Sustainable development of heritage conservation and tourism: A Hong Kong case study on colonial heritage

Abstract

This paper uses primary economic concepts to discuss, with reference to Hong Kong colonial heritage sites, the possible, but not deterministic, convivial, and antagonistic relationships between heritage conservation and heritage tourism as economic activities recognized by the state. Depending on the level of use, the enabling institutional framework and mechanism, and the mindset of stakeholders, both activities can be mutually exclusive, compatible, interdependent, or codeveloping. Absence of institutional support, notwithstanding government grading, tends to result in a trade‐off with an increase in ordinary tourists. While conservation, through signaling, can promote tourism, a certain degree of sustained tourism input is required to promote conservation not just in terms of funding but also in terms of actual conservation. Whether or not heritage conservation and tourism are complementary goods or, better still, able to codevelop depends on the institutional design.