Development, economy and culture: cultural heritage tourism planning, liangzhu, china

Abstract

Economic, political and cultural frameworks filter global-local relations in diverse ways so that different interests, values and ideas are empowered over others in the planning process. This paper is conceptualised in response to this complexity arguing that notions of and connections between development, economy and culture, embedded in the global-local dialectic, need to be unpacked before tourism planning and policy-making can adequately respond. A case study of cultural heritage tourism planning of the Liangzhu culture in Zhejiang Province, China provides the context for the investigation. It is argued that internally derived cultural imperatives, such as proving national significance and the desire to assert a locality's place in a rapidly changing China and cultural conceptions of economic development and modernisation, are powerful incentives to become involved in cultural heritage tourism planning.

Keywords:

• tourism development
• China
• world heritage
• global-local nexus