Popular heritage is called upon to play its full role in the development of tourism. This was affirmed by participants at a conference organised on Friday, 14 June, as part of the first edition of the International Festival of Youth Popular Arts.

The participants at this conference highlighted the importance of the role of heritage in sociocultural growth, in favour of tourism. "This gives it a recognised added value that tourism tries to integrate into an operating system as an object of visitation, attractiveness, and entertainment," explains Abderrazak Ben Ataya, professor of tourism and heritage at the International Higher Institute of Tourism of Tangier (ISITT), noting that "songs, dances, the halqua, the fantasia, the moussems... are linked to local habits and customs, which are all examples of valorisation developed by tourism stakeholders."

The participants at this meeting agreed, therefore, that heritage is transitioning from a status of cultural-identity production to a status of "touristicable production." "Preservation through reproduction and requalification is becoming a major concern for the producing population. It is a matter of adapting heritage to the evolution of tourism activity," asserts Mr. Ben Ataya.

Admittedly, the holders of heritage are aware of the role to be played in the transmission and patrimonialisation of collective memory. "The tourist valorisation of heritage helps in raising awareness of the value of heritage and the interest it arouses. The cultural community must, however, be the true actor in the dynamic of 'patrimonialisation' to bring about an identity satisfaction that will be felt by tourists during their visit to the host population," explains Mr. Ben Ataya.

The speaker continues that this awareness will improve the perception that inhabitants have of their heritage and will thus contribute to strengthening their attachment to the "elements" they will tend to want to protect in order to bequeath them to future generations. "To this end, the inhabitants of a patrimonialised territory must not be passive regarding the tourist gaze, but active subjects who construct representations of their cultures for tourists, well-founded both on heritage reference systems and on their interpretation of the tourists' desire," concludes Mr. Ben Ataya.