Pursuing social cohesion in cultural tourism destinations: liminality as a mediator

ABSTRACT

The social impact of cultural tourism remains controversial even though tourism development seeks a socially and economically balanced outcome. This article explores the potential of liminality as a means of explaining how cultural tourism development affects social cohesion at the neighbourhood level, particularly through open spaces. A quantitative survey of 349 respondents from two national-level tourism districts in Shanghai, Yuyuan and Xinhua, was conducted using the structural equation modeling technique. Three attributes of cultural tourism destinations (CTDs) that affect social cohesion – cultural expressions, spatial features, and management – as measured by 12 items were identified and validated in the study. The results emphasized that CTDs’ cultural expressions, such as the form and appearance of buildings, had a strong positive impact on social cohesion. However, the connotation of social cohesion in CTDs is more about latent cohesion than manifest cohesion, which means people share place attachment and a sense of belonging without necessarily having closer interactions. The findings also indicate that liminality, which provides a sense of reviving and freedom, mediates CTDs’ contribution to social cohesion. The study provides a reference for tourism planning and management to enhance social cohesion and further achieve consolidated tourism development by facilitating liminality.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural tourism destinations (CTDs)
• cultural revitalization
• liminality
• open space
• social cohesion
• Shanghai

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the student helpers in the questionnaire data collection. We would like to thank the constructive comments from the anonymous reviewers. Thank you to Dr. Qun Qin for the suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52078447]; The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Research Institute for Land and Space Collaboration Support Scheme [grant number P0043543]; Joint PhD studentship from the Tongji University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University [grant number YBU6].