Introduction

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO 2005), approximately 763 million international trips were taken in 2004. This number, which has consistently grown since the Second World War, with only a few minor exceptions (for example, 2001), reflects all international arrivals for any tourism-related purpose. One of the most pervasive forms of tourism, and indeed one of the oldest, is travel based on cultural heritage attractions. While it is difficult to know for certain how many people visit historic sites each year or what percentage of the entire world demand for international and domestic travel is motivated by a desire to experience heritage places, estimates by the World Tourism Organization place the number at around 40 per cent, suggesting that heritage and culture are a significant part of nearly half of all international trips (Timothy and Boyd, 2003). Such an estimate would suggest that hundreds of millions of people annually visit places set apart as culturally and historically significant locations. In the United States alone, it is estimated that 58 per cent of (or some 85 million) US adult travellers included in their itineraries cultural heritage-related events or activities in 2002. In the same year, 41 per cent of travelling American adults said that they visited a designated historic site, such as a building, home, monument or landmark (TIA, 2006).