IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i17p8021-d1743377.html

Dolmen UNESCO Sites Are Tourism Attractions in Korea: Semiotics of Sustainability for Cultural Heritage

Author

Listed:
  • William Cannon Hunter

    (Department of Hotel Management, College of Hotel and Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

Dolmens are neolithic burial artifacts scattered across the Korean landscape. In 2000, they were inscribed as UNESCO heritage sites, and they have been developed as sustainable cultural tourism attractions in Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa. In this study, social semiotics using fieldwork was conducted with the employment of some traditional tourism theoretical themes. It was found that when only a single theoretical metric is used, there are too many contradictory interests and messages involved in the three sites, confusing national identity, heritage, and tourism development. But semiotic analysis reveals that nuanced articulations of denotative signs with their many connotative signifiers enable a unique chaordic Korean management style built on embracing paradox in tourism attractions, particularly in terms of sustainability. Culture is the foundation for the sustainability of monuments and heritage sites. Findings show that the Dolmen UNESCO sites maintain a sustainable identity through government support and represent a narrative that describes an unbroken link to a neolithic Korean past as well as a diversified framing of heritage in community-based tourism attractions.

Suggested Citation

  • William Cannon Hunter, 2025. "Dolmen UNESCO Sites Are Tourism Attractions in Korea: Semiotics of Sustainability for Cultural Heritage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-23, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8021-:d:1743377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8021/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8021/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katriina Soini & Joost Dessein, 2016. "Culture-Sustainability Relation: Towards a Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-12, February.
    2. Parga Dans, Eva & Alonso González, Pablo, 2019. "Sustainable tourism and social value at World Heritage Sites: Towards a conservation plan for Altamira, Spain," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 68-80.
    3. Bernadett Csurgó & Melanie K. Smith, 2022. "Cultural Heritage, Sense of Place and Tourism: An Analysis of Cultural Ecosystem Services in Rural Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Esra Köksaldı & Zihni Turkan, 2023. "Urban Furniture in Sustainable Historical Urban Texture Landscapes: Historical Squares in the Walled City of Nicosia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, June.
    5. Piera Buonincontri & Alessandra Marasco & Haywantee Ramkissoon, 2017. "Visitors’ Experience, Place Attachment and Sustainable Behaviour at Cultural Heritage Sites: A Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ernestyna Szpakowska-Loranc, 2021. "Multi-Attribute Analysis of Contemporary Cultural Buildings in the Historic Urban Fabric as Sustainable Spaces—Krakow Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, May.
    2. Wenxi (Bella) Bai & Ivan Ka Wai Lai & Jose Weng Chou Wong, 2023. "Memorable Tourism Experience Research: A Systematic Citation Review (2009–2021)," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    3. Yang Jin & Bing Hou & Xiang Kong, 2024. "The Practice Characteristics of Authorized Heritage Discourse in Tourism: Thematic and Spatial," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, June.
    4. Héctor Guadalupe Ramírez-Escamilla & María Concepción Martínez-Rodríguez & Diego Domínguez-Solís & Ana Laura Cervantes-Nájera & Lorena Elizabeth Campos-Villegas, 2025. "Identifying Circularity in Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-20, September.
    5. Wende Wang & Mozhuang Fu & Qingwu Hu, 2020. "The Behavioral Pattern of Chinese Public Cultural Participation in Museums," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Daniela Sorea & Codrina Csesznek & Gabriela Georgeta Rățulea, 2022. "The Culture-Centered Development Potential of Communities in Făgăraș Land (Romania)," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-32, June.
    7. Çağla Beyaz & Çilen Erçin, 2023. "Evaluation of Modern Architecture Criteria in the Context of Sustainability and Architectural Approach; Modern Period in North Nicosia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-48, June.
    8. Karima Kourtit & Peter Nijkamp & Soushi Suzuki, 2025. "Environmental and Cultural Tourism in Heritage-Led Regions—Performance Assessment of Cultural-Ecological Complexes Using Multivariate Data Envelopment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-30, June.
    9. Chao Ruan & Suhui Qiu & Hang Yao, 2025. "Enhancing Cultural Sustainability in Ethnographic Museums: A Multi-Dimensional Visitor Experience Framework Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Palazzo, Maria & Vollero, Agostino & Vitale, Pierluigi & Siano, Alfonso, 2021. "Urban and rural destinations on Instagram: Exploring the influencers’ role in #sustainabletourism," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    11. Robert J. DiNapoli & Carl P. Lipo & Terry L. Hunt, 2021. "Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, November.
    12. Joana Longo-Sarachaga & María del Carmen Paradinas Márquez, 2025. "Bridging Research and Practice in Sustainable Tourism: The Case of Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-16, September.
    13. Valentina Montalto & Pier Luigi Sacco & Michaela Saisana, 2022. "Cultural, Creative, and Sustainable Cities: Assessing Progress and Measurement Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-7, April.
    14. Theresa Enright, 2023. "Art in transit: Mobility, aesthetics and urban development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(1), pages 67-84, January.
    15. Mara Cerquetti & Domenico Sardanelli & Concetta Ferrara, 2024. "Measuring museum sustainability within the framework of institutional theory: A dictionary‐based content analysis of French and British National Museums' annual reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 2260-2276, May.
    16. Carmen Isensee & Frank Teuteberg & Kai Michael Griese, 2022. "Exploring the Use of Mobile Apps for Fostering Sustainability-Oriented Corporate Culture: A Qualitative Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-25, June.
    17. Yuan Wang & Chengxie Jin & Danyang Xu & Tiebo Wang & Baoxi Wang, 2024. "Analysis of Multi-Dimensional Layers in Historic Districts Based on Theory of the Historic Urban Landscape: Taking Shenyang Fangcheng as an Example," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, October.
    18. He, Jun & Huang, Zilong & Mishra, Arunodaya Raj & Alrasheedi, Melfi, 2021. "Developing a new framework for conceptualizing the emerging sustainable community-based tourism using an extended interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy SWARA-MULTIMOORA," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    19. Chi-Hua Wu & Yu-Lin Chao & Jia-Ting Xiong & Ding-Bang Luh, 2022. "Gamification of Culture: A Strategy for Cultural Preservation and Local Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Guolunan Yang & Masahiro Sato, 2025. "The Linkage Between Cultural Ecosystem Services and Local Culture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-16, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8021-:d:1743377. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.