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This study explores the potential of cultural heritage product in the promotion of Kenya's tourism. The Ministry of Tourism Strategic Plan 2008–2012 identified the untapped tourism potential in the areas of eco-tourism, culture, conference and cruise as an opportunity for the future of Kenya's tourism. The report isolated inadequate development of the cultural product as a major weakness in Kenya's tourism. Invention in the cultural heritage tourism product (CHTP) would ease overdependence on beach and wildlife tourism for sustainability and leverage Tourist Destination Kenya's (TDK) competitiveness. This can only be achieved if a blueprint for heritage conservation and tourism is developed and implemented. To achieve its objective, this study employed observation, in-depth interviews and a review of secondary data to investigate current CHTP practices. The research was extended to cultural and heritage site visits. The sites were selected in a non-probabilistic manner based on their cultural significance. The study established that Kenya has a rich CHTP which has not been fully exploited for the purpose of tourism. It observed that the promotion of cultural heritage tourism in Kenya is weakened by lack of proper policies and poor perception of culture as a tourism product. It concluded that cultural tourism has the potential to withstand the ravages of COVID-19 due to its structure and nostalgic characteristics. This study recommends a policy framework heralding effective CHTP management and a post-COVID-19 recovery program marked by new protocols. The study is novel in its methodology, choice of sites and COVID-19 reality.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the legal, governmental and non-governmental, academic and digital initiatives in relation to the preservation, conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in India and some of the key challenges associated with it.

The research has been carried out by reviewing various resources available on the official websites of Government of India; Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums; and cultural and memory institutions to know their various initiatives at different levels to protect, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the country.

As of now there are various initiatives in India being carried out by the government, non-governmental organizations, cultural and educational institutions, societies, individuals, scholars and artists to safeguard and promote various cultural heritage inheritances of tangible and intangible nature. However, there is no comprehensive list of all such efforts made to understand the efforts for cultural heritage protection. Further, it has been observed from the study that the need for creating a single-window cultural heritage information system, cultural heritage directory, metadata aggregators, community participation, educational campaigns, strong policies and legislations, comprehensive heritage management programs, consistent follow-ups and establishment and promotion of financial incentives embracing of digital technologies towards sustainable preservation and better accessibility.

The study is an attempt to explore the noted initiatives of India to protect and conserve the cultural heritage properties. The study is limited to various schemes, projects and digital initiatives brought by the country for safeguarding the cultural identity at different levels. This paper can introduce the topic to those who intend to do detailed studies on different aspects of heritage conservation in the country and its problems and solutions.

This paper may be of interest to scientists, academic, historians, heritage conservationists, practitioners, archaeologists, policymakers, culture enthusiasts, researchers and the government to have a perspective on initiatives in the country in protecting the cultural heritage assets. The study can introduce the current status and outcome of the existing programs for heritage conservation to new researchers and administrators to enable them for incorporation required aspects and make necessary modifications while formulating guidelines for cultural heritage protection and management.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, there is no such summaries and general discussion on the initiatives, status, problems and technologies involved in the heritage conservation context with an integrated view in India. This short study may be of help in reviewing and analyzing the potential of the initiatives in the cultural heritage conservation scenario of India for evolving foolproof policies and also for implementing them.

Literature on cultural districts has repeatedly pointed out the role of place branding as a tool to upgrade the image of urban environment as an indicator of meaning and significance. Throughout the case of UNESCO’s mining heritage district in Sardinia (Italy), the purpose of this paper is to investigate on the role that Place Branding Organizations (PBOs) has and/or may have in the construction of coherent images for landscape and cultural heritage in the design of “sustainable” cultural districts in connection with local authorities’ agenda. At this purpose, the authors propose an operative definition of “partnership building strategy” and a new analytic framework to evaluate PBO’s activity within place branding theory.

Considering what recently expressed by UNESCO about the integration between spatial and cultural planning, the authors focus the research on cultural heritage districts protected by this organization. Starting from the definition of strategy proposed by Anholt (2011) and the participation-based approach outlined by Hankinson (2010), the authors propose a new analytic framework to evaluate PBO’s activity and the authors try to apply it to the experience of mining heritage in Sardinia (Italy), comparing the activity of local PBOs (the Consortium for the UNESCO’s Sardinian Geo-mining Park and the Local Tourism System) with the Development Plan of the Carbonia-Iglesias Province. In the final part of the work, the authors discuss the outcomes of the comparative analysis in terms of partnership building strategy and its influence on cultural heritage district design.

