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Visitor attractions constitute the essence of the tourism phenomenon. However, management techniques that are expressly designed for tourism and develop different uses/activities and subsequently influence visitor experiences are under-researched. Hence, the purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework that provides a bridge between on-site management, visitor attraction development and visitor experience by introducing a novel concept: “usability of visitor attractions.” This new concept captures how managers can develop uses for visitors to experience the attraction. Thus, this study explores this concept and serves as the foundation for further research on this topic.

The systematization of the state of the art is based on an exhaustive desk research review of both academic and grey literature to endorse the “usability of visitor attractions” concept.

The literature review reveals that visitor attraction management affects visitor experience. To succeed, managers should consider the ease of use and the design of activities. Therefore, an innovative conceptual model is built to explore how on-site management techniques based on this new concept impact on visitor’s experience.

Research on visitor experience in attractions has neglected the impact of on-site management tools hitherto. Therefore, the originality of the study lies on providing a robust framework that enlightens how visitor attraction management affects visitor experience by developing the usability. The study proposes a novel concept and an original model that will be of a critical interest to tourism academia and will serve as practical guidance for attraction managers.

旅游景点构成了旅游现象的本质。然而, 专门为其开发不同用途/活动并随后影响游客体验的管理技术仍处于起步阶段。因此, 本文的目的是通过引入一个新的概念：旅游景点的可用性来建立一个概念框架, 搭建现场管理、旅游景点开发和游客体验之间的关系桥梁。这一新概念描述了管理者如何开发游客体验景点的可用性。因此, 本文探讨了这一概念并以为未来旅游学术界对本主题感兴趣的相关研究奠定基础。

研究前沿的分类是基于详尽学朮和灰色文献的书面材料审查来背书 “旅游景点的可用性” 这一概念。

文献综述表明, 旅游景点管理影响游客体验。为达成这一目的, 管理者应该考虑景点使用的便利性和活动的设计。因此, 我们建立了一个创新的概念模型来探讨基于这一新概念的现场管理技术对游客体验的影响。

本文的创新之处在于提供了一个稳健的框架, 揭示旅游景点可用性通过景点管理进而影响游客体验。本文建议一个新的概念和原本的模型将为旅游景点管理者提供实际指导。

Los atractivos turísticos constituyen la esencia del fenómeno turístico. No obstante, las técnicas de gestión y planificación diseñadas expresamente para desarrollar diferentes usos/actividades en los atractivos, que posteriormente influyen en la experiencia de los visitantes, han sido escasamente investigadas. Por ello, el propósito de esta investigación radica en elaborar un marco conceptual que integre la gestión del atractivo, el progreso del mismo y la experiencia del visitante mediante la introducción de un concepto novedoso: “la usabilidad de los atractivos turísticos”. Este nuevo concepto enfatiza la manera en que los gestores pueden implementar diferentes usos en los atractivos, proporcionando a los visitantes diversas experiencias. Por tanto, esta investigación explora el concepto y sirve como fundamento para futuras investigaciones.

La metodología se basa en una exhaustiva revisión de la producción científica y de informes de organismos públicos para respaldar el concepto de “usabilidad de los atractivos turísticos”.

La literatura examinada revela que la gestión de los atractivos afecta en la experiencia de los visitantes. Así pues, los gestores deben considerar en concreto la facilidad de uso y el diseño de actividades. De este modo, un modelo conceptual innovador ha sido construido para explorar cómo las técnicas de gestión basadas en este nuevo concepto tienen un impacto en la experiencia del visitante.

La investigación sobre la experiencia del visitante en los atractivos ha descuidado el impacto de las herramientas de gestión y planificación hasta ahora. Consecuentemente, la originalidad de esta investigación radica en proporcionar un marco robusto que señala cómo la gestión de los atractivos afecta en la experiencia del visitante mediante el desarrollo de la usabilidad. El estudio propone un concepto novedoso y un modelo original que se considera de gran interés para el ámbito científico, y al mismo tiempo, puede servir de guía práctica para los gestores de los atractivos turísticos.

