Craft museum visitors’ interactive experiences,benefits and behavioural intentions: perspectives of Chinese parents

ABSTRACT

Family visitors are important audiences for museums. This paper develops a model that examines the influence of Chinese family visitors’ leisure experiences in museums on their behavioural intentions (BI) with their perceived benefits (mindful benefits and non-mindful benefits, MB and NMB) as the mediating variables. Based on the theoretical framework of an interactive experience model, parents’ experiences in museums were divided into experience of existential authenticity (interaction with the exhibits) (EA) and experience of parents-children interaction (PCI). A total of 375 local family visitors at a cluster of craft museums in Hangzhou, China participated in the survey. The PLS-SEM analysis indicates that both EA and PCI have positive effects on perceived benefits. EA, which emphasises the personal interactions between visitors and exhibited objects as well as their intangible meanings, is found to be more powerful than PCI in shaping visitors’ BI. MB and NMB differ in their influence on visitors’ behaviours. Only MB is linked with visitors’ BI. Further, MB partially mediates the relationship between EA and BI, and fully mediates the relationship between PCI and BI. Implications are offered to enhance family visitors’ experiences through appropriate service management strategies.     

博物馆解说系统的游客期望、使用和评价研究——基于知识需求的分析

博物馆的社会教育功能越来越受到游客和社会的关注,然而,当前我国博物馆解说系统的规划设计在很大程度上忽视了游客的知识需求特征,一定程度上影响了游客的游览体验,并影响到博物馆教育功能的实现.文章以成都金沙博物馆为研究对象,对游客的知识需求和博物馆解说系统期望、解说工具使用,以及游览后的知识获得和解说系统评价进行了分析.结果发现:游客具有较高的知识需求水平,对博物馆解说系统在知识丰富性、知识传递的过程和方式寄予了比较高的期望;游客对知识需求和解说系统的不同期望水平并未对解说工具的使用比例整体上造成明显的影响,然而游客对解说工具的使用满意度在很大程度上影响了他们对知识获得和解说系统的评价;游客的期望只在部分程度上得以实现,而且体现出超过较低期望游客的预期,但未达到较高期望游客要求的特点.在此基础上,文章提出了金沙博物馆解说体系今后需要解决的一些问题.     

Does it pay off for museums to foster creativity? The complementary effect of innovative visitor experiences

This paper aims to explore the link between creativity orientation, investment in visitors’ experience and operating and funding performance in tourist attractions, taking museums as a case study. The empirical work is based on an analysis of the information provided by a sample of Spanish, French, German, British and American museums. The findings highlight the positive impact of creativity orientation on museums’ operating performance, but show a curvilinear effect on funding performance. The use of new technologies and adaptation to the audience proves positive when seeking to attract visitors.     

The Great War heritage site management in Trentino,northern Italy

The preparations for the 100th anniversary of the Great War outbreak turn the lights on war heritage. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the war heritage site management in northern Italy considering the role of stakeholders and the marketing efforts to promote the renovated heritage sites. Trentino-Alto Adige, an Italian Alpine region, constitutes the area of this study. In the Great War, the region, one of the historical border areas of Italy under the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, witnessed heavy fighting in extreme environmental conditions. The tangible heritage of the frontline in the high Alps has recently been renovated and marketed in tourism. The conservation efforts to revalue the sites and to promote thematic routes linking war heritage in the region have gained interest from stakeholders. However, the institutions, museums, voluntary associations and tourism organizations involved in site management have different priorities. The findings show that significant effort has been invested to conserve and to exploit war heritage, however, regarding site management and visitor interpretation for international tourists’ needs seem to be neglected.     

Warfare tourism experiences and national identity: The case of Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ in Oosterbeek,the Netherlands

This paper examines through an analysis of Dutch warfare tourism whether there is a relationship between the subjective perceived salience of Dutch identity and heritage tourists' motives, emotions and overall satisfaction. Using a social identity theory framework, this study provides a view of motives for Dutch warfare heritage tourism and the ways in which this specific variant of heritage tourism evokes different emotions and satisfaction evaluations in visitors. Specifically, we found that visitors who identified strongly as ‘being Dutch’ (the ‘in-group’) have stronger self-enhancement motives compared to those who identify less strongly, and that edutainment features strongly in the museum experience. Visitors seeking initiative/recognition express feelings of disappointment suggesting that the museum's symbolic function as a place of national in-group identity could be more highlighted. We demonstrate that an affirmative and engaged experience can manifest at nationally symbolic sites through positive historical narratives and entertainment, and through ‘in-group’ self-enhancement activities.     

