Heritage Tourism in Southeast Asia

This book examines heritage tourism across the Southeast Asian region from different disciplinary perspectives. With material that is new and topical, it makes an important contribution to the fields of tourism studies, cultural studies, development and planning studies, and beyond. Set against a backdrop of the demands, motivations and impacts of heritage tourism, the volume focuses on disputes and conflicts over what heritage is, what it means, and how it has been presented, re-presented, developed and protected. It examines the actors involved in encounters and contestation, drawing in issues of identity construction and negotiation, and requiring the contextualization of heritage in national and global processes of identity formation and transformation. Among the questions touched upon are the ownership of heritage, its appropriate use, access to it versus conservation needs, heritage as a commodity, as entertainment and as an educational medium.