Сутність поняття “культурний туризм” у сучасному науковому дискурсі

Abstract

Статтю присвячено проблемі актуалізації сутності поняття “культурний туризм” у науковому дискурсі. Виокремлено та узагальнено дослідницьке поле наукової проблематики явища культурного туризму. На основі аналізу низки наукових праць зарубіжних дослідників з’ясовано характерні особливості, що вирізняють культурний туризм від інших видів дозвілля. Підкреслено зв’язок культурного туризму і культурної спадщини місцевої громади як ресурсів її сталого розвитку. Окреслено міждисциплінарну перспективу подальших наукових досліджень цієї проблематики.The article deals with the problem of establishing contemporary relevance and providing theoretical elaboration of the concept definition of “cultural tourism” in the Ukrainian scientific thesaurus. Conceptual justification for cultural tourism is a response to the challenges and needs of time in the face of contradiction of its continued growth in the global and underdeveloped domestic tourism markets. The article emphasizes insufficient level of the issue scientific development in Ukraine, as opposed to dynamic development of scientific studies of the cultural tourism phenomenon during the last decades, carried out in the world science. The research field framing the scholarly issue of cultural tourism notion is outlined whereas the exploratory findings are summarized. The given paper signifies that the concept of cultural tourism is widely recognized in the world scientific thesaurus and its definition has been influenced by evolution in the definition of culture that has taken place over the last decades. The given study focuses on the analysis of different approaches to defining the concept and meaning of cultural tourism in various scientific studies of European scholars. It has been underlined that cultural tourism conceptual understanding is manifested in the official definitions of international organizations. In particular, the definition of the International Council for the Protection of Monuments and Historic Places (ICOMOS) encompasses broad understanding of its functions, which lie in providing tourists with the opportunities to get familiarized with culture and cultural environment of the place of visit, including the landscape, the traditions of residents and their way of life, artistic culture and arts, various forms of leisure etc. The phenomenon of cultural tourism is associated with cultural artifacts of the past and contemporary artworks as tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Unlike the previous stage of its development, which acquainted tourists with cultural monuments, in modern conditions the motivation of travelers is the desire to interact with everyday culture, integrated into the local population daily life. The research explores the link between cultural tourism and cultural heritage of a particular region emphasizing the cultural function of travelling. In particular, cultural tourism aims at acquaintance with the cultural environment of the place of visit, traditions of the inhabitants and their way of life. The article highlights such an important aspect of the contemporary concept of cultural tourism as its individual dimension, focusing on tourist motivation. Modern society of advanced information transfer assigns an important function to cultural tourism, which is not only promoting new knowledge acquisition but facilitating the ways to gain new experience in the process of encounters with culture and local people, fostering a dialogue between the travelers and the history, culture and heritage of different generations. So the essence of cultural tourism involves not only visiting cultural heritage sites by travelers, but also cultural events and museums, as well as communicating with local residents. Factors that distinguish cultural tourism from other leisure activities include its individual and creative dimension, the openness of travelers to learning about the historical and cultural heritage and their willingness to gain deeper experience in the process of personal encounters with other cultures and their representatives. The link between cultural tourism and cultural heritage of the local community, which ensures its sustainable development, is ascertained in the article. An interdisciplinary perspective on the study of cultural tourism phenomenon, which integrates research findings in history, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, economics and other scientific fields, encourages further scientific exploration. In particular, scientific research should be carried out in the field of exploring the potential of cultural heritage for cultural tourism expansion and local community sustainable evolution, as well as the preservation of cultural heritage in the process of tourist infrastructure development.