Academica Turistica
Tourism & Innovation Journal – Revija za turizem in inovativnost
Year 16, No. 1, April 2023, issn 2335-4194
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16_1
5 Editorial to the Special Issue ‘World Heritage and Tourism Innovation:
Responding to the Challenges in a Changing World’
Aleksandra Brezovec
9 A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements for the Management of World
Cultural Heritage Sites
Rafael Almeida de Oliveira, Silvia De Ascaniis, Renata Maria Abrantes Baracho,
Hebert Canela Salgado, and Lorenzo Cantoni
23 Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petrů
35 eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic:
The Case of ‘TourismManagement at UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’
Ilaria Rosani, Maria Gravari-Barbas, Silvia De Ascaniis, and Lorenzo Cantoni
50 Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns Using Flickr Geotagged Photos:
The Case of Dispersed Plečnik’s Architectural Heritage in Ljubljana
Gorazd Sedmak, Dejan Paliska, and Aleksandra Brezovec
63 Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
Tadeja Jere Jakulin
73 The Role Higher Education Plays towards the Development of Sustainable
Socio-Economic Opportunities for MapungubweWorld Cultural
Heritage Site Communities
Lombuso Precious Shabalala
89 The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists Travelling by Low-Cost Carriers to Zadar
Božena Krce Miočić, Tomislav Klarin, and Gabrijela Vidić
university of primorska press
103 Reviving Ancient Life: Segmentation Analysis of the Ancient Life Story
Tourism Prospects
Antonis Theocharous, Petros Kosmas, Maria Panagopoulou, Hristo Andreev,
Petros Giannoulis, Katerina Pericleous, and Kirsi Lorentz
121 Social Media as a Management Tool: Opportunities for Sustainable
Heritage Destinations
Anđela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss
139 Abstracts in Slovene – Povzetki v slovenščini
145 Instructions for Authors
Executive Editor Marijana Sikošek
Editor-in-Chief Gorazd Sedmak
Associate Editors Metod Šuligoj, Emil Juvan,
Helena Nemec Rudež, and Mitja Gorenak
Guest Editor Aleksandra Brezovec
Technical Editors Mariana Rodela
and Peter Kopić
Production Editor Alen Ježovnik
Editorial Board
Rodolfo Baggio, University di Bocconi, Italy
Štefan Bojnec, University of Primorska, Slovenia
Dušan Borovčanin, Singidunum University, Serbia
Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University, uk
Célio Gonçalo Cardoso Marques, Polytechnic Institute
of Tomar, Portugal
Frederic Dimanche, Ryerson University, Canada
Johan R. Edelheim,Hokkaido University, Japan
Doris Gomezelj Omerzel, University of Primorska,
Slovenia
Sotiris Hji-Avgoustis, Ball State University, usa
Jafar Jafari, University of Wisconsin-Stout, usa,
University of Algarve, Portugal
Sandra Jankovič, University of Rijeka, Croatia
Sonja Sibila Lebe, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Sari Lenggogeni, Andalas University, Indonesia
Mara Manente, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy
Yoel Mansfeld,University of Haifa, Israel
Tanja Mihalič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Jasna Potočnik Topler, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Ljudevit Pranić, University of Split, Croatia
Hiroaki Saito, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University,
Japan
Vinod Sasidharan, San Diego State University, usa
Marianna Sigala, University of South Australia
Marios Sotiriadis, Ningbo University, China
Mislav Šimunić, University of Rijeka, Croatia
Andreja Trdina, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Miroslav Vujičić, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Suosheng Wang, Indiana University-Purdue
University Indianapolis, usa
Indexed in Scopus, Erih Plus, cab Abstracts,
ciret, ebsco, and EconPapers.
Published by University of Primorska Press
University of Primorska
Titov trg 4, si-6000 Koper
E-mail: zalozba@upr.si
Web: http://www.hippocampus.si
Editorial Office Academica Turistica
Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica
Obala 11a, si-6320 Portorož, Slovenia
E-mail: academica@turistica.si
Web: http://academica.turistica.si
Subscriptions The journal is distributed free
of charge. For information about postage
and packaging prices, please contact us at
academica@turistica.si.
Copy Editor Susan Cook
Cover Design Mateja Oblak
Cover Photo Alen Ježovnik
Printed in Slovenia by Grafika 3000, Dob
Print Run 100 copies
Academica Turistica – Revija za turizem in ino-
vativnost je znanstvena revija, namenjena med-
narodni znanstveni in strokovni javnosti; izhaja v
angleščini s povzetki v slovenščini. Izid publikacije
je finančno podprla Agencija za raziskovalno de-
javnost Republike Slovenije iz sredstev državnega
proračuna iz naslova razpisa za sofinanciranje do-
mačih znanstvenih periodičnih publikacij.
issn 1855-3303 (printed)
issn 2335-4194 (online)
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 3

Editorial to the Special Issue ‘World Heritage
and Tourism Innovation: Responding
to the Challenges in a Changing World’
Aleksandra Brezovec
University of Primorska, Slovenia
aleksandra.brezovec@fts.upr.si
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.5-7
Heritage tourism has become an integral part of the
global economy, with World Heritage Sites among
the most popular destinations. World Heritage Sites
(whs), listed by the United Nations Educational, Sci-
entific and Cultural Organization (unesco), are rec-
ognized as having outstanding universal value and
attract millions of visitors each year. In 2019, prior
to the covid-19 pandemic, international tourist ar-
rivals to heritage sites increased by 6, outpacing the
overall global tourism growth rate of 3.5 (unwto,
2020). Tourism revenues from World Heritage Sites
amounted to approximately eur 120 billion in 2019,
with 600,000 jobs directly generated by these sites.
This represents a significant contribution to the local
and national economies of countries hosting World
Heritage Sites. On the other hand, the high number
of visitors has put a strain on infrastructure, cultural
sites, and natural habitats, and led to negative impacts
on the environment and local communities (unesco,
2021). In addressing negative impacts, World Heritage
Sites have experienced a steady increase in innovation
rates. However, the pandemic forced World Heritage
sites to innovate more in order to survive and develop
sustainable tourism practices.
The aim of this special issue is to address tourism
innovation in line with the principles and objectives
of the unesco World Heritage Centre and its World
Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme. The
potential of tourism innovation at World Heritage
Sites has not been fully explored and is rarely con-
sidered from an interdisciplinary perspective. There
is growing interest in exploring innovative tourism
practices that can help protect World Heritage Sites
and the people and ecosystems that surround them.
Tourismmanagement atWorld Heritage Sites can fos-
ter sustainability-driven innovation by using not only
new technologies, but also new visitation and commu-
nication strategies, new methods for measuring im-
pacts, new approaches to site and infrastructure plan-
ning and design, new social and institutional forms of
collaboration and networking, and more.
