Tourism and Cultural Heritage

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION
Discovering, knowing, enjoying and experiencing culture and heritage are some of the main reasons for tourists to travel and, are also selling points to promote a destination. This course provides the basic keys to interpret the architectural, archeological, urban and artistic heritage at both local and global levels, in order to contribute to the cultural sustainability of a given destination. The analysis tools provided will be applied on field trips and through case studies. This course also provides the basis for further development in specialty subjects: management of cultural tourism and heritage mediation. The student will, therefore, be able to make objective and subjective analysis of heritage assets and know how to communicate them, both written and orally, as well as to integrate them into a tourism project.

BASIC SKILLS
BS01- Students must demonstrate knowledge and understanding in a study field based on secondary school and that relies on advanced textbooks and includes some aspects that imply knowledge about the vanguard of it.
BS03- Students must be able to collect and interpret important information (in their study field) in order to formulate judgments with reflections on important social, scientific and ethical issues.

SPECIFIC SKILLS
SS01- Understand the principles of tourism and the importance of its socio-cultural and environmental impact.
SS12- Identify, increase the value of, and manage cultural and natural heritage for tourism use.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Understand and apply general characteristics of artistic and cultural currents of history in order to value heritage.
2. Learn about main historical and artistic heritage.
3. Analyze cultural heritage as a tourism resource.
4. Learn the methodology of artwork analysis for its application and classification. 
5. Manage a specific terminology about heritage concerning its interpretation and management.
6. Identify and present a heritage element as a tourism resource.
7. Develop an appreciation for heritage and its issues that underlie the need for its conservation

ACADEMIC CONTENTS
Block 1: Relationship between cultural heritage and tourism
1.1 Identity and cultural heritage
1.1.1 What is identity?
1.1.2 What is culture?
1.1.3 What is cultural heritage? Classification, selection criteria and values
1.2 The role of cultural heritage in the evolution of tourism
1.2.1 Typologies of tourism
1.2.2 Cultural heritage and tourism
Block 2: Identification and analysis of cultural heritage in the environment
2.1. The heritage resources of the environment
2.2 Monuments: definition and analysis
2.3 The ruins: definition and analysis
Block 3: The museum and heritage
3.1 Origin and evolution of the museum
3.2 Typology of museums
3.3 Museology and museography
3.4 New technologies and the museum

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
The learning methodologies planned for the subject combine a number of processes being the most remarkable the cognitive methods related to the comprehension of the principles of tourism and the global tourism system as well as the inclusion of a set of skills, mainly technical.
The activities and methodologies -both group and individual- designed for this subject are the following: 

Lectures
Case studies
Discussions
Practical exercises
Problem-based learning
Visits to heritage sites