Employing augmented reality for reviving heritage sites: an AR vision for Qasr al-Abd in Jordan

Jihad M. Abu Ali, Assist. Prof., Hend M. Hamed, Prof. Dr. — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Professionals in the heritage sector are currently focusing on using new, innovative methods to attract and engage visitors in heritage sites. One of their main strategies in achieving this goal is employing the latest technological applications that allow the visitor’s interaction with the cultural heritage site and content. Augmented reality is one of these latest technological trends utilized in heritage sites to enhance the visitors’ experience. This paper shed light on the role of augmented reality in bringing ruined cultural heritage sites and its history back to life. It specifically, proposes applying augmented reality on Qasr al-Abd or the Palace of the Slave in Jordan to revive its significance. It emphasizes the reasons and advantages of applying AR on Qasr al-Abd and provides a vision for how some AR systems can be utilized for demonstrating its original look and revealing its cultural and archeological uniqueness and beauty.

Religious Tourism: A Tourism Prototype for Rural Community Development; the Case of Lalibela Area, Ethiopia

Berhanu Esubalew Bayih — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract

The main objective of this paper was identifying participatory religious tourism as an alternative tourism model for community advancement, heritage conservation, poverty alleviation, and overall sustainable development in rural areas. Consequently, the paper attempted to assess the awareness, participation level, and benefit-sharing trends of the local community and its impacts on religious tourism development by using primary data collected from 130 residents of Lalibela, Ethiopia, and other stakeholders. By its very nature, tourism development demands the full participation of the local community. However, the data collected from residents, key informants, experts, and the researcher’s observation revealed that the local community has limited awareness about religious tourism and tourism at large. Consequently, there is inadequate participation, and poor benefit-sharing from its development. In contrast, though the local community is the main guardians of the heritage, their limited awareness and benefit-sharing influenced their interest. Connected to this, the insufficient participation of the local community in religious tourism activities was generated and aggravated by limited awareness, lack of initial capital, and the absence of government support.

American Journal of Tourism Research

Employing augmented reality for reviving heritage sites: an AR vision for Qasr al-Abd in Jordan

Religious Tourism: A Tourism Prototype for Rural Community Development; the Case of Lalibela Area, Ethiopia