Rock art tourism

Abstract

Rock art tourism facilities at publicly accessible sites range widely from a total absence of purpose-built infrastructure to multimillion-dollar interpretation centres, and from free and unrestricted visitation to full fee-paying, highly mediated visitation experiences run by tourism professionals. This chapter addresses questions surrounding the principles and practices of rock art tourism development in conjunction with issues of heritage management and conservation; each site is different, and development practices in one area cannot simply be transferred to another, although common methodologies may be followed. The most appropriate developments are constructed by first understanding the significance of places through genuine consultative processes that include all interested parties. Using examples from around the world, the authors provide an historical overview of rock art tourism in caves and open-air sites and discuss integrated rock art tourism management with a focus on conservation, interpretation, territoriality, and cultural connectivities.