The experience of the Sardinia district proves that partnership building strategy has a relevant role both in place branding and cultural heritage district design but it is not sufficient to make this letter really functioning. It confirms also that a place brand can survive to political regime changes on a periodic basis only if the PBO establishes an appropriate institutional framework for the creation of a cooperative network that can take the branding process forward. The research finding about place branding of UNESCO’s mining heritage sites, outline the demand for a new and more integrated approach in the district design, inspired to the geographic studies on “cultural basin.”

The analytical framework which the authors provide on the basis of a new operative definition of partnership strategy building, has proved to be a useful tool to assess PBO’s activity but, despite this, it represents only a partial result because the theoretical model of the relationships between PBOs, local and supra-local actors requires further developments to describe the effective type and nature of this links.

The research finding about place branding of UNESCO’s mining heritage sites, outline the demand for a new and more integrated approach in the district design, inspired to the geographic studies on “cultural basin.” To achieve a real sustainable development and a shared enhancement of identity and landscape, the authors propose as a possible solution the abandonment of administrative boundaries in cultural planning through a correspondence between cultural district and historic region, this latter defined according to the methods and tools developed by the geographical sciences for the “cultural basin.” At this scope the authors propose a new methodological framework which takes the participation-based place branding into the “cultural heritage chain” for the district design, setting a future research agenda.

The authors propose an operative definition of “partnership building strategy” for the participation-based approach outlined by Hankinson (2010) and, on this base, the authors test a new analytic framework to evaluate PBOs’ activity which combines the traditional activities of promotion and marketing with PBOs’ partnership strategies. Finally, the authors propose a methodological frame which brings the participation-based place branding into the “cultural heritage chain” setting a future research agenda in cultural heritage district’s design.

The purpose of this paper is to overview the current state of affairs of the Indian heritage treasures, which are being identified, restored, preserved and promoted by various organizations at national and international levels with an emphasis on its documentation aspect. Lack of information about the heritage sites, structures and its significance, especially unprotected and unidentified, leads to its permanent loss. One of the prominent measures to safeguard from such irrevocable cultural deprivation is its documentation. Further, the study aims to examine the significant challenges associated with identifying unrevealed heritage assets of the country in the context of its preservation, documentation and promotion. As a suggestive measure, the study aims to propose the need for developing a comprehensive cultural heritage register assisted with technological aids focusing on community participation in taking stock of the heritage items they possess and enable them to effectively document.

The present study extracts the cultural heritage data available with the UNESCO belongs to Indian heritage assets inscribed in its World Heritage portal. The collected data has been analyzed and interpreted to overview the country's recognition at the global level. The data collected from the official portal is further explored and customized to have a lucid account. The details about the organizations and institutions working on heritage conservation and preservation activities in India are also collected. A review of published literature on the related areas has also been performed to identify the issues and challenges associated with the documentation of heritage assets to support this study. The study also included the researcher’s experience in working with cultural heritage documentation.

India holds a substantial quantity of cultural as well as natural heritage items. However, an exhaustive effort to document them at the national level is not being accomplished to its full potential. Many of the assets, inheritances or sites of cultural importance have not been fully identified, preserved or documented; hence, it is unrecalled forever once lost. Some organizations and individuals working on cultural heritage lack clarity in its function and do not follow any common standards in its documentation. For any conservation activity, documentation is prime, and the local community's support is also essential. Means of international collaboration for managing and promoting the heritage are required to be encouraged. Findings of the study demand the need for utilizing digital technologies to assist the documentation process. It emphasizes the requirement of having a web-based single window online gateway where an individual or community can dispense the knowledge and resources they possess hence contributing to heritage conservation, preservation and sustainability.

The study limited to Indian scenario and the data on the heritage sites are collected from UNESCO's World Heritage portal. Only the documentation and promotional aspects of the cultural heritage are discussed. There are many lesser-known and unprotected cultural heritage in different parts of the country with artistic value. The unique characteristics that have not been recorded anywhere are to be documented systematically to reduce the frequency and severity of losses. The implication of the study highlights the present scenario of cultural heritage documentation in India and the need for a comprehensive heritage information gateway supported with a register facility to precisely document and retrieve.

