Managing Visitor Attractions

Alan Fyall, Brian Garrod, Anna Leask, Stephen Wanhill, Alan Fyall, Brian Garrod, Anna Leask, Stephen Wanhill

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780367486136
• eBook ISBN: 9781000570748
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Visitor attractions represent a complex sector of the tourism industry and are the catalytic focus for the development of tourism infrastructure and services. The third edition of this successful text investigates these issues further and provides more solutions and suggestions for the present and future.

Now in its third edition, Managing Visitor Attractions has been fully revised and updated to include new content on increased visitor numbers, new destinations and attractions, social media, overtourism, environmental awareness and the experience economy. The book includes case studies on topics such as overtourism at natural attraction sites, new attraction development in Egypt, dark tourism in Latin America, dementia-friendly attractions, and manging sporting venues as attractions. New chapters include the role of the visitor attraction manager, managing safety and risk, themed attractions and storytelling, and digital marketing, among many others.

With contributions from around the world, this is an essential text for undergraduate and postgraduate students of visitor attraction management, written by subject specialists with a wealth of experience in this field.

Part I The Nature and Role of Visitor Attractions

DOI: 10.4324/9781003041948-1

The first part of this book explores the broad context within which visitor attractions operate and provides an historical overview of how the visitor attraction product and experience has developed over time. While the overall focus of the book is on the role of visitor attractions as a major component of the tourism system, it is important to recognise that visitor attractions operate within a number of inter-related internal and external environments. For example, many visitor attractions play a vital role in conserving and protecting the natural and built historic heritage. Others have an explicit educational function or are important in helping to maintain specific cultural identities and practices. As a result, the management of visitor attractions is influenced by a range of complex issues in addition to those arising out of their role as tourism resources. The key themes identified in the first part of this book therefore cover a broad range of issues relating to the context in which visitor attractions are managed.

After providing an introduction to the variety and scope of visitor attractions, Chapter 1 considers how visitor attractions may best be defined and categorised. Definitions of visitor attractions vary significantly around the world, as does the basis for the categorisation of different types of visitor attraction within a certain definition. This gives rise to a major dilemma for the conduct of research into the management of visitor attractions. On the one hand, the lack of a common definition of what constitutes a visitor attraction can frustrate efforts to compare management concepts and identify best practice across different categories of visitor attraction, as well as across the visitor attraction sectors of different countries. On the other hand, the existence of a wide diversity of visitor attractions may call into question the necessity and desirability of a common definition. Indeed, visitor attraction sectors around the world are often characterised by a very large number of small attractions that have poor access to resources and are diffuse in spatial terms, yet are trying to meet a wide range of objectives set by a multitude of stakeholders. The multiplicity of objectives arising from the wide range of stakeholder interests is typically evident among visitor attractions.

Chapter 1 then goes on to explore how visitor attractions fit into the overall tourism system within destinations. Visitor attractions are clearly only one part of a complex network of tourism service providers. The chapter considers the main inter-relationships and inter-dependencies between visitor attractions and the wider tourism industry. Visitor attractions are then discussed in relation to the wider political and socio-cultural environment. The degree to which the focus of analysis should be at the level of the individual attraction, at the destination level or at the national level is also explored. This, in turn, raises the question of whether the focus of analysis should be on the management of the attraction as a whole or on particular management functions, such as marketing or human resource management.

Chapter 2 explores the market for visitor attractions. Starting with a brief history of the development of visitor attractions, it can be seen that many visitor attractions have developed and diversified over time, rather than being static openings with visitors as the primary feature. Many have been converted from original uses for worship or industry and continue to balance the multiple requirements of both existing and new user groups. The chapter then looks at the nature of competition, as, with the need to appreciate the variety of definitions and types of visitor attractions, it is also crucial to appreciate the nature of the market environment within which they operate. While attractions often operate in very competitive marketplaces, Ann Hartl points out that co-opetition is strong between some as they recognize the need and benefits of working collaboratively across destinations. A common theme throughout this text is the need to anticipate and meet the increasingly diverse and changing visitor expectations, resulting in a need for visitor attraction developers and managers to understand consumer behaviour in relation to visiting habits and satisfaction. Chapter 2 explores models of visitor decision-making in families and cross-culturally through the use of international examples of practice.

CHAPTER 1 The Nature and Role of Visitor Attractions

Anna Leask

DOI: 10.4324/9781003041948-2

Keywords: Definition – Destination attractiveness – Classification – Flagship attraction

Aims

The aims of this chapter are:

• To explore and define the term visitor attraction.
• To provide a classification of visitor attraction categories.
• To demonstrate the contribution that visitor attractions make to the tourism system.
• To identify the range of roles that visitor attractions play in international, national and local destinations.