The aim of this chapter is to delineate a product framework concerning managed visitor attractions (MVA), which highlights the supply-chain aspects of destinations. It first touches on the rationales for developing such a framework and then constructs a framework composed of a set of product components deriving from the extant literature. Consequently, an version of a product component framework, fastening on an accumulated sample of attraction cases, is presented through three illustrative cases. In the conclusion section, this study elaborates on the study limitation while connoting how the resultant data could shed light on the role of the components of the MVA product in the creation of visitor experiences.

The purpose of the paper is to explore how the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will influence the development of revenue management practice in the visitor attractions sector.

This viewpoint paper builds on the argument that tracking previous patterns of behaviour and trends can be used to predict future actions and developments.

The paper identifies how historically the development of revenue management practice has been driven by major external trigger points often linked to sudden increases in competitive pressures, such as the deregulation of the airline industry, and expands on this to argue that the pandemic is one such trigger point that has fundamentally changed the approach to revenue management through a refocusing on key principles to manage demand and that this could potentially accelerate its development within the visitor attraction sector.

Pre-COVID, the practice of revenue management in the visitor attraction sector was underdeveloped, and the opportunities to develop revenue management had not been discussed in the academic literature. This paper suggests that the challenges of the pandemic that forced visitor attractions to focus on visitor demand management can now begin to be extended to incorporate the management of revenue and will consequently be of value for academics and practitioners.

This paper presents the findings from a study into managerial competence in the Scottish visitor attraction sector. It provides an insight into the range, diversity and perceived importance of current and future competences highlighting differences based on gender, age, size, level of training and location. Although the main findings reveal a focus on operation and self‐management competences, with less emphasis given to strategic competences, significant differences were exposed between those managers who operated in medium‐ and larger‐sized establishments than those in smaller sites, those who had received training for their current position as well as those who had no training and those under the age of 50. The paper concludes by discussing implications of the findings for strategic human‐resource‐development providers in Scottish tourism.

Drawing upon Baudrillard’s concept of sign-value, this study aims to investigate consumer behavior and sign perception in visitor attractions.

By adopting netnography, 133 customer-to-customer reviews sourced from TripAdvisor were analyzed regarding visitors’ online post-visit impressions.

The findings reveal that netnography contributes to a deeper understanding of sign consumption and sign promotion and examines how visitors attribute symbolic meanings to their experience in Titanic Belfast.

The findings show that the co-creation and reevaluation of the visitor experience through consumers’ online reviews should be taken into account by both managers and marketers. Furthermore, advertising should avoid creating excessive expectations to visitors to decrease the possibility of negative disconfirmation, which can be easily and instantly spread online. Another implication concerns the winning awards of visitor attractions, hotels and restaurants of a destination which may be used as a basis of co-branding marketing campaigns to enhance destination brand image.

This study continues the debate on the commodification of the visitor experience and the commercialization of visitor attractions.

This paper provides better understanding of sign-value, sign consumption and sign promotion in the visitor attraction sector.

Because public service visitor attractions are increasingly under pressure to provide best value for money by generating revenue as well as offering a service their shops are becoming more important in their operations. This article therefore looks at the performance of the shop of one new purpose built public service visitor attraction W5 in Belfast, Northern Ireland in order to identify the impact of a number of key factors, both controllable and uncontrollable, on it. The factors concerned were the nature of the target customers, the attraction's location and other locational issues and the public image of the shop. Having considered the impact of these factors on the performance of the shop the article examines the actions and decisions of the visitor attraction's management in its efforts to optimise the shop's performance.

The proposed areas of study for this case are strategic management, marketing, tourism planning and development, hospitality management, attraction management and special event planning and management.

The case is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing courses in the areas of strategic management, marketing, tourism planning and development, hospitality and tourism management, attraction management and special event planning and management.

The Denbigh Showground located in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica, is the venue of the annual Agricultural and Industrial Show. Three separate studies conducted indicated the need for its development to enable the use of the facility all year round and to contribute to the socio-economic development of the parish. Suggested development options from these studies included a fun and amusement park, a site for eco-tourism and a multi-purpose agri-cultural facility with linkages to the parish's cultural legacies and places of interest. The large land acreage could facilitate its development, making the property a leading “agri-cultural” attraction concept.

he students should be able to: identify the typology of the Denbigh Showground as an attraction; categorize the product offerings of the Denbigh Showground from a marketing perspective; explain the factors to consider regarding the development of the showground; analyze the socio-economic contributions of the facility to the parish of Clarendon and the community's attitude towards the development of the showground; discuss the potential uses of the Denbigh Showground that can make it a leading international “agri-cultural” attraction; synthesize the concept of sustainable tourism development and its importance to the development and viability of the attraction for future generations; and assess other tourism concepts such as community-based tourism, special interest tourism and alternative tourism and how they relate to the development of the Denbigh Showground.

