Culture and tourism: The economics of Nostalgia

Abstract

The heritage industries have been criticized for their commodification of culture and, more specifically, as being history‐making businesses. At the same time it is increasingly being recognized that tourism can contribute to the regeneration of local economies. The background to the debate on the relative merits of the ‘economics of nostalgia’ is a strong growth of the heritage industries in the UK and elsewhere in recent years. Open air museums, loosely‐based on North American models, have become particularly important as means of interpreting and selling the past. This has been recognized and often supported by public policy. Following a general review of the UK situation, the paper proceeds to a detailed case study of the Ironbridge Museum. It has contributed economic and environmental benefits. There are also significant cultural gains although this is accompanied by a commodification of the past. There are also secondary and longer term effects, as well as extreme localization of the positive effects.

Keywords:

• heritage
• policy
• economy
• commodification
• UK