Attraction or Distraction? Exploring the Influence of Tourism on the Interpretation of Cultural Heritage at the National Archaeological Park of the Qi Capital Site, China

Heritage interpretation, the act of grasping the significance of places or sites, forms the most important part of tourists' experiences of visiting heritage sites. National archaeological parks in China aim to preserve archaeological sites and educate people by creating awareness of the history and nature of Chinese civilization. In order to explore implications for heritage tourism planning, semi-structured interviews were carried out with archaeologists, managers, and visitors at the Qi Capital Archaeological Park. The preliminary findings suggest that heritage interpretation places a strong emphasis on authentic knowledge of archaeological contexts, while tourists generally do not completely accept the “authenticity” of the interpretations presented to them. This paper also proposes that evaluating of understanding levels of authenticity among various groups of tourists could help to strengthen heritage sites as tourism attraction, if not distraction. 

Further questions may be directed to: taoli@shnu.edu.cn