Literary places, tourism and the heritage experience

Literary places can be defined in various ways, but principally they acquire meaning from links with writers and the settings of their novels. Such places attract tourists from part of the landscape of heritage tourism. Several key concepts involving heritage are applicable to literary places,a nd empirical studies allow a greater understanding of their relevance. Research questions of this paper include how much awareness of literature tourists possess and what kind of satisfaction they derive from their visit; how many literary pilgrims, and more general tourists, there are; and how relevant issues of authenticity and conservation are to this experience.