Industrial Heritage Tourism and Regional Restructuring in the European Union

This paper explores the current trend among traditional industrial regions in Europe to launch initiatives in the field of 'industrial heritage tourism'. Increasingly, restoring and exploiting former industrial sites for touristic purposes is regarded as a useful strategy for regional renewal. After having discussed its background and categories, we argue that, theoretically, industrial heritage tourism could be an interesting 'new combination' for industrial areas in the European service economy. In practice, however, its effects for regional restructuring might be limited. Therefore, we suggest to re-use Europe's industrial heritage also for other economic activities than only tourism.