Tourism and Heritage
Relevance to Planning
Tourism and heritage are both very broad subject areas in their own right and they
come together in the context of planning in many different ways.
Tourism is defined by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) as comprising the
activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual
environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other
purposes. The WTO further explains that "tourism" refers to all activities of visitors.
Their definition has been adopted by the UK government for planning purposes1.
Heritage covers a wide variety of aspects. Often perceived rather narrowly by the
public in relation to buildings, the term encompasses cultural and environmental
heritage which, together with our built heritage generally combine to afford a tourism
experience. Take for example visits to National Trust or English Heritage property.
These are generally as much about setting and ambience as they are about the
property itself and the artefacts within it. Our National Parks and protected coastlines
are established to conserve important heritage landscapes and in so doing they
generate tourism and hence developments that aim to meet tourism needs. This is
no less true for the countryside at large.
The interaction of tourism and heritage is not restricted to the coast and countryside.
Cities, towns and a plethora of smaller settlements offer potential for tourism interest,
whether it is simply an overnight stay in a country house hotel or a grand tour of the
sights of central London. Cities such as York and Edinburgh are as busy with tourists
as they are with their own local residents and so too the market towns and traditional
settlements of Britain, where the combination of vernacular architecture and cultural
heritage offer a regular tourism experience.
1
Good Practice Guide on Planning for Tourism (para 1.4)
Our natural fascination with the past supports a seemingly endless list of museums,
heritage centres and visitor attractions centred around or even recreating heritage
experiences. The Beamish museum is one such. Heritage trails relating to the
environment, literature and even fictional interests (Sherlock Holmes or Jack the
Ripper) introduce tourism development where planning is often an intrinsic element.
Perhaps the most obvious location where culture, heritage and tourism meet must be
Stratford-upon-Avon.
Settlements such as Hay on Wye in Wales and Wigtown in Scotland have developed
thematically (in their case as "book towns") using cultural heritage as a foundation for
economic regeneration. Some settlements are sustained almost exclusively by
tourism revenue with a resident population tiny in comparison with its visitor
numbers.
Heritage and tourism also meet through the provision of holiday accommodation
ranging from bunkhouse barn and barge, country cottage to castle.
Even at its most straightforward, tourism and heritage often meet in the decision to
have an evening out at a traditional country pub, go out to the theatre, take a
weekend course in dry stone walling, or relocate for employment/retirement purposes
to somewhere which has always been a holiday destination for that individual.
The Heritage Tourism Market
Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, a fact which may be under
appreciated within the planning system as a whole both at regional and local levels.
Direct tourism spending accounted for 2.7% of UK Gross Value Added, or
approximately £86.3 billion in 2007. In 2008 UK Domestic Overnight Tourism alone
accounted for:
- 52.0 million holidays of one night or more spending £11.4 billion
- 18.2 million overnight business trips spending £4.5 billion
- 44.1 million overnight trips to friends and relatives spending £4.8 billion
Accordingly the tourism sector supports over 2.6 million jobs; 1.4 million directly and
a further 1.3 million indirectly. This is larger than the construction or transport
industries. Jobs directly supported by tourism account for 4.3% of all employment
and the combination of direct and indirect employment is equivalent to 8.4% of all
jobs2.
Tourism is not only home-grown, there are millions of overseas visitors who travel to
Britain each year specifically to immerse themselves in our diverse heritage. The
31.9 million overseas visitors who came in 2008 spent £16.4 billion in the UK3.
The latest figures for England4 showed a strong increase in visits to visitor/heritage
centres (+12%) in the year 2006-2007. Museums and art galleries recorded a 3%
increase in 2007, following a significant 8% increase in 2006. Visits to historic
houses/castles increased slightly by 1% in 2007, the same as in 2006. The last two
years have signalled a slight recovery following a -2% decline in 2005 and a -1%
decline in 2004.
2
3
4
Deloitte (2007)
TourismTrade.org.uk – Market Intelligence
Visitor Attractions Trends in England – 2007 Annual Report (September 2008)
It is clear that Britain's heritage plays a significant role in encouraging and providing
for both domestic and overseas tourism and also for sustaining both heritage assets
and host communities, particularly in remote or less well populated areas where
traditional industry no longer provides the economic sustainability that it once did.
The rural economy in particular has a particular dependency upon tourism. Farm
diversification and the reuse of redundant rural assets, particularly within landed
estates have relied heavily on the tourist industry.
In a debate on the economic value of the built heritage in 20045 the Minister for
Tourism Culture and Sport told the Scottish Parliament that the historic environment
is crucial to Scotland's economy.
The Minister stated:
"It is hard to overestimate the importance of the historic environment to tourism within
