Destinations’ guide to Industrial Tourism more

Destinations guide to Industrial Tourism A review of INDUSTRIAL TOURISM, Opportunities for City and Enterprise. Alexander H.J. Otgaar, Leo van den Berg, Christian Berger and Rachel Xiang Feng (Eds.) Ashgate, Farnham, 2010. ISBN: 978-1-4094-0220-6 Industrial tourism, or travel to a certain location or destination with the specific purpose of visiting active or historical production facilities has a place within urban tourism, incorporating elements of cultural and learning tourism as well as business and conference travel and MICE activities. Alternatively it can be viewed as a subset of both. In this book, the focus is clearly on company tours. If visits to factory outlets are included in industrial tourism, there is clearly a big overlap with shopping tourism. The book is the result of an international study, comparing six cases: Wolfsburg (Germany), Cologne (Germany), Pays de la Loire (France), Turin (Italy), Shanghai (China) and Rotterdam (Netherlands). The study was carried out by the European Institute for Comparative Urban Research, with assistance from local experts, except for the case of Cologne, but in all cases involving local discussion partners (informants). The book s chapters are, contrary to the normal anthology more to be compared with either topical reports or research papers, than with journal articles or usual textbook entries. Surely, the many cultural observations and data related to the topic and otherwise not available could form the basis for much theory development in a field, that has until now been dealt with in practical terms. The introductory chapters open for an interesting discussion of the character of towns and cities with an industrial heritage, and whether this character or image should be cultivated or replaced by something more progressive, green or soft . A useful model for characterising industrial tourism products has been developed, with one dimension spanning from market- to heritage orientation, the other from locations (museums, single factories) to destinations (landscapes, regions). In the main body of the book, the chapters with cases are structured as follows: - a general profile of the city/region - a description of the organisatorial framework for industrial tourism - a description of the industrial tourism products and offers, and - a brief analysis along the lines described in the introductory chapters. This common framework makes comparisons easy and provides a good starting point for the discussion of costs and benefits associated with this kind of tourism at the different destinations. An interesting aspect presented in the book is the use of tours of factories as recruitment strategies towards younger, well educated visitors, especially groups of university students within science or engineering. Also the fact that operating guided tours is not necessarily profitable for the companies, but seen as useful in order to maintain or improve their image is worth further investigation. An obvious exception is the one-company town Wolfsburg, home of the Volkswagen car manufacturer. This case also presents a very innovative approach to training of worker-guides and their involvement in the design and planning of the guided tours around the facilities. In contrast to this, other companies/plants, with fewer visitors tend to be outsourcing the purely touristic guided tours to guide agencies or professional tour operators. Thus, the role of the guide can either be that of an insider, providing deep knowledge of the production process or an outsider delivering popular and superficial knowledge, as described in the example from the Saint-Nazaire Shipyard, one of the main attractions in the Loire area. This reader is left with the question why it is the city possibly with the surrounding region or municipality and not the company taking visitors that form the main objects of study. This is perhaps due to the set-up of the project that has provided the material for this book, with focus on industrial tourism at these administrative levels? The roles played by destination managers and development bodies and their collaboration with the companies that happen to be tourist attractions is described well - to such a degree that it can be considered a how-to guide for administrators and entrepreneurs elsewhere. In the section on Shanghai, cradle of Chinese industry and still one of the centres of manufacture, it is correctly observed that direct public influence is stronger here that in the other cases (in contrast to the varying forms of public-private partnerships in the other cases). Four very different companies comprise the cases, where the Shanghai Volkswagen plant is of special interest, as it provides an interesting contrast to the German model. The International Tourism Promotion Center is a typical example of a Chinese coordinating body , created by local government, but in response to national politics. Also the observations and conclusions in the final chapters are useful and implementationoriented. The approach taken throughout the book is rather practical and the writing style matter-of-fact, seemingly written for non-academic managers and administrators. This is also witnessed by the concluding section, where eight straightforward recommendations are given for cities wanting to develop industrial tourism. Readers with a background in geography or spatial planning will look for maps and map sketches, mostly in vain. The spaces dealt with are mostly economic, rather than physical or environmental , there are just 2 figures, of which one is a map sketch of the area around Shanghai, and 16 tables, mostly describing numbers of visitors to factories and overnight stays. All in all, the book is useful and inspiring, mostly so for the manufacturing companies themselves and for tourism business operators (and to some degree destination management organisations). It will have some, limited value for research and education, with the possible exception of students looking into industrial tourism for project work, or training to be operators of industrial tourism themselves. The book does not address the never ending debate on whether the tourism business and related activities can be considered an industry, or should rather be seen as a phenomenon or perhaps a sector within the experience economy. Niels Chr. Nielsen, PhD Danish Center for Rural Studies Department of Environmental and Business Economics University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg Email: ncn@sam.sdu.dk