Making sense of heritage tourism: Research trends in a maturing field of study

This essay examines several emerging research trends in the field of heritage tourism. These trends, including experiential connections with heritage, blurred boundaries between tourisms, more accurate portrayals of the commodified past and technological advancements, demonstrate a precipitous growth in heritage tourism scholarship that focuses more on experience, identity, stewardship, place and empowerment than the more descriptive supply v. demand work that preceded it. Changes in how researchers treat the cultural past indicate a maturing field of study that is increasing in popularity as a focus of academic research and also as a consumable tourist product.