The Importance of Empathy in Culture and Heritage Tourism

27.09.2023 - 08:01 / breakingtravelnews.com / Ras Al-Khaimah

Heritage tourism experts grappled with complex issues of presenting culture and heritage to tourists at an international gathering of culture tourism experts 24-25 September in Valencia, Spain.
Just over 100 delegates from 17 countries debated the latest issues, trends and opportunities affecting the sector, which accounts for 40% of all tourism activity, according to the UNWTO.

Heritage tourism is worth around US$570 billion per year, said Scott Wayne, president at SWA Development. Within the sector, 51-70 year olds generate 60% of its revenue. However, 73% of millennials were interested in visiting cultural and historical places.

The role of technology, not least artificial intelligence, was centre stage at the summit, where presenters shared the latest cultural and heritage tourism insights from Iceland, Belize, Finland, Spain, Morocco, Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, and other destinations.

“We should be more worried about artificial intelligence than climate change,” said Yrjotapio Kivissari, CEO of Visit Oulu, Finland. He admitted that while many operators, including his organisation, use artificial intelligence, the technology is being abused by destinations which are happy to mix fake images with real ones in their marketing.

However he predicted that AI would very quickly remove language barriers in culture tourism settings.

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Also on technology, Wanderlust magazine revealed 3D headsets which give destinations the ability to show 360-degree immersive visual and sound experiences. To great effect, Wanderlust executives used samples from Petra, Fiji, the Norwegian fjords and the Holi festival of colours from India to show how technology is transforming destination marketing.

Delegates learned that new technology can serve traditional local artisans and communities. For example, ResiRest has established itself as a social enterprise that helps 9,000 families in 50 countries by connecting them with tourists who want an authentic local dining experience in a local family house.

Similarly, the Tuzmo website allows tourists to not just find and meet local artisans such as wood carvers, weavers and sculptors, but makes it easy for the tourist to order and ship any artefact they buy from the artist.

On attention span issues, delegates said it was imperative for museums and built attractions to convey a narrative story with emotion and empathy, preferably with multiple access points to the story. Stephen Ryan, heritage design director at Freeman Ryan Design, Australia, told the audience that the average time for video clips in museums was reducing all the time.

On heritage tourism finance, delegates admitted that the fight for adequate funding was perpetual. It was imperative for governments