The heritage reader

Effective interpretation among visitors to heritage sites contributes towards achieving sustainable tourism. Mindful visitors are more likely to be interested in being educated and learning about a site; therefore, mindfulness can play a key role in the formation of effective interpretations. Diverse media communicates with visitors in different ways and has various effects which can improve mindfulness among heritage site visitors. This study aims to investigate the effects of three different media, namely exhibitions, guided tours (GT) and printed materials (PM) on enhancing mindfulness. A questionnaire was developed and administered to approximately 200 visitors at 6 heritage sites across Malacca City in Malaysia, which was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Partial least-squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that PM were the most effective medium in improving mindfulness among visitors to the selected heritage sites, followed by exhibitions. The results also indicated that GT did not have any significant effect on improving visitor mindfulness. These findings can assist organisations responsible for the management of heritage sites to improve the mindfulness of visitors by identifying the most efficacious forms of media.     

A typology of memorable experience at Nelson Mandela heritage sites

This study examines cultural heritage tourism by identifying and segmenting heritage site visitors according to the aspects they define as necessary for a memorable heritage site experience. The research focusses on visitors to Nelson Mandela Heritage Sites and emphasises that the links between the attributes of a site and the visitors themselves are essential to understanding tourists’ willingness to pay to visit the mentioned sites. A typology of visitors that the authors labelled ‘auxiliary experience seekers, convenience experience seekers and comprehensive experience seekers’ (ACC) was used. The results revealed comprehensive experience seekers as the most critical market segment regarding the much significantly higher amount they are willing to pay when visiting Nelson Mandela Heritage Sites. This leads to a better understanding of aspects contributing towards a memorable heritage site experience as well as to visitors’ willingness to pay for such experiences. This study also provides further insight into cultural heritage tourism in general. Moreover, such segmentation was found as a useful research tool for producing a distinct visitor profile as well as how a memorable experiencing can be generated by suggesting diversified pricing at such sites.     

Chinese and international visitor perceptions of interpretation at Beijing built heritage sites

Research exploring visitor perceptions of heritage sites indicates that a site may hold different meanings for visitors depending on their cultural backgrounds. Little research has, however, identified visitor cultural preferences and so informed the development, delivery and management of on-site heritage interpretive experiences. This paper addresses this need by identifying cultural differences and similarities between Chinese and international visitors in relation to their interpretive motives, preferences and perceptions. Questionnaires were completed by 277 domestic Chinese visitors and 94 international visitors at five key Beijing built heritage sites. Differences between Chinese and international visitors’ conceptions of heritage; ratings of importance of facilities, services and interpretive content; and perceptions of the visitor experience are identified. Amongst many findings, Chinese respondents were more likely than international respondents to state that heritage sites should be an important part of the country's national heritage, convey the country's power and be famous. They sought built heritage sites visited by someone famous and that feature in well-known Chinese paintings and poetry. International visitors were more likely than Chinese visitors to state that heritage sites should have authentically old buildings and be relevant to contemporary life. Implications for interpretive and management practice at Chinese heritage sites are discussed.     

A Comparison of Tourists' and Residents' Uses of the Temple of Heaven World Heritage Site,China

World Heritage Sites are designated following evaluations of their universal values. However, their use is often shared by different user groups who may attach different meanings to the same heritage, leading to different interpretations and uses. This situation raises important questions for visitor management at World Heritage Sites, where a variety of users must be accommodated. Using Temple of Heaven as an example, the motivations, preferences and experiences are explored for three major user groups: residents, domestic and international tourists. Results show that residents and tourists exhibit different spatial and temporal patterns of use. Most local users are elderly and use the place regularly for exercise and social purposes. The historical and cultural values are widely recognized but tourists are motivated more strongly than local users to experience heritage values. Practical implications are generated to inform managers of the study site and other heritage sites shared by locals and tourists.     

