By Yassine Jaouadi*

Introduction:

All over the world tourism has become a major sector for the development of the economy, as well for the developed and the developing countries. As a developing country, Tunisia is attracting a considerable number of tourists due to the widely diversified tourism product. Sun, sand and beautiful Mediterranean beaches made from Tunisia a destination well appreciated especially for the European tourists. However, In order to attract more tourists and aim the majority of the tourism market, cultural and heritage tourism has emerged in Tunisia as a new product. While the vast majority of travelers still opt for the typical conventional 'mass' experience best characterized by destinations fulfilling the `three S' type experience of sun, sand and sea, certain niche markets have become popular (Boyd, 2002).

Tunisia has a great potential to offer tourists more than sea and sand, in fact Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Spanish, Turks and French have all passed this way and stayed for various lengths of time (Black, 2003), With the succession of numbers of civilizations, Tunisia is rich of culture and historical monuments that have to be more explored for guided tours, festivals and cultural manifestations in order to meet the need of the tourists seeking a cultural experience as a part of their vacation.

This paper is concerned with the definition of cultural heritage and tourism concepts, Also we are going to classify the culture related to the tourism industry of Tunisia, and discuss challenges and problems facing it. Finally, we are going to analyze the marketing and management plans and their implications for decision makers in Tunisia.  

History, traditions and culture are crucial for any destination to build a competitive cultural tourism world wide. In fact, cultural and heritage tourism is a form of tourism in which participants seek to learn about and experience the past and present cultures of themselves and of others (Verbeke, 1997), through this definition we can notice the deep association between both heritage and cultural tourism.

According to the UNESCO heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generation. Heritage presents also a support of the preexisting civilization culture. In fact, the archaeological sites and ruins, which are part of the cultural heritage, reflect a historical view about the development of architecture and monumental arts. However, traditions as a part of the cultural heritage also, illustrate events and beliefs of civilizations which are living or have disappeared. Stephen Boyd (2002) stated that heritage is a very complex term. It may be viewed as taking on the identity of an interest in the past, an interest in cultures, buildings, artifacts and landscapes of both the past and present. The complexity of the heritage as a term comes from its involvement in the majority of the fields related to culture.

 Many scholars have agreed that the definition of cultural tourism is complex; Honkanen (2002) stated that it is not simple to define the exact meaning of cultural tourism, because the term 'culture' alone has numerous definitions. Culture is behavior characteristic of human beings in which material objects especially have a significant role. Culture includes among its many facets: languages, ideas, beliefs, habits, codes, institutions, tools, technologies, works of art, ceremonies and rituals (Encyclopedia, 2000), Due to the huge implication of culture in almost everything related to the human life, tourism seems to be a part of culture. However, cultural tourism has an important matter concerning the tourism industry in general, so it is necessary to have a real definition for this concept. According to the World Tourism Organization cultural tourism includes trips, which are connected to studies and research, art, culture, festivals, nature, folklore and pilgrimage, with the aim of raising the level of knowledge and experience (Tighe, 1985). A quite broad definition like this makes cultural tourism universal, and touches almost any activity of the human life. This is why The European Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) defines cultural tourism in two ways. The first definition which is conceptual states that, cultural tourism is the movement of persons to cultural attractions away from their normal place of residence, with the intention to gather new information and experiences to satisfy their cultural needs. The second one is technical, and states that cultural tourism is all movements of persons to specific cultural attractions, such as heritage sites, artistic and cultural manifestations, arts and drama outside their normal place of residence (Richards, 2001).

Cultural and heritage tourism in Tunisia can be classified in to three essential categories involving the historical and archaeological sites, Museums and cultural events. This classification is made through a close focus into the preferences of tourists; in fact tourists are more likely interested to include on their vacation package visits to historical sites, and participation in different cultural events. The majority of those tourists do not come to Tunisia especially to experience a cultural activity, but it presents one among others, such as riding camels in the Sahara and enjoying all kind of activity in the beaches.

Tunisia has a wide variety of archaeological and historical sites whish are essentially: Punic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic. Many of these sites still in excellent condition and some of them represent ruins. According to the UNESCO, Tunisia presents a variety of historical sites, which are listed as part of the World Heritage. Among these sites we can mention the Amphitheatre of El Jem; whish is the largest coliseum in North Africa, illustrates the grandeur and extent of Imperial Rome. In Carthage the Tunisian best-known archaeological site tourists can admire the Punic ruins from Byrsa Hill which was the heart of the city in Punic times, Also Carthage has the Antonine Baths whish beside those of Rome present the largest baths in the Roman Empire, visitors are not allowed to enter the baths but can view them from a platform.

