SOUNDS OF OUR TOWN
POPULAR MUSIC HERITAGE TOURISM AND PLACE IDENTITY: THE CASE OF THE BEE GEES WAY, REDCLIFFE
To remain competitive in a global market, tourism destinations must capitalise on what makes them unique places to visit. Increasingly, cities and town are designing attractions that highlight their distinctive cultures and histories. Some places are branding themselves as 'music cities' and investing in tourism attractions focused on music's past and present. Liverpool's Beatles tourism industry is the most obvious example, but this phenomenon is occurring on a smaller scale as well.
This project examines the Bee Gees Way, a popular music-themed heritage walk in the small seaside resort town of Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Despite its history as a regional tourism destination, Redcliffe's popularity had waned in recent years and was in need of revitalisation. The Bee Gees Way was launched in 2013 to bolster the area's tourism offerings and pay tribute to the iconic pop group, who lived in Redcliffe at the beginning of their career.
In 2019, Griffith University awarded funding to the research team – Zel, Sarah and Bob – to undertake research about the Bee Gees Way. Our project aims to consider the role of the Bee Gees Way in shaping the identity and image of Redcliffe, and what kinds of benefits it might have for the community. Fieldwork was completed in early 2020, and the research team are currently working on analysing the data collected. We hope to share some of the findings in late 2020.
RESOURCES
Below is a list of academic publications that relate to this project's focus on popular music heritage, cultural tourism and resorts. If you need access to any publications written by the research team (Sarah Baker, Zelmarie Cantillon or Bob Buttigieg), feel free to email us or use the contact form.
SCHOLARLY READING
Popular music heritage tourism
Strong, C, Cannizzo, F & Rogers, I 2017, ‘Aesthetic cosmopolitan, national and local popular music heritage in Melbourne’s music laneways’, International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 83–96.
Brocken, M 2015, The twenty-first-century legacy of the Beatles: Liverpool and popular music heritage tourism, Ashgate, Farnham.
Davis, S, Davis, S & Cantillon, Z, 2019, ‘Phenomenology of the Surf Ballroom’s Winter Dance Party: affect and community at a popular music heritage tourism event’, in L Istvandity, S Baker & Z Cantillon (eds), Remembering popular music’s past: memory–heritage–history, Anthem Press, London, pp. 175–187.
Lashua, B 2018, ‘Popular music heritage and tourism’, in S Baker, C Strong, L Istvandity & Z Cantillon (eds), The Routledge companion to popular music history and heritage, Routledge, London, pp. 153–162.
Gibson, C & Connell, J 2007, ‘Music, tourism and the transformation of Memphis’, Tourism Geographies, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 160–190.
Tourism
Cantillon, Z 2019, Resort spatiality: reimagining sites of mass tourism, Routledge, London.
Prideaux, B 2000, ‘The resort development spectrum’, Tourism Management, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 225–240.
Pons, PO, Crang, M & Travlou, P (eds) 2009, Cultures of mass tourism: doing the Mediterranean in the age of banal mobilities, Ashgate, Farnham.
Smith, L, Waterton, E & Watson, S (eds) 2012, The cultural moment in tourism, Routledge, London.
Timothy, DJ 2011, Cultural heritage and tourism: an introduction, Channel View Publications, Bristol.
Kaminski, J, Benson, AM & Arnold, D 2014, Contemporary issues in cultural heritage tourism, Routledge, London.
Music cities
Strong, C, Homan, S, O'Hanlon, S & Tebbutt, J 2018, 'Uneasy alliances: popular music and cultural policy in the "music city"’, In V Durrer, T Miller & D O'Brien (eds), The Routledge handbook of global cultural policy, Routledge, London, pp. 468–481.
Baker, AJ, 2017, ‘Algorithms to assess music cities: case study—Melbourne as a music capital’, SAGE Open, doi:10.1177/2158244017691801.
Homan, S, 2014, ‘Liveability and creativity: the case for Melbourne music precincts’, City, Culture and Society, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 149–155.
Flew, T, 2008, ‘Music, cities, and cultural and creative industries policy’, in G Bloustien, M Peters & S Luckman (eds), Sonic synergies, Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 7–16.
Heritage walks/trails
Cantillon, Z 2020, ‘Urban heritage walks in a rapidly changing city: tensions between preservation and development on the Gold Coast, Australia’, Journal of Heritage Tourism, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 149–163.
Timothy, DJ & Boyd, SW 2015, Tourism and trails: cultural, ecological and management issues, Channel View Publications, Bristol.
MacLeod, N 2017, 'The role of trails in the creation of tourist space', Journal of Heritage Tourism, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 423–430.
Barber, LB 2019, 'Heritage tours and trails on foot in Hong Kong: towards a typology that crosses the tourist-local divide', Journal of Heritage Tourism, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 295–307.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We acknowledge the support of Griffith University and the Dean Research of the Arts, Education and Law Faculty for funding our research on the Bee Gees Way. The Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research provided additional funding.
We wish to thank our participants for their enthusiasm in the project and their generosity in sharing their time and perspectives with us.