中国地质大学长城学院2012届毕业论文外文翻译
外文原文
Cultural Tourism and the UK City of Culture
Introduction
This article presents an overview of the rise in interest in cultural tourism as a direct result of destinations, cities in particular, investing in culture-led regeneration policies. It considers cultural tourism as a transformational catalyst accelerating change, designed to stimulate visitor economies and generate physical, social and culture benefits. Following the success of Liverpool as European Capital of Culture in 2008 the government has launched its own UK City of Culture, to be awarded for the first time in 2013. The background and rationale for introducing this initiative, in the light of allegations of cultural fatigue, is considered and the bidding process is assessed. It also includes recommendations for shortlisted cities and destinations considering future bids.
The past and the future development
The use of cultural attractions and images to attract visitors is not a new phenomenon as its roots may be traced back to the 17th century European Grand Tour. Greg Richards, the director of the ATLAS Cultural Tourism Research Programme – a European Commission sponsored programme launched in 1991 with the express aim of understanding more about the motivations, profile, behaviour and attitudes of cultural tourists – has suggested that cultural tourism is arguably the original form of tourism. More interestingly, Richards has also proclaimed that cultural tourism is ‘one of the forms of tourism that most policymakers seem to be betting on for the future’.
In many UK tourism destinations culture has become an increasingly prominent and important part of the multifaceted tourism product and is one of the factors that can improve their competitiveness. The rapid growth of ‘cultural tourism’ over the last 30 years is largely the result of rising interest in art, heritage, culture and history, and more recently contemporary lifestyles which may be explained by demographic, social and cultural changes. In addition, the growing synergy of tourism and culture has been a key theme of tourism development and marketing as destinations increasingly view culture as a means of differentiation and distinction.
Cultural tourism and cultural tourists
As the terms ‘cultural tourism’ and ‘cultural tourists’ started to become more widely used, they were also widely misunderstood. Almost fifteen years ago Richards stated that
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中国地质大学长城学院2012届毕业论文外文翻译
cultural tourism was fundamentally the consumption of culture by tourists. In 2002, McKercher and Du Cros asked, ‘What is cultural tourism?’ and concluded that this simple question was ‘very difficult to answer’ as there were as many definitions of cultural tourism as there were cultural tourists.
However, according to the World Tourism Organisation cultural tourism includes ‘all aspects of tourism that can teach visitors about their past and inheritance, as well as their contemporary lifestyles’, and should be recognised as one of the largest and fastest growing segments in the global tourism marketplace.
In defining cultural tourism it is useful to look in more detail at the work of McKercher and Du Cros for two key reasons.
1.From a tourist behaviour perspective they established that cultural tourists were more likely to:
? be from geographically distant source markets ? be first-time visitors
? use travel information sources ? stay more nights at the destination
? recall places and communities they visited ? engage in other travel and hospitality activities ? spend more money than non-cultural tourists.
2.They also suggested that cultural tourism can be segmented into five markets based on the depth of tourist engagement in cultural activities, and whether the cultural attraction or programme was a key motivating factor in the tourists’ choice of destination.
It is important that destination managers understand both the travel motivation and the type of experience that different types of cultural tourists are seeking. Therefore, for market segmentation purposes each of the five categories of cultural tourist may be described as follows.
? Purposeful cultural tourist – cultural tourism is the primary motivation for visiting a specific destination and the tourist seeks a very deep experience.
? Sightseeing cultural tourist – cultural tourism is a key reason for visiting ? a specific destination but the experience is less deep. Serendipitous cultural tourist – the tourist does not travel for specific cultural reasons, but ultimately does have a deep cultural tourism experience.
? Casual cultural tourist – cultural tourism is a weak travel motivation and the resulting cultural experience is shallow.
?
Incidental cultural tourist – the tourist does not travel for cultural reasons, but does engage in some cultural activities and has shallow experiences.
Culture and tourism-led regeneration
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中国地质大学长城学院2012届毕业论文外文翻译
As an essential component of the tourism system, destinations nowadays incorporate a greater cultural content in the development of their tourism offer in order to attain competitive advantage. Urban destinations and cities in particular, use their historically-strong cultural infrastructures in the following ways:
? as a key ‘placemaking’ resource ? for image creation
? to attract high spending visitors
? to support economic, social and physical regeneration.
Collectively, these four cultural tourism objectives are interrelated in terms of their contribution to economic growth – the so-called visitor economy Holy Grail. This is consistent with the views of authors such as Paddison and Miles who claimed in their edited text on Culture-Led Urban Regeneration that:
'The idea that culture can be employed as a driver for urban economic growth has become part of the new orthodoxy by which cities seek to enhance their competitive position.'
Implicit in this assertion is that, for many European cities, culture is frequently cited as the key element of their urban tourism function. They do this to such an extent that cultural programmes have become the catalyst for diversification and growth of visitor economies. Indeed, a number of cities for example, Glasgow, Dublin and Barcelona, have successfully constructed a coherent and authentic tourist destination image through investing in cultural tourism. In this respect, cultural tourism may be viewed as a transformational catalyst accelerating change.
However, as an increasing number of urban places have developed strategies based around the utilisation of cultural resources as complementary factors in the competition for inward investment and tourist visitors, the cultural tourism market has, according to Richards and Wilson become flooded with new cultural attractions.
They also suggest that this type of market saturation has resulted in some cities and regions, particularly those that are not conventionally regarded as ‘cultural centres’, for example small and medium-sized industrial cities, struggling to promote themselves for tourism. This is essentially because their ability to create a unique, distinctive positioning has diminished.
However, the highly visible use of culture as a mechanism for achieving wider economic and social goals remains high on the agenda for many urban regions in the UK. Culture-led urban regeneration continues to be positively highlighted by the government, as has been the case since Labour were elected in 1997 and instantly acknowledged both the regenerative role and value of investing in culture. Chris Smith, the incoming minister for Culture at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), published his Creative Britain vision in 1998 in which he celebrated and discussed the impact of culture-led regeneration in the nation’s resurgence.
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中国地质大学长城学院2012届毕业论文外文翻译
DCMS subsequently published a 2004 report Culture at the heart of regeneration which explicitly stated that there was: ‘an emerging body of evidence which suggests that culture is a key driver in the regeneration process.’
The report also highlighted the increased popularity of the European Capital of Culture programme which:‘saw Glasgow, for example, enhance its status as a tourist destination from a low baseline to one of the most visited cities in the UK.’
Following the relative success of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture year in 2008, the DCMS is now looking to replicate this accomplishment by launching a UK City of Culture tribute to be awarded every four years in an attempt to deliver the same level of economic, social and physical impacts. Whilst there have been some initial criticisms levelled at this new cultural competition there is little doubt that the winning city will be very much in the spotlight in 2013. This heightened profile coupled with significant cultural investment will inevitably lead to an increase in cultural visitors.
Historically cited as the best example of culture-led tourism in the UK is the transformation of Glasgow, following its designation as the European City of Culture in 1990. There is a wealth of evidence which argues that Glasgow’s Cultural Capital reign marked a successful renaissance in its national and international profile. This focused predominantly on the city’s ability to use a major cultural accolade as a catalyst for image change, which resulted in a dramatic growth in leisure and business tourism.
Finally, to all UK cities not in line to become UK City of Culture in 2013, the 2017 competition is only four years away. Planning needs to start now!
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