Research on tourism innovation, and in particu-
lar on sustainability-oriented tourism innovations for
World Heritage Sites, is crucial for three reasons. First,
WorldHeritage Sitesmust be preserved for future gen-
erations, as they provide insights into the history, cul-
ture, and natural environment of our world and have
significant value to humanity as a whole. Therefore, it
is critical to explore new ways to ensure their long-
term sustainability while facilitating access for inter-
national visitors. Second, it is important to develop
sustainable tourism practises that protect World Her-
itage Sites while generating revenue for their funding,
for local communities, and for the economies of the
countries that host World Heritage Sites. Last but not
least, research on sustainability-oriented tourism in-
novations can lead to the development of new tech-
nologies and methods that can enhance the visitor ex-
perience and engage local communities in the man-
agement and preservation of World Heritage Sites.
This volume brings together a selection of research
papers presented at the 7th unesco unitwin Con-
ference on World Heritage and Tourism Innovation,
held in Portorož in 2022. The conference highlighted
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 5
Aleksandra Brezovec Editorial
the need for greater engagement between stakehold-
ers, including local communities, tourism operators,
heritage managers, and policy makers. Such collabo-
ration can lead to the development of innovative ap-
proaches to visitor management, conservation, and
community engagement.Many insightfulmanuscripts
were submitted for this publication, but the editors
had to limit the number of papers selected in order
to follow the journal policy. The nine papers in this
special issue present different research agendas devel-
oped by scholars with diverse cultural and disciplinary
backgrounds, addressing key issues in tourism inno-
vation forWorld Heritage Sites, such as sustainability-
oriented innovation, digital transformation and knowl-
edge dissemination.
The first paper offers an innovative approach to the
categorization of cultural sustainability elements for
World Heritage Sites. Based on the analysis of cultural
World Heritage Sites in Switzerland, authors Rafael
Oliveira, Silvia De Ascaniis, Renata Baracho, Hebert
Salgado and Lorenzo Cantoni propose five categories
of elements that need to be considered when develop-
ing sustainability strategies for World Heritage Sites.
With the proposed categorization the authors argue
for a proactive lead in setting new groupings of sus-
tainability elements for addressing complex tourism
management challenges at whs.
The second paper introduces a research agenda
on the transformative impacts of the covid-19 pan-
demic on the visitation of the World Heritage Sites.
The results of comparative analysis of World Heritage
Sites with other tourism destinations in Chech Re-
public, show that unesco list inscription was rather
a disadvantage at the beginning of the pandemic cri-
sis, but brought a faster recovery in the following years.
Although this study by Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka
Petru does not specifically focus on the sites’ resilience
rate, it certainly opens up new ways of understanding
the non-linear stability and the ability of World Her-
itage Sites to adapt to difficult situations.
In the third paper, Ilaria Rosani, Maria Gravari-
Barbas, Silvia De Ascaniis and Lorenzo Cantoni look
at the innovative use of digital technologies in her-
itage tourism education and training. With the out-
break of covid-19 in 2020, the usefulness and flex-
ibility of eLearning have become the key element
for an industry’s survival and success. The authors
analyse the case of a particular type of eLearning
phenomenon: that of so-called Massive Open On-
line Courses, or ‘moocs.’ Through the example of a
mooc series ‘Tourism Management at World Her-
itage Sites (Vol. 3),’ they outline the characteristics of
its learners, as well as the relevance of eLearning for
World Heritage Sites.
The fourth paper is based on big data analytics as
an imperative of digital transformation for whs. Its
focus is big data performed on geotagged photographs
of Plečnik’s architectural heritage uploaded by visitors
to the photo-sharing platform Flickr. Authors Gorazd
Sedmak, Dejan Paliska and Aleksandra Brezovec used
big data to analyse the patterns and structure of spa-
tial visitor behaviour in Ljubljana, Slovenia, by focus-
ing on the spatially dispersed architecturalWorldHer-
itage Site. The results lead to a better understanding
of the behavioural patterns of dispersed whs visitors,
their structure, and the role of these attractions within
the destination.
In the fifth paper, Tadeja Jere Jakulin proposes a
systematic approach to the sustainable development of
World Heritage Sites. Based on the emblematic case
of the Bahá’í Gardens whs in Haifa, Israel, this study
examine the principles of systems thinking into prac-
tice. The data for the causal-loop model within the
framework of system dynamics was obtained through
a field survey. Results of the in person interviews with
Bahá’í religion’s representatives show they anticipate
the feedback loop to ensure that all activities at the site
are planned with the respect for natural and cultural
environments.
The sixth paper also focuses on the new approach
to sustainable development. It explores the role of
higher education institutions (hei) in the sustain-
able development of whs. Lombuso Precious Shabal-
ala presents tourism at whs as a vehicle that can be
utilised by higher education institutions towards mit-
igating poverty alleviation and socio-economic devel-
opment, which contributes to addressing Sustainable
Development Goals. The case under study is Mapun-
gubwe whs in South Africa. This study highlights
the new value of community engagement projects
6 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Aleksandra Brezovec Editorial
undertaken by heis as potential drivers of a holistic
and more sustainable management of World Heritage
Sites.
The seventh paper looks at the strategic commu-
nication nature of cultural tourism of Zadar, Croat-
ian town with its City Walls inscribed on unesco’s
World Heritage List. Using the City of Zadar and
Zadar County as a case, this paper explores the her-
itage content in social media marketing for attracting
low-cost carrier (lcc) travellers to Zadar. unesco
World Heritage is one of the mainmotive destinations
use to attract tourists. However, Božena Krce Miočić,
TomislavKlarin andGabrijelaVidić found that culture
was not used as a primary strategic communication of
Zadar’s tourism promotion authorities while attract-
ing lcc.
The last two papers look at tourism innovation for
whs through the marketing lens as well. The eighth
paper focuses on tourism product innovation from
the perspective of heritage storytelling. It explores
an innovative heritage tourism product development
based on archaeological heritage of Cyprus. The An-
cient Life Stories Tourism depends on and connects
the elements from the unesco Representative Lists
of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as
well as other products and services. Based on the find-
ings of the cluster analysis technique, authors Antonis
Theocharous, Petros Kosmas, Maria Panagopoulou,
Hristo Andreev, Petros Giannoulis, Katerina Peri-
cleous and Kirsi Lorentz, identified market segments
for ancient life story based tourism.
In the last paper, Anđela Šormaz and Engelbert
Ruoss shed new light on social media as a manage-
ment tool for heritage destinations. By using quantita-
tive content analysis of social media posts and reviews
for heritage destinations in Switzerland (13 parks, five
World Heritage Sites, and two unesco Biosphere
Reserves), they emphasize the link between social
media popularity of heritage sites and unsustainable
tourism practices in these sites. Data collected from
the tourism-related digital platforms serve as a ba-
sis for the identification and management of potential
over- and undertourism spots within larger protected
heritage destinations.
