– A TAPESTRY OF PLACE –

A PLACE-BASED CULTURAL TOURISM STRATEGY FOR THE COLUMBIA VALLEY

Prepared for the Columbia Cultural Tourism Association by:

STEVEN THORNE, Place-Based Cultural Tourism Planning

From Paris to Prague, from Santa Fe to San Francisco, from L’Anse-aux-Meadows to Haida Gwaii, sense of place is fundamental to cultural tourism. This is where place-based cultural tourism parts company with attractions-based cultural tourism: In place-based cultural tourism, the heart of the visitor experience is encountering the destination as a whole – its history and heritage, its narratives and stories, its landscape, its townscape, its people. It is discovering what makes the destination distinctive, authentic, and memorable. It is the experience of “place”. In a single phrase, the place is the product.

TAPESTRY of PLACE – full report

Cultural Tourism embraces the full range of experiences visitors can undertake to learn what makes a destination distinctive – its lifestyle, its heritage, its arts, its people – and the business of providing and interpreting that culture to  visitors.

Commonwealth of Australia, Creative Nation