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Научни трудове на Съюза на учените в България-Пловдив, Серия A. Обществени науки, изкуство и култура том III, ISSN 1311-9400 (Print) ; ISSN 2534-9368 (On-line), 2017, Scientific works of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria-Plovdiv, seriesA. Public sciences, art and culture, Vol. III, ISSN 1311-9400 (Print); ISSN 2534-9368 (On-line), 2017.
ВЪЗМОЖНОСТИ ЗА КУЛТУРЕН ТУРИЗЪМ ПО ПРИМЕРА НА ПЛОВДИВСКА ОБЛАСТ, БЪЛГАРИЯ Елена Петкова Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски"
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CULTURAL TOURISM. A CASE STUDY OF THE DISTRICT OF PLOVDIV, BULGARIA Elena Petkova Sofia university «St. Kliment Ohridski»
Abstract:
The aim of the paper is an estimation of the opportunities for cultural tourism development in the district of Plovdiv, Bulgaria to be presented. In this regard, opportunities for practicing various forms of cultural tourisms are evaluated. Opportunities for development of other types of tourism in the region are also estimated in order a comparison of those opportunities and the ones for cultural tourism forms to be done. Estimates were given by local residents and visitors of the region by participating in a questionnaire survey.
Key-words: cultural tourism, tourism types, Plovdiv, questionnaire survey
Some Theoretical Aspects of Cultural Tourism
Based on the theory and practice tourist activities could be classified in two main groups: leisure (recreational) tourism (holiday at the mountain or seaside) and specialized types of tourism, such as: cultural, congress/ business, rural, eco-, hunting, hobby, etc.
Here a note should be made: sometimes it is considered that business travels are not part of tourism industry, as their main drive is work, i.e. they are travels during or aimed at work, while tourism is usually performed during holidays and no matter whether it is leisure or specialized form of tourism, the main purpose is recreation or entertainment. However, in accordance with the world methodology of tourism travels, the national and foreign statistics and for scientific purposes, business travels are considered as a part of tourism:
"Not everybody agrees that business travel should be included as part of the tourism industry, as the trip is not made for pleasure. However, from a financial perspective, it is likely that business travel should be included as it forms a significant proportion of the total market" (Hampton, 1989).
Holiday and specialized types of tourism could be distinguished from one another both on the basis of tourists (specialized targeting on certain market segments of tourists with specific needs and motives, while holiday is practiced by the majority of tourists) and of products/ activities that tourists carry out during their stays (specialized offering goods and services specific for each form, while leisure - similar "packages" of goods and services, including accommodation, food, transport, skiing or beach holiday).
There are some difficulties in distinguishing specialized forms of tourism from each other and defining cultural tourism. The same activities or needs of tourists could be subject to various types of tourism. Some examples are given below.
The subject of cultural tourism is culture, history, traditions and customs of a destination, which are the main reason for participation in cultural trips and journeys. But those resources are often subject of ecotourism too, which according to a definition is:
"An activity where the tourist travels to nature areas in order to admire, study and enjoy the existing nature and culture in a way that does not exploit the resources, but contribute to the conservation of the genuine environment" (Bjork, 1995). Besides nature, the culture is also in the focus of ecotourism. However, the difference between cultural and ecotourism is that the central topic of the last is the nature and it is essential that tourism activities support the sustainable development of the region and the conservation of its resources, while tourists should be aware and contribute to it.
Cultural tourism differs from sport tourism by the main motive for making the trip/ journey. However, the subject motivated the participation in both types of tourism is one and the same: for example, sport facilities of historical significance might be of interest for both cultural and sport tourists. Furthermore, sport is often a part of the historical heritage or of the contemporary culture of a region:
"Unique rules and institutional sporting structures have evolved over time, often reflecting and sometimes influencing the country's culture. Sport therefore can act as a powerful symbol of a destination's culture..."(Hinch, 2001).
The sites or resources of cultural and religious tourism (churches, monasteries) are the same. However, the difference between both types of tourism is the reason because of which the tourists visit those sites. The participants in religious tourism visit the sites in order to worship them, i.e. specific spiritual (religious) motives prevail. Meanwhile, participants in cultural tourism are driven by cognitive reasoning. They visit the sites to get to know them, to get an idea about them. Due to the fact that the sites visited during cultural and religious trips/ journeys are the same the religious tourism is often considered and defined as a kind of cultural tourism. Thus, according to a definition the religious tourism is:
"A specialized type of cultural tourism - a tourist travel motivated by meeting religious needs through the consumption of religious values"(Kostov-Kinek,2000).