Overall, this special issue of the Academica Tur-
istica provides a valuable contribution to the grow-
ing body of knowledge on sustainable tourism and
innovation in World Heritage Sites. It highlights the
importance of collaboration, technology, and context-
specific approaches in promoting sustainable tourism
and protecting our World Heritage for future genera-
tions. We hope that this issue will inspire further re-
search and innovation in this important field.
References
unesco. (2021).WorldHeritage Tourism.https://whc.unesco
.org/en/tourism-statistics/
unwto. (2020).TourismHighlights. https://www.unwto.org
/sites/default/files/news/highlights-2020/
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 7

Original Scientific Article
A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability
Elements for the Management of World Cultural
Heritage Sites
Rafael Almeida de Oliveira
Joao Pinheiro Foundation, Brazil
rafalolbh@ufmg.br
Silvia De Ascaniis
Università della Svizzera Italiana,
Switzerland
silvia.de.ascaniis@usi.ch
Renata Maria Abrantes Baracho
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
renatabaracho@ufmg.br
Hebert Canela Salgado
Federal University of Jequitinhonha
and Mucuri Valleys, Brazil
hebert.salgado@ufvjm.edu.br
Lorenzo Cantoni
Università della Svizzera Italiana,
Switzerland
lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch
Different interpretations have been proposed of how culture is related to the concept
of sustainability. Culture has been described as the fourth dimension of sustainabil-
ity, together with the economic, environmental and social dimensions; it has been
considered a mediator that enables a balance among the other three dimensions; it
has also been seen as the very foundation for achieving sustainability goals. How-
ever, the elements that make culture a fundamental part of sustainability interven-
tions are neither yet clearly defined nor equally implemented. In tourism, when it
comes to World Cultural Heritage Sites (wchss), the issue of cultural sustainability
should be considered both from the position of the management and from the po-
sition of visitors: do wchss managers consider cultural sustainability dimensions
when developing sustainability strategies for their site? Are visitors’ experiences and
images of the site influenced by elements related to cultural sustainability? A study
is presented here, which aimed at answering these questions, analysing both faces
of the coin. First, the different interpretations proposed to explain the relationship
between culture and sustainability have been considered, to identify key descriptive
elements. Then, a sample of online travel reviews about visitors’ experiences at un-
esco wchss has been analysed, to see if such key elements were part of visitors’
stories and evaluations. Finally, managers and specialists of wchss in Switzerland
have been interviewed, to see if they agreed on the identified key descriptive ele-
ments. Results allowed us to categorize 24 elements related to cultural sustainability,
to aggregate them into five dimensions, and finally to organize them in a conceptual
framework.
Keywords: cultural sustainability, World Heritage Sites, categorization, tourists, site
managers, online travel reviews
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.9-22
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 9
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Introduction
In the last decades, the development of Information
and Communication Technologies (icts) has become
the backbone of the networked society, just as power
grids were essential in industrial society (Castells,
2005). The fast technological development they al-
lowed has created concerns in society through ques-
tioning its ability to ensure sustainable development
(Haarstad, 2017; Höjer & Wangel, 2015). The concept
of sustainability is related in much of the literature to
the development of the social, economic and environ-
mental context of a given territory. There is a wide de-
bate about the role of culture in sustainability (Chew,
2009; Hawkes, 2001; Suntikul, 2016) and the concept
of cultural sustainability has been defined in differ-
ent ways. Some authors claim that culture can be seen
as a specific dimension of sustainability (Maggiore &
Velleco, 2012; Throsby, 2016). Others claim that it can
be integrated with the social dimension, thus result-
ing in a socio-cultural dimension (Aydin & Alvares,
2016; Ranasighe, 2018). Some researchers argue, then,
that culture serves as a central pillar for the develop-
ment of the other dimensions (Hawkes, 2001; Soini &
Birkland, 2014).
In the field of tourism, the issue of sustainability
has been a hot topic for some years. However, while
the perspective of managers and their actions regard-
ing sustainability have frequently been highlighted,
the tourists’ perspective has barely been studied (Ay-
din & Alvarez, 2016). Tourists generally assess the sus-
tainability of destinations based on those aspects that
affect their own experiences most. Thus, they do not
directly perceive some sustainability actions taken by
the territory, creating challenges for destinations to de-
velop strategies on how to communicate these actions
to the tourist efficiently.
On some social platforms for travel and tourism,
such as TripAdvisor, tools have been implemented that
allow users to identify establishments committed to
sustainability principles. Tripadvisor’s Green Lead-
ers stamp is highlighted for accommodations that are
committed to sustainable practices such as recycling
waste, organic food, and electric car charging stations.
The focus is, however,mostly on environmental issues.
Hopefully, in the future, user comments and evalua-
tions might include more sustainability elements (Ay-
din & Alvarez, 2016).
Visitors’ evaluation of their experiences at cultural
heritage sites can suggest the elements that the man-
agement should focus on to increase awareness of the
cultural elements and to increase their satisfaction
during the visit. Tourism could in this way strengthen
a positive connection between residents, tourists, and
managers within a society and help to point out the
central role of culture in sustainability issues (Terkenli
& Georgoula, 2021).
In the specific case of wchss, understanding visi-
tors’ awareness of the cultural aspects of heritage that
need to be considered for sustainable management is
even greater. Since a site is inscribed in the unesco
World Heritage List, there is, on the one hand, an in-
crease in visitation interest that can expand the po-
tential for knowledge and preservation while, on the
other hand, the site may suffer from over-tourism and
external cultural influences that might directly affect
the preservation of cultural elements (Tan et al., 2020;
Oliveira et al., 2022). It is the responsibility of the site
management to ensure that cultural elements of her-
itage are maintained and enhanced through tourism,
maximizing positive impacts andminimizing negative
impacts (Sonuç, 2020).
This study aims to identify the elements of cultural
sustainability that wchs visitors recognize in the visi-
tation experience, to classify them in comparison with
the elements put forward by heritage managers and,
on this base, to elaborate a conceptual framework of
cultural sustainability for heritage cultural sites.
Literature Review
The Role of Culture in Sustainability
The concept of sustainability originated as an evolu-
tion of the concept of development. The concept of
development originally highlighted the economic and
productive activities that provide employment, con-
sumption and wealth to a society. Gradually, it ex-
panded its scope to human development, including
values and social goals such as life expectancy, educa-
tion, equity, opportunity and well-being (Maggiore &
Vellecco, 2012).
The concept of sustainable development or sustain-
10 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
ability was presented in 1987 by the World Commis-
sion on Environment and Development (wced). In
very rough terms, it focuses on satisfying the needs of
the present societywithout compromising the needs of
future generations (Hawkes, 2001; Soini & Birkeland,
2014).