Introduction

There can be no doubting the crucial role that visitor attractions have in the development and success of tourism destinations. At their most basic level, they work to attract visitors to an area, while many also operate in a much broader sense, as agents of change, social enablers and major income generators. Indeed, Boniface, Cooper, and Cooper (2016: 54) state that “attractions are the raison d’être for tourism; they generate the visit, give rise to excursion circuits and create an industry of their own”.

The purpose of this chapter is first to define the terms visitor attraction and tourism destination, showing how they are distinct and yet increasingly overlapping. It will then explain how visitor attractions fit into the tourism sector and link with its other component parts. The multiple roles of visitor attractions will then be introduced. These include not only the economic contributions of visitor attractions but also their environmental and socio-cultural impacts, and their role in generating destination attractiveness. This will link to a discussion of the purposes of visitor attraction. Lastly, the chapter will discuss the role of visitor attractions in local, regional, and national economic development, including the use of visitor attractions to boost destination appeal.

Defining visitor attractions

There can be confusion in arriving at an agreed definition for the term visitor attraction within an international context, although there is value in this as it enables researchers, students and practitioners to develop shared understanding of the boundaries and debates associated with the term. While the difficulty in arriving at a definitive definition is acknowledged to be challenging (Weidenfeld, Butler, and Williams, 2016), several authors (Leask, 2016; Robinson, Lück, and Smith, 2020) consider it important to establish clear definitions and classifications in order to enable greater clarity and international comprehension.

Definitions for statistical purposes

While they may be some common debates within different definitions, such as the fixed nature or permanence of an attraction, the aspects involved in the various definitions often depend upon the purpose for which they are being developed and the date of their development. For example, tourism authorities such as VisitEngland have used a universal definition of attractions to record and monitor attractions for statistical purposes and to enable annual comparison of results since the 1990s. The current definition (VisitEngland, 2020) is:

… an attraction where it is feasible to charge admission for the sole purpose of sightseeing. The attraction must be a permanently established excursion destination, a primary purpose of which is to allow access for entertainment, interest, or education and can include places of worship (but excludes small parish churches); rather than being primarily a retail outlet or a venue for sporting, theatrical, or film performances. It must be open to the public, without prior booking, for published periods each year, and should be capable of attracting day visitors or tourists as well as local residents. In addition, the attraction must be a single business, under a single management, so that it is capable of answering the economic questions on revenue, employment etc.

This definition does raise some additional queries, such as the condition that to be considered an attraction for sightseeing purposes it should be possible (but not compulsory) to charge an admission fee for access, as this may not account for broadening visitor motivations and exclude categories such as historic battlefields and places of worship. In 2020 the concept of ‘without prior booking’ took on a poignancy, as health-and-safety precautions due to the Covid-19 pandemic required visitors to pre-book to enable physical distancing and forced capacity limitations. This also relates to the ability to identify the boundaries of a visitor attraction by being able to have fixed points of entry and exit, as would be required for gathering admission fees, and the point that they should be under single management. A city centre, such as Venice for example, may be very difficult to cordon off in this way.

While this definition does limit the range of facilities included, through requirements for permanence and primary purpose, changing leisure patterns and product development mean that the definition may not be so relevant now as it was originally. Many attractions offer a comprehensive range of services and facilities for entertainment, shopping, catering, accommodation, and events, that may not be solely based on the one visitor attraction product. This issue of definition is highly pertinent, as numerous retail and sporting attractions that are included in studies conducted in other countries, such as marinas and golf courses in Canada and casinos in the USA, would be excluded if one were to adopt the VisitEngland definition. As McKercher (2016) states, the term ‘attractions’ has developed so broadly that it has been used to represent a collective noun that represents groups of single entities into increasingly broad categories, perhaps requiring adjustment to existing definitions.

Definitions for academic research

Developed for the purposes of academic research, Leask (2018: 301) defines visitor attractions as “natural, cultural or built assets that have been created or converted into a permanent visitor experience, where visitor interpretation and engagement with the asset is a core purpose of the development and management of the site”. In common with the VisitEngland (2020) definition, this highlights the use of the term visitor attraction, rather than tourist attraction, on the basis that the term ‘visitor’ is more inclusive, thus emphasising that visitor attractions exist to meet the needs of local residents, day visitors, and overnight tourists. This definition also focuses on the aspect of visitor engagement with the key asset at the visitor attraction via interpretation, rather than the purpose of the visit being for retail or broader leisure purposes. Associated with this asp...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Editors and contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Part I: The Nature and Role of Visitor Attractions
• Part II: The Development of Visitor Attractions
• Part III: Managing Visitor Attractions
• Part IV: Marketing Visitor Attractions
• Part V: Cases
• Conclusion
• Endnote: Visitor Attractions and the Covid-19 Pandemic
• Index