The Montevideo Formula proposed four defining characteristics of a country- A permanent population, a defined territory, a government and relations with others. However, within a permanent population(people) and defined territory(place) there exists a glue that holds it all together- the culture of the people.
In our honest opinion, nothing makes a country more unique like its culture. The language, art, traditions, religion, fashion, food and history of a country form the very DNA of its existence and should be explored
Very often we engage in some form of tourism. We travel to places outside of our usual environment for business, leisure, education or even medicals. On these trips, we engage in touristy activities, stay in various accommodation options and generally enjoy the escape but rarely do we try speaking words in the local language or relish an indigenous meal.
In our day dreams, our perfect vacation will include Sun, beaches and luxurious resorts-lazy days, early nights and a floating breakfast basket on few or no occasions will our dreams wonder about the people, language and history which are the very reason our vacations are possible in the first place.
We never want you lose your sense of wonder or desire to understand the culture of the people. Understanding Cultures will help us see the world differently and make us proud members of Kultural Tourism Krew. See below some benefits of cultural tourism.
Benefits of Cultural Tourism
- Fosters cross cultural learning among individuals
- Establishes and reinforces identities
- Promotes preservation of cultural and artistic heritage
- Positive socio economic impact
- Create more Jobs in the tourism sector
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
UNESCO was created in 1945 to help countries preserve their natural and cultural resources and since the organization produced the Convention on World Cultural and Natural Heritage together with proposals to conserve and promote it, cultural tourism has experienced huge growth throughout the world, but especially in Europe.
Currently there are 1,121 declared World Heritage Sites, the majority of them spread around three countries: Italy (55), China (55) and Spain (48). Africa has 93 world heritage sites with 51 of them as Cultural Sites.
Tangible & Intangible Cultural Heritage
Our Cultural heritage comes in two major forms all of which are equally important and should be explored
Tangible Cultural Heritage: this covers physical artifacts, artistic creations, built heritage such as buildings and monuments, and other physical or tangible products of human creativity
Intangible Cultural Heritage:this covers practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts. Examples of intangible heritage are oral traditions, performing arts,festivals, local knowledge, and traditional skills.
Final Thoughts
The importance of cultural tourism cannot be overemphasized and we hope that through your trips with TravelKulture you will come to appreciate the importance and diversity of our cultures