This concept was further elaborated by Throsby
(2016)whendefining somebasic principles that should
characterize sustainability: continuity, intergenera-
tional and intragenerational equity, diversity, a balance
between natural and cultural ecosystems, and interde-
pendence between the cultural, social, ecological and
economic dimensions.
It should be noted that the principle of interdepen-
dence between the four dimensions and, especially,
the role of culture in sustainability are much debated
in the literature and sometimes controversial. There
is a consensus that sustainability is composed of three
basic dimensions: economic, social and environmen-
tal (Hawkes, 2001; Maggiore & Vellecco, 2012; Soini
& Birkeland, 2014; Suntikul, 2018; Weng et al., 2019).
The dimensions were agreed upon in 2002 during the
Sustainable Development Congress (Soini & Birke-
land, 2014) and later reaffirmed by the United Nations
in 2005 (Suntikul, 2018). This division ended up ex-
panding a debate about the role of culture within sus-
tainability, which still remains undervalued compared
with the other dimensions (Chew, 2009;Hawkes, 2001;
Suntikul, 2018).
Culture can be seen as composed of three aspects:
the values and aspirations of a society, its forms of de-
velopment and transmission, its tangible manifesta-
tions (physical structures, works of art and places of
great cultural value) and intangible ones (ideas, prac-
tices, beliefs and traditions), that help to create cohe-
sion within a specific group (Hawkes, 2001; Maggiore
& Vellecco, 2012).
As far as sustainability is concerned, there are some
specific characteristics of culture that foster its de-
velopment, namely: the valuing of cultural identity
(Chew, 2009; Hawkes, 2001; Maggiore & Vellecco,
2012), knowledge (Maggiore & Vellecco, 2012; Ay-
din & Alvarez, 2016), social empowerment (Throsby,
2003; Chew, 2009; Ranasinghe, 2018), cultural capi-
tal (Murzyn-Kupisz, 2012), diversity (Hawkes, 2001;
Throsby, 2003), creativity and innovation (Hawkes,
2001; Maggiore & Vellecco, 2012) and finally, technol-
ogy (Maggiore & Vellecco, 2012).
In summary, Dessein et al. (2015) state that culture
can participate in the concept of sustainability by tak-
ing three different roles. The first role characterizes
culture as support for sustainability, that is, it is seen as
a fourth dimension of themodel togetherwith the eco-
nomic, social and environmental dimensions. The sec-
ond role of culturewould be connection andmediation,
serving to balance the relationships between the three
other dimensions. Finally, the third role highlights cul-
ture as the main element for the achievement of sus-
tainability objectives. The last perspective is based on
the understanding that culture creates all moral and
ethical values of a society that will serve as the main
goals to be achieved by sustainability. The authors be-
lieve that, depending on the circumstances and objec-
tives, one or the other perspectivemight better explain
the role of culture in sustainability.
In the case of wchss, it is questioned which of the
three roles highlighted by Dessein et al. (2015) could
better represent culture in the sustainability discourse
from a tourism perspective. Understanding the per-
spective of the managers and that of the tourists who
visit those places can shed light on this issue.
Cultural Sustainability in Tourism
Tourism can be considered a fundamental activity for
the development and cultural preservation of a soci-
ety, ensuring benefits for future generations (Ranas-
inghe, 2018). However, if not well managed, tourism
can negatively affect the culture of a society, generating
problems such as excess demand (García-Hernández
et al., 2017;Murzyn-Kupisz, 2017; Yeniasir&Gökbulut,
2018), loss of values and traditions (García-Hernández
et al, 2017; Jamal et al., 2010), lack of respect between
tourists and residents (Jamal et al., 2010) and poor re-
ceptivity of tourists by the population (Ranasinghe,
2018; Yeniasir & Gökbulut, 2018).
Based on the principles of sustainability outlined
by Throsby (2016), on the other hand, there are several
ways in which tourism can positively impact culture.
First, the cultural exchange helps visitors’ access to the
reality of residents (Aydin & Alvarez, 2016). Also, it
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 11
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
might involve inhabitants in guiding tourists and pro-
moting local products through communication chan-
nels and encouraging green actions, cultural knowl-
edge and pre-trip preparation on cultural elements
(Jamal et al., 2010). Second, sustainable tourismmight
positively impact well-being, guaranteeing an inclu-
sive, empowered and happy society. What is good for
the economy is not always good for society (Hawkes,
2001). The city must be good for the resident and the
tourist; therefore, one must think of means such as
controlling the number of visitors or limiting con-
gestion (Throsby, 2016). Third, tourism might impact
the quality of life, which brings as a consequence the
improvement in community needs, such as aesthetic,
spiritual, cultural and leisure elements (Murzyn-Ku-
pisz, 2012). In addition, it enables greater economic
gains, as tourists spendnot only onheritage but also on
services around the spaces (Murzyn-Kupisz, 2012), in-
creasing local income, employment (Yeniasir & Gök-
bulut, 2018) and direct, indirect and induced impacts
on the economy (Maggiore & Vellecco, 2012). The
fourth impact is related to strengthening cultural per-
ception (Yeniasir & Gökbulut, 2018), enabling invest-
ments in cultural heritage (Murzyn-Kupisz, 2012). Fi-
nally, the last impact is connected to ethical issues, fo-
cused on the understanding that physical and cultural
space are correlated (Jamal et al., 2010).
To enhance the benefits of considering and man-
aging cultural aspects in heritage sites, it is recom-
mended that managers make use of cultural elements
in an integrated way with heritage (Eversole, 2006). In
this case, managers are perfectly aware of all cultural
elements of society (authenticity, history, lifestyle), in-
cluding them completely in space, without damaging
the territory. Heritage development processes tend to
be participatory and inclusive, presenting solutions
that benefit several dimensions.However, it often hap-
pens that heritage sites that push tourismundergo sev-
eral changes in their original elements, usually stress-
ing only some isolated cultural elements for promo-
tion. The principle is that the story shown is authen-
tic, but with no direct connection between the initia-
tive and the cultural context. The community, despite
knowing the context, does not fully identify with what
is produced without participating in its production or
using local skills. The worst case scenario is the one
when the manager invents non-existent spaces within
the space for the exclusive use of tourism,without con-
nection with cultural aspects of the region. It can even
generate the creation of a new local identity, but is
focused on external consumption and is unrelated to
local needs.
Culture is recognized as an essential part of the
tourism activity, and understanding the ways it can
positively or negatively impact the tourism experi-
ence might help in the development of effective strate-
gies for the management of heritage. How, though, do
tourists conceive the culture of the place they visit?
Which elements of the place relate to the cultural di-
mension?Do such elements influence their experience
and, if yes, how?The study presented here aimed at an-
swering these questions, focusing on the experience of
tourists at wchss.
