Mining Heritage and Tourism: A Global Synthesis(Routledge Advances in Tourism)

Many former mining areas have now lost their industrial function and are now turning to tourism for regional revitalization and community economic development. The transformation process of these industrial, and in some cases derelict, mining sites and landscapes into an area of interest for tourists is a major challenge both for planners and for tourism managers. It involves complex consideration to both the preservation of the physical site and community mining heritages as well as the health, safety and environmental factors inherent in opening these vast sites to the public. Mining Heritage and Tourism includes contributions from internationally recognized authorities and is the first book to focus on the issues, challenges and potentials in redeveloping mines as cultural heritage attractions which are explored thematically throughout the book. It draws on multidisciplinary research to consider the dichotomy between heritage preservation and tourist development goals for mining heritage sites as well as to explore the practical challenges of developing these sites. These themes are illustrated by case studies from a vast range of geographical locations around the globe to offer operational insights into the planning and management of these sites for both heritage and tourism purposes, as well as innovative site management techniques. There has never before been a more comprehensive book on mining heritage tourism representing the latest developments in strategy, policy and practices. This book serves as an invaluable guide for students, researchers, academics and practitioners in the areas of Tourism and Heritage Management.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: Introduction 1. What Happens When Mining Leaves? Section 2: Interpreting Mining Heritage 2. The Making of Two Mining Museums: Bowes and Beamish, North East England 3. Chinese Mining Heritage and Tourism in the Goldfields of the Pacific Rim 4. Pilgrimage in Heritage Tourism: Finding Meaning and Identity in the Industrial Past 5. Branding Beaconsfield: The Great Escape Puts Small Tasmanian Town on the Tourist Map Section 3: Transforming Mines into Heritage Attractions 6. Mining the Museum: A Rich Vein for Dissent 7. Transforming Working Mines into Tourist Attractions: Conceptual and Practical Considerations 8. Developing a Heritage Tourism Attraction in a Working Salt Mine: The Kansas Underground Salt Museum 9. Interpreting the Environmental Impacts of the Gold Rushes at the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park 10. Sustaining the Benefits of Heritage Mining for Site, City and Region: Exploring the Success of Sovereign Hill Outdoor Museum Section 4: Traditional Mining Attraction Destinations 11. Flogging a Dead Horse or Creating Cultural Capacity? The Development and Impact of Mines as Alternative Tourist Destinations: A Case Study of South Wales, UK 12. The Benefits and Challenges of Implementing Tourism in Mining Communities Attractions 13. Geotourism Sites Development in Slovakia Geza 14. Mining Tourism in the Spanish Province of Huelva: The Case of the Mining Park of Riotinto Section 5: Globalization and the Future of Mining Attraction Destinations 15. Planning For the Future: Tourism Options for an Open Pit Mine, Vietnam 16. Mining Tourism in Ouro Preto (Brazil): Opportunities and Challenges 17. Mining Heritage, Local Development and Identity: The Case of Sardinia Giovanni Sistu 18. Developing Geological Tourism in the Bay of Fundy Region 19. From Mining Boom Towns to Tourist Haunts: Ghost towns and Mining Heritage Section 6: Lessons Learned 20. Lessons in Transforming Mines into Tourism Attractions

About the Author :
Michael V. Conlin is a Professor in the Okanagan School of Business in Kelowna, BC, Canada. He also teaches for the University of Guelph and Royal Roads University. His academic interests include island tourism and his current work includes an investigation of the use of industrial infrastructure for touristic purposes in British Columbia and elsewhere. Lee Jolliffe is an Associate Professor of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John. Her academic work explores the use of culture for tourism in a variety of contexts that include rural and island tourism situations.

Review :
"Mining heritage sites as tourist attractions, like the mining that preceded them, are fortuitously successful - but that success is not guaranteed. Some pay out; others may not. This perspective of uniqueness and precariousness (particularly mining as a tourist attraction) pervades the viewpoint of the many contributions to Conlin and Jolliffe's volume. Their edited work address two topics that they construe as not yet adequately examined by the tourism academy: what happens to replace an economic mainstay when mining leaves a community and how do you preserve mining heritage in an increasingly competitive tourism environment?"- Susan R. Martin, IA: The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, August 2009