Cultural tourism has been defined as the subset of tourism that is concerned with a country’s culture, with a specific focus on the lifestyle of those living in that geographical area, the history of those people, the arts they have, architecture, religion, and the elements that helped them carve their way of life (Du Cros and McKercher, 2015). It includes the touring of historical theatres, museums and cities. This paper will firstly, look at the resources involved in cultural tourism according to the ECTARC (1989). It shall then look into the different range of cultural tourism available in Rijeka, Croatia. It shall then assess Mckercher and Du cros (2002) cultural tourism diagram explaining the importance of cultural tourism in the decision to the visiting of a destination. Secondly, it shall then analyse the economic, social and environmental impacts that could be faced by Rijeka; this is as a result of it hosting the European Capital of Culture in 2020. It shall then analyse the ‘butler life cycle’ of Rijeka in the sense of destination development. Thirdly, the paper shall demonstrate how cultural tourism continues to increasingly become an important segment of the tourism market with regard to the OECD report (2009). It shall examine the benefits that Rijeka might reap from hosting the European Capital of Culture 2020. It shall then cover, economic development and employment according to the report. Moreover, elucidating on physical and economic regeneration. Additionally, it shall explain the diversification of tourism, developing of cultural understanding and strengthening tourism. A conclusion shall then be provided.
A resource is an economic factor obligatory to accomplishing a given task. Thus resources involved in cultural tourism are the economic factors required in the undertaking of cultural tourism. Cultural resources include museum collections, shipwrecks, religious practices, religious sites, archaeological graves, cultural items, historical properties that hold historic value, traditions, folk life, communal cultural amenities and properties that have cultural value (Jansen-Verbeke and Priestley, 2008). Rijeka, is Croatia’s third largest city. It was ruled by eight different countries from 1918-1991. The city is a major Croatian port. The city has the most beautiful cultural architecture that was set up in the secession style. The city is made up of two cities that were merged in 1945. Rijeka has gorgeous cultural monuments that promote cultural tourism. Among them is the Trsat castle. This castle is one of the oldest fortifications present in the Croatian coast. It first was mentioned as a parochial centre in 1228. Medieval construction within the castle has been preserved.
Another cultural resource that is present in Rijeka is the Our Lady of Trsat sanctuary (Widawski and Wyrzykowski, n.d.). This is the largest centre of pilgrimage in the west of Croatia. It is known for pilgrimages by plentiful believers and many concessions. There is also the city tower that is a significant symbol of Rijeka. A launching lamb that belonged to the torpedo factory in the 1930s is also an essential cultural tourism resource present in Rijeka. Some other historical and cultural monuments in Rijeka are the Roman Arch also referred to as the Old Gateway, the Governors’ palace, Our Lady of Rhodes Capuchin Church, Molo Longo and St, Vitus cathedral. Rijeka’s heritage and story of the past is preserved in museums present in the city. They include the Rijeka city museum. This museum has eleven collections. They are a collection of film and theatre material, arts and crafts, valuable objects, arms from World War II, technical and press collections, philately and medals. Inside the Governor's palace, there is the historical and maritime museum of the Croatian littoral. This museum preserves Rijeka’s maritime tradition and history. There is the contemporary and modern art museum, which preserves art works by artists from the 19th century throughout to the 21st century. The peek and poke museum which preserves old computers. The Alphabet exhibition of the permanent Glagolitic, it preserves written history for Rijeka. Mažuranić-Brlić-Ružić and memorial library collection. The city also has an astronomical centre promenades and parks. These cultural tourism resources represent the sector in Rijeka.
Mckercher and Du cros (2002), differentiate five types of cultural tourists. These types are the purposeful cultural tourist, the sightseeing cultural tourist, the serendipitous cultural tourist, the casual cultural tourist and the incidental cultural tourist. The resolute cultural tourist’s main motivation for a visit is to have a profound, elaborate cultural experience. The sightseeing cultural tourist is primarily motivated by sightseeing and the experience is less deep and intricate. The serendipitous cultural tourist does not travel for cultural reasons and but experiences a deep experience of cultural tourism. The casual cultural tourist is not mainly motivated by culture and the experience ends up being shallow. The incidental cultural tourist does not travel for cultural reasons but ends up participating in some cultural activities thus resulting in a shallow experience. Therefore, while deciding to travel the purposeful, sightseeing and serendipitous cultural tourists primarily rely on cultural tourism. However, the casual and incidental cultural tourists don’t rely on cultural tourism as much, while deciding to travel.
The city of Rijeka, Croatia, was chosen to be the European Capital of Culture 2020. A European Capital of culture is a Capital that is set apart for one year by the EU. During this time cultural events are organised celebrating a diverse European culture. The idea of the European Capital of culture was born in 1985 when the minister for culture in Greece Mercouri Melania and Jack Lang her French counterpart proposed it with the aim of bringing Europeans closer together. There is a selection process carried out by a panel of international experts who are guided by the criteria set by the EU. Over 20 cities have hosted the event since it was started. Some of the cities include Athens, Berlin, Florence, Madrid, Dublin, Lisbon, Bergen, and Prague among others.