Also in Tunisia we can find more preserved Roman ruins in Dougga, Thuburbo Majus and Bulla Rigia, all of these sites are used by a summer touring company, which give tourists the opportunity to learn more about festivals and events that took place during the Roman Empire. Kairouan, a city in central Tunisia is also rich of Islamic architectural heritage includes the Great Mosque, with its marble and porphyry columns, this city remain until our days the principal holy city of the Maghreb (Arabic North African countries).

The International Council of Museums (1989) defines the museum as a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment. Such a definition can not be applied into our context; in fact one of the major purposes of cultural tourism is to gain maximum profits from tourists. Comparing to France, Tunisia does not have a wide range of museums, they are few, the most famous one is the Bardo museum, which originally a 13^th century palace restored to become an example of Arabs and Moslems architecture and decoration, However Bardo Museum has the particularity of boasting  the finest and largest Roman mosaics in the world.

As we focus on the location of Tunisian museums, we can notice that most of them are located in tourism areas, which reflect the role that these museums play to improve the tourism industry. However, museums are also frequently visited by locals and students seeking to learn more about past civilizations.

Cultural events present a part of the culture that tourism destinations offer, they are special events related to culture, such as festivals, fairs and conferences.

Joseph S. Chen and Dogan Gursay (2001) stated that it is important to develop and maintain the best possible cultural attractions because travelers generally do not consume just one cultural product at a time; instead, they consume a cluster of cultural products. For that reason Tunisia has in its cultural package a variety of cultural events, the most known are festivals.

During summer time every single city organizes a festival, in which tradition, folk art and customs are celebrated. The majority of Tunisian festivals are oriented to aim the local market. However, The International Music festival, held for long evenings in the el Jem coliseum, attracts a huge number of tourists who like to enjoy hearing symphonic orchestras in the outstanding setting of the majestic Roman Coliseum. Giving this brief background about culture in Tunisia, it is clear that this country has a solid basis for maintaining an acceptable cultural tourism. Thus, this field has become a prime area of action and production within the tourism concept; many challenges are facing decision markers and government authorities.

One of the big challenges that face cultural tourism all over the world is the conservation of the heritage. Li (2003) indicated that any efforts to develop heritage tourism will have to deal with a series of challenging issues involved in the inherent contradictions between conservation and change associated with the development process. In fact the use of maximum efforts in order to conserve cultural heritage will definitely lead to a minimization of revenues generated by this kind of business and vice versa.

Many measures had been taken in order to protect cultural heritage from being destroyed or damaged, In 1972 UNESCO held the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and National Heritage (UNESCO 1972). Signatory states established the fifteen-member World Heritage Committee, which is authorized to take action to conserve endangered cultural heritage. The Committee set up the World Heritage Fund, which is financed by donations from states, international organizations, and private parties. The Fund, as of 1990, had an annual budget of $2.5 million to protect cultural and natural sites from destruction and environmental hazards (Villanueva, 1995). Due to the extreme historical value of the heritage any transformation on its characteristics could be harmful to its image as unique, so it may loose its value and becomes an ordinary piece. As a tourism destination, Tunisia is concerned with this issue; heritage protection and safeguarding have been integrated in national planning by rising fiscal funds especially for this purpose, also Tunisian authorities are working with the world bank on a project that will permit the development of a strategy of valorization of the country’s heritage. Moreover the government has put two bodies, which are the ministry of culture and the ministry of tourism, responsible for the preservation and development of the sites as a tourism product. 

Problems facing cultural tourism in Tunisia:          

The problems facing cultural tourism in Tunisia are approximately those who face the tourism industry in general. Tourism being very sensible to any local or international disasters, presents various type of problems, such as political, social or ecological. Political stabilities are the most important criteria that motivate tourists to choose a tourism destination instead of another. Tunisia is well known for its peaceful and stable environment, however in the year of 1991 and during the Gulf War Tunisia, like many other Arab countries, suffered from a dramatically decrease in the number of its international tourists, such situation has caused a serious damage to the country’s tourism industry in general and cultural and heritage tourism in particular, along with that in April of 2002 the country has been a subject of terrorism attack that aimed one of the oldest synagogues located in the island of Djerba and caused the death of about ten German tourists who were visiting the historical site of Ghriba Synagogue.

Such events present a big threat for the development of a sustainable cultural and heritage tourism. Tunisia faces also a social problem with regard to the context of culture and identity, in fact the Arab world, for over 500 years, has been under the direct and/or indirect influence of numerous foreign powers. Arabs, generation after generation, have lost attachments to their cultural heritages and principles. In fact, formal education ceased to exist until the early years of this century and cultural contact with mainstream Arab thought was lost (Abbes, 1995). Tunisia, like the majority of Arab countries, suffers from cultural discontinuity caused by the influence of the French colonization.

