Title: Conceptualising industrial heritage tourism management

Authors: Maria Concetta Perfetto; Angelo Presenza

Addresses: Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University 'G. D'Annunzio' of Chieti-Pescara, Via Luigi Polacchi, 11 66100 – Chieti (CH), Italy ' Tourism Research Centre, University of Molise, Via Duca degli Abruzzi, 86039, Termoli (CB), Italy

Abstract: The paper analyses industrial heritage tourism management (IHTM) through a meta-analysis conducted with a review of international peer-reviewed journals in the English language. The literature on this topic, although showing an increasing interest, appears disarticulated and without a clear understanding of the main aspects and issues related to it. The aim was to explore IHTM concept and assess the state-of-the-art in literature, mainly looking for the connection with the tourism sector. A list of scientific articles has been created using these databases: Emerald, EBSCOHost, Science Direct and Google Scholar. Each paper has been analysed using several bibliometric indicators (number of articles, trends, methodologies, analysis of keywords, etc.) while the meta-analysis permitted to deepen the contents. Results highlighted the existence of three main themes: tourism demand; local development; destination governance. Conclusions offer some implications useful to academic debate and policy-makers regarding how to manage and innovate destinations seeking to restore and revitalise the industrial heritage.

Keywords: industrial heritage management; industrial heritage tourism; meta-analysis; literature review; bibliometric analysis; content analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2017.085304

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2017 Vol.7 No.2, pp.110 - 128

Received: 04 Jun 2016
Accepted: 17 Oct 2016
Published online: 21 Jul 2017 *

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