Hosting the European Capital of Culture may have some impacts on the city Rijeka. These impacts will vary from Cultural and image impact, social impacts and economic impact. When Rijeka hosts the European Capital of Culture 2020, there might be a significant impact on its image as a Cultural tourism destination. The events that will be held throughout that period will attract more attention towards Rijeka as a cultural destination. This impact will influence tourism of the city on the long-term. This is because even after the stipulated period of one year, the city may still benefit mainly from having hosted the ECoC 2020. This programme has been attributed to economic growth. In a redefined mission 30 years after formation, the ECoC is viewed as an economic re-activator. The medium-term effect of the programme is attracting more tourist to the city, this then translates into economic growth for the city’s economy. When the ECoC is hosted in a city, the cultural investment leads to job creations thus reducing the rate of unemployment within the city. The main social impact is on the residents of the city. Once the ECoC is held residents of the city may take more pride in their city and thus they connect more with their heritage.
Croatia is a cultural hub. When her bid was accepted for one of her cities, Rijeka, to host the ECoC 2020 programme, she is poised to benefit as a country. This will primarily be because of the cultural investments she has. The programme is set to roll out some job opportunities thus this will reduce unemployment rate on a national scale. The cultural tourists who will visit the country during that period will not be restricted to visiting Rijeka alone, Croatia has other significant cultural destinations that are spread across the country. The tourists visiting these destinations will be promoting tourism in the country. Croatia will still benefit from hosting the programme in the long-term in terms of the development of cultural tourism. This may lead to more cities in the country getting the opportunity to host the ECoC.
The Butler’s tourist lifecycle looks at how tourist’s destinations grow and develop. It breaks down this development into five different stages (Butler and Cooper, 2011). These stages are, discovery stage, growth and development stage, success stage, stagnation stage also known as the problem stage and the decline and rejuvenation stage. In the discovery stage, the destination is visited by small groups of tourists who then refer their contacts to the same destination after their experience. The number of people visiting the destination slowly increases and the locals maximise on this opportunity by providing services that meet the needs of these tourists (Butler and Cooper, 2011). In the growth and development stage, the number of tourists increases by a huge margin this is because of the referrals by word of mouth, travel prints and blogs. This influx of tourist’s leads to the setting up of new hotels, shops and the establishment of restaurants to effectively serve them. In the success stage, the visit by more people leads to the maximum utilisation of the facilities that were set up to serve the tourists. This stage may attract bitterness from locals who may not have benefited from the tourism. The culture of the city may also start to be affected as there is the blend of many other cultures from the tourists. In the stagnation stage, the destination becomes monotonous thus the popularity is short lived. The decline in the tourism of a specific destination leads to the economic down fall and underutilisation of facilities that were set up for the tourists. The closure of certain businesses that largely relied on the tourists leads to unemployment. In the final stage, the decline or rejuvenation stage, a destination has two options these are to adapt a strategy that will bring it back to its former glory or completely ignore tourism.
As a tourist’s destination, Rijeka has also undergone through the life cycle in terms of destination development (Rodriguez, 2017). Tourism in Rijeka has been ongoing and continues to grow. Tourism in Rijeka is in in the third stage of tourism development, the success stage. Tourism in this Croatian city has been growing over the past years. It was in 2015 when the city experienced a 21% increase in the arrivals in the city. Data from 17 years ago has shown how Rijeka has continued to rise as a tourist destination. In 2000 there were 64,554 overnight stays for the summer period that year and in 2015 there were 104,402 overnight stays for the summer period (Croatia Week, 2017). Rijeka has sustainable destination development which may experience its peak in 2020 or some years after.
Cultural tourism has continued to become an important segment of the tourism market. The OECD report 2009 was carried out with the aim of establishing the impact of cultural tourism on the tourism market. According to the report, the relationship of culture and tourism is of mutual benefit (OECD, 2009). This is because, in a crowded global marketplace, culture brings about distinctiveness. Moreover, tourism provides means through which culture can be enhanced. This is through the creation of income which can strengthen and support cultural production, creativity and cultural heritage. Cultural tourism has grown as one of the major tourism markets this is because of the axiomatic synergy between culture and tourism. The use of culture and creativity to market destinations continues to be a trend that is widely being developed. This has inspired the differentiation of regional cultural images and identities thus cultural elements are being employed to brand and market regions (OECD, 2009).
Tourism and culture are sectors of complex nature thus the creation of platforms that ensure there is effective communication between the two sectors. Culture continues to be a big part of tourism and has indeed led to it being factored in as part of elements to help in gaining a comparative advantage in the tourism sector (Dwyer and Wickens, 2014).
Rijeka is poised to reap a lot of benefits from hosting the ECoC. These benefits will efficiently be spread across six main areas. They are economic development and employment, physical and economic regeneration, maintenance and the preservation of heritage, strengthening and diversifying tourism, retaining population and developing an understanding of culture. Rijeka, houses several museums, theatres and other infrastructures that may channel in revenue to the city.