To sum up, cultural tourism differs from the other types of tourism by the purpose of travel and during the stay specific activities are carried out, such as visits to cultural and historic sites, museums, festivals and other events. However:
"What distinguishes heritage or cultural tourism is not the nature of the activity so much as it is the delivery of specific socio-psychological needs for the visitor, focused perhaps on interests that explore kinship, family, artistic expression and other visible aspects of human endeavor" (Zeppel,1991).
So far, the boundary of cultural tourism with the other types of tourism is outlined. Now cultural tourism should be defined. In this regard, the clarification of the concept "cultural tourism" determines the need preliminary definitions of the concepts "tourism" and "culture" to be given.
Based on the definitions, given in textbooks and monographs by authors, such as Kostov-Kinek and others, as well as on the definition of World Tourism Organization (WTO), it could be summed up that tourism is: travel and stay of people for a period of from one night to one year at a place outside their permanent residence, related to entertainment, leisure, holiday, visits of friends or relatives, business, conferences, etc., with the exception of activities against which remuneration is received at the destination.
On the basis of the definition above the following characteristics of tourism could be derived: it is both travel and stay of people who are not residents (in order to be considered as tourists the people must have left and then returned home); there should be a temporary stay of at least one night and less than a year (for statistical purposes people, who stay at destinations outside their permanent residence up to twenty-four hours are called excursionists and those who stay twenty-four hours or more - tourists; for scientific purposes all are called visitors); activities during travel and stay are done with a particular purpose.
The culture can be defined as "the customs and traditions, the rules and standards of behavior
of a society" (Greenwood,1994). Those are common values, attitudes of the people of a community, which find expression in certain customs, traditions, rituals, events, buildings, monuments and lifestyle. The culture itself distinguishes one nation or society from another by delivering specific, relatively stable characteristics to them.
There is a two-way relation between tourism and culture, i.e. tourism influences culture and culture has a strong impact on tourism.
Culture influences tourism in the following way:
• Culture encourages people from a country to travel to foreign countries. People travel because they are interested in other different cultures; they strive to acquire knowledge;
• Culture of the people of a country causes other people from foreign countries to travel to it. The more enriched the culture is, more preconditions are created to meet tourists - more attractive activities, better qualification of human resources, improved infrastructure.
The influence of tourism on culture is expressed in cultural exchange and can be summarized in the following two aspects:
• Impact of tourism on culture of the local people in a region welcoming tourist that is expressed in the creation of new cultural sites (buildings, theatres, cinemas, museums) and in increased revenues that can be used for protecting the monuments, reviving the old traditions;
• Impact of tourism on culture of the regions generating tourists, which is expressed in acquisition of knowledge and ideas about other cultures by tourists and consequently in enrichment of the culture of their own nations, using those knowledge and ideas.
So far, only positive impact of tourism on culture was mentioned. However, besides positive tourism impact on culture could be negative. Large numbers of visitors could lead to the destruction of cultural heritage:
"Pressures from airlines, hotels, international finance institutions, combined with employment needs and demands from local business sectors, often take precedence over concerns for cultural integrity." The customs are changing in order to meet the preferences of tourists. It is possible "that tourism turns culture into a commodity, which is then packaged for tourists and ... made meaningless to the people who once believed in it' " (Greenwood,1977).
The relationship between culture and tourism is very strong in cultural tourism, which develops as a separate type of tourism with its own specific characteristics. As it has caused a great interest among the researchers in the field of tourism, in the scientific literature there are a lot of definitions of cultural tourism. For example:
"The World Tourism Organization's definition is admirable, effectively defining cultural tourism as the movements of persons for essentially cultural motivations, which they suggest includes study tours, performing arts, cultural tours, travel to festivals, visits to historic sites and monuments, folklore and pilgrimages"(WTO,1985).
A larger understanding of the concept of cultural tourism is that it "includes all movements of people that meet human needs for diversity, which are aimed at raising the level of culture of the individuals and generate new knowledge and experience" (Jeleva-Martins, 2005).
Some other definitions of cultural tourism are:
• "Cultural tourism can be defined as that activity which enable people to experience the different ways of life of other people, thereby gaining at first hand an understanding of their customs, traditions, the physical environment, the intellectual ideas and those places of architectural, historic, archeological or other cultural significance which remain from earlier times" (ICOMOS,1997);
• „Cultural tourism covers products which authentically reflect the culture of the destination (e.g. lifestyle, heritage and industrial activity) and visitors who seek an understanding of that culture"(Tasmanian Department of Tourism, 2005).
On the basis of the definitions of cultural tourism presented in scientific literature, its specific characteristics could be derived and classified into two main groups:
• General that refer to all types of tourism - consumption of goods and services, utilization of facilities and infrastructure, tourists travel and stay outside their place of residence for a definite
period of time;
• Specific that differentiates it from the other types of tourism - specialized form of tourist travel, occupies a smaller market share than holiday tourism, specific aims and objectives of taking the trip/ journey - visit of cultural and historic sites and events.