Aspects of culture which are inherited from the past to the present are to be preserved for future generations. Digital archives of cultural heritage and the use of digital tools to document them are effective mechanisms to protect and store the data on endangered heritage items. For any such conservation effort, documentation is its first step. Developing and facilitating access to an exclusive database of cultural heritage at risk boast its sustainability and can be enriched by the involvement of local communities. Public access to such a database would greatly support administrators, tourist departments, culture departments, development administration and conservation activists to gather the details of unprotected heritage items of the country, its present condition, risk of damage, etc. which further helps in its preservation, conservation, sustainability and promotion in a constructive manner.

To the authors' best knowledge, no such single and comprehensive mechanism in the country allow the individuals to contribute to the inventory list holding information about the identified, unprotected and unidentified heritage assets which are having a risk of damage, threat, decay, vulnerable, neglect, lack of use or inappropriate maintenance and development. Developing such a system with technological and data infrastructure helps to pool all the cultural heritage resources under one umbrella. It imparts the value and significance of protecting and promoting heritage inheritances and a safe haven of them from the risk of its chronic loss. The system can also support all the activities related to heritage protection and bring the local community to timely support and initiate such heritage conservation activities.

This study seeks to analyze the influence of the consumer's perceived benefits deriving from two different promotional incentives offered via social media on the perceived quality of the heritage complex.

A quasi-experimental study was carried out among online users, implementing two different promotional stimuli. Facebook was selected as the social network through which the promotional incentives were offered in the experiment. The sample was obtained via a panel of Internet users provided by Sondea Internet SL.

The results showed that the benefits perceived by the tourists will depend on the sales promotion type offered. On the one hand, free VIP pass was found to be mostly related to hedonic benefits that positively affect perceived quality. On the other hand, 2 × 1 offer would be perceived as a utilitarian benefit and is likely to exert a fairly negative effect on perceived quality.

Tourism managers and practitioners are encouraged to analyze the characteristics of certain types of sales promotions, as each promotional incentive bears different values and associated benefits. The findings of this study suggest managers and practitioners to implement non-monetary promotions to enhance brand equity and perceived quality. Thus, it is paramount for the managers of cultural institutions and heritage sites to trust in sales promotions which can be very helpful if they are designed carefully.

This study pioneers the analysis of the impact of the benefits associated with different typologies of sales promotions on social networks on the perceived quality of a heritage site.

Este estudio busca analizar la influencia de los beneficios percibidos por el consumidor derivados de dos incentivos promocionales diferentes ofrecidos a través de las redes sociales sobre la calidad percibida del complejo patrimonial.

Se realizó un estudio cuasi-experimental entre usuarios en línea, implementando dos estímulos promocionales diferentes. Facebook fue seleccionada como la red social a través de la cual se ofrecieron los incentivos promocionales en el experimento. La muestra se obtuvo a través de un panel de internautas facilitado por Sondea Internet SL.

Los resultados mostraron que los beneficios percibidos por los turistas dependerán del tipo de promoción de ventas ofrecida. Por un lado, se descubrió que el pase VIP gratuito se relaciona principalmente con los beneficios hedónicos que afectan positivamente la calidad percibida. Por otro lado, la oferta 2 × 1 se percibiría como un beneficio utilitario y es probable que ejerza un efecto bastante negativo en la calidad percibida.

Este estudio es pionero en el análisis del impacto de los beneficios asociados a diferentes tipologías de promociones de ventas en redes sociales sobre la calidad percibida de un sitio patrimonial.

Se alienta a los gerentes y profesionales del turismo a analizar las características de ciertos tipos de promociones de ventas, ya que cada incentivo promocional tiene diferentes valores y beneficios asociados. Los hallazgos de este estudio sugieren que los gerentes y profesionales implementen promociones no monetarias para mejorar el valor de la marca y la calidad percibida. Por tanto, es primordial que los gestores de las instituciones culturales y los sitios patrimoniales confíen en las promociones de venta que pueden resultar muy útiles si se diseñan con cuidado.

The purpose of this paper is to show and critically discuss the motivations, conflicting narratives, practices and effects around the marketisation of cultural heritage. The work focusses on the exemplar case study of the ancient temple of the Athenian Parthenon, as a proto-brand, to explore ancient, medieval and modern marketing forces and practices through which various stakeholders have promoted, gifted, commercially traded, exchanged, acquired and illegally removed national cultural artefacts and historical monuments.

The study is based on a structured historical periodisation that covers three main eras – classical age, late antiquity and modern period – that triggered the marketisation of the ancient temple in diverse ways. First, historical research was conducted through the use of a range of secondary sources and archives. Second, observation techniques were used to study heritage marketisation practices at the New Acropolis Museum and the Parthenon in Athens and the British Museum in London. Third, visual material further facilitated the analysis.