The cultural tourism potential of a fashion-related exhibition – the case of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Victoria and Albert Museum

The exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty held at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London attracted a total number of 493,043 visitors from both the UK and overseas, making it one of the most visited exhibitions throughout the museum’s history. Much of the exhibition’s popularity was drawn from the late designer’s fame, reputation, and exceptional technique in design and clothing construction. The V&A museum also having the title as the greatest Museum of decorative arts and design, and founded during the late Victorian era, possesses heritage value that may also have played a role in attracting visitors to the Savage Beauty exhibition. Findings suggest that Savage Beauty appeals more on the local cultural tourism context for its connection to London. The V&A’s heritage value as Grade I listed may be of minimal interest to tourists; however, visitor interest in London and the number of great museums in the city serves well enough to attract and enrich cultural awareness of potential tourists both local and international. Special exhibitions such as Savage Beauty may also prove effective in attracting tourists, leading to increasing cultural tourism once tourists learn more about London’s culture, which includes fashion, but only in a derivative sense.     

Free Time in an Art Museum: Pausing,Gazing and Interacting

Art museums are popular places where people choose to spend free time. Leisure in art museums may be characterized by silence, contemplation, reaction to art, and interaction with other visitors. The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to understand more about the nature of the art museum experience, using as a setting the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) in Vienna, Austria. Between 2006 and 2008, a total of 100 adults who visited this museum engaged in conversational interviews with the researcher. Conversations showed that visits to art museums during free time stimulate complex interactions between visitors and art. Patrons consider art museums to be spaces for visual contemplation and playful leisure behavior, and sites of continued education that can inform our understanding of serious leisure.     

Occupying whateverland: Journeys to museums in the Baltic

Recent history of Central and Eastern Europe charts multiple occupations, liberations and re-occupations by a variety of states and regimes. Museums of recent history, located across the region, strive to both constitute a memorial shaping narratives of national identity, and to represent the past in a way both recognizable and persuasive for their predominantly international tourist visitors. These visitors come with their own preconceptions and aims towards building both a historical narrative of the past and a personal identity narrative of a cultured, engaged tourist. In this paper, we chart how the historical past is used in contemporary sensemaking processes in the museums, and how tourist interpretations cross organizational and national barriers that the museum-curated historical narratives attempt to create.     

A study of experience expectations of museum visitors

Visitor studies including studies of experience and expectations of visitors are important for museums in terms of management and development, however few studies have been designed to explore the components of experience expectations for museum visitors. This research tried to analyze the experience expectations of museum visitors. Using content analysis of diaries written by museum visitors, a questionnaire of experience expectations of museum visitors was developed. After a survey with 425 valid returns, factor analysis was used to extract 5 types of experience expectations, which included: easiness and fun, cultural entertainment, personal identification, historical reminiscences, and escapism. Moreover, this research analyzed visitors’ preferences for visiting museums and their demographic factors among different types of experience expectations. Finally, some related discussion and suggestions were proposed.     

Key factors maximizing art museum visitors’ satisfaction,commitment, and post-purchase intentions

As there is a lack of empirical research examining art museum visitors’ post-purchase behaviors, this study tested the theoretical associations among image congruence, quality, affective experiences, satisfaction, and commitment to build a sturdy model of behavioral intentions. The concept of involvement was also included as a moderator. A field survey at art museums was conducted. The level of construct validity and reliability for all variables were satisfactory. Results of the structural model revealed that the proposed theoretical framework sufficiently accounted for the variance in intentions. Satisfaction was of greatest importance in generating intentions. Commitment and satisfaction acted as important mediators. Among nine hypothesized direct linkages, eight hypotheses were supported. Findings from the invariance model assessment supported the moderating influence of involvement on the relationships among quality, satisfaction, commitment, and intentions. The strength of such relationships among these variables was greater when museum visitors’ involvement level was high.     

