Essay on Role of Museums and Cultural Attraction for Tourism

Introduction

Museums are defined as a place or building where scientific specimens, artworks and other objects are displayed. Heritage and cultural tourism are defined as a way where people travel to experience heritage, arts that represent people and stories of the past and also the present. Precious heritage is safeguarded and the attract tourist and people locally to understand life in the past. The best part of the tourism industry is cultural heritage since it has a great impact on economic development. Besides museums playing a major role in wider parts of arts, it also plays a role in leisure and tourism. There are various roles of cultural attraction for tourists and museums as discussed below.

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According to international council of museums, the definition of a museum is a permanent and non-profit making institution in the society that is open up for a public which exhibits and communicates the purpose of material evidence of people in the past, enjoyment, and education. Cultural tourism is defined as a subset of tourism that mainly deals with traveling in regions culture or country, especially knowing how people in that particular geographical area lives, the art, their history, religions, and their architecture. There are also examples of museums that show their role. (Richards 2016, p. 78)

Admittedly it is very important to protect cultural attractions and museums for present and the future use. The main reason why these museums should be protected is to sustain tourism of any country and effectively help the country to develop. Types of heritage tourism include literary tourism which facilitates traveling to places such as writer's birthplace. The second type of heritage tourism is legacy tourism which refers to the search of ancestors. They are famous ancestors that brought change in the country. There are arts of famous ancestors in the museums. The third type of heritage tourism is industrial heritage tourism which consists of those industrials sites that are unused. There are other types of heritage tourism such as dark tourism which consists of disasters.

In 2013 there was award in heritage and conservation method. This was so evident for the impact of cultural attraction and museums for tourism to sustain the economy in developing countries. Notably, museums have played a big role to research, exhibit and conserve cultural heritage in developing countries and any country that has a museum. These museums reflect on the image of a particular country and how life was in the past. Museums help the current generation to understand and appreciate life in the past just by looking at the museums and cultural attraction for tourists.

Elements of our inherited past that are most valued is referred to as heritage. Industry and tourism market which have evolved around heritage is referred to as heritage tourism. Most tourists get attracted to places that are rich in cultural heritage. Main objectives of heritage tourism are to discover sites and monuments that have grown to be popular and favourite historical culture that tourists are really interested in. These sites and monuments help the country in developing in a more fast way since they attract more tourists from their countries to come and view them (Hooper-Greenhill 2013, p. 36). An efficient way to achieve sustainable tourism is by the contribution of heritage resources.

Preferences of tourists in cultural heritage can provide important information that can be used in creating sustainable and effective strategies of development. Heritage tourism can be categorized into three groups Cultural, natural and built. Examples of natural include rural scenery, landforms and flora, and fauna. Cultural heritage tourism includes crafts, festivals and traditional products. Monuments, sites, and historical building are examples of built heritage tourism. Sites and monuments support regional fortune since touring adverts interest other people who visit and bring money in the country. These places are secured by government and develop well. They help in promoting human intellectual since culture is not so effective in affecting global.

Museums play a crucial and unique role in preserving the collected items of the past and present and interpreting them. Museums have in store the past items that were used in the past examples spears and arrows. This helps the current generation to understand how past people lived and what arrows looked like. It makes education to be easier because they have in mind what they are being taught. Museums also store items that are used in present for future use. In the coming years, some of the items we are using will no longer be of value (Richards 2016, p. 112). Museums store them so that the future generation will have a view of the items and understand the content that will be taught and help them understand how people lived in the past.

Often, museums are in completion with the media to gain the favour of the public. The media offers just a part of the information about the past while museums offer complete reflection and more insight information about the past and present. This helps individuals to completely understand the importance of museums and cultural attraction. Items used in the museums are also used in hotels to attract tourist. Hotels display some the past instruments in hotels as decorations. Tourists find it very fun to even take photos in that hotel thus always welcoming them back and attracting other new customers and tourism. For example, a curve of a lion at the entrance of the hotel will always attract tourists.

