"THE STORIES WE SELL": MARKETING HERITAGE TOURISM AT ASSISI ITALY (original) (raw)
Related papers
M. Kozak and N. Kozak (eds.), Tourist Behavior. An Experiential Perspective, Springer, Berlin, 2018, 2018
Florence is one of the major tourist destinations in Italy and its tourist tradition dates back to the Gran Tour time. The Grand Tour played an important role in the construction of its image and still exerts an influence on today’s political and tourist narratives. In Florence, and in other Italian towns, we can discern an advanced theming process: history and heritage are largely used to culturalize consumption. The Grand Tour approach to beauty and history, which was mainly emotional and open to reinvention, has been converted into a postmodern rewriting of the past where even art masterworks are used to transmit emotions and transform consumption into a cultural experience. The centre of Florence has become a specialized tourist district where visitors can perform a complete consumption activity. Tourism is also an important economic driver and the success of Florence had enhanced political discourses emphasizing its role for the country.
Managing heritage attractions: marketing challenges at sensitive historical sites
International Journal of Tourism Research, 2002
Historical sites now feature strongly as sites of visitation. However, such sites are often connected with historical events, which are sensitive to visitors and thus highly contentious when utilised in the development of tourism. The paper, from the perspective of the visitor, examines some of the critical issues that generally determine the nature of visitation at sensitive historical sites. The issues identified are the visitor's emotional state at the site, prior expectations of the site and what is to be learnt and perception of site presentation and interpretation. They also include the primary visitor objective to learn about the site, the ease with which access to the site can be obtained and the existence of social experiences between relevant visitor groups that may be extended to the site. The issues identified place significant challenges on how marketers communicate with potential visitors and other stakeholders of the site and require the marketing function to take...
2021
A specific region, characterized by a significant natural and cultural heritage, is not necessarily a tourist destination. However, it can become so if there is active participation of local stakeholders oriented towards local development. In this context, this study focuses on a specific area, the Canavese (northwest Italy), which needs to find new regional development alternatives to the industrial sector. In particular, the research focused on the level of integration of local stakeholders and on their ability to identify common guidelines for tourist enhancement of the region. From an operational point of view, a survey of public and private stakeholders was carried out through a mixed-method approach divided into three stages: a questionnaire developed by a group of experts and individual interviews carried out by the Delphi method, presentation of the results, and identification of local priorities by the nominal group technique. Findings show the opportunity to act on specifi...
Heritage Tourism: How Advertising is Branding the Intangibles?
Journal of Heritage Management, 2016
Heritage differentiates a location and promises a memorable experience emanating from the existing unique features of a destination. India is promoting heritage and focusing on preservation of local cultural heritage as assets for sustainable heritage tourism development. Cultural heritage tourism has emerged as both an important economic tool and marketing tool when seeking a competitive advantage in the tourism industry. Heritage promoted in tourism promises a wholesome experience to the visitors and, hence, enhances the value of the destination. The fundamental aim of this study is to understand how heritage is portrayed in tourism advertisements. The methodology comprises of a narrative analysis of advertising campaign texts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat tourism. The campaigns have been analyzed to see how heritage has been portrayed and at the second level, tourism campaigns of both the states have been compared in order to evaluate. The analysis indicates that tourism campaign...