On the political utterances of plantation tourists: vocalizing the memory of slavery on River Road

ABSTRACT

Within the study of southern plantation house museums, the cultural power that tourists exercise in interpreting, reacting to, and even shaping historical narratives has received limited attention. The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of the agency of visitors at plantation museums, paying particular attention to their verbal expressions as they respond to the depiction of slavery on guided tours. Spoken words, questions, and conversations of plantation tourists are not unproblematic transmissions of information but represent “political utterances” that play a crucial role in the constitution and mediation of the process of remembering (or forgetting) the enslaved. We consider the importance of tourist voice and outline two analytical settings for studying the political utterances of plantation visitors – the vocalizing of interpretative communities in post-tour or exit interviews and docent reaction to on-tour comments and questions posed by visitors. Drawing evidence from interviews with visitors and docents at four tourist plantation along the River Road District, we demonstrate the diversity and impact of the political utterances of tourists, and how these vocalizations of memory can possibly lead to greater changes in the way in which slavery is dealt with and remembered at southern plantation museums.     

Where are the enslaved?: TripAdvisor and the narrative landscapes of southern plantation museums

ABSTRACT

This study examines two southern Louisiana plantation museums: Laura and Oak Alley, using a framework that stresses the narrative power and politics of these heritage sites. Located a mile from each other along the Mississippi River, they present two similar yet different narratives of the antebellum American South. Laura places more emphasis on the enslaved who inhabited the plantation than does Oak Alley, whose narrative centers upon the opulence of the plantation home – that is, ‘the big house'. This study explores what visitors take away from their plantation tours. Specifically, it examines their thoughts about how the enslaved are represented at these two museums. The study's data come from visitors’ comments posted on the travel website TripAdvisor. The object of the study is to gain a greater understanding of what visitors learn about the history of the enslaved on these tours and how they participate, along with site managers, in the narrative construction of the plantation and negotiating the divide between tourism as amusement and tourism as memorial.     

People with disabilities visit art museums: an exploratory study of obstacles and difficulties

Visits to art museums are a major component of culture and heritage tourism. This study focuses on the obstacles that Israelis with disabilities – 30 people who use wheelchairs or crutches and 15 visually impaired people – face while visiting art museums. The in-depth interviews revealed that people with disabilities are not able to experience the museum as they wish, despite museum efforts toward becoming accessible to all. Participants emphasize the non-physical elements of the museum environment (e.g. staff attitudes and interaction with other visitors), as being major difficulties in achieving a full museum experience. The study shows that visitors often turn the barriers they confront into a difficulty, nevertheless the struggle itself has a negative effect on the visit experience.     

Visitors’ acceptance of negative ecological impacts in national parks: comparing the explanatory power of psychographic scales in a Norwegian mountain setting

Even in protected areas, it is inevitable that any human use will produce some impact on natural resources. This study identifies visitors’ tolerance of potential negative ecological impacts from tourism activities and facilities in a Norwegian national park context, based on park visitors’ expressed degree of acceptance of negative effects on particular species of wildlife (wild reindeer and raptors) and on vegetation. Attitudes were analysed using psychographic scales, reflecting respondents’ nature orientations, their specific facility desires, their preferences in a wilderness setting and their concerns about human interaction with the natural environment. Fourteen research hypotheses were tested. Findings demonstrated that the psychographic scales explained more variation in attitudes than most social background and trip characteristics. Higher levels of education among visitors were strongly associated with increased ecological concern; age and gender were not. There was generally strong ecological awareness and eco-centrism among park visitors in general, with a small proportion of wilderness purists. Better trail conditions, signposting and interpretation were sought. But park visitors were also found to possess a complex mixture of needs and drivers. The study found significant potential for strategic alliances between tourism and conservation interests, and key value issues for park governance systems.     

It still goes on: football and the heritage of the Great War in Britain

This article examines the museum displays and modern memorials that draw on the role of football and footballers in the history of the Great War in Britain. The place of football in the popular memory of the war in Britain is certainly significant at regional and national levels; from the stories of individual footballers and local teams signing up to fight for ‘King and Country’ to the more famous examples of soldiers kicking a football over no man's land at the Battle of Somme in 1916 and the football game played between opposing combatants during the Christmas Truce of 1914. Museums and memorial sites in Britain and on the former battlefields that reference and represent the place of the sport in the conflict provide places for tourists and pilgrims to remember and mourn these events and the dead. However, the manner in which these sites of memory frame the significance of the game in relationship to the war reveals wider assumptions about the contested memory of the conflict in Britain. Whilst the popular memory of the war focuses on the slaughter of the battlefields and the piteous futility of war, attempts at revising this perception have sought to emphasise the endeavour, commitment and achievement of soldiers. In this battlefield of memory, sports heritage serves as a lens through which issues of contemporary identity in Britain can be established and contested.     

