Alf H. Walle / Alf HWalle
The goal of this book is to deal, in a provocative way, with a number of key issues involvingthe increased participation of the private sector within cultural tourism. My goal is notto write a complete overview of the field. Instead, this short book deals with a fairly circumscribedset of issues involving contemporary changes within cultural tourism. Sincemodern business largely focuses on serving customers, a major focus of this book concernsmarketing thought and its implications in regard to cultural tourism. In large measure, thisbook seeks to help host communities and their advocates to become familiar with andcomfortable within a private sector context as well as being able to interact in such anenvironment.The book starts with a two-chapter introduction that focuses upon the distinctive role of cultural tourism. As emphasized inchapter 1, a dilemma arises because cultural tourism must simultaneously serve multiple stakeholders and do so in equitableways. This is much more complex than the more typical task of concentrating upon the needs, wants, and desires of customers.These ideas are refined in chapter 2 where the discussion centers primarily upon the importance of serving hostcommunities, in addition to customers. Certainly, catering to customers continues to be an issue, but it should be envisionedas an ad hoc method of serving the host community.
