Commercialisation of Heritage: How to Get the Balance Right?

Tourism, if well planned, can be an important stimulant for the economic and socio-cultural development in an area, while uncontrolled tourism growth is often liable to bring about many complex disadvantages to destinations with heritage significance and jeopardise the integrity of their indigenous cultural identities. This book illustrates this two-sided relationship between tourism development and heritage conservation through examining the impacts of tourism in the context of two comparable locations chosen in the Aegean region with similar characteristics in terms of size, location, historic development, cultural background and built heritage: the historic village of Lindos on the island of Rhodes, Greece and the traditional small town of Alacati on the western coast of Turkey. The primary aim of this study is to highlight the importance of planning in the pursuit to create a mutual relationship between tourism and heritage conservation, and demonstrate how responsible tourism planning can contribute to the establishment of a rational degree for the commercialisation of heritage as an income-generating tourism commodity at places of heritage significance.