Cultural identities are strengthened by promoting and preserving cultural heritage. Both tangible and intangible cultural heritage is preserved. Tourists are able to understand a certain culture just by observing the preserved instruments. They ensure all stories about the pasts are told since running development that shows the value of human life is linked by human creativity. Objects in the museums are based on certain research about the past that helps in giving the correct information about the culture and how they lived. Programs and exhibits in the museums are designed in a way that they attract tourists and the public in general.

Cultural heritage offers formal and non-formal education to people through knowledge and collections that they give to the general public. Individuals are able to address political, social, and cultural issues or even challenge some false understandings. In times of multicultural challenges, conflict, tension, and global cultural heritage are used to solve misunderstanding and bring peace to people using the past information. Tourist experiences are also facilitated in various ways through environment either through man-made or natural, temporary or permanent, tangible or intangible. Examples of these physical environments are ethnic events, museums, landscapes, sites and cultural festivals. Memories that are linked up with the past like religious sites or historical persons are currently used in activities and also cultural believes.

Tourism is one of the main sectors that develop a country's economy. Government support is always needed in the museums and cultural attraction to preserve the cultural heritage (Smith 2015, p. 54). In comparison, cultural tourism offers authentic resources to the community and the country in whole than other tourism activities such as adventure tourism, edu- tourism, and eco-tourism. Sites, events or services that reflect national, regional or local heritage is defined as authentic resources. Museums use media such as Twitter, and Facebook to communicate with its audience and provide efficient services to their customers. Media provides information on museums products, events tickets and also exhibitions.

Besides museums having a general role in educating tourists about cultural, history and natural heritage of a region country or city they also play a mandated role in entertaining the tourists. Most tourists have an interest in traveling to a certain country just to have a view of famous resources that are stored in the restaurant. Tourists are also interested to know how other people live, what they eat and their cultural beliefs. This attracts more tourists who love adventure thus helping a country to develop more. It also brings peace and helps people live together with other people, understand their culture and appreciate them (Hooper-Greenhill 2013, p. 56)

Successful and efficient heritage tourism consists of five principles that guide them and make it more sustainable. These principles include, heritage tourism must make programs and sites come alive. For tourists to be attracted to certain museums, the museums must have active programs and sites and have information that is needed. The second principle is that museums should always focus on authenticity and quality. This ensures that all the information and services provided in there are of quality and tourists are satisfied. Cultural attraction should keenly preserve and protect the irreplaceable resources. Irreplaceable resources are very important in the future since it is an evidence of the information about the past. Lastly, museums should always collaborate to make sure that they have quality services and the information provided about the resources is the same.

Due to growing standards of living, there is more spare time and the more need for people to travel overseas. Individuals are now more interested in cultural tourism thus visiting more cultural attractions and museums. Museums have a role where they change and understanding or appearance of an area. Information provided in the museums changes the perception of what people thought about a particular area and bring more meaningful understanding. Museums also make a nation to be unique (Smith 2015, p. 67). Each country has different resources in the museum making tourist be interested in finding out what every country consists of. Tourists can paste nation individuality depending on the resources in that country.

Conclusion

Museums and cultural attraction for tourism play important roles in the country. For instance, heritage or cultural is considered to be a tourism where tourists learn about life in the past and experience the destination of cultural heritage. It provides tangible motivation and evidence that make people see the real life in the past. Museums and cultural attraction require not only preservation but also government support for it to be successful. The main role of a museum is to provide and protect cultural heritage to be used in the future. Presence of museums indicates the presence of a resource that is relevant and valuable to be shared in the public

Bibliography

Hooper-Greenhill, E., 2013. Museums and their visitors. Routledge.

Richards, G., 2016. Cultural tourism. In Archaeological Displays and the Public (pp. 1-11). Routledge.

Smith, M.K., 2015. Issues in cultural tourism studies. Routledge.