The search for World Heritage brand awareness beyond the iconic heritage: a case study of the Historic Centre of Macao

The Historic Centre of Macao was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in 2005. The question arises regarding the value of the designation ‘WHS’ and what it means to tourists who visit. The researchers used intercept surveys and participant observation to determine brand awareness among visitors. Regardless of how much the tourism industry and UNESCO promote the ‘brand’, if visitors are unaware of it and do not respond, the economic and cultural values may be negatively affected.

The results showed the average visitor had only a vague understanding of WHS and it was not a major motivator for their visit. However, the general theme of culture was of high interest, as was a visit to the must-see icon attraction of St Paul's Ruins (the highlight of the Historic Centre of Macao). That is, there appears to be a good level of cultural and heritage awareness but minimal WHS awareness.     

The Bigger They Are,the Harder They Fall! Sustainable Tourism Planning at Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Site,Australia

The Australian National Heritage and Tourism Thematic Interpretation Framework (NHTTIF) is an interpretive framework methodology that can be used to develop an enhanced visitor experience by integrating heritage more effectively in tourism. It was developed for the Australian Department for the Environment and Heritage in response to the ‘telling the story’ opportunity identified by the National Tourism and Heritage Taskforce. The NHTTIF is used to identify a site-specific interpretive theme through to a national or international interpretive theme, as part of an interconnected web of ‘stories’ about Australia. Sites used during the development of the NHTTIF included the World Heritage Australian Fossil Mammal Site at Naracoorte, South Australia, the Port Arthur Historic Site in Tasmania and the Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Victoria. This paper demonstrates the development and application of the NHTTIF at the Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Site, with a site-specific story theme of ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall!’, referring to the fossilised extinct Australian mega-fauna. Other themes are demonstrated at a local, regional, state, and national level with implications at the international level as a World Heritage Site. The integration of heritage more effectively in tourism planning, development and management, and the interpretation of heritage sites fosters an understanding and appreciation of heritage, resulting in conservation.     

The Influence of Visitors' Awareness of World Heritage Listings: A Case Study of Huangshan,Xidi and Hongcun in Southern Anhui,China

This research used Huangshan, Xidi and Hongcun in southern Anhui (China) as a case to study the impact of World Heritage List (WHL) status on international visitors. The study categorised all the visitors into two types – WHL aware and WHL unaware – based on awareness levels of the World Heritage status of the destination. The two groups were compared in terms of visit purposes, socio-demographics and other characteristics. The results showed that the World Heritage List status did have an impact on travellers' visit decisions. Additionally, the World Heritage List status proved to be related to tourists' visit purposes, activity patterns and socio-demographic characteristics. However, the World Heritage List status will be a more influential tool for destinations when marketers place emphasis on the underlying cultural contents of sites and make the cultural elements accessible and interpretable for international visitors.     

国外游客对世界文化遗产苏州园林的形象认知研究——基于自然语言处理的不同粒度分析

世界遗产地是文化传播的重要窗口,挖掘国外游客的世界遗产目的地形象认知,有助于实现旅游的跨文化交流功能和目的地的国际化发展。本文以世界文化遗产苏州园林为案例地,通过获取TripAdvisor网站的评论数据,从主题词、语义网络、句子情感等粒度角度,展开国外游客对世界文化遗产苏州园林的形象认知研究。结果表明：（1）国外游客对世界文化遗产的认知包括整体形象、语义网络形象和情感形象3个维度,遗产景区的跨文化交流得到实现,积极情感占据主导,表达了国外游客对苏州园林的喜爱和满意程度。（2）国外游客主要关注到世界文化遗产的景观、体验、空间符号和服务等方面,同时关注敏感度存在差异,呈现出体验>景观>服务>空间符号的特征。（3）核心吸引物差异会导致国外游客对世界文化遗产构建的认知网络差异。     

Tour guides and heritage interpretation: guides’ interpretation of the past at the archaeological site of Jarash,Jordan

