Revitalizing Urban Heritage for Tourism Development: A Case Study of Baghdad's Old City Center

Tourism acts as a significant source of national income for many countries, with nations vying to develop tourist destinations that bolster the economy, as well as urban and social development. The revitalization of tourism has heightened competitive capabilities, with success factors for heritage sites being identified in numerous countries. This has led to an increase in tourism promotion, with the aim of elevating heritage tourist destinations, strengthening collective memory and spirit of place. The public and private sectors are empowered by a vision primarily crafted by decision-makers and stakeholders, focusing on preparing visitors, promoting destinations, and associating them with specific cultural or heritage events, or with the local or collective memory of the community, as a backdrop for events [1-3].

Existing literature primarily categorizes heritage into two types: tangible and intangible. Tangible heritage includes all assets that possess a degree of physical embodiment of cultural values, encompassing cultural assets, movable materials, historical cities, archaeological sites, and the cultural landscape [10-12].

Heritage tourism is introduced as one of the most popular forms of tourism related to all visitors who travel to experience the culture, scientific performances, or the lifestyle/heritage of a community, region, group, or institution. In this context, the cultural experience is the foundation of entertainment and constitutes a repository of the values of modern society, including economic values. Meanwhile, van Renswouw et al. [13] suggests that it involves implicit or active and interactive engagement with cultures, civilizations, and societies, where the tourist gains new experiences of an educational, creative, and recreational nature.

Another study highlights the significance of promoting health aspects and improving the quality of life in outdoor spaces in heritage tourism. It suggests the possibility of designing urban activity environments as places that increase the physical activity of users or passers-by with the aid of interactive technology [14].

In this vein, another study indicates that tourism is a pioneering, profit-driven industry at the levels of economy and use. It leverages information and communication technology to provide new tools for marketing tourism, aiming to develop, manage, and market the product and the tourist destination using points of attraction between the tourism and culture sectors, thereby preserving and developing heritage [15, 16].

Smith proposes a comprehensive taxonomy of cultural tourism, including: heritage sites, performance venues, visual arts, festivals and special events, religious sites, rural environments, indigenous communities and traditions, modern popular culture, and creative activities such as painting, photography, and dancing. Culture encompasses both tangible and intangible elements of a group or society passed down from previous generations.

Urban outdoor spaces, in this context, play a crucial role as “factories of meaning” for the sensory experience of the visitor and tourist [3]. Cultural tourism parallels the growing interest in culture in general. However, Richards [1] suggests that rather than an increase in cultural stimuli, there are more people making short visits, thus boosting the number of visitors to all kinds of attractions. As highlighted by the World Tourism Organization (2002), the creation of a cultural tourism destination is not confined to cities or regions boasting an impressive cultural background or rich heritage. Cultural attractions allow travelers to experience human and intellectual creations (ibid).

According to marketing theory, the term “product” is defined as “any service that can be offered to the market for interest, acquisition, and consumption use that may satisfy a need or desire” [17]. This definition emphasizes "meeting customer needs". Meanwhile, González et al. [18] defines the tourism product as "a satisfying experience in a desirable destination". Other studies suggest that the tourism product is a blend of tangible and intangible elements, tourist attractions, facilities, services, and activities centered around a specific element of interest that generates a comprehensive tourism experience for potential customers [19]. Some suggest it is any product marketed by a country or an institution to attract visitors and experience the aforementioned product [20], while others propose that the tourism product is a set of elements based on impressions, interpretations, concepts, and sensations, primarily experiences that shape the tourist’s feelings and attitudes towards their visit [21].

Middleton Pointed that the tourism product is a geographical area containing administrative borders [21]:

- A place where the tourist finds the means of entertainment and stay, such as entertainment and shopping events, attractions and event areas;

- Existence of tourism marketing efforts, i.e., the place should market itself to attract visitors;

- Establishing an organizational structure that coordinates and leads the management of the tourist destination and coordinates tourism efforts in the place;

- Perceptions about what the place should offer to tourism. These images may or may not be accurate;

- Government agencies have introduced special laws, regulations and regulations that control various aspects of tourism;

- Mix of stakeholders in tourism: private sector companies, government agencies, organizations, non-profit organizations, including NGOs.

Table 2. Literature review on components of tourism product activation

Table 3. Ways to achieve the components of tourism product activation

The case study was analyzed through what was extracted shown in Table 3, the theoretical framework presented, and ways to achieve this in the chosen area of the case study.

7.1 The innovation component

The innovation component is employed through the nature of the place and its personal identity, and the combination between daily life practices the could enrich the visitors exppeience through innovative ways and functions by spatial preserving heritage contents that help restore heritage identity, for instance the recall of authentic experience to have a cup of tea in Al-Zahawii coffee shop as a way to experience the community traditional values and introducing new functions that are more flexible for multi functions of space as using libraries for communicating with intellectuals, writers and poets in small groups in two or three to discuss cultural, poetic and literary matters. fair use for all and equalities is achieved through rehabilitate urban spaces within archaeological areas and provide them with floor elements that facilitate movement providing flexibility in use and designing a structure of paths to achieve visual and functional diversity, usability and interaction with the surrounding buildings achieving the suitability of urban spaces for use and linking all urban spaces with a set of paths and corridors that provide proper movement.

7.2 The leadership component

The leadership component is achieved through the development of applicable governmental legislation and laws to activate heritage tourism and the laws of restoration of sites and the development of a leadership plan for government institutions in cooperation with the private sector and the local community that reflects multiple interests by establishing a decentralized management model and facilitating legal procedures to activate heritage tourism in addition to keeping pace with technological developments in publicity and advertisement for available tourist sites, and it is necessary to give more attention to heritage and cultural activities and festivals, thus increasing the ability to compete between cities by attracting new companies and building urban revitalization projects to change the city, and establishing companies to coordinate projects in the city and using partnership between the public and private sectors to contribute to the implementation of projects Local governments, active municipal government, interaction with the judiciary and adoption of exemplary management practice.

7.3 The creativity component

The creativity component is achieved by containing creative cultural, social and commercial activities such as establishing visitor reception centers that include (showrooms, administrative offices, a public library and an archaeological museum) and strengthening the commercial identity in the region of Al-Mutanabi and Al-Karkh region and revitalizing and initiating national projectsto revive and enhance the traditional markets that meet the needs of the visitor in achieving sence of place and nostalgia to the past through traditional crafts that are It disappeared with time as a result of the lack of artisans working in the fields of handicrafts, which were replaced by ready-made goods imported from other countries. In addition to that the case study region have potentials to develop the river front by introducing river taxi which exist but need much more attention and development matching the value of the place and developing the tatic entenventions as an approach to maximize the percentage of marketing activites in the campus of heritage areas with distinguished identity and exploitation of open spaces to establish public gardens and terraces for celebrations, festivals and cultural activities and work to rehabilitate the main movement axes surrounding the region and provide the necessary commercial services for the region with the need to take into account the services necessary for the local community in addition to flexibility and ease of change and the possibility of modification and reconfiguration in order to respond with the variables of time and place to meet the need The user takes advantage of the capabilities of the era and expresses the identity of the community as a result of local creativity with authentic values and a contemporary spirit, through originality in preserving the elements of the heritage that have a fixed character and that are still of value for historical continuity, and through temporal and spatial communication, the creativity of the designer is inspired by the revival of heritage in Architecture (Think Design A new water that bears the changing character of inherited), a changing use of inherited architectural elements (such as shanasheels, iwans, mashrabiyas, air catchers, tents and domes) in a contemporary manner by simplifying and abstracting ideas and achieving contemporary formally and functionally (environmentally, economically, socially).