This paper identifies multifarious institutional forces, political interests, technologies and sociocultural events that shape the commodification of history and marketisation of heritage offering a broader discussion on the evolution of early marketing practices and brands used to promote particular values, cultures and places, as well as the emergence and growth of illicit arts and antiquities markets.

Considering the lack of marketing research on the commercialisation of heritage, the work discloses novel insights around the use of cultural proto-brands and the formation of illegal markets and questionable arts trade practices. It, therefore, questions the ethical, socio-political, economic and aesthetic implications of the extensive marketisation of history and raises issues around the legitimate ownership, promotion and consumption of heritage.

This article aims to clarify the link between heritage and development, focussing on how this wealth can be a resource for the promotion of tourism in the villages of the Oued Labiod valley in the Aures and reduce their backwardness.

The paper opted for a qualitative empirical study, through interviews and direct observations. The data were supplemented by literature searches. The collected data were then analysed to obtain results.

The results show that the problem of the heritage of historic villages can no longer be reduced to the contemporary phenomenon of decay and physical mutations of traditional buildings. It is a more complex issue that encompasses major concerns requiring curious, comprehensive and constitutive solutions.

Due to the particularity of the architecture and the specificity of the topography and climate of the study area, the results of the research may not be generalisable and are limited to the chosen example.

The document offers advice to local actors to ensure that heritage properties are taken into consideration in all development policies and determines that the success of these projects depends on the involvement of the local population and the improvement of the legal framework.

As the first study on the issue of sustainable tourism development of the cultural heritage of the Oued Labiod valley, the document proposes new ways of development that respect the historical values and authenticity of the heritage and involve the inhabitants.

The purpose of this paper is to identify young cultural visitors’ perceptions towards culture and cultural heritage destinations.

This study, based on a survey conducted in the archaeological site of Delphi in Greece, examines young cultural visitors’ perceptions by identifying their perceived importance for a series of destination attributes.

Findings reveal the important characteristics of cultural heritage sites for young travelers. Emphasis needs to be given on the following four influential factors of a cultural heritage site: organization and facilities, learning and experience, operation and accessibility, and place and promotion.

Tourism authorities ought to focus upon young people and understand their needs in order to attract them to cultural destinations providing positive experience/s. This study is a unique attempt to analyze the perceptions of young people in cultural destinations and is limited to only one cultural heritage site, Delphi. Further, research in other sites examining younger ages and their differences would provide significant information about this unexplored market in cultural sites.

This paper examines that misconception about culture concerning only older age‐groups needs a new way of thinking that takes into consideration young visitors as important cultural visitors. By ignoring their importance, opportunities to maximize value from the sites as well as to operate them in a more sustainable manner are lost. Knowing exactly the perceptions of young people for culture gives insights into their present and future behavior in cultural heritage destinations.

From Batik cities to woven textile regions, Indonesia possesses several fashion destinations with remarkable textile heritage. The rise of fashion heritage destinations is characterized by avid textile lovers and fashion followers that promote the regions. Several diversifications of tourism alternatives are analyzed, such as rural tourism with experiential textile-making workshops, urban destinations connected to contemporary fashion heritage, architectural works inspired from/to textile heritage, as well as fashion week cities that spark the interests of global fashion designers to visit the country. This chapter evaluates the current state, its rising challenges, and to what extent it may be promoted through digital technologies, based on local practitioners and the governmental perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to utilise commodification for the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage in cities by developing interpretative strategies, specifically enabling access to intangible cultural heritage through its tangible parts.

In total, three case studies were conducted in the cities of Amsterdam, Genoa and Leipzig, through a workshop cycle with destination and local tourism stakeholders and citizen representatives, to develop interpretative strategies for the cities.

The paper identifies tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the three cities, and integrates them into stories and outlines the development of an interpretative strategy for destinations independent from, but aligned with, the current marketing and positioning strategy development level.

Future research should examine the integration process of interpretative strategies and heritage interpretation of cultural heritage in marketing strategies, and in particular focus on the intangible aspects.

The article integrates and highlights the value of intangible cultural heritage and interpretation of cultural heritage in general for marketing purposes through the development of an interpretative strategy improving access to destinations' cultural heritage supporting destination management. The article adds to the research discussion of the commodification of cultural heritage.