Heritage and Sensory Tourism: The Long Way Beyond Post-Modernity

The increasing attention to the sensory and emotional aspects in tourism undoubtedly reflects the profound cultural transformations of late modernity and, in particular, of the societies most influenced by the Western consumption patterns.

This attention involves - and at the same time reflects - a new concept of authenticity, of a hybrid and relative kind, more oriented to emotional and experiential aspects and less tied to contents and material aspects.

This change entails effects that appear to be particularly significant in the field of cultural and, even more, archaeological tourism: tactile and sensory museums, light and olfactory installations, practices of living history and experiential archaeology. These and other activities of consumption and leisure, aimed at recovering a supposed historical and territorial authenticity and characterized by forms of historical theming, are profoundly transforming our relationship with heritage and the past.

However, we are in a historical phase of possible cultural change, in which, both as a result of the financial crisis and because of the specific traits of the increasingly important Asian tourism, the current sensory, "liquid" and post-modern orientation could be overcome by a return of "solid" and material aspects.

With specific examples, this paper outlines some characteristics of the new cultural and archaeological post-modern tourism of sensory type, focusing on the relationship between edutainment, consumerism and the processes of identity construction, and tries to single out the possible developments of the current trends.