Methodology of Study
The aim of the paper is an estimation of the opportunities for cultural tourism development in the district of Plovdiv, Bulgaria to be presented. In this regard, opportunities for practicing various forms of cultural tourisms are evaluated. Opportunities for development of other types of tourism in the region are also estimated in order a comparison of those opportunities and the ones for cultural tourism forms to be done. Estimates were given by local residents and visitors of the region by participating in a questionnaire survey.
Plovdiv District is situated at the central part of Southern Bulgaria and occupies an area of 5972.9 sq. km that represents 5.4% of the territory of Bulgaria.The district is characterized by a convenient transport geographic position and possesses a high natural, economic and human potential, highly-productive lands, thermal mineral waters and extremely rich cultural heritage. The favorable geographic position of the district is complemented by the availability of infrastructure and transport access (www.pd.government.bg, 2015).
The questionnaire has been prepared in Bulgarian, English and Russian. It includes closed and open questions. The closed question contains ten opportunities for practicing in a type of tourism in the district of Plovdiv that should have been valued by the respondents through a 5-point scale with estimates from 1 - very bed to 5 - very good. The results were summarized and presented by mean values. Half of the opportunities concern the practice of various activities that are forms of cultural tourism. They are related to the acquisition of knowledge about the tangible and the intangible culture of the district, as well as to the mastering specific skills. The rest of the opportunities concern the practice of other types of tourism: nature-oriented, health and prophylaxis, sport, business, entertainment and shopping. Regarding the open questions, the respondents had the opportunity to describe in a free text what their overall impression of the district of Plovdiv was, and give recommendations and prepositions for its future development. The survey has been carried out in the district centre - the city of Plovdiv - during the first half of 2014. The total number of respondents is 45. The questionnaires were spread as pilot surveys. Although the number of respondents is too small and that may be statistically troublesome, some useful results were achieved.
Results of Study
Almost half of the respondents (21 or 47%) are locals - residents of the district of Plovdiv. The same the share of the people from the other districts of the country is (47% or 21) and negligible the share of the foreigners who filled the questionnaire is - 6% (3 people from Austria, Russia and Ukraine).
Respondents were able to express in their own words what their overall impression of the district of Plovdiv is. Some of them gave a general evaluation, which widely varies from „excellent" to „now it is not good". Others gave specific assessment -a beautiful or a nice city, a city of ancient culture, a peaceful and cozy city, and a beautiful area, providing diversity, a wonderful combination of nature and historical sites, warm city, I leaned many new things and convenient and fast transport from Plovdiv district to the city. Not surprisingly, although they were asked about Plovdiv district as a whole, the majority of respondents gave assessment mainly of the city of Plovdiv. That is due to the fact that most of them were surveyed there. Other respondents emphasized on development opportunities of Plovdiv. In this sense, it is stated that the city is little abandoned and needs more funds in order to acquire tourist appealing outlook; thus the city is characterized by its under-explored potential. However, the city is seen as a place of high potential, it develops and has good development with good opportunities for education and work (Table 1).
Table 1. Overall Impression of the District of Plovdiv
Excellent General evaluation
Very good
Good
Good in recent years
Relatively good
Satisfactory
Average
Now it is not good
Nice city but little abandoned Development opportunities
Nice city but it needs more funds for tourist outlook
The city is developing
Good development with opportunities for education and work
A place of high potential
Good city but of under-explored potential
A beautiful city/ place
Nice city
A beautiful area, providing diversity Specific assessment
A beautiful, peaceful and cozy city
A beautiful city of ancient culture
Warm city
A wonderful combination of nature and historical sites
I learned many new things
Convenient and fast transport from Plovdiv district to the city
Visitors overall gave the highest estimate of the opportunities for visiting museums, cultural, historical, architectural and archeological monuments (mean value 4.58) - an activity that is a part of cultural tourism. Next, high estimate received another type of tourism, namely entertainments, nightlife and shopping (4.47), followed by business tourism (4.36). High estimates were also given to opportunities for visiting cultural events and to nature-oriented tourism (4.33). The lowest estimates were given to the opportunities for contacts with local people, communities, languages and styles of living, as well as to medical, spa and wellness tourism (4.00). To sum up, all types of tourism pointed out are considered as having good opportunities for development by respondents (mean values 4 and above 4). Regarding cultural tourism, best the opportunities for getting acquainted with tangible culture of the district are. According to respondents overall, the other types of cultural tourism are developed to the same extents as the other types of tourist activities.
