ATLAS Conference on Tourism and Heritage

This year’s annual conference of the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) focussed on the paradoxes in tourism, culture and heritage. At the conference "Selling or Telling" in Brighton in July, participants discussed the concept of heritage as compared to earlier paradigms such as conservation and preservation. As Christina Kamp summarizes, heritage does not have any intrinsic value, but can be created upon demand and remains changeable. In most cases, heritage is not defined in democratic processes, but by those who have the power to define it. This may lead to false representation and may serve to further marginalise communities, as case studies from different parts of the world illustrated. However, there are also examples of communities successfully defining their own heritage and identity.