This introductory chapter provides a synopsis of trends in cultural tourism research. In addition to a review of the literature, the chapter refers to the case studies developed in the present volume to illustrate the different paradigms in cultural tourism research and the increasing shift towards qualitative methods.

An aspect of controversial animal tourism that has received little attention is its relationship with cultural tourism. The article presents a categorization of cultural tourism, and sports attractions and events related to the abuse of animals. It shows how tourists, driven by cultural omnivorousness and the wish to stand out from the crowd, eagerly enjoy controversial forms of animal tourism on their travel. In order to avoid the pitfall of western ethnocentrism ending in accusations of barbarism, the issue is also reflected on from an intercultural point of view, which helps to understand that local communities have different attitudes to animals and their wellbeing. In addition, a historical overview shows that ‘animal friendliness’ does not have a long tradition in western thinking about the human-animal relationship and is only of recent date. Sustainable solutions for controversial animal tourism have to be found by raising tourists’ awareness by means of information and education.

This chapter outlines and critically discusses the innovative qualitative research methods to examine tourists' experiences of the heritage buildings in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. Heritage buildings are buildings that are regarded as representing shared roots and the origins of identities or belongings. Specifically, this chapter examines the use of a hierarchical probing technique based on the laddering theory applied in marketing research, and the use of photograph-based interviews to facilitate deeper personal narratives from tourists and to elicit the layered meanings attached to their experiences. This contributes to a deeper understanding of cultural tourism, as it elicits the significance and added-value nature of cultural tourists' experiences within a destination generally, such as the value that tourists place on their experiences of heritage buildings within a wider townscape. In contrast, much previous research has examined tourists' experiences in specific attraction or environmental settings.

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This chapter reviews major trends in cultural tourism research methodology. It appears that the methodological scope of cultural tourism is increasing, embracing new approaches and techniques in order to analyse the growing complexity of cultural tourism consumption, production and 'co-creation'.