the Scottish economy. 83 per cent of visitors from abroad visit a historic site during
their stay.
"Nine per cent of all jobs in Scotland, and that rises to 15% in the Highlands, are
related to tourism, and it is a growing sector.
"In 2002 tourists spent £4.5 billion: money that is vital to sustaining employment in
our historic city centres and our small, remote communities."
An interesting appeal decision reported in Planning (26 June 2009) reinforces this
proposition. A scheme for 14 wind turbines in Argyll was rejected on appeal on the
finding that they would adversely affect the tourist industry. The report concluded that
the wind farm’s prominence in the landscape would be likely to deter tourists from
visiting or returning to the area, adversely affecting a local economy highly
dependent on their spending. (DCS number 100-062-500).
In Wales the Assembly Government is managing a project to develop Heritage
Tourism. The project, largely funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and EU
Convergence Funds is aimed at helping maximize the economic value of heritage by
increasing the number, length and value of visits to Wales.
The Down Side
Whilst tourism can be seen as an important element in the sustainability of local
economies and an essential vehicle for the long-term protection of our heritage
assets, its very success can also generate potential planning problems; these
primarily result from excessive demand conflicting with the carrying capacity of the
building, landscape or host community.
Some heritage properties are already subject to daily visitor limits to contain wear
and tear and there have been suggestions over the years that quotas or access
charges are made to National Parks in order to control tourism impact.
Creating mechanisms to spread the tourist season is one useful measure and
development plan policies have increasingly sought to achieve this. With an ageing
population that is not tied to holiday-taking during school breaks, there is an
opportunity to generate new markets. This can also help in reducing seasonal
variations in the local economy and employment.
5
www.scotland.gov.uk
Tourism can also spawn requests for acolyte development that may conflict with the
original heritage environment to such an extent that its original appeal is diminished
or lost altogether. This can often extend to advertisement controls as witnessed in
Conservation Areas.
It should also be remembered that tourism is a function of transient tastes which do
vary over time. Whilst the UK domestic tourist market is strong and reasonably
consistent, there have been natural declines in, for example, our traditional seaside
resorts. This has led to pressure for redevelopment causing the loss of heritage
property and a resultant change in perception and appeal. The debate is then
whether to achieve an entirely new format for that settlement or try and achieve some
return to former glory – there is no clear planning answer in many cases.
Striking a Balance
So heritage and tourism combine not only to generate new development initiatives, or
sustain existing ones, but can be instrumental features as a means of regeneration
and sustainability. In all cases planning has a place shaping role in defining policy
and enabling sustainable development, whilst controlling the natural excesses of a
commercial market.
As ever, planning must strike a reasonable balance between retention and protection
of our diverse heritage assets and allowing (and in appropriate circumstances
positively encouraging) tourism development, which can be an important means by
which those heritage assets are sustained for the future.
The new PPS5 – Planning for the Historic Environment, notes that:
“…local development frameworks (LDF) should set out a positive, proactive strategy
for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment in their area, taking
into account the variations in type and distribution of heritage asset, as well as the
contribution made by the historic environment by virtue of:
(ii) its potential to be a catalyst for regeneration in an area, in particular through
leisure, tourism and economic development”
The increasing significance of World Heritage Sites is also highlighted in the PPS
and where comprehensive management plans are being prepared local planning
authorities should provide clear policies for tourism as it may affect the site.
Particular regard is taken of the role of tourism in rural areas. The Good Practice
Guide on Planning for Tourism (2006) encourages LDF policy to engender a positive
approach to rural tourism proposals. Further guidance in this regard is given in
Planning Policy Statement 7 (PPS 7) on Sustainable Development in Rural Areas.
Our rural heritage (farm buildings, estate property, buildings at risk) can benefit from
a return to use through tourism where policies are constructive and flexibly applied.
The Good Practice Guide suggests that, "in those locations where the future
development of tourism is a key issue for the local authority, it will be appropriate for
the core strategy to cover tourism issues together with any objectives relevant to
tourism". Perhaps, in the light of the above, consideration of tourism policy in relation
to heritage assets should be viewed as a key issue in all locations.
Further Information and Links

PPS5: Planning for the Historic Environment

Good Practice Guide on Planning for Tourism (2006)

Heritage Counts (English Heritage) – 2003 edition Section 2.7 in particular re the
Value of the Built Heritage Report (National Economic Research Association
2003)

http://www.tourismtrade.org.uk for tourism statistics

The Role of Historic Buildings in Urban Regeneration (House of Commons
Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Committee, 2004)
Last updated: August 2010
Page author: Ian Butter FRICS MRTPI