Cultural tourism: A full range of experiences

World Tourism Day is being celebrated today. Every year the day is observed on September 27. The theme for this year, the 32nd anniversary of the day, is 'Tourism-Linking Cultures.' Last year, it was 'Tourism and Biodiversity.' Egypt is the official host country of the event. "It is most fitting that Egypt, home to some of the world's most celebrated cultural heritages and a leading tourism destination, is the host country for the official celebrations of World Tourism Day 2011," said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Two American anthropologists Alfred Louis Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn in 1952 compiled a list of 164 definitions of 'culture' in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. However, the word 'culture' is most commonly used in three basic senses: i) Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture; ii) An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning, and iii) The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterises an institution, organisation, or group.

These three senses have got high values and impacts in the theme of WTD 2011 'Tourism-Linking Cultures.' Culture and tourism go together. Tourism was born out of human curiosity for discovering and knowing what is new, which reformed and fused cultures throughout the history of human civilisation. These days, because of its huge importance, tourism gets extra bounce with the popular phrase 'Cultural Tourism.' The following will lead us to enjoying academic and practical experience on 'Tourism-Linking Cultures.'

Stebbins, a tourism expert, writes, "Cultural tourism is a genre of special interest tourism based on the search for and participation in new and deep cultural experiences, whether aesthetic, intellectual, emotional, or psychological." It is a useful comment, as it incorporates a variety of cultural forms, including museums, galleries, festivals, architecture, historic sites, artistic performances and heritage sites, as well as any experience that brings one culture in contact with another for the specific purpose of that contact in a touring situation. Besides, it is worthwhile to know, tourism and economic development go hand-in-hand.