Tackling tourism-driven development in World Heritage cities: A comparison between Macao, China and Evora, Portugal

World Heritage cities, all over the world, are a centre of tourist attraction. In many of these cities, tourism is one of the main driving forces of local economies. As a result, these cities come under intense pressure to accommodate tourism-driven developments; summed up with the pressure to fulfil the needs of local communities. How development in World Heritage cities can be tackled is, thus, an important issue for both heritage management and urban development. This paper presents two World Heritage cities – Macao, a former Portuguese colony in China and Évora, the capital of Alentejo region in Portugal - as case studies and discusses and compares the way tourism-driven development is being tackled in these cities. Macao’s economy depends almost entirely on tourism-driven activities. While the World Heritage status has added additional attractiveness to Macao, the main attraction there is gambling. On the other hand, Évora is much less dependent on tourism. Similar to Macao, the World Heritage status has raised the attractiveness of Évora as a tourist destination; however, the university plays also a fundamental role. Consequently, despite the efforts of the local authorities, the city is losing its local community. Even if for different reasons, in both case studies, heritage is often sidelined in the urban development agenda. The case studies identify the raise of cultural-driven tourism and the consequent urban developments and illustrate the role of legislations and regulations and the impact of their variation per heritage protection zones. Moreover, it identifies the resultant urban development scenario that enhance or diminish the heritage values of the cities and, therefore, help retain or cause destruction to the very cultural capital that has brought and can bring many more benefits to these cities of outstanding universal value

Tackling tourism-driven development in World Heritage cities: A comparison between Macao, China and Evora, Portugal

World Heritage cities, all over the world, are a centre of tourist attraction. In many of these cities, tourism is one of the main driving forces of local economies. As a result, these cities come under intense pressure to accommodate tourism-driven developments; summed up with the pressure to fulfil the needs of local communities. How development in World Heritage cities can be tackled is, thus, an important issue for both heritage management and urban development. This paper presents two World Heritage cities – Macao, a former Portuguese colony in China and Évora, the capital of Alentejo region in Portugal - as case studies and discusses and compares the way tourism-driven development is being tackled in these cities. Macao’s economy depends almost entirely on tourism-driven activities. While the World Heritage status has added additional attractiveness to Macao, the main attraction there is gambling. On the other hand, Évora is much less dependent on tourism. Similar to Macao, the World Heritage status has raised the attractiveness of Évora as a tourist destination; however, the university plays also a fundamental role. Consequently, despite the efforts of the local authorities, the city is losing its local community. Even if for different reasons, in both case studies, heritage is often sidelined in the urban development agenda. The case studies identify the raise of cultural-driven tourism and the consequent urban developments and illustrate the role of legislations and regulations and the impact of their variation per heritage protection zones. Moreover, it identifies the resultant urban development scenario that enhance or diminish the heritage values of the cities and, therefore, help retain or cause destruction to the very cultural capital that has brought and can bring many more benefits to these cities of outstanding universal value