Research Methodology
2,750 comments published by visitors to wchss on
the online platform TripAdvisor were collected and
analysed. Tripadvisor provides not only data of users’
ratings, but also comments about tourist attractions,
allowing owners andmanagers of these spaces to know
about positive and negative aspects of visitors’ ex-
periences (Torres, 2013). Data were collected using
the web scraping technique, that is, using automated
tools to extract data fromdigital platforms, transform-
ing them into a structured database (Marres & Wel-
tevrede, 2013).
The choice of the sites to be included in the sam-
ple was based on the analysis of wchs that had ded-
icated pages on TripAdvisor. 504 attractions (as of 4
April 2020) were identified, having on average 4,354
comments each. To collect the greatest diversity of
heritage, the main attraction of each of the coun-
tries that had at least the total number of the above-
average comments was selected; following this crite-
ria, Gibraltar, the Czech Republic and French Polyne-
sia were disregarded. In the case of the United States,
two attractions were selected, since the country has
different wchss spread over its territory, which in-
creased diversity. The final database was composed
of 22 attractions from 21 countries: Robben Island
12 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Figure 1 Example of Classification of Expressions
in Visitors’ Comments Related to Cultural
Sustainability
Museum (South Africa), Cologne Cathedral (Ger-
many), Sydney Opera House (Australia), Schonbrunn
Palace (Austria), Grand Palace (Belgium), Corcovado
– Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), Mutianyu Great Wall
(China), Changdeokgung Palace (South Korea), Al-
hambra (Spain), Statue of Liberty and San Jose Mis-
sion (United States), Eiffel Tower (France), Acropolis
(Greece), Kinderdijk (Netherlands), Taj Mahal (In-
dia), Naqsh-e Jahan Centre (Iran), Baha’i Gardens (Is-
rael), Gallerie Degli Uffizi (Italy), Atomic BombDome
(Japan), Tower of London (United Kingdom), Bern’s
Historic Centre (Switzerland) and Hagia Sophia Mu-
seum (Turkey).
Within each comment, those expressions that cor-
responded to elements aimed at cultural sustainabil-
ity and the visitor’s experience as a whole were clas-
sified. The elements of culture that foster sustainable
development taken out of the literature (i.e. valuing
of cultural identity, social empowerment, knowledge,
cultural capital, diversity, creativity and innovation,
technology) were used as references to identify such
expressions and to aggregate similar concepts. Each
comment was read individually and the classification
of the sentences was done manually by three indepen-
dent coders.
In total, 7,340 expressions related to cultural as-
pects of the sites were identified and classified into 49
categories. Figure 1 provides an example of how the
expressions in each text were classified; each category
is described in brackets after the respective (under-
lined) expression. The three coders then, compared
their analyses and agreed on reducing the 49 cate-
gories into 24, and later to aggregate them into 5 di-
mensions, based on similarities among each other. The
entire procedure was performed using the Atlas soft-
ware. The software allows for classifying words that
are repeated throughout one or more texts, manually
or automatically, so to assist in the investigation of lin-
guistic patterns within the texts.
Results
Table 1 shows the 49 categories defined on the basis of
the characteristics of sustainable development in cul-
ture, later reduced to 24 and then aggregated into 5 di-
mensions. Table 2 shows the weight of each category
in the sample.
A definition of each category was elaborated and
agreed upon by the three coders, so as to have a reli-
able classification procedure for users’ comments. The
following is the working definition of each category:
• Quality of information: capacity of the site to
create strategies to pass on historical and cul-
tural information so as to expand visitors’ knowl-
edge. Information can be given through informa-
tion panels, signposts, audiovisual technologies,
training tour guides, and storytelling. Regard-
less of the format, it must be ensured that visitors
understand the given information in a clear and
non-tiring way, in addition to having the possi-
bility to answer their questions and solve their
doubts.
• Photo availability: capacity of the attraction to
foster photographs by visitors which point out
elements that value the local cultural produc-
tion, supporting its dissemination. Many visi-
tors are motivated by the possibility of taking
good photos as travel records and later sharing
them in their social circles. In this way, attrac-
tions that encourage the practice and have strate-
gies to value the participation of their visitors
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 13
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Table 1 Cultural Sustainability’s Dimensions and Categories
Dimension Final category Preliminary category
Information and Communication Quality of information Lack of information
Time-consuming information
Excessive information
Wrong information
Local information
Information boards
Signboards
Translation
Self-guided tour
Photo availability Photo availability
Technological devices Technological devices
Quality of service Quality of service
Attendance
Cultural Enhancement Uniqueness Uniqueness/Unicity
Unesco
Authenticity Authenticity
Conservation and preservation Conservation
Preserved structure
Cleaning
Vitality of the offer Quality of artworks
Quality of cultural events
Facilities Support structure Support structure
Mobility Mobility/transport access
Accessibility Accessibility
Continued on the next page
with photographic records, help in creating the
image of the destination. The images also help in
valuing cultural aspects and symbols, in addition
to providing information that can be essential in
the choice of travel for prospective visitors and a
form of loyalty during the post-trip period.
• Technological devices: use of electronic equip-
ment as a means to improve the quality of the
information received by tourists before, during
and after their visit to the attraction, in addition
to enabling online shopping and greater inter-
action between the observer and the observed
object. Equipment such as online ticketing sites
or mobile applications can facilitate visitors’ en-
try and assist with prior information. The use of
audio guides and films helps to create narratives
during the visit, passing on reliable information,
clearly and educationally, helping the visitor to
better understand the story behind the object. In
addition, games and other technological means
of interaction make it possible to attract different
profiles of audiences to the space, serving as en-
tertainment and adding value to the product. It is
important to emphasize that visual technologies
such as projection screens and other elements can
14 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Table 1 Continued from the previous page
Dimension Final category Preliminary category
Cultural Integration Local guides Local guides
Value for money Value for money
Networked attractions Networked attractions
Integration of local products Local products
Souvenirs
Local immersion Presence of tourists only
Presence of locals
Local costumes
Cultural restrictions (clothes/religion)
Environmental connection Environmental connection
Water recycling
Respect for minorities Religious diversity
Sexual diversity
Female equality
Organization Visitor capacity Visitor capacity
Waiting time Waiting time
Security Insecurity
Hostile residents
Safety procedures
Annoying sellers
Problem-solving Problem-solving
be used without overlapping the original aspects
of the space.
• Quality of service: how employees and other pro-
fessionals at the attraction meet the needs of vis-
itors in a clear, respectful and friendly manner,
ensuring good hospitality for visitors.
• Uniqueness: a unique feature of the heritage that
distinguishes it from other heritage sites, which
may be the history, cultural values, architecture,
special certifications or other elements that make
the visitor understand that the space is unique.
