Heritage tourism: emotional journeys into nationhood

This paper is primarily concerned with discussing ways in which heritage tourism experience acts as a symbolic mechanism through which national belonging can be reconstructed and communicated. The discussions appropriately explore the view of heritage as cultural production and its fundamental role in maintaining national solidarity. Substantial focus is placed on contextualising ways in which shared memories of the nation’s past are subjectively perceived and re-appropriated during visits to Changdeok Palace, South Korea. This study utilises ranging ethnographic approaches including in-depth interviews and friendly conversations with domestic tourists and palace staff. The importance of individual interpretations and unofficial narratives in articulating and affirming nationalist sentiment is emphasised, especially in relation to the emotional and subjective nature of heritage encounters and experiences.