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TOURISM&CREATIVE INDUSTRY WORKSHOP
Sustainable tourism, cultural tourism, creative tourism, culinary tourism, heritage & tourism
165
1
Facultad de Administración y Dirección de
Empresas, edificio 7J
Cno. de Vera s/n, Universitat Politècnica
46022 Valencia
dacapre@ade.upv.es
Cultural tourism and festivals:
Seeking a sustainable relationship
Catala-Perez
1
, D.
Keywords:
cultural tourism, festivals, economic impact, intangible cultural
heritage.
Recently, there has been an intense discussion about the dates for two of the
most important festivals of Valencian Community: the Fallas of Valencia and
the Moors and Christians Festival from Alcoy (both declared International
Tourist Interest events). Moving these festivals at the weekend seems essential
for some local stake-holders, to attract more visitors and increase tourism.
By contrast, there are people who defend the tradition and purity of these
festivals and think that they must remain faithful to its origins. We’re faced with
a problem approachable from three perspec-tives, at least.
First, festivals are collective cultural facts that remind a thing or a sacred or
profane event through ceremonies, rituals, celebrations and commemorations.
They are transmitted by tradition, have permanence and evolve over time.
The community that celebrates them gives them meaning. Therefore, Unesco
recognizes festivals as one of the six categories of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity, in its Con-vention for the Safeguarding of Intangible
World Heritage (2003).
Second, the current development of cultural tourism as one of the most im-
portant and diverse phenomena of modern tourism, places festivals as one
of its main attractions. Cultural tourism is open to continuous innovation and
the creation of new products, in response to demands for new experiences or
needs of tourists.