The glocalisation of heritage through tourism: Balancing standardisation and differentiation

Heritage destinations worldwide are adapting themselves to the homogenizing standards of global tourism at the same time as trying to maintain, or even increase, their local particularity. While local and national tourism authorities and tour operators package and sell so-called ‘authentic’ cultural landscapes or ‘traditional’ cultures, what counts as heritage – be it material or intangible – and the way it is interpreted is increasingly defined and controlled supralocally. This chapter sketches the broad picture of global heritage tourism in the 21st century and illustrates the general trends with examples of ongoing ethnographic research on cultural heritage tourism in central Java, Indonesia.status: publishe