Having efficient management plans is crucial for maintaining an organized cultural tourism in deed Cros (2001) advanced that in planning and developing cultural heritage places as tourism attractions, successful integration of cultural heritage management and tourism concerns should recognize that there will be different priorities for each. Although this seems obvious it does not always occur. A process is needed that illuminates the priorities clearly, which then can be used as a guide for conservation and visitor management policies for successfully developing appropriate places into attractions. According to this statement, the management of heritage sites is primarily concerned with making them attractive to tourists. However, visitors themselves are also implicated into this process of management; Machin (2002) pointed that the visitor again wants to interact with the attraction. It is the visitor who controls much of the format and activity at the attraction, under the powerful influence of other people, the media, education, and of course previous experience as a visitor.

The management of heritage sites and cultural events in Tunisia is the responsibility of two government bodies: the ministry of culture, and the ministry of tourism. Their responsibilities involve many tasks the most important are the development and the valorization of the national cultural heritage and the control of public and private organizations that have the mission to plan and organize cultural events. Also, many private tourism companies are involved into the management and the organization of several cultural activities. The ultimate mission of these companies is to transmit to visitors a good image of the Tunisian culture and tradition through shows and concerts organized in the historical sites. Along with that the Tunisian government has worked with the World Bank on a project to maintain a sustainable cultural and heritage tourism, according to the World Bank (2001) the project is intended to assist the Government of Tunisia in the sustainable management of the country’s cultural heritage, aiming at generating development and income through the promotion of cultural tourism. Project components include strengthening the legal framework and relevant institutions; developing markets for tourism and cultural products, and developing and managing six sites representative of Tunisia’s national heritage.

 In our days more and more tourists are interested to cultural tourism as a service that provides leisure and knowledge at the same time. It is clear that within the tourism industry the market orientation has changed and cultural tourism has become a major sector. Iwashita (2003) stated that there has been a growing world wide phenomenon that tourists visit a destination or attraction as a result of the place being featured or portrayed in the popular cultural forms of the media which are not directly concerned with tourism promotion or marketing such as films, television dramas and novels. This phenomenon has created a new form of cultural tourism. According to this statement tourism related to the archaeological sites does not require much marketing efforts; in fact the site could market itself based on its characteristics and features.

As a well known marketing strategy, Tunisia has always diversified its tourism product, cultural and heritage tourism is considered as a growing product that needs more promotional efforts. It is obvious that the country has a quite diversified tourism market portfolio, in fact the succession and the emergence of new markets is continuous, for instance the rapidly expanding market that brings numbers of tourists from neighboring and historically close countries, such as the Libyan, Algerian, French and Italian market. Also Tunisian tourism sector is characterized by being structurally placed in a niche – tourist operator-driven package holidays – which is very sensible to bad publicity, even when this negative image drives from other countries in the region. As Bleasdale (2006) advanced the need is to recognize the uniqueness of Tunisia's situation whilst at the same time appreciating the value of general concepts for furthering understanding of the interaction between tourism and culture. Thus, it is for a great benefit to attract more tourists willing to experience a cultural activity by adopting adequate marketing strategies; however tourism decision makers in Tunisia have to focus more on the development of a cultural product that reflects its identity and distinguishes it from other destination.

Lanfant (1995) stated that in order to give a country the best chance in a competitive market it must have some trade mark which emphasizes both its originality and its superiority within a giving domain. According to this statement, every destination must affirm itself with an identity on behalf of tourists who are willing to experience specific cultural activity. The Tunisian government is determinant about promoting cultural tourism which is irreversible, the creation of the Regional Commission of Cultural Tourism illustrate such determination.

In order to maintain and create an excellent image regarding cultural and heritage tourism, Tunisia still has a long way to go. In fact this sector needs more qualified workforce able and ready to face challenges with efficient plans and strategies. Also, more work has to be done concerning the infrastructure as an important basis for the whole industry in general. Moreover the difficult global economic environment has had a serious impact on the economies of the developing countries in general and the African economies in particular. Growing competition as well as currency fluctuations and the exacerbation of the debt burden constitute major constraints, which have impeded the progress of the developing countries.

 Cultural tourism could be one of the solutions to Tunisian economic problems. Yet, in cultural tourism several adjustments must be done in order to meet the various needs of the market; however such statement will lead to the issue of identity and challenges related to changes that can occur in tourism destinations.    

* Yassine Jaouadi is the Tunisian Community Center Regional Coordinator for Florida.     

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