Marketing Research for Cultural Heritage Conservation and Sustainability: Lessons from the Field
Sustainability, 2018
This paper investigates the contribution of marketing research to cultural heritage conservation and sustainability, based on the assumption that the comprehension of the meaning of cultural heritage by new and extended audiences is a prerequisite for the future survival of tangible and intangible heritage. After discussing steps and achievements in the scientific debate on museum marketing, current gaps and possible further developments are considered. Since the early 1980s, marketing research has investigated visitors' profiles, motivations, and behaviors, and has progressively focused on improving the experience of cultural heritage, especially through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in museums and heritage sites. A literature review suggests that scant attention has been paid to qualitative research that is aimed at investigating the knowledge and skills of visitors and non-visitors and their understanding of the value of cultural heritage. Moving from these results, and taking into account recent data about the attitudes and opinions of people in Europe on cultural heritage, the field research focuses on the perception and communication of local cultural heritage among young generations. The results of six focus groups conducted in 2016 with undergraduate and postgraduate students (University of Macerata, Italy) are analyzed. The research findings reveal a number of difficulties and limitations with regard to communicating and understanding the value of heritage. In order to better investigate these gaps, the outcomes of this preliminary study could be tested and put to cross-analysis using different methods. However, they do provide useful evidence for understanding the link between audience development and cultural heritage sustainability.
Studying World Heritage visitors: the case of Cuenca, Ecuador
Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to explore the existing relations between three fundamental constructs (motivation and satisfaction) and the type of travellers in a World Heritage Site (WHS) tourist destination, the city of Cuenca (Ecuador). Design/methodology/approach-The methodology used consisted of a fieldwork to determine the motivations and satisfaction of the visitor in the city of Cuenca, and then their segmentation. Findings-The relationship between the study of motivation and satisfaction is a fundamental element in the development of WHSs. Similarly, it presents four different types of tourists obtained from their motivational variables. The results show the existence of three motivational dimensions for visiting Cuenca: cultural, circumstantial and convenience. Similarly, and using the motivation scenarios, four types of visitor have been identified: a cultural tourist, a cultural convenience tourist, a cultural circumstantial tourist and an alternative tourist. Practical implications-The principal practical application of this research is to contribute to understanding the motivations of the visitors in relation to the city of Cuenca as a WHS for the purpose of designing tourist and cultural products that better satisfy the needs of the tourists and that, at the same time, are compatible with the sustainable management of the destination. Originality/value-This paper seeks to contribute to promoting the relationship between tourism, sustainability and heritage in Latin America. Keywords Cultural tourism, Cultural heritage, World Heritage, Historic cities, Site management Paper type Research paper This recognition has allowed many of these cities to make efforts to promote cultural tourism, although it is true that, in some cases, without prior planning, producing phenomena such as inadequate management or the attempt to reproduce successful formulas of other places that cannot be applied to the destination, or the lack of adequate services for the needs of today's tourists. The success of any initiative of a cultural tourism destination is its pubic, and their satisfaction will be conditioned, besides on purely aesthetic aspects such as its heritage, on others, such as the degree of interest awakened, its capacity of communication, of covering expectations, etc. Accordingly, correct planning, and in this case, regeneration, is important for the historic centres of WHSs (Cervelló-Royo et al., 2012). But for a city or a territory to design a cultural tourism product, it must meet the expectations that visitors have of knowledge of the heritage and of the culture, since it is the principal motivation for deciding on a certain destination (Correia et al., 2013) and of quality
A Pathway for the New Generation of Tourism Research
2017
The article presents the empirical research results of the authenticity perception of archaeological festival visitors and its connections with the general assessment of the festival. The study was conducted among visitors of XV Archaeological Festival in Biskupin (Poland). Three types of authenticity were distinguished: objectivist/essentialist, constructivist/negotiated and existential. As a result of the survey conducted among visitors (N = 405) four hypotheses were verified. No association was found between socio-demographic characteristics and the perception of authenticity. The influence of authenticity importance on authenticity was found. The author also found the association of authenticity perception with the quality assessment of the festival, and association of the overall quality assessment with visitors’ behavioural intentions. keYWoRDs Authenticity, Archaeological Festival, Quality, Visitors, Behavioural Intentions.
Arts, Heritage and Tourism Marketing - Consumer Ethnography | Postgraduate Work
“It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery The content of this report entails observations and analyses of cultural heritage sites such as the Durham Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland. Though there is no proper definition for visitor engagement and experience, what can be provided as a definitive answer is mentioned within this report. The report also states the methodology used in empirical observations and goes on to describe the various attempts made by cultural heritage sites to engage and employ visitors imagination for co-creation of experience with the help of existing theoretical literature.
