Heritage Tourism in the 21st Century: Valued Traditions and New Perspectives

This article was written as an introduction to the journal by the editors; seeking to examine areas for future research into heritage tourism. The article is one of the most read and most cited of all the articles across the 9 volumes that have been published to date. The paper examined a range of what the authors called 'existing and emerging trends in heritage tourism', including research focused on supply and demand, heritage politics, conservation concerns, heritage economics, authenticity. They also set out more recent and future trends encouraging research in the following: thanatourism, ordinary landscapes, ordinary people, how heritage is linked to other sectors, heritage trails and routes, personal heritage and individual identity, the rise of heritage in the developing world, and religious tourism. The authors (editor and associate editor) set out the case for the need for a journal that focused on heritage tourism research alone and encouraged scholars to develop the field further and publish their findings in the journal.