Proceedings Final-7

Foreword
Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality

International Conference HTHIC 2017
September 27-29, 2017 in Pori, Finland
After the great successes in Istanbul 2014 and Amsterdam 2015 we were delighted to arrange the 3rd HTHIC
conference in Pori in 2017. The year is especially significant as it coincides with Finland celebrating the 100th
anniversary of its independence. This makes it even more significant to study and debate preserving and
promoting the coastal and industrial heritage in Finland.
We sought to focus the HTHIC2017 conference with the leading question “How can tourism destinations
succeed in attracting tourists while simultaneously engaging all stakeholders in contributing to the
preservation of the natural and cultural heritage?” In this world in transition, characterized by globalization,
continuous growth in tourism, migration and mobility based on migrant citizenship, there is a need for
researchers and practitioners alike to explore the possibility of reframing tourism beyond “the tourist gaze”
and studying the interaction, dialogues, and conflicts that arise between visitors, hosts and cultural
institutions in the representation and re-use of the past for tourist purposes. These are leading themes in
many of the papers presented in the tracks on the topics Natural Heritage and Tourism Development, Public
Policy and Stakeholder Engagement and Gamification, Audience and Stakeholder Engagement. These themes
were also apparent in the papers presented in the session dedicated to Festivals and Events. We also
welcomed contributions that advance our understanding of the role of storytelling and narrative techniques,
since destinations (places, regions, and routes) and tourism dynamics need people to tell and share stories
to co-create heritage values, embed them in a sustainable spectrum of tourist facilities, and induce valuable
tourist experience. These contributions were to be seen for example in the papers presented in the tracks
with the topics of Tracing, Narrating and Developing Routes as well as Architecture, Heritage and Narratives.
Storytelling plays a role as a tool for branding, marketing, ensuring stakeholder and visitor engagement, and
promoting sustainable management and innovation strategy, as is illustrated in the papers presented in the
track titled Latest from Lapland as well as Current Research and Education at the University of Turku.
Knowledge of critical success factors, and skills in narrative management are necessary if storytelling is to
contribute to the development and promotion of innovative heritage-based tourism value propositions and
products. These were themes in many of the papers presented in the tracks of Creative Industries and
Tourism Development, Sustainability and Inclusiveness, as well as Heritage, Tourism and New Media, and
moreover, the papers in the track for Museums Off- and Online represented this particular theme. 2017 has
been designated by the United Nations 70th General Assembly as the International Year of Sustainable
Tourism for Development. Consequently, HTHIC2017 stresses the close connections between the topics
covered, sustainability in its many aspects, and development. This emphasis can be seen in the papers
presented in the tracks with the topics, Sustainable Tourism Development and Heritage and Sustainable
Tourism Development. In addition, several papers are presented in the track on Heritage, Tourism and Water.
Three papers were nominated for the Best Paper award. The winner was Emanuela Conti et al. with the paper
titled “Museum visitors’ profiling in the experiential perspective, value co-creation and implications for
museums and destinations: an exploratory study from Italy.” The paper analyses the changing competitive
position of museums today and promotes the need to re-segment the audience and re-promote the
offerings. The second prize was given to Sanghamitra Basu’s paper titled “Mapping and narrating heritage:
retracing a forgotten route to link multilayered history of a region and use of an indigenous storytelling
technique for presentation.” The author provides a lively description of how cultural heritage may be
conserved and communicated in a sustainable and co-creative manner. The third prize was given to Silvia De
Ascaniis et al. for the paper titled “A social media campaign to raise awareness about violent heritage
vii

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Foreword

Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality

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