The visitor is moremotivated to visit spaces whe-
re he can see unprecedented elements that are
difficult to find elsewhere. The space must seek
ways to highlight its peculiar and iconic charac-
teristics, valuing the authentic cultural elements
that can convey the idea of uniqueness to its vis-
itors. Thus, the attraction will be considered an
unmissable tour by people who visit the region.
• Authenticity: the capacity of the attraction to ex-
press its historical and cultural role, creating a
sense of connection for visitors with its intended
purpose. The most important thing is to guar-
antee an emotional experience and less so mate-
rial originality since most of the attractions have
changed over the years. Even so, it is necessary to
transmit to the visitor an experience close to orig-
inality, whether from recreation or in an informa-
tive way, comparing the original differences with
the current historical aspects, and emphasizing
the relevance and cultural identity of the attrac-
tion for society.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 15
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Table 2 Weight of Each Category on the Sample
of Comments
Category Percentage
Quality of the information .
Uniqueness .
Local guides .
Authenticity .
Conservation and Preservation .
Support structure .
Visitor capacity .
Value for money .
Network attractions .
Mobility .
Vitality of the offer .
Photo availability .
Integration of local products .
Waiting time .
Technological devices .
Local immersion .
Quality of service .
Safety .
Accessibility .
Problem-solving .
Freedom of visitation .
Environmental connection .
Tourist behaviour .
Respect for minorities .
• Conservation and preservation: maintenance of
works and space, in addition to ensuring that the
environment is clean, both for the organization of
the attraction and for the visitors. It also includes
the preservation of the original characteristics
of the cultural elements in restoration processes.
These processes can limit visitor access and vi-
sion in some spaces and works, so visual alterna-
tives that minimize the impact of non-visitation
are essential, such as information panels, digital
visual experiences or the possibility of visualiz-
ing the restoration process itself. It reduces the
visual pollution of the interventions and guar-
antees a satisfactory experience for the visitor.
• Vitality of the offer: offer of quality materials,
works and cultural artefacts, avoiding reproduc-
tions and representing the local diversity for the
visitor. Organizing or supporting rich cultural
presentations and events that value traditional
elements and community participation as part of
the attraction. Adding value to the visit with qual-
ity elements and cultural presentationsmakes the
visitor value the experience more and get closer
to local customs.
• Support structure: provide the attraction with
quality services that help well-being during the
visit, such as spaces for food, bathrooms, a visitor
centre, souvenir shops and parking lots, among
others. The support structure, in addition to en-
suring greater comfort, makes it possible to add
value to the cultural asset and generates possi-
bilities for inclusion into the local culture of the
products and services offered. It is recommended
to ensure that support structures are accessi-
ble to different audiences with different access
needs and consumption profiles. It is also valid
to promote services for visitor use, in addition
to adding value to experiences, especially gastro-
nomic and product purchases.
• Mobility: availability of viable and quality trans-
port access for the arrival of the visitor at the site
and possible displacement within the attraction.
In addition, depending on the type of transport
available, it is possible to add information about
the attraction and the local culture before arrival
or add the means of transport as part of the cul-
tural experience for the visitor. During the visit,
alternative means of transport can be used to
facilitate the mobility of visitors and be offered
as an added product, providing new experiences
such as the use of boats, bicycles or some typical
local means of transport.
• Accessibility: capacity of the attraction to guaran-
tee a quality tourist experience for people who
need special care, such as parents with children,
the elderly and disabled people, among others.
The attraction must have the necessary equip-
16 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
ment and be in good condition so that visitation
is facilitated.
• Local guides: the possibility of hiring local tour
guides, to favour the region’s economy in addi-
tion to strengthening knowledge of the culture
on the part of the local community. It can also
strengthen relationships between the community
and tourists, enabling a more authentic visiting
experience. From the local tour guide, tourists
can learn about peculiarities, stories and attrac-
tions that are outside the usual itineraries. There-
fore, the guide must be properly trained, have
an adequate professional attitude, treat visitors
with respect and pass on reliable information.
The good relationship and motivation of these
professionals result in better visitor satisfaction.
It is expected that the professional’s rolewill be le-
galized, guaranteeing security for the tourist and
generating tax collection, favouring new policies
for the sector, and the elaboration of strategies to
encourage the hiring of these professionals must
be developed.
• Value formoney: feeling that the price charged for
services on the site is following what is offered by
the market, fulfilling visitors’ expectations. Pro-
vide more viable forms of access for people in the
community, encouraging them to attend attrac-
tions more constantly.
• Networked attractions: strategies that encourage
and facilitate visitors’ access to other attractions
or services around the attraction, enabling a bet-
ter economic distribution within the territory, in
addition to encouraging the visitor to learn more
about the characteristics of the local culture. In
addition, it gives the possibility of redistributing
the tourist in several places, reducing the chance
of having an excessive number of visitors concen-
trated in one place only. Campaigns to promote
other attractions or the creation of vouchers that
make it possible to purchase tickets from differ-
ent spaces with discounts can be valid initiatives.
• Integration of local products: incentives to sell lo-
cal products, aiming to develop the economy of
the community, in addition to valuing the way of
reproducing the local culture. Enable traditional
elements to be incorporated into the sale of sou-
venirs and for visitors to have information about
the products, encouraging them to discover local
shops and markets, strengthening contact with
the community. Local products add value to the
culture and enhance the visitor experience. It is
necessary to foster actions that encourage the
production and purchase of local products, such
as ways of promoting products, tasting and sup-
porting events and markets in the city.
• Local immersion: provide integration between
visitors and the local culture, encouraging the
presence of the community in everyday life and
also as visitors to the attraction. Ensure that the
tourist experiences the attraction from the per-
spective of traditions and cultural values of the
community during the visit, be it the gastron-
omy, way of life, or typical clothes, among other
cultural elements. Provide strategies that make
tourists interested to experience local life. Ensure
that the visitor has enough information before
visiting, e.g. if the space has any cultural restric-
tions for visitation, such as the wearing of appro-
priate clothing.
• Environmental connection: possibility of synergy
between the material elements of the heritage
with the scenic elements of the landscape, such as
local fauna and flora, encouraging environmen-
tal sustainability and helping the contact between
visitors and territory. The existence of these ele-
ments enriches the experience at the site, in addi-
tion to enabling educational actions that generate
quality of life for the community.
• Respect for minorities:means allowing access and
non-discrimination of visitors by gender, race or
colour, in addition to ensuring diversity in the
employability of the population in tourist attrac-
tions. In addition, it is possible to encourage cul-
tural programmes that foster debates and the par-
ticipation of minority groups.
