From the centre to the periphery: intangible cultural heritage in rural areas

Cultural tourism is a substantial sector of global tourism and an intensive field of academic research. Previously, much research attention has been paid to major cities with extensive tangible cultural heritage resources. Attempts have been made to divert tourists towards rural and remote areas, but developing rural cultural heritage resources involves challenges in terms of funding, accessibility, technology and human resources. To assess these challenges and to chart a future research agenda, a structured literature review was developed from the SCOPUS database. This aimed to identify major research themes, patterns of geographical coverage and gaps in the literature. This review reveals growing research on intangible heritage, viewed as an important resource for regions lacking tangible heritage. However, there is a significant imbalance in research on different categories of intangible heritage, and major research gaps remain, including governance structures, and the links between tangible and intangible heritage resources. This paper concludes with an assessment of fruitful future research avenues, examining the potential of placemaking perspectives to capture the unique cultural dimensions of rural and remote areas.