This is the first book to examine heritage tourism across the Southeast Asian region and from different disciplinary perspectives. With material that is new and topical, it makes an important contribution to the fields of tourism studies, development and planning studies, and beyond.

Set against a backdrop of the demands, motivations and impacts of heritage tourism, the volume focuses on disputes and conflicts over what heritage is, what it means, and how it has been presented, re-presented, developed and protected. This involves examining the different actors involved in encounters and contestation, drawing in issues of identity construction and negotiation, and requiring the contextualization of heritage in national and global processes of identity formation and transformation.

Among the questions touched upon are the ownership of heritage, its appropriate use, access to it as against conservation needs, heritage as a commodity, as entertainment and as an educational medium, and the interpretation and representation of heritage forms.

The volume is more than a tourism study, however. While tourism studies often concentrate on ad hoc tourism developments or local-level planning, here is a volume that provides ample data about the various governmental institutions and international agencies, how their decisions are made, and provides clear evidence about the ramifications of such decisions. Moreover, because of its use of recognized and testable methodologies and publicly accessible data, the volume's conclusions are objective, reasonable and usable for both academic researchers and governmental planning or development agencies.