abstract: Because of its ability to harbor social values, norms, and beliefs, heritage has always been utilized as an ideological vehicle. One prominent example of politicizing heritage is Chinese red tourism, comprised of state-promoted tours to revolutionary memorial sites. It is expected to generate political, economic, and social benefits, particularly to reinforce the legitimate leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Statistics show that dramatic market growth in red tourism has occurred over the past decade. Yet it is still heavily driven by the government and thus whether long-term sustainability can be achieved is still questionable. This dissertation explores the dynamics of red tourism from the perspective of a meaning-making process, where tourism discourses circulate among the processes of production, transmission, and consumption. The results reveal that higher-level government primarily assumes the leading role, whereas local government is largely excluded from strategy making processes and primarily responsible for implementation and operation. Some dissonance exists between higher and lower-level governments in their goals and involvement in red tourism development. Second, intermediaries are not altruistic and attempt to maximize their own benefits. While site interpreters may provide officially authorized narratives, their primary focus is hosting higher-up administrative visitors. On the contrary, tour guides are more customer-oriented, which may lead to officially undesirable interpretations. Third, driven by multiple motives, tourists have increasingly diverse attitudes towards red heritage and participate in various political and non-political activities. A considerable degree of congruence was found between tourists' participation, motivation, memories, and perception. Quantitative results indicate that the majority of tourists have learned about the political significance and/or content of red heritage, and developed more positive attitudes towards, and support for, the CCP and the government, to a certain extent. This dissertation contributes to current research by adopting a systematic and emic perspective to explore the dynamics of red tourism. Several conceptual frameworks were developed inductively to describe the meaning-making process. Mixed methods were used to learn about tourists' consumption and perceptions of red heritage. Implications regarding enhancing the effectiveness of the meaning-making process, limitations of the study, and potential directions for future research are also discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2014

Le Conseil de l'Europe a lancé en 1987 le programme des itinéraires culturels européens qui vise à promouvoir l'identité culturelle à travers le tourisme en utilisant une politique touristique et culturelle. Les itinéraires culturels offrent un énorme potentiel de collaboration, mais il est nécessaire d'examiner quelles sont les pratiques qui caractérisent ce secteur. Cette thèse analyse les mécanismes et instruments mis en place par les itinéraires en réseau dès leur création et leur application sur le territoire par les acteurs concernés. Nous optons pour une analyse multiscalaire afin d'étudier les différentes échelles de gouvernance qui apparaissent dans un itinéraire et qui vont de l'Européenne jusqu'à la locale. Nous sélectionnons trois itinéraires réseaux pour un examen plus approfondie, lesquels ont leur représentation en Espagne et France : la Route européenne des cimetières, l'itinéraire européen du Patrimoine Juif et les Sites clunisiens en Europe. Ces itinéraires réseaux n'ont pas une identité antérieure ni d'interconnexions entre territoires à l'inverse des itinéraires linéaires. Il s'agit d'analyser les processus à chaque échelle pour bien comprendre la complexité de ces projets transnationaux dans leur fonctionnement en tant que produits touristiques unitaires compréhensibles pour les touristes. / In 1987, the Council of Europe launched the European Cultural Routes program, which aims to promote cultural identity through travelling using a tourist and cultural policy. Cultural Routes offer enormous potential for collaboration, but it is necessary to examine the practices that characterize this sector. This thesis analyses the mechanisms and instruments put in place by the network routes from their creation and their application in the territory by the actors concerned. We opt for a multi-scalar analysis for the study of the different governance scales that appear in a route ranging from European to local. For a more in-depth examination we select three network routes represented in Spain and France: the European Cemeteries Route, the European Route of Jewish Heritage and the Cluniac Sites in Europe. ln contrast to linear routes, these network routes do not have a previous identity or interconnections between territories. This means analysing the processes at each scale in order to fully understand the complexity of the transnational projects needed for them to function as unitary tourism products that are understandable to tourists.