Assignment 1

Please choose one of the following options.

Option 1
Critically examine the concept of the ‘post tourist’ (see, for example, John Urry, The Tourist Gaze, 2002).There are also a number of relevant articles in the Readings and Further Resources list. Firstly, describe this concept and comment on how useful you find it in understanding contemporary tourism? Secondly, comment (with reference to a locality of your choice in Australia, Asia, or the Pacific) on whether you think the concept assists heritage conservation and social development agendas? Use a range of relevant sources and examples to support your arguments.

Option 2
In the book Museums, Heritage and Development (2015), Paul Basu and Wayne Modest wrote:
'While we can recognize the extrinsic value of heritage as a resource that can contribute, to a greater or lesser degree, to the emancipation of people from poverty (for example, through the development of appropriate forms of cultural tourism), perhaps its greater value is in its intrinsic
capacity, as habitus, to generate possibly countervailing dispositions and preferences, enabling people to shape their own aspirations for the future.'

'We suggest, then, that heritage and development can fruitfully exist as paired opposites, providing mutual critique, and in continued conversation, help enable communities to achieve their own past-making and future –making projects.' Please explain what they mean; and consider whether you agree with their statement. Use some examples that are included in the book (as a whole), and other examples that you may wish to draw on to
illustrate your argument.

Option 3
Abbotsford Convent Case Study:
The Commonwealth Government recently gave the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne a grant of A$2.6 million to use for conservation. Announcing the grant, the Honorable Josh Frydenberg MP (Member for Kooyong and at the time Assistant Treasurer) said that:

I'm excited to be at the Abbotsford Convent to announce that the Australian Government will provide $2.6m funding to restore one of the buildings on this impressive heritage listed site. The funding secures the Abbotsford Convent as a tourism landmark and enhances its long-term sustainability to grow as a unique cultural hub. The Abbotsford Convent Foundation estimates that the restoration project will create 80 jobs during construction and 180 jobs over the life of the project creating a space for a new cluster of over 100 start-up entrepreneurs and emerging micro- businesses such as digital content providers and designers. Congratulations to the Foundation for the wonderful work they have accomplished in creating an arts, educational and cultural hub, whilst maintaining the heritage of this valuable precinct for all to enjoy.

This seems a very ambitious statement but at its heart is an expectation that this former convent can be reinvented and sustained as a heritage site and a resource for community development through incorporating a range of arts and entrepreneurial activities. This situates this project in the matrix of heritage, social development and tourism.

Your task is to research and describe the key theoretical ideas and policy decisions that have been driving the reinvention of this site in recent years. Briefly introduce this initiative and identify the heritage conservation, social development or tourism models that the managers may be drawing on. Secondly, discuss how these are being adapted and applied to the site; identify any risks, and discuss whether you think this model offers a way forward for sustainable heritage conservation. Use relevant sources to support your account and argument.

Assignment 2

In this assignment you should choose one or more cultural site/s with which you are familiar in Australia, Asia or the Pacific. These site/s should be ones where you think greater efforts need to be made to enhance sustainability through addressing heritage, social development and tourism agendas. Firstly, briefly introduce your case study and identify some factors that threaten short and longer-term sustainability. Secondly, outline the measures that you think are needed to address these risks in order to enhance sustainability, conserve heritage values and enhance social development. Make sure you explain why your recommendations are relevant and backed up by research. There are some key articles and documents available on the AIM704 CloudDeakin site, but you should also try to go further afield and also review information specific to your chosen site/s. In other words, use a range of relevant sources and examples to support your arguments.

The concept of post-tourist was first coined by Feiffer around 3 decades ago from the notions of post-modernism. The industry of tourism is considered to be one of the most powerful socio-economic forces with a lot of controversies. The concept of post-tourist will, in this essay by depositing it within the framework of post-modernism and the usefulness of the idea of the comprehension of tourism (Dallen, 2011). Furthermore, the impact of post-tourism on the conservation of heritage in Georgetown, Penang will be assessed here. This essay would assist us in displaying the connection between tourism and heritage and that the sustainability of the partnership can be maintained with an understanding of the post-tourist with the industries.

The concept of post-modernism should be described with respect to localized tourism and culture. Its emergence in the 1960s was a movement as a counter-reaction to the shocks received to the culture post World War II as well as the principle of modernism. Post-modernism is generally described as a collection of ideas that criticizes modernity along with its culture, economic order, and institutions(MacCannell, 1999). The theory of post-modernism appreciates superficiality along with imploding the imagination and reality which signifies that in the universe of post-modernism everything is objectified. It encompasses popular culture, anthropology, sociology and philosophy and is considered to be the third phase of capitalism, which is linked with mass consumption and capitalization of consumers (MacCannell, 1999). In a much wider sense, it is an academic theorizing method which has been derived from several frameworks.

(Some parts of the solution has been blurred due to privacy protection policy)