ABSTRACT
Tourists receive messages from the various sites they visit, sent to them by the creators of those sites. These places, presented as aspects of a national heritage, help to shape a common national identity or ‘imagined community’ amongst a diverse population. This shared identity is often an official goal of countries comprised of many different cultures where there exists a common urge to create a national identity to overcome diversity and difference within the nation-state (Pretes 2003). If sites can help create a common identity or imagined community among a diverse population, can a series of events held on a country’s national day represent aspects of the nation’s culture and help to develop a common national identity?
