. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Resilience has become an increasingly important concept in the cultural heritage field, particularly in the aftermath of the unprecedented challenges the COVID-19 global pandemic brought. However, on a conceptual and practical level, resilience remains closely linked to the technical conservation of built heritage, and there remains a need to develop broader approaches inclusive of cultural and socioeconomic components. This article investigates the potential applicability of theoretical concepts linked to identity and identities in heritage planning to help fill these gaps and develop approaches that consider resilience and are better able to address a range of unanticipated disasters. We first review the literature and policy documents to define and identify the potential for identities-based approaches. We then examine the case of Matera, an extremely fragile world heritage site in southern Italy that has been continuously inhabited for more than 8000 years and provides a relevant example of resilience. We explore the trends and effects of globalised tourism development before the pandemic and the post pandemic emergence of more local/regional and slow tourism patterns, largely based on cultural solutions to local development challenges and knowledge exchange. Through this comparison, we analyse the potential and limitations of introducing identities-based concepts into heritage planning as a more robust way to enhance resilience and prepare cities for unexpected future crises.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This study will determine the impact COVID-19 closures had on the Megalithic Temples of Malta. The physical, economic, social and conservation impacts will be discussed. Design/methodology/approach: This study relies mainly on field observations of the effects managerial and state decisions had on the sites. A timeline from February to July 2020 will outline all major events and changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic happening in Malta and specifically within Heritage Malta sites. Findings: The pandemic impacted the sites under study economically, and socially, whilst the impact on the sites attributed to visitors and other agents of deterioration were variable. These findings affected the way sites reopened to the public with restrictions and additional safety measures. Originality/value: This article highlights the effect the pandemic had on archaeological sites in Central Mediterranean islands which are heavily reliant on tourism. It also highlights the important role such open-air sites have within the local community. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
The main aim of this study was to assess the multidimensional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on heritage conservation and management and the possible strategies as a way out of the corona pandemic in North-Central Ethiopia. The study was conducted by using a descriptive study design. The study found that: 60.9 % of the heritage sites in the study area were forced to close due to the sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus. And, 71.7 % of staff who worked in the conservation and custodian was not able to work during the pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic has affected by delaying heritage conservation projects works especially in Lalibel, Dessie Museum, and Mereho Palace. 63 % of the heritage collections were not monitored during Corona time. Disruption of community life in and around heritage properties was also one of the major impacts of the Coronavirus. Communication and social mobilization, fast decision making, inviting partners to participate in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, institutional Cooperation and using social media as a platform were identified as the possible strategies for heritage conservation during and post crisis. © 2022 Editura Universitatii din Oradea. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Botanic gardens are defined by their mission to maintain living plant collections for scientific research, conservation, display and education. This mission represents the potential ecosystem services that botanic gardens aim to produce, with display and education specifically regarding recreational ecosystem services (RES). Visitors must directly experience botanic gardens to transform these potential RES into real benefits, yet the public may not be interested in studying plants during their leisure time. Thus, botanic gardens turn to events to attract visitors. The objective of this study is to estimate the RES benefits created by a botanic garden event and profile the visitors that it brings into the garden. To do so, a questionnaire was distributed at the Zagara plant festival, held in Spring 2021 at the Palermo University Botanic Garden in Sicily (Italy). Respondents are local, young to middle-aged, mostly female, well-educated, upper to middle class and not accompanying children. Most came to the Zagara to observe, admire or purchase plants. Through the zonal Travel Cost Method (TCM), visitors' marginal consumer surplus is estimated to be 6.16 € and the event's total recreational value is estimated to be 26,464.21 €. The study took place during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and responses also indicate that the Zagara filled consequential visitor needs for outdoor social occasions. This study contributes to the literature on RES benefit valuation by applying the well-accepted TCM to the unexplored subject of special events in botanic gardens with the aim of supporting management decisions. Management implications •Botanic gardens are defined by their living plant collections, yet they are also important for human wellbeing;•Events bring many visitors into botanic gardens, and are responsible for creating social benefits in the form of recreational ecosystem services;•Garden managers often lack the resources to carry out complicated valuation procedures, but online survey and mapping platforms have made the zonal travel cost method a direct way to estimate the recreational benefits produced by an event, and understand who benefits;•Such valuations are necessary for gardens to plan events to increase social welfare, optimize ecosystem services and improve inclusiveness.
ABSTRACT
Human existence is complemented by environmental sounds as by-products of people's activities as well as intentionally generated sounds that allow human society to function, including transport and traffic sounds and notification sounds. The resulting soundscapes surround and permeate people's daily existence. Technological, as well as behavioural change causes some of these sounds to become extinct at the local or universal level. While expressions of human communication through spoken words (language) and song are deemed to be heritage and thus formally collected and documented, there is a general lack of consideration of the heritage potential of anthropogenic environmental sounds. Focussing on examples from the state of NSW (Australia), this paper discusses sound loss in the urban heritage environment and advances two variations of a conceptual framework to assist heritage practitioners in decision-making to assess heritage potential in order to safeguard some of these sounds for the future.
ABSTRACT
Purpose The paper aims to assess the impact and responses to coronavirus disease 2019 in six European heritage labs (Horizon 2020 Framework Programme) selected for their adaptive heritage re-use practices based on participation, self-organisation and self-management. As they are naturally oriented towards building resilient urban systems, the hypothesis is that the co-production of cultural values and places promoted by these projects could create the conditions for equitable perspectives of resilience in the normality of contemporary urban life. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on data collected through a survey of six European Living Labs between January and May 2021. The survey results are framed by a literature review that defines adaptive reuse in terms of resilience. The five resilience characteristics described by Judith Rodin (awareness, diversification, integration, self-regulation and adaptability) are used to navigate the literature and organise the survey results. Findings Combining survey results and insights from the literature, some modes and elements (territorial, social, financial) are presented that contribute to creating the conditions for resilience through adaptive heritage reuse according to community-based approaches. Without claiming to be exhaustive, this evidence should be considered in the design phase of resilience programmes, policies or projects related to cultural heritage. Originality/value The concepts of community and resilience are becoming increasingly important in the field of cultural heritage. This paper makes a creative contribution to the ongoing debate by presenting and evaluating the contribution of adaptive reuse practices to resilience building.