Readers of this volume will by now be aware that archaeology is one of the most ubiquitous tourism resources in the world and one of the best-known manifestations of cultural heritage. Archaeological attractions include historic monuments, ruins, active excavations, museums, and interpretive centers, to name only a few. People visit archaeological attractions for many reasons, including self-edification, to gain knowledge and understanding, pursue a hobby, learn a skillset, have a leisure experience, socialize with others, or become immersed in a cultural landscape that is different from the one where they live. The supply of, and demand for, archaeological sites resembles those of general heritage tourism. However, they oftentimes have their own characteristics, management challenges, advantages and disadvantages.

Several important themes arose from the essays herein that deserve more emphasis. This chapter examines some of these in greater detail, after which it raises questions that are worthwhile addressing through additional research and scholarly inquiry. Issues raised in the book include heritage branding and politics, scale and spatial variability, archaeology-based niche turisms, the relationships between archaeology and different types of tourism, overtourism and its damaging implications and archaeology and indigenous people. Other important issues to consider for future inquiry include climate change and information communication technology and their relationships with archaeology-based tourism.

Branding Archaeological Heritage and Politics

Some contributions to this volume have addressed the notion of the utilization of archaeology for heritage branding. For the tourism enterprise, branding is an important element of promotion and can help stimulate growth and offer a unique selling proposition for destinations that compete one with another. Archaeological heritage may provide the advantage needed to be competitive in the tourism marketplace. Several countries are extremely eager to inscribe their heritage locales on the UNESCO World Heritage List under the nebulous assumption that this will inevitably result in increased numbers of tourists (Ribaudó & Figini, 2017).