Tour guides play a key role in the archaeological site visitor experience by providing interpretation and information. The archaeological site of Jarash, Jordan, is an important heritage destination for a diverse tourist market. It is located in a cultural landscape setting where many archaeological and historical monuments are well preserved. However, at present, this heritage rich seems far from being completely interpreted and valorized by not only local people but also by visitors. This paper reflects on the information and stories provided by tour guides about sites where heritage tourism experiences take place. Within this context, interpretation by tour guides is analyzed. A mixed-methods approach is used to accomplish this and includes qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, participant observations and desk research. The analysis is helpful in confirming that the way tour guides interpret a site influences site valorization and visitor experiences directly. From a practical perspective, the findings provide important insights for understanding how to develop an interpretative model that utilizes site values and the potential for providing better visitor experiences. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of guided package tours and provide suggestions for tour guides and heritage site managers in Jordan.     

Visitor Attitudes to Stonehenge: International Icon or National Disgrace?

Stonehenge is the UK's major prehistoric tourism attraction, with almost 1 million annual visitors, one of the top 10 UK visitor attractions since the early 1990s and an international icon used in tourism marketing. However, Stonehenge is controversial; major issues are access, authenticity and interpretation, with the actual visitor experience being criticised and termed ‘a national disgrace’ by British Members of Parliament (MPs). This paper reports on research conducted at Stonehenge in late summer and early autumn 2004. This involved a questionnaire survey that asked about motivations, visitor impacts and satisfaction levels. Results reveal educational factors to be major motivators and that Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site was also an important motivation. The results reveal a variety of views, and a more complex picture than is apparent from much rhetoric concerning Stonehenge as a visitor attraction. Overseas visitors were more positive in their reaction than British visitors, first time visitors more satisfied than repeat visitors and female visitors somewhat more positive in their reaction than men. In terms of their experience, and largely contradicting the UK Government committee claims, the majority of visitors indicated that Stonehenge has good interpretation, a fair entrance charge, provides good value for money and, overall, is an enjoyable experience.     

An application of tourism carrying capacity assessment at two Italian cultural heritage sites

If not properly managed or organized, tourist flows can constitute a risk for conserving cultural heritage sites. It may therefore be important to estimate the maximum capacity a visitor site can receive without compromising its heritage integrity or visitors’ experiences. This research note formulates a comprehensive methodology to assess the carrying capacity of cultural heritage sites as a way of providing technical support for cultural development and tourism management policies. This approach proposes a combination of qualitative and quantitative indicators to assess tourist flows at a site, how tourists affect conservation and how the property itself shapes and conditions the visitor experience. This how-to study underscores the management system and suggests guidelines to improve the tourism product without generating negative impacts on the built heritage. Two museum case studies are highlighted – the National Museum of the arts of the XXI Century, in Rome and the National Gallery of Marche (Palazzo Ducale, in Urbino).     

Visitor perceptions of World Heritage value at Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park,Nepal

World Heritage sites must exhibit outstanding universal value, integrity, and authenticity. Based on this context, this study examined whether visitors to Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Nepal (World Heritage Site inscribed under criteria vii in 1979) recognized it for its exceptional beauty and aesthetics. This study explored the basic concept of perceived park authenticity at this site, and associated factors that influenced the perception of World Heritage values. Questionnaire surveys were administered to 522 international visitors at the park. Exploratory factor analysis and ordinal logistic regression were used for analysis. Results indicated that visitors perceived the park to be authentic, preserved integrity, and constituted outstanding universal value. Additional regression results identified that overall trip satisfaction and educational level were statistically significant predictors of perceptions of authenticity, integrity and outstanding universal value of the park. Prior visits, substitutability of the park, age, and income were statistically significant predictors of perceptions of either authenticity, integrity or outstanding universal value of the park. Results suggest that emphasis on visitors‘ needs via interpretation and professional guides may solicit more favorable attitudes towards this site.     