Evaluating museum visitor experiences based on user-generated travel photos

ABSTRACT

This research introduces online travel photos published on social media platforms as a complementary data resource to examine the behavior and experience of museum visitors. The practical value of online travel photos is demonstrated through a case study of popular Hong Kong museums, particularly by using the photo content and metadata available from the Flickr platform. The proposed approach is a generic method for understanding museum visitor behavior and preferences, and supports museum practitioners in developing improved products for visitors. The case study findings are particularly beneficial for tourism managers, especially those in Hong Kong, in promoting and attracting tourists to visit local museums.     

“The only place where people don't judge other people's body”: Obese people's museum experience

This exploratory study was designed to examine obese people's perception of factors affecting their museum-visiting experience. To best capture the experiential aspect, a qualitative research approach was adopted, and 24 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings yielded that the museum experience was hardly affected by the physical appearance and the presence of other patrons, this is contrast to previous studies in tourism related arenas. This is partly due to the realization that museum visitors tend to concentrate on the exhibits, and pay less attention to fellow visitors. Participants related to the “code of behavior” in museums that discourages gazing or explicitly staring at people. However, participants noted constraints and difficulties arising from the interaction between their body size and the physical environment. The study concludes that museums provide obese people with a safescape – a protective zone.     

Ritual,remembrance and war: Social memory at Tyne Cot

One of the social memories of the Great War of 1914–1918 focused on soldiers killed in battle, with military cemeteries forming important sites for remembrance. This paper reports the results of an analysis of the visitor books at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium, that was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to hold almost 12,000 graves, most of which contain unidentified remains. Tourist’s comments in the books evidenced a strong linguistic ritual, expressing sadness, gratitude, approval of the site and promises to remember and never forget the dead. Very little critique of war, or overt nationalistic sentiment was indicated. While some national preferences for ritualized phrases were shown, there was also an indication of a globally shared memory.     

Counter-narratives of slavery in the Deep South: the politics of empathy along and beyond River Road

ABSTRACT

The historical institution of slavery is unevenly memorialized across the US's cultural landscape. This unevenness is particularly noticeable in ‘Deep South’ states such as Mississippi and Louisiana, where cotton and sugar cane plantations once required vast numbers of slaves to economically succeed. While many antebellum plantation sites now function as tourist attractions complete with ‘Big House’ tours, they often ignore or annihilate the memory of slavery from plantation history. However, not all plantations and museums disregard slavery, and the owners and workers at these sites intentionally employ slavery counter-narratives to evoke empathy in visitors and create a more socially just cultural landscape. This paper examines three sites along and beyond River Road that employ counter-narrative techniques: the Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture, Frogmore Cotton Plantation, and Whitney Plantation. The paper includes a discussion of each site's narrative tactics and how they stand out from other plantation sites in their representation of slavery. Engaging in growing conversations on the possibilities of empathetic responses to counter-narrative spaces, this paper argues that empathy – while important and possible for many visitors and consumers at these sites of memory – may preclude important political activism and greater solidarity between racial groups.     

Branding Post-Conflict Destinations

SUMMARY

This paper examines the challenges and opportunities of promoting Montenegro as a destination for sustainable tourism in the post-civil war era of the former Yugoslavia, given the country's unique status as the world's only self-proclaimed “ecological state.” There is no denying the recent history of ethnic violence and turmoil that divided the Balkans in the 1990s. Consequently, the incremental return of foreign and domestic visitors to Montenegro, as well as Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, represents a significant return to stability almost ten years after the fighting stopped. And the particular interest of many tourists in the biology and cultural geography of the region makes clear the potential usefulness of “green” branding for Montenegro to distinguish itself from its competitors in the Mediterranean, and to resurrect the country's political image and visitor appeal through targeted environmental practices and promotions.

The ability to embellish its “eco” credentials and image through complementary partnerships and policies that sustain both tourism and the nation's economy would allow Montenegro to strategically and successfully position itself in the Adriatic travel market over the long term. Collaborative management and branding of World Heritage sites and transboundary parks for sustainable tourism will also enable Montenegro, and its former allies and foes, to restore the social and biological integrity and connectivity of a shared landscape severely degraded by a decade of war. In this manner, tourism can be a critical catalyst in overcoming the negative imagery and distrust which still impedes the Balkans' ability to achieve greater political integration and prosperity in an increasingly unified Europe.