Local people, domestic and international travelers in particular estimated high the opportunities for practicing all types of tourism in the region, as the mean values given by them are around and above average. Local residents gave higher estimates to all types of tourism than
Bulgarians from the other districts of the country. Locals gave higher estimates than foreigners to most types of tourism with the exception of the opportunities for learning about local cultures, art, crafts, history, traditions, architecture and folklore, for medical, spa and wellness tourism and for business tourism. International tourists gave higher estimates than domestic tourists to the opportunities for visiting cultural performances and events, for learning about local culture, art, crafts, history, traditions, architecture and folklore, for contacts with local people, communities, languages and styles of living, for medical, spa and wellness and for business tourism. The same estimates were given by both international and domestic tourists to the opportunities for visiting cultural, historical, archeological and architectural sites. The rest of the activities received higher estimates by domestic in comparison with the international tourists.
Table 2. Estimation of Plovdiv district
Total Plovdiv district Other districts of Bulgaria Bulgarians overall Foreigners
Opportunities for visiting museums, cultural, historical, archeological and architectural monuments, sites and sightseeing 4.58 4.67 4.50 4.59 4.50
Opportunities for visiting theatres, concerts, exhibitions, festivals and other specific cultural events 4.33 4.57 4.05 4.32 4.50
Opportunities for visiting religious monuments - monasteries, churches, etc. 4.19 4.48 4.00 4.24 3.00
Opportunities for learning about local culture, art, crafts, history, traditions, architecture and folklore 4.16 4.29 4.00 4.15 4.50
Opportunities for contacts with local people, communities, languages and styles of living 4.00 4.10 3.90 4.00 4.00
Opportunities for visiting natural areas and sights 4.33 4.57 4.20 4.39 3.00
Opportunities for medical spa, spa and wellness services 4.00 4.00 3.91 3.97 5.00
Opportunities for sport and attending sporting events (competitions, tournaments, etc.) 4.09 4.52 3.75 4.15 3.00
Opportunities for participating in conferences, seminars, fairs, trade shows, training and other educational and business events 4.36 4.48 4.09 4.34 5.00
Opportunities for entertainments, nightlife, shopping, etc. 4.47 4.76 4.25 4.51 3.50
Local residents gave the highest estimates to the opportunities for entertainment and shopping tourism (4.76), followed by cultural, historical, architectural and archeological monu-
ments (4.67) (i.e. this form of cultural tourism is second but not first), and the lowest estimates to the opportunities for medical, spa and wellness tourism (4.00). Domestic tourists gave the highest estimates to the opportunities for visiting museums and cultural and historical sites (4.50), followed by the opportunities for entertainment and shopping tourism (4.25), and the lowest estimates - to the opportunities for sport tourism (3.75). Bulgarians as a whole gave the highest estimates to the opportunities for visiting museums and cultural and historical monuments (4.59), followed by the opportunities for entertainment and shopping tourism (4.51) and the lowest estimates - to the opportunities for medical, spa and wellness tourism (3.97). In contrast, the foreigners gave the highest estimates to the opportunities for medical, spa and wellness tourism and for business tourism (which have received maximum mean values of 5.00). The lowest estimates by foreigners were given to the opportunities for religious, nature-oriented and sport tourism (average values of 3.00) (Table 2).
Table 3. What prepositions and recommendations respondents would like to make about the future development of the District of Plovdiv
More green areas, preservation of nature, less construction Ecology and natural resources
Cleaner air
To emphasize on cleaning; better cleaning and not to be contaminated by people who live in the city
Improvement of infrastructure Marketing and anthropogenic resources
Reduction in ticket prices of railways, city transport, taxis
Development of more cultural values. Without pop-folk
More advertising
As development proposals respondents pointed out such, which are related to the improvement of the environmental aspects and quality of natural resources: cleaner air, more green areas, preservation of nature and less construction; to be emphasized on cleaning, better cleaning and not to be contaminated by people. The other recommendations are related to taking initiatives in marketing and improvement of quality of anthropogenic resources. These include: infrastruc-tural improvement; reduction in the transport ticket prices; development of more cultural values and more advertising (Table 3).
Conclusion
It could be concluded that in general local people and visitors of the city estimated high the opportunities for practicing various forms of cultural tourism in the district of Plovdiv. The highest estimates they gave to the opportunities for getting acquainted with tangible culture, high estimates they also gave to the opportunity for visiting cultural performances and events. They estimated high the opportunities for practicing the other types of tourism too. However, foreigners in particular estimated high the opportunities for practicing other types of tourism in the district, such as medical, spa and wellness and business tourism. Higher estimates of the opportunities for practicing all types of tourism in the district of Plovdiv were given by local people than tourists. Local people consider that the best the opportunities for shopping and entertainment tourism are, which were estimated high by domestic tourists too but not by international tourists. Domestic tourists gave the highest estimates to the opportunities for visiting museums and cultural monuments.
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