In 2008 it was Liverpool’s turn to host the ECoC (Carter, 2017). The city, during that year, received an influx of visitors and this had an immense impact socially and economically. A research was carried out for a period of five years to analyse the social, cultural and economic impacts of the one year period. It was noted that 9.7million people visited the city during that year. This was an increase of 34%. During that year the economy generated 753.8 million Euros. During the five year period, the residents felt that Liverpool was much better shape to live in. The positive cultural image that the city now had outweighed the negative stories that had existed before that. The report noted that there was a significant rise in the audiences of arts with a 10% rise each year for the five years the report was carried out.
Hosting the ECoC has an overall impact in all the cities that have hosted it before. The economy regenerates a larger amount of money. This is due to cultural investments that have been made in the city. Further, jobs are created due to setting up of new infrastructures whose aim is to serve the visitors. There is a cultural pride that is cemented within the locals of the city and thus this cultivates base for the development and preservation of the culture in that city. When culture is embedded within the fabric of the city, cultural awareness is created. The cultural awareness leads to people recognizing the importance of culture thus cultural resources are preserved. Rijeka, is a cultural city on its own thus hosting the ECoC will be of a catalysing nature to help it achieve more economic gain from the cultural tourism. However, this will mainly depend on the approach and policies put in place to help the city maximise on possible gains and benefits (Power and Scott, 2004).
Policies that are concerned with tourism have to be instrumental. This is to mean that these policies are drafted in a unique manner such that they are framed in economic terms (Fayos-Solà, Alvarez and Cooper, 2014). This may include, creating of employment and attracting inward investment. Areas that are undergoing economic recruitment have in particular policies that attract visitors as well as Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). Rijeka needs to put into place policies that will help attract some investments thus create a source of revenue for the local government and create sources of income for the residents of the city. These policies should also aim at, enhancing the cultural preservations, improving on the performance of the economy, improving the infrastructure and enhancing the city’s cultural image. Rijeka should also develop a plan on how the locals may be well poised to benefit from that period.
Rijeka as a pinnacle of culture in Croatia will, without doubt, maximise on the hosting of ECoC. This will mainly be made possible through the utilisation of cultural resources that the city has. Moreover, the city should further create more cultural resources that may benefit it during the ECoC period of 2020.
In conclusion, the paper explained what cultural resources are according to the ECTARC (1989). It then went further and looked into various cultural resources that are present in Rijeka. Among them were museums, archaeological graves and religious sites. It further differentiated between the five types of cultural tourists according to Mckercher and Du cros (2002). The major difference was that three of these five types of tourist factor in cultural tourism when they choose the destination and two of the five don’t factor cultural tourism in the decision making process. The paper then analysed some of the impacts that Rijeka might experience after hosting the ECoC. This was an analysis of the environmental, social and economic impacts. The paper further analysed Rijeka’s destination development according to the Butler life cycle (1980). The paper concluded that the city was currently at the third stage of the life cycle which is the success stage. In line with the OECD report (2009), the paper further demonstrated the increasing importance of cultural tourism as a segment of the tourism market. The paper then examined how Rijeka would benefit from hosting the ECoC 2020 looking at the main development drivers that are used to develop the cultural tourism policies. These policies mainly embrace an economic framework that factors in economic development, employment, cultural preservation and strengthening and diversifying of tourism among others. Therefore, cultural tourism continues to develop bringing value to regions thus Rijeka and other cities can benefit from programs that help them to efficiently tap this segment of the tourism market.
Du Cros, H. and McKercher, B. (2015). Cultural Tourism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Jansen-Verbeke, M. and Priestley, G. (2008). Cultural resources for tourism. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Widawski, K. and Wyrzykowski, J. (n.d.). The geography of tourism of Central and Eastern European countries.
Butler, R. and Cooper, C. (2011). Tourism Area Lifecycle. Woodeaton: Goodfellow Publishers.
Rodriguez, G. (2017). Coastal Cities and their Sustainable Future II. Southampton: WIT Press.
Power, D. and Scott, A. (2004). Cultural industries and the production of culture. London: Routledge.
Fayos-Solà, E., Alvarez, M. and Cooper, C. (2014). Tourism as an instrument of development. Bingley: Emerald.
Croatia Week. (2017). The Rise of Rijeka as a Tourist Destination. [online] Available at: https://www.croatiaweek.com/the-rise-of-rijeka-as-a-tourist-destination/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2017].
Dwyer, L. and Wickens, E. (2014). Event tourism and cultural tourism. London: Routledge.
OECD (2009). The Impact of Culture on Tourism. [online] OECD publications, pp.5-6. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda. [Accessed 3 Dec. 2017]
Carter, H. (2017). Liverpool profited from year as capital of culture, says report. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/mar/11/liverpool-profited-from-being-culture-capital [Accessed 3 Dec. 2017].
Ratings
