Tourism, culture and development: whose culture? whose development?

Abstract

The development of different forms of the tourism product has resulted in a wide range of experiences available to tourists. These include environmental, cultural and heritage tourism. This paper is concerned with the promotion of tourism in a destination where confusion exists between cultural and heritage tourism and how the notions of economic development within the local community are affected. If heritage is used as a tool for development questions need to be asked about the interpretation and ownership of that heritage. How does the commodification of heritage affect the social, political and economic development of a destination? The exemplar is Levuka, the old capital of Fiji. The town is a relic of nineteenth century colonialism and has a lot of appeal to visiting Western tourists.