Dr Jennifer Laing, Tourism Research Unit, Monash University

AIM AND SCOPE OF SPECIAL ISSUE:

Diaspora tourism refers to travel linked to ancestral ties, ethnic or family heritage. Tourists may seek out places that they regard as their traditional homeland or that have some connection to that home country. Destinations are also developing tourism around ethnic heritage associated with immigrant populations or different cultural groups in the community, both past and present. Heritage sites around the world may look to these diasporas as a potential niche market or use this link to provide heritage assets with greater depth and meaning, enhancing their tourist appeal on the basis of a shared national heritage. The diaspora narrative might also underpin more complex and satisfying tourist experiences at heritage sites for international visitors, based on universal themes of migration, displacement and human mobility. An alternative view might argue that these sites are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in a global and multicultural society and potentially less interesting to visitors as a consequence.

This special issue would invite contributions that advance our understanding of tourism and the heritage of diasporas, both from a methodological and theoretical perspective, and provide new insights or explore innovative approaches to the development of heritage tourism experiences based on diasporas.

The key themes for the proposed special edition of the journal include (but are not limited to):

• Management and/or marketing of diaspora heritage sites.
• Heritage and history of diasporas and their legacy for tourism.
• Profiling the visitor to disapora heritage sites.
• The role of authenticity in diaspora heritage tourism.
• Constructed meanings of diaspora heritage tourist sites.
• Tourist experiences and behaviour at diaspora heritage sites.
• Interpretation of diaspora heritage to tourists.
• Perspectives on developing diaspora heritage precincts.
• Community involvement in diaspora heritage site development and management.
• Festivals focusing on or involving the heritage of diasporas.