The development of a "comprehensive" model of post-industrial urban cultural tourism in the UK

Abstract

Urban cultural tourism is not a new phenomenon; the “Grand Tour” from the 17th century saw the classic cities of Europe including Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome as central destinations in the itinerary of extended tours undertaken by the young aristocracy as a “finishing school” to their education (Youell, 1998, Holloway, 2006). More recently however cities that have not traditionally been associated with tourism are developing their tourism product and infrastructure with a heavy focus on culture as the primary draw. This has been primarily in response to the problems associated with urban decline as a result of the decline in manufacturing and associated industries. While in recent years academic research into urban cultural tourism has grown (Pearce, 2001, Law, 2002) with the emergence of more comparative work (Gomez, 1998, Richards et al., 2002, Bailey et al., 2004 and Avery, 2007) there still exists a gap in relation to comparative study analysing the development of cultural tourism in post-industrial cities in the UK.

The overall aim of this thesis was to develop a comprehensive model of post-industrial urban cultural tourism development in the UK, depicting the most significant factors contributing towards successful development of urban cultural tourism in the post-industrial city. In order to do so a conceptual model is initially drawn of factors identified as significant for the development of urban cultural tourism from the extant literature. This model is then tested using empirical evidence derived from primary qualitative research carried out in four post-industrial cities in the UK that have had success in this area. The case study cities herein are: Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle-Gateshead. From the findings a fully comprehensive model of urban cultural tourism development is drawn. An interpretivistic research stance was taken with an inductive, theory building approach utilising a comparative case study strategy and employing a qualitative in-depth interview technique.

The findings of this research indicate that there are many generic significant factors that contribute towards successful cultural tourism development in such cities with only relatively few truly unique, localised, contextual characteristics. These generic factors are depicted in the newly developed comprehensive model of post-industrial urban cultural tourism development in the UK, making a significant contribution to knowledge in this area of study.

Date of Award	Apr 2011
Original language	English
Supervisor	Emily Boyle (Supervisor) & Stephen Boyd (Supervisor)