Protecting cultural heritage tourism sites with the ubiquitous sensor network

Cultural heritage tourism resources are vulnerable to natural and human disasters: once damaged or destroyed, it is hard to restore them to their original condition. This study examines an online and real-time early fire detection system, using advanced information technology and a ubiquitous sensor network to protect cultural heritage tourism resources. It notes the danger of accidental and deliberate fires being started by cultural site visitors, as well as natural fires from lightning strike or nearby forest fires. The system architecture, sensor and network design, and software design of the fire detection system are presented, based on experimental work at the Bulguksa temple in South Korea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lessons learned from building and operating the Ubiquitous(U)-Bulguksa system are presented to provide guidelines for applying ubiquitous sensor networks to protect other cultural heritage tourism resources.     

The link between travel motivation and satisfaction towards a heritage destination: The role of visitor engagement,visitor experience and heritage destination image

There are shortcomings in studying tourist satisfaction from the direct effect of travel motivation. The current study constructed an integrated model of motivation-satisfaction towards a heritage destination with the addition of experience-related factors and destination image. Unlike previous studies mainly focusing on pre or after the experience, this research employed a survey aiming at tourists during their on-site experiences. By using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling, the proposed structural model was tested with a sample of 352 visitors at Hoi An UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vietnam. Motivation had significant effects on visitor engagement, visitor experience, and heritage destination image, which in turn led to heritage tourists' satisfaction. The indirect link between motivation and satisfaction was also confirmed, contributing to a better understanding of the formation of satisfaction in the context of heritage tourism. Practical implications are provided for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) of heritage sites.     

Using a Delphi approach to identify managers' preferences for visitor interpretation at Canterbury Cathedral World Heritage Site

Religious heritage sites have seen a remarkable increase in tourist visitation. To cater for the changing, and sometimes conflicting needs of visitors, many religious sites are developing interpretive plans to enhance the provision of on-site experiences. Interpretive plans are normally negotiated between the owners/managers of a site and an interpretation team. This study uses a Delphi approach to ‘negotiate’ owner/management preferences regarding key interpretive topics and themes to inform the development of a visitor interpretive plan for the Canterbury Cathedral World Heritage Site. Sixty-eight interpretive topics were reduced to twenty-one grouped under three themes: past, present and future spiritual development; aesthetic and architectural features; and the cathedral as a working community. The usefulness of the Delphi approach as a means to negotiate a consensus view of owners/managers' interpretive priorities and preferences within a planning context is discussed. Methodological issues arising when using a Delphi approach are also addressed.     

Sustainability and the authentic experience. Harnessing brand heritage – a study from Japan

This paper explores the influence of the formative brand heritage construct on perceived authenticity at repaired/reconstructed heritage sites, understood in relation to the Japanese practice of kintsugi (金継ぎ), thereby extending Kolar and Zabkar's consumer-based model of authenticity. It notes that variations of kintsugi occur in architectural heritage conservation worldwide. We establish relationships between brand heritage, cultural motivations, perceptions of authenticity, relational value, and consumer commitment, based on questioning 768 visitors to repaired and reconstructed Japanese heritage sites. Analysis using partial least squares found consumer preconceptions of brand heritage stimulating increased perceptions of authenticity at sites of limited historical provenance, thereby increasing visitor commitment to visiting. Heritage managers should use marketing strategies that effectively communicate a site's brand heritage prior to, during, and after the tourist experience. Even where the material components of the site are entirely reconstructed, this can lead to relational value, and improved consumer commitment. In sustainability terms, holistic brand marketing can increase site revenue, help conservation maintenance and, by increasing repeat visits, reduce footfall damage at other “unreconstructed” sites. Practical implications include better artefact and information presentation, ensuring synergy between site experiences and its purported values, especially through tour guide narratives and interpretation.     