This case study will help students understand the concept of an agri-cultural attraction and its impact on the socio-economic development of the surrounding communities and the country as a whole. The case will contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the areas of community development and residents’ perception regarding tourism development. It offers insights to both potential and current investors; provides practical guidance to the government and other tourism planners to enable better planning for the areas’ future growth and development; and serves as a reference for academicians as well as undergraduate and graduate students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or e-mail: support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Emphasizing the role of residents as destination advocates, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of residents’ familiarity with, and, favorability of attractions on destination image.

A mixed methods research strategy was employed using 15 individual in-depth interviews and a survey questionnaire with a sample of n=364. The study utilizes an attraction familiarity index to classify respondents into four groups based on high, average, and low familiarity and examines the characteristics of each in the relationship between informational familiarity, experiential familiarity, and favorability and destination image.

The study reveals resident perceptions of attractions within the tourism product assembly framework and illustrates the positive relationship between the residents’ level of familiarity with, and favorability of visitor attractions and destination image. Further, the findings also demonstrate the significant role of demographic characteristics such as gender and length of residency in the area. The study findings suggest that temporary residents can function as destination advocates.

Employees and students from a prominent northeastern university were sampled, representing local residents and temporary residents respectively. While appropriate and fairly representative of the target market for the research questions in this investigation, more work is required to replicate this study utilizing representative samples across different locations.

Evidence from the study indicates the importance of marketing to residents as they serve as destination advocates. In particular, the residents’ familiarity with and favorability of attractions is critical to positive destination image. The research offers insights into the identification of potential segments of residents that require special attention.

Limited existing research investigates the role of residents as destination advocates, especially in the context of destinations that lack a primary tourism attraction but have a well-balanced mix of attractions.

Customer experience (CX) has become a major concern of business managers around the world and is considered a determinant factor of continuing corporate success. Despite the growing number of research studies focusing on the topic, knowledge remains underexamined in general, and specifically in terms of online users. Understanding how online platforms inspire travel experience is increasingly pertinent as visual contents acquire insignificance. This is especially relevant when travel is restricted such as during the COVID-19 outbreak. Nevertheless, there is a gap in the literature research on online CX in online visitor attractions. The study aimed to investigate the visitors' reviews of online visits during the lockdown. The research has followed the Netnography approach as modern qualitative research to understand the online CX of visiting virtually the attractions.

The results revealed three dimensions of cyber-tourist experiences related to the tourism-driven with its four subdimensions, the emotional reaction and expectation, and satisfaction and behavior intentions. The study adds to the better knowledge of the modern research methods dealing with the cyber-customer experience (CCX) by examining the Netnography method.

This research is a pioneering attempt to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on tourists' experience and to highlight the opportunities for tourism practitioners to profit from the online presence, to be more accessible, and to increase their traffic to guaranty their online visibility.

This chapter investigates the current trend toward both creative and experiential tourism in cities in terms of the development and marketing of local attractions.

Creative tourism in cities is profiled through a literature review and further investigated by means of a case study at a local attraction in Toronto, Canada. The choice of a site was one of a creative city and the re-purposing of a formerly industrial site for visitation.

The study of Evergreens Brickworks demonstrated the use of marketing techniques to identify markets and match visitors with experiences. The visitor segmentation method determined that pre-scheduled and bookable activities offered for locals need to be offered on a different basis for tourists, who may be one time visitors to the site. The product-market match process suggested areas in which products could be modified or indeed created.

This practical study offers lessons for other local visitor attractions and their managers desiring to identify market segments and match them with appropriate activities creating experiential tourism at the site level within the creative city context.

While many studies of the creative tourism concept and cities have been undertaken within the context of destinations this research offers a site-specific perspective as well as marketing perspective that will be of practical value to attraction managers.