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global with the potential for increased visibility and brand awareness
among UNESCO-aware tourists (Prigent, 2013). In this sense, then, the
list becomes a marketing tool with the power to promote places of global
importance simultaneously (Marcotte & Bourdeau, 2012).
Another poignant recent example of the glocal heritage nexus is the 2012
efforts of 81-year-old Cecelia Gimenez, who attempted to renovate an early
20th-century painting of Jesus in a village church in northern Spain. In the
process, the painting was botched, producing a new piece that hardly resem-
bled the original. The faux pas garnered much international media attention
during 2012 and 2013, with the story and photographs of the bungled reno-
vation making headlines throughout the world. As of August 2013, more
than 40,000 visitors had stopped by to view the fresco and meet the budding
artist. While the spoiled painting angered many residents and directed much
ridicule toward Cecelia at first, within months the painting, the village, the
church and the painter went from being a local issue to national and global
heritage with a measured direct economic impact on the village of more than
$66,000 the first year. This income from entrance fees was used to improve
the quality of life of the village's elderly residents (Sainz, 2013). Community
members now rally around Cecelia, who receives a portion of the proceeds,
and many have become honored by the attention this event has brought to
the village.
There are opportunities at all four scales of heritage (personal, local,
national and global) for economic and social development. The economic
repercussions are clear, and the social implications are equally important. In
addition to shoring up people's collective immigrant identities in their new
lands, personal heritage travel can help build political, social and economic
solidarity between diasporic peoples and their primordial homelands.
Intangible heritage and the democratization of patrimony both have
similar effects. When these are seen by the community as something of
value, both in social and economic terms, they are more inclined to want to
preserve it. This helps develop unity within communities and nations and
contributes to an identity that connects people with their past. Traditionally,
the focus on tangible and elitist heritage had the effect of distancing many
people from their own patrimony. With the recognition, however, that
vernacular heritage is important and worthy of preservation, more sectors
of society can become involved in its conservation and management for
tourism, especially when they realize that their heritage has value beyond
their immediate community.
The changes noted in demand for religious tourism have significant
repercussions for economic development. In the past, as part of their hum-
bling and penitence process, traditional pilgrims spent very little money in
the destination or along the way. They frequently lodged in tents, brought
food from home or begged on the street. Today, however, increasing demand
for a wider range of lodging, food services, transportation and recreational
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