Archaeological tourism

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Ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse in Beirut Central District (Lebanon) Roman bath Beirut lebanon 025.jpg
Ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse in Beirut Central District (Lebanon)
Visitors inside Bekal Fort in Kerala, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The gardens inside the fort are made mainly for tourism. Bekal fort12.jpg
Visitors inside Bekal Fort in Kerala, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The gardens inside the fort are made mainly for tourism.

Archaeotourism or Archaeological tourism is a form of cultural tourism, which aims to promote public interest in archaeology and the conservation of historical sites.

Contents

Activities

Archaeological tourism can include all products associated with public archaeological promotion, including visits to archaeological sites, museums, interpretation centers, reenactments of historical occurrences, and the rediscovery of indigenous products, festivals, or theaters.[ citation needed ]

Impact

Archaeological tourism promotes archaeological sites and an area's cultural heritage. Its intent is to not cause more damage to the sites, thus avoiding becoming invasive tourism. [1] Archaeologists have expressed concerns that tourism encourages particular ways of seeing and knowing the past. [2] When archaeological sites are run by tourist boards, ticket fees and souvenir revenues can become a priority. The tradeoff between opening a site to the public or remaining closed and keeping the site out of harm's way should be assessed. [3] Damage to irreplaceable archaeological materials is not only direct, as when remains are disordered, altered, destroyed, or looted, but often an indirect result of poorly planned development of tourism amenities, such as hotels, restaurants, roads, and shops. These can alter the environment producing flooding, landslides, or undermining ancient structures. [4]

Notable sites

Related Research Articles

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A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity".

In the broadest sense, cultural resource management (CRM) is the vocation and practice of managing heritage assets, and other cultural resources such as contemporary art. It incorporates Cultural Heritage Management which is concerned with traditional and historic culture. It also delves into the material culture of archaeology. Cultural resource management encompasses current culture, including progressive and innovative culture, such as urban culture, rather than simply preserving and presenting traditional forms of culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadw</span> Welsh Government historic environment service

Cadw is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. Cadw works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage sites of Wales, to make them available for the public to visit, enjoy, and understand their significance. Cadw manages 127 state-owned properties and sites. It arranges events at its managed properties, provides lectures and teaching sessions, offers heritage walks, and hosts an online shop. Members of the public can become members of Cadw to gain membership privileges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural tourism</span> Geographical tourism around a country or a region

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heritage tourism</span> Tourism based on cultural heritage sites

Cultural heritage tourism is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States defines heritage tourism as "traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past", and "heritage tourism can include cultural, historic and natural resources".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yankari Game Reserve</span> National park in Nigeria

Yankari Game Reserve is a large wildlife park and former National Park located in the south-central part of Bauchi State, in northeastern Nigeria. It covers an area of about 2,244 square kilometres (866 sq mi) and is home to several natural warm water springs, as well as a wide variety of flora and fauna. Its location in the heartland of the West African savanna makes it a unique way for tourists and holidaymakers to watch wildlife in its natural habitat. Yankari was created as a game reserve in 1956, but later designated Nigeria's biggest national park in 1991. It is the most popular destination for tourists in Nigeria and, as such, plays a crucial role in the development and promotion of tourism and ecotourism in Nigeria. It is also one of the most popular eco-destinations in West Africa.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation and restoration of archaeological sites</span> Process in archaeology

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References

  1. Messai, Hada (November 8, 2010) "Pompeii's House of the Gladiators collapses Archived January 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ", CNN.com.
  2. Uzi Baram 2008 Tourism and Archaeology. In Encyclopedia of Archaeology, edited by Deborah M. Pearsall, pp. 2131-2134. Elsevier
  3. Mason, Peter (2008). Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Ltd. p. 40. ISBN   978-0-7506-8492-7.
  4. Comer, Douglas C. (2012). Tourism and Archaeological Heritage Management at Petra: Driver to Development or Destruction?(SpringerBriefs in Archaeology. New York: Springer. ISBN   978-1461414803..
  5. 1 2 "Omani artist launches initiative to boost tourism value of Imti". Times of Oman. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  6. سلامة, حجاج (2020-12-24). "إمطي .. تاريخ يتحدث وفنون بكل الألوان | حجاج سلامة". MEO (in Arabic). Retrieved 2022-02-01.