Mass tourism, culture and the historic city: theoretical perspectives

Abstract

This paper sets out a theoretical framework for analysing the impact of mass tourism on historic cities. It emphasises fi ve main elements – production, consumption, the composite tourism product, temporality and spatiality – and sets out key diff erences between the historic city prior to, and under conditions of mass tourism. Building on this framework it is proposed that management of the historic cities may be more usefully thought of in terms of innovation than traditional public policy or governance approaches. The key innovation challenges and innovation responses are set out and the paper concludes by considering the notion of tipping points in the development of cities and of innovation.