Local identity and tourism management on World Heritage sites-trends and challenges
The second half of the twentieth century began a time of change for society in general and each individual in particular. Although the concept of development is not globally understood as the same phenomenon, concepts such as sustainability and sustainable development, heritage and culture, tourism and ethics, uniqueness and authenticity, materiality and intangibility, among others, have entered the lexicon of scientific research, political speeches, strategic and development plans, and non-governmental organizations. The assumption that the human being is the most relevant heritage is decisive for respecting the other and valuing the differences between us. This approach might help creating a common sphere where everyone and every place plays a crucial role. It is in this context that culture/heritage, as a differentiating element, undertakes a progressive and continuously relevant meaning, a core part in global society. Are many and diverse responsible for this construction. Whether the individual point of view or the collective. The creation of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in November 1945 is a fundamental stepping-stone in this context. The concern to protect the still visible course of the history of Humankind, independent from the dimension or geographical location is the example of a global concern which should involve all of us. Many of these sites listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List, are also, for this same reason, touristic sites, and thus subject to different uses, almost always different from their initial purpose. These uses should not imply destruction, loss of genuineness, or massification. They should instead preserve or re-establish the authenticity that identifies these sites, making them unique. This apparently contradictory context lays the focus of the reflection that is aimed to be developed in this international meeting: "Local Identity and Tourism Management on World Heritage Sites: Trends and Challenges", in the framework of the International UNESCO-UNITWIN Network Culture, Tourism and Development. The central objective of this Conference is to promote the discussion/reflection on the challenges that we face nowadays and in the process of future development, resulting from the mutability of the relationship between. a) tourism offer in World Heritage Sites, b) preservation of a unique identity and singularity, c) the diverse motivations of tourism demand, d) the creation of local tourist activities able to complement an internationally renowned rooted heritage, e) the importance of new technologies on the management of a heritage that generates social cohesion and territorial solidarity. Simultaneously, tourism is rapidly expanding. It is increasingly diverse and considered as an important social value. Its economic value is also increasing as its weight grows in national GDP. We also witness the development of cultural and heritage tourism as an expression of the ability of societies to turn their legacy into consumer products and instruments of local and regional development. In this perspective there is the need to understand the motivations of the tourist and the profiles of the visitors, connected with multi-attraction and multi-motivation demand. It is important to encompass an understanding of what is being visited, the quest for experience and emotion, the committed participation mediated by ethics and sustainable behaviours; to create the conditions for a new, ontological tourism to grow inside each one of us, in every journey, in each place. The increasing interest and desire for the historical and cultural heritage sites, material or immaterial, allows us to (re)discover the singularity, the authenticity, notoriety and, at the same time, the originality of World Heritage Sites, causing its tourism management to be carried out in such a way that the physical, social, cultural and economic sustainability becomes a permanent and dynamic concern, open and complex. This Conference will enrich the knowledge of tourism, through the debate between different participants and case studies. The objective is to improve the capacities to build on each World Heritage Site an identity able to generate processes that enhance the quality of life of local residents, a marketing strategy designed to offer cultural/heritage reference products, and an informed research, committed and motivated to use (somewhere between entertainment and development) improve the offer on World Heritage Sites.
PASOS Revista de turismo y patrimonio cultural
The growing academic dynamism and the concomitant scientific "effervescence" that shapes the tourism domain invite us to consider certain concerns and assumptions of the classical authors, especially those from the Anthropology and Sociology, highlighting once more the crucial question: , does it still make sense to coordinate efforts aimed to get consensus on a desired general theory of tourism in the current postmodern perspective/paradigm? The relevance of such crucial question is very evident if we consider the discrepancy between the concepts of place branding versus destination image. The first concept is taken from the marketing research literature and the second one is more studied by the tourism researchers. The place branding experts tend to "hide"