However, in order to develop a strengthened force for cultural preservation, promotion and presentation, and to avoid some of the harmful aspects of cultural tourism, cultural organisations need to be much more aware of the nature of the co-ordinated interpretation product in terms of the combined cultural assets of a community and the administrative infrastructure which forms the supportive foundation. This requires museums to become more heavily involved in the process of community planning for culture.


COMMUNITY PLANNING FOR CULTURE

If this wider view of marketing the 'sense of place' is to be taken, it is essential to formulate an INTERPRETIVE PLAN for use by yourself and by others.

There are four main areas which are crucial in establishing such an INTERPRETIVE PLAN FOR CULTURE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.

1. The Tourism Market

- which can be divided into five main sectors:

a) the attractions sector:- what is there for the visitor to see?

b) the accommodation sector:- where do visitors stay?

c) the transport sector:- how do visitors get there?

d) travel organisers:- who organises the visit? (eg. travel agents)

e) destination organisers:- where do visitors get their information? (eg. tourist offices )

Cultural organisations must liaise closely with all these sectors.


2. The Administrative Control

This includes your own organisation's ability to put the interpretive plan into action. This demands that the cultural officer is involved at the highest level of planning a tourism product based on an increased visitor perception of historic identity. It also demands that all those involved appreciate the crucial dimension of the ENVIRONMENT in any cohesive plan.

3. The Involvement of the Local Community.

People respond best to people. No matter how culturally rich your area is, the lasting impression for the visitor will be determined by the visitor's perception of the ordinary member of the community's own opinion and respect for that culture.

Therefore, it could be said that any interpretive plan for tourism must first identify the support of the local community as a primary target market for influence and support of the co-ordinated plan. A supportive enthusiastic local community is an essential and potent marketing tool.


4. Marketing

This requires all your hard work to be applied in terms of your entire visitor community whether it consists of tourists or local residents. That is to say, your public profile must be right. This can be partly achieved through publicity but must also be the subject of continuing evaluation as to what the community wants.

There is absolutely no need for professionals in the cultural sector to become nervous at this sort of talk. A good, co-ordinated interpretive plan, soundly marketed, (which is another way of saying “explain your case to the public”) can be a tremendous stimulus to academic excellence and improved resources as well as improved interpretation.

However, to those who are still suspicious of Tourism Directors I would say you're probably right to be wary. In this age of short term contracts and demands for immediate reversals of the decline of traditional markets, they are more under pressure than we are to justify their daily bread.

However, if you are pursuing the potential, vigorously, and on your own terms, I think you will find that they will be more than happy to support you and to concentrate their own efforts on wider marketing potential and on improving the number and quality of bed-spaces.


INVOLVING THE COMMUNITY

It is therefore of fundamental importance that all the other sectors involved in the tourism product understand what you are trying to do, how you are trying to do it, and how they can benefit by your endeavours and by their own interpretation of your chosen theme.

Culture’s marketing initiatives must be enabling rather than restrictive, providing for the crucial and potent element of community involvement I emphasised earlier.

Interpretive community planning is therefore a co-operative venture and is vitally concerned with the heritage beyond the "pay boundary" of the formally administered cultural heritage sites. The other elements in the community, including the people, are the essential atmospheric backcloth to the core cultural attractions. It follows therefore that cultural organisations must have an extremely close relationship with their local planning departments, in order to protect the integrity and “setting” of the interpretive presentation.

There is an essential interdependence which governs the high quality tourism product, and a product based upon "cultural heritage" must also pay attention to this wider context.