Circular Economy of Cultural Heritage—Possibility to Create a New Tourism Product through Adaptive Reuse

Abstract

Cultural heritage is a particularly significant resource in creating tourism. When a local community recognizes its cultural heritage (small historic towns, buildings, castles, and forts), it is possible to create new value to meet the needs of tourists, using the principles of a circular economy. Adapting, reusing and restoring heritage sites can contribute to the revitalization of the local economy by creating jobs (increased employment), increased spending, economic development, etc. Adaptive reuse, as one of the principles of a circular economy, represents how the circular economy can pave the way to create new tourism products. The three basic principles of sustainable waste management are reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R). This paper tackles the reuse principle by analyzing case studies involving the application of a circular economy to cultural heritage in the Kvarner tourism destination (Croatia) in the context of reusing resources to create a sustainable destination. The goal is to determine to what extent the reuse of heritage sites makes them useful for the local community, and for tourists to stay in the destination. The research showed positive examples in the Kvarner tourism destination, primarily of a cultural tourism nature and that were achieved in the last ten years; however, the conclusion is that this is still insufficient. By aggregating knowledge and research results, the paper emphasizes the importance of applying the concept of the circular economy to cultural heritage in tourism destinations, with special emphasis on the role of all stakeholders in creating sustainable heritage tourism (local self-government, destination management, local population, and entrepreneurship).

Urban Heritage in Saudi Arabia: Comparison and Assessment of Sustainable Reuses

“…Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program (NTP2020) aim to involve the population so as to increase the awareness of inhabitants regarding the value of their heritage and promote local and international investments in the discovery of culture, tourism, hospitality, and enhancements to the peculiarities of national historic sites. Many similar case studies have been documented by researchers in relation to various heritage conservation projects located in Croatia, Poland, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, Italy, Albania, the Netherlands, Ecuador, Sweden, Belgium, Romania, Iran, the Czech Republic, Jordan, and Canada [14][15][16][17][18]. These case studies located in diverse geographical contexts prove that local communities play a significant role in the success of adaptive reuse projects [19,20].…”

Geotourism, a New Perspective of Post-COVID-19-Pandemic Relaunch through Travel Agencies—Case Study: Bucegi Natural Park, Romania

“…This includes promoting geotourism as an integral part of sustainable tourism, achieved through the interdependence of various forms of tourism, including cultural tourism [17]. Cultural tourism represents a fundamental element of the tourism product [18] and has been developed by tourism agencies in the post-pandemic SARS-CoV-2 period. Rural tourism provides tourists with the opportunity to engage in agricultural activities and explore traditions, creating an unforgettable experience [19].…”

The circular heritage model of Paris 2024 and its possible local legacy perspective

“…Stemming the syndrome of mega-events (Müller, 2015) characterized by stronger local resistance and the withdrawals of candidate cities (Boston, Budapest, Rome, Hamburg, Munich), the notion of heritage and sustainability has become a key ambition in the new Agenda 2020 set up by the International Olympic Committee (Zembri and Engrand-Linder, 2023). For the economic model to bring gold back to host cities (Leeds, 2020), the patrimonial assets produced under the umbrella of the OPG in the tangible sphere of sports facilities and urban regeneration, what is hereinafter named heritage (Gammon and Ramshaw, 2015), should bring long-term positive effects to the inhabitants in the intangible sphere of economic, health, sports practices, environment, and inequality reduction, what is hereinafter named legacies (Rudan, 2023). In the difficult context of converging economic and environmental crises, Paris 2024 takes up the challenge of regenerating OPG to put it on a sustainable path by sharply reducing costs, eradicating the white elephant risk, and ensuring a neutral environmental impact on the local city while offering the same emotional magic coupled with its leverage effect of urban regeneration for disadvantaged neighbourhoods.…”

“…Implementing the circular heritage concept implies that each system has the potential to become circular (Levoso et al, 2020). It entails the adaptative reuse of cultural sites (Foster, 2020;Foster et al, 2020;Rudan, 2023) or sports sites (Wergeland and Hognestad, 2021) as antidotes to excessive spending and the accumulation of waste in buildings (Mercader-Moyano, 2017;Charter, 2018). Heritage is understood as a patrimonial resource in buildings, facilities, and sites that is likely to create future value, defined as legacies.…”

“…The concept is close to the "Event legacy" notion expressed by the IOC to capture the value of sport facilities and public improvement that are turned over to communities after the OPG. This is a long list of significant long-term benefits that would be generated by the OPG for the host city (see Gratton and Preuss, 2008;Rudan, 2023).…”