Rock art tourism in the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg World Heritage Site: obstacles to the development of sustainable tourism

This paper focuses on rock art tourism, a highly vulnerable heritage of broad public interest, only sustainable within an effective management framework. The paper explores tourism management in South Africa's uKhahlamba-Drakensberg World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2000 for its natural landscapes and its exceptional rock art heritage. In practice, nature dominates the area's tourism and management dynamics. Current tourism patterns, markets and frequencies, together with rock art's low place within tourist agendas, are described. This situation is shown to be a legacy of European Alpine romanticism, and the political rejection of indigenous cultural heritage prior to 1994, still expressed through visitor patterns and marketing policies. Despite rock art needing tourism to valorise its conservation, and being recognised by commentators and the state as a viable route to tourism development, heritage conservation, socio-economic regeneration and cultural empowerment, the failure to reform entrenched and ineffective tourism/conservation governance and management systems is exposed. The problems affecting rock art tourism have allowed the retention of unwelcome values from South Africa's pre-democratic era, risk the loss of World Heritage site status, the destruction of globally outstanding art works and waste an important opportunity to expand and diversify sustainable tourism in South Africa.     

Communicating the World Heritage brand: visitor awareness of UNESCO's World Heritage symbol and the implications for sites,stakeholders and sustainable management

The World Heritage (WH) brand signals property so irreplaceable that its values must be sustained intact in perpetuity. A primary function of the WH symbol, one element of the WH brand, is to prompt positive visitor emotions and behaviors favored by management agencies. This paper investigates if the symbol communicates any message to viewers. To determine visitor recognition and recall of the WH symbol tested against a variety of variables, 1827 visitors to five WH sites in Queensland, Australia and 712 visitors to the WH part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA were surveyed. Sixty percent of visitors to the Queensland sites and 19% of visitors to the Hawaii site were aware of the site's WH status; 96% of Queensland site visitors, and 99% of Hawaii site visitors could not recall what the WH symbol represented. Park agencies appear to take a laissez-faire attitude to branding, have little interest or capacity to brand properly or have strategically restricted usage of the WH brand to de-clutter their brand landscape. This limits opportunities to transmit to visitors and communities why WH properties should be valued and sustained, with significant implications for the long-term sustainability of WH sites.     

Testing a model of effective interpretation to boost the heritage tourism experience: a case study in Macao

While the impact of tour guides’ interpretation on tourism experience is well acknowledged, little research has been conducted on the production of effective interpretation by tour guides. In this study, effective interpretation is defined as producing a positive outcome on tourists’ knowledge and understanding of the visited heritage site, feelings and emotion, satisfaction and likelihood of visiting other relevant nearby heritage sites. Based on a literature review, a conceptual model of effective interpretation consisting of four propositions was formulated and examined by empirical on-site research in the World Cultural Heritage Site in Macau. The empirical findings support the four propositions and the applicability of the model for effective interpretation in Macao. The research was conducted in two phases: on-site guide evaluation and a linked tourist survey. The target market was mainland Chinese visitors. The results revealed the influence of four factors on effective interpretation, namely, heritage and tourist information knowledge, service attitude, communication competence and emotional intelligence. Special attention is given to the use of humor, provocation and emotional sensitivity. Future research should further investigate tourists’ emotion management and the applicability of this model to other tour guides’ heritage interpretation, at different types of site and in different regions.     

Benefits received by visitors to heritage sites: a case study of Warkworth Castle

Heritage sites attract many visitors each year. However, the revenue collected in entrance charges does not represent the total benefit provided by heritage sites. Some visitors value their visit more than the entrance charge; some decline to enter at the price but are willing to pay something to enter; other people derive utility from the contribution of heritage buildings to the landscape; whilst others benefit from the knowledge that the heritage sites are being preserved for future generations. For one heritage site, Warkworth Castle in Northumbria, benefits received by those entering the castle were estimated to be more than twice the financial revenue derived from entrance charges. This would suggest funding for heritage sites should not be determined by visitor numbers alone. However, as benefits derived in terms of recreational enjoyment and educational value from the site were estimated to be larger than their non-use benefits or preservation value, this suggests that access to such sites is an important determinant of heritage value.