• Visitor capacity: ensuring that the visitation space
is sufficient for the visitor’s experience, without
the feeling of being overwhelmed. An excessive
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 17
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
number of people can cause problems in con-
servation, in addition to making it difficult for
the visitor to understand information. It can also
favour behaviour conflicts among visitors, resi-
dents and attraction staff. Therefore, it is neces-
sary to establish ways to avoid excess demand,
such as coordinating groups of visitors, monitor-
ing the flow in and out of spaces or using reser-
vations in advance.
• Waiting time: capacity of the attraction to reduce
the waiting time of visitors at the entrance and
in its possible visitation spaces. Develop strate-
gies that can minimize waiting time, such as en-
couraging reservations in advance, and favouring
entries with local tour guides, in addition to pro-
viding adequate structure for waiting in lines, es-
pecially for visitors with mobility needs or health
problems. The strategies prevent the visitor from
entering the attraction in a harsh manner and
minimize conflicts between visitors and staff dur-
ing the visit.
• Security: ensure that the visitor is not embar-
rassed by harsh approaches from residents such
as street vendors, who approach with initial good
intentions to apply future scams. Make sure that
the security procedures for entering the attrac-
tions are explained clearly, avoiding problems
and doubts for visitors to the spaces.
• Problem-solving: Ensuring that the steps before,
during and after the visit occur smoothly and
clearly for the visitor. Ensuring that the services
provided are of high quality and that the visi-
tor does not have the feeling of being helpless or
without solutions in the event of problemswithin
the site, especially unforeseen ones. This makes
visitors have a good experience and share it with
acquaintances.
• Freedom of visitation: guarantee that the visi-
tor has enough time and freedom of movement
within the space so that they can learn from it
and feel close to the cultural aspects offered. In
the case of guided tours, organize them so that
some contemplation by the visitor is possible and
explain to the visitor in advance the places where
access is prohibited so that expectations are met.
• Tourist behaviour: tourist awareness of their be-
havior during the visit, avoiding situations such
as lack of respect for employees, the community
and other tourists, in addition to the depredation
of goods, accumulation of garbage and noise pol-
lution. Manage spaces in a way that the flow of
people does not induce predatory behaviour, oc-
curring calmly.
The Perception of Swiss WCHSManagers
Method
A face-to-face semi-structured interview was carried
out with 8 managers and specialists of Swiss wchss,
to check if their perception of cultural sustainability
corresponded to the classification proposed on the ba-
sis of visitors’ comments. Switzerland was chosen be-
cause it was easy for researchers to access themanagers
of these heritage sites, based on ongoing projects dur-
ing this research.
The choice of the interviewees was based on man-
agers and specialists thatworkwith tourism in wchss.
Data collection was carried out in October 2021. The
interviews lasted, on average, one hour and were con-
ducted in two languages: English and Italian.
The questions were asked using themethod known
as card sorting. This method allows the interviewer to
better understand how the interviewees classify cer-
tain concepts and categories, using cards (Spencer,
2009). The card classification method was based on a
hybrid format where the interviewee received 24 cards
with the categories of cultural sustainability and was
asked to classify them according to 5 cards represent-
ing the dimensions in Table 1. If the interviewee did
not find a dimension inwhich they believed they could
classify a category, they could create new dimensions.
The interviewee could also associate the same cate-
gory tomore than one dimension or exclude categories
from the classification, giving them the freedom to in-
terpret all the elements of the card in a non-induced
way.
Results
The Organization dimension had the highest num-
ber of classified categories among all the other dimen-
18 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Table 3 Cultural Sustainability Categories by Dimensions
According to Swiss wchs Managers
Dimensions Categories
Information and
Communication
Quality of information
Photo availability
Technological devices
Networked attractions
Cultural Enhancement Uniqueness
Authenticity
Conservation and preservation
Vitality of the offer
Environmental connection
Facilities Accessibility
Mobility
Visitor capacity
Cultural Integration Local immersion
Integration of local products
Respect for minorities
Local guides
Tourist behaviour
Organization Problem-solving
Waiting time
Quality of service
Support structures
Freedom of visitation
Security
Value for money
sions, followed by Information and Communication,
Facilities, Cultural Integration and Cultural Enhance-
ment. The classification of categories into dimensions
made by wchs managers mostly corresponded to
that proposed by the authors; in particular, the cat-
egories classified in the dimensions Facilities, Cultural
Integration and Cultural Enhancement. The final divi-
sion of categories by dimensions based on the inter-
view with Swiss managers is presented in Table 3.
The following question of the card sorting activ-
ity asked to create a ranking with the 10 most relevant
categories. The ranking was free-form, which resulted
in rankings with fewer than 10 categories or rankings
with categories ranked in the same position. To calcu-
late the final result, 10 points were given to each inter-
viewee for the category classified in 1st place, 9 points
for the category classified in 2nd place, and so on up to
1 point given for the category classified in 10th place.
In the case of categories classified in the same position,
they were given the same point value. The points re-
ceived by each category were added up and divided by
the number of respondents. The categories Conserva-
tion and preservation, Authenticity, Uniqueness, Qual-
ity of information, Network attractions, Vitality of the
offer, Accessibility, Environmental connection, Quality
of service and Technological devices resulted in being
the top 10.
Then, interviewees were asked to create a ranking
of the 5 categories they believed to be least relevant in
terms of cultural sustainability of the site. The cate-
goriesWaiting time, Freedom of visitation, Photo avail-
ability, Visitor capacity andValue for money resulted in
being the least relevant to cultural sustainability.
Finally, interviewees were asked to point out if
there was any category on the list that they believed
could not be managed directly by managers. In this
case, they were not asked to score the categories. Re-
spondents pointed out that Tourist behaviour is not a
manager’s responsibility. However, some of them did
not specifically mention any category, thereby rein-
forcing the notion that managers are involved in vari-
ous tasks, including partnerships, collaborations, and
monitoring, as integral aspects of their roles.
Discussion
The analysis of visitors’ comments and the interviews
with wchs managers aimed at identifying categories
of elements of the sites that are related to cultural sus-
tainability.Havingmade clearwhich are such elements
and which of them are the most important to ensure
that the culture of a site is acknowledged, valued and
respected by visitors, can support managers in devel-
oping sustainable management strategies. Some cate-
gories – such as those grouped in the dimensions Cul-
tural integration, Cultural enhancement and Informa-
tion and communication – directly refer to cultural el-
ements, while others – such as those grouped in the
dimensions Facilities andOrganization – are indirectly
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 19
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Ba
la
nc
e
D
iv
er
si
ty
In
te
rg
en
.
eq
ui
ty
In
te
rg
en
.
eq
ui
ty
In
te
rd
e-
p
en
de
nc
e
C
on
ti
nu
it
y
Cultural
exchange
Well-being Quality of life
Cultural
perception
Ethical
relationship
+ + + +
Cultural enhancement Facilities Cultural integration
Information & communic. Visitor experience Organization
Cultural heritage
Future generation
Current generation
Figure 2 Cultural Sustainability Framework for Cultural Heritage Sites Based on Visitor Experience
related to a site’s culture; even so, access to facilities and
services as well as a good organization of the site, facil-
itate visitors’ experience and helps to integrate culture
into material and logistic elements of the site.
The classification of categories into dimensions
proposed by the authors on the basis of visitors’ com-
ments was mostly validated by managers, with only
some adjustments which made it more coherent with
their perspective. As for categories that were consid-
ered less relevant, the possibility of integrating them
with other categories should be considered in future
studies, so to acknowledge the relevance ascribed to
them by visitors.
Visitors’ experiences at heritage sites might be en-
hanced by management strategies developed accord-
ing to the five dimensions that this study pointed out.
According to the dimension Information and com-
munication, the understanding and transmission of
knowledge of the local culture to visitors should be
fostered, and greater interaction with the space should
be guaranteed. The Cultural enhancement dimension
stresses elements that add value to the heritage, such
as authenticity and uniqueness, representing the lo-
cal culture in a trustworthy and representative way.
The dimension Facilities stresses that fact that struc-
tures and services should help to widen access and
enable the inclusion of cultural elements in basic ac-
tivities of the attraction, such as the connection of
culture by means of transport and space for selling
souvenirs, among others. The Cultural enhancement
dimension aims at guaranteeing the visitor’s integra-
tion in the local community, stimulating them to get
to know other attractions in the territory, in this way
broadening their connection with the spaces. Finally,
management interventions that take into account the
Organization dimension should help to make the vis-
itors experience pleasant, minimizing conflicts that
may occur between visitors and residents or encour-
aging good visitor behaviour. In addition, they should
favour the application of fair prices, allowing visitation
by a wider public.
Enacting these dimensions in management strate-
gies should bring benefits to the local society, both
present and future generations. As described in the
literature review, the benefits generated by sustainable
management that is based on cultural dimensions,
include cultural exchange (Aydin & Alvarez, 2016),
well-being (Hawkes, 2001; Throsby, 2016), quality of
life (Murzyn-Kupisz, 2012; Yeniasir & Gökbulut, 2018;
Maggiore &Vellecco, 2012), cultural perception (Yeni-
20 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
asir &Gökbulut, 2018) and ethical relationships (Jamal
et al., 2010). Finally, all these elements in turn, will
make, cultural heritage strengthen the principles of
sustainability, as described by Throsby (2016), from
the elements of continuity, intergenerational and in-
tragenerational equity, diversity, a balance between
natural and cultural ecosystems and interdependence
between the cultural, social, ecological and economic
dimensions. This dynamic is illustrated in the frame-
work in Figure 2.
The framework, togetherwith the categorization of
cultural sustainability elements, can help managers to
understand the issue of cultural sustainability and sug-
gest the main actions that should be carried out to im-
prove the visitation experience to enhance culture as
an element of sustainability.
Conclusion
The procedure used and the results obtained by the
study presented in this paper can inform future re-
search aimed at developing indicators for cultural sus-
tainability in heritage sites, as well as the elaboration
of a concept of cultural sustainability for the sector. It
needs to be noted that this work only considered com-
ments made about tangible assets, but since culture is
a mix of tangible and intangible elements, future re-
search should analyse comments on non-tangible as-
sets, so as to validate, refine and integrate definitions,
categories and dimensions. Finally, the perception of
managers from different countries or heritage types
should be considered, so to build a more robust con-
ceptual framework that can be used in different con-
texts.
References
Aydin, B., &Alvarez,M.D. (2016). English-speaking tourists’
evaluation of sustainability attributes in cultural tourism
destinations: The case of Cusco. Teorija in praksa, 4(53),
942–958
Castells, M. (2005). A sociedade em rede. Paz e terra.
Chew, M. M. (2009). Cultural sustainability and heritage
tourism: Problems in developing bun festival tourism
in Hong Kong. Journal of Sustainable Development, 2(3),
34–42.
Dessein, J., Soini, K., Fairclough, G., & Horlings, L. (2015).
Culture in, for and as sustainable development: Conclu-
sions from the cost Action is1007 Investigating Cultural
Sustainability.University of Jyväskylä.
Eversole, R. (2006). Heritage and regional development: A
process-and-outcomes tipology. Australasian Journal of
Regional Studies, 12(3), 303–312.
García-Hernández, M., de la Calle-Vaquero, M., & Yubero,
C. (2017). Cultural heritage and urban tourism: His-
toric city centres under pressure. Sustainability, 9(8).
https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081346
Haarstad, H. (2017). Constructing the sustainable city: Ex-
amining the role of sustainability in the ‘smart city’
discourse. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning,
19(4), 423–437.
Hawkes, J. (2001). The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Cul-
ture’s essential role in public planning. Cultural Develop-
ment Network.
Höjer, M., &Wangel, J. (2015). Smart sustainable cities: Def-
inition and challenges. In L. M. Hilty & B. Aebischer
(Eds.), ict innovations for sustainability (pp. 333-349).
Springer.
Jamal, T., Camargo, B., Sandlin, J., & Segrado, R. (2010).
Tourism and cultural sustainability: Towards an eco-
cultural justice for place and people. Tourism Recreation
Research, 35(3), 269–279.
Maggiore, G., & Vellecco, I. (2012). Cultural districts, tour-
ism and sustainability. In A. H. Kasimoglu M. (Ed.),
Strategies for tourism industry-micro and macro perspec-
tives (pp. 241–266). IntechOpen.
Marres, N., & Weltevrede, E. (2013). Scraping the social?
Journal of Cultural Economy, 6(3), 313–335.
Murzyn-Kupisz, M. (2012). Cultural, economic and social
sustainability of heritage tourism: Issues and challenges.
Economic and Environmental Studies, 12(2), 113–133.
Oliveira, R. A., Baracho, R. M. A., & Cantoni, L. (2022). The
perception of unesco World Heritage Sites’ managers
about concepts and elements of cultural sustainability in
tourism. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and
Sustainable Development. Advance online publication.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-03-2021-0058
Ranasinghe, R. (2018). Cultural and heritage tourism devel-
opment in postwar regions: Concerns for sustainabil-
ity from northern Sri Lankan capital Jaffna. Journal of
Tourism and Recreation, 4(1), 1–18.
Soini, K., & Birkeland, I. (2014). Exploring the scientific dis-
course on cultural sustainability. Geoforum, 51, 213–223.
Sonuç, N. (2020). Culture, tourism and sustainability (cul-
tural heritage and sustainable tourism, social sustain-
ability of tourism, socio-cultural sustainability of tour-
ism). In S. Idowu, R. Schmidpeter, N. Capaldi, L. Zu, M.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 21
Almeida de Oliveira et al. A Proposal to Categorