Abstract
The chapter, starting from the analysis of the characteristics of heritage tourism, in particular in Italy, and the expectations of cultural consumers, focuses on the importance of a visual identity for the cultural heritage. For an effective integration of tourism and culture, a careful planning is required in the promotion of cultural assets, activities, and traditions. The role of communication should be to propose a new interpretation and representation of the territory, having as a main theme the role of culture. In this sense, it may be useful to identify a location through a brand, which materializes the characteristics of a system of culture and values of the territory, selecting structural elements that allow its identification and synthesizing them in a single name or symbol. Finally, some experiences of visual communication for cultural heritage realized in the academic field are presented here.
TopCharacteristics And Evolution Of Heritage Tourism
In recent years, there has been an evolution of heritage tourism from traditional forms, based on the visit to museums and monuments, to more dynamic and participatory forms, such as the tourism of the territory or the landscape, the urban and training tourism. (Cusimano & Giannone, 2007).
Key Terms in this Chapter
BRAND: Regarding the advertising and marketing, the brand identifies a company or an institution.
Coordinated Image: In the field of the visual communication, the coordinated image is the use of a unitary graphics on different communication tools, to preserve the identity of a company and make it recognizable by users.
Creative Tourism: A tourism that gives the possibility to develop the own creative potential through experience linked to the culture of the places in many fields, such as cookery, painting, photography, crafts, and arts holidays.
Stereotype: A general image, of a set of characteristics that many people use to represent something.
Touristic Imaginary: The image often based on stereotypes that tourists have of a territory.
Cultural Industry: Subjects working at the creation and distributions of goods, services, or events linked to the culture.
Territorial Marketing: The practice of application of the branding and sales strategies, traditionally used for companies, to regions, cities, states, or countries.