Hotel Development of Cultural Tourism Elements

One of the major attractions of travel has always been exposure to the various components that make up another culture. Traditions, customs, religion, ceremonies, rituals, the arts, crafts, language, dress, food, architecture and landscaping are all elements of what is now broadly called “cultural tourism.” In this essay we examine hotel development of on‐site cultural tourism elements that serve both to expand opportunities for guests to learn about local culture and traditions and to increase the hotel's attraction to potential guests. In Sections 1–4 we present briefcase studies of three prominent hotels in Southeast Asia (the Grand Hyatt Bali, the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay, and the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok) that have developed an array of cultural tourism offerings based on local cultural patterns, the physical setting of the hotel, and its clientele. Based on these three studies, we provide in Section 5 specific guidelines for other hotels to consider in developing their own cultural tourism offerings. In Section 6, we address the role of governments in encouraging or mandating the development of certain types of on‐site cultural tourism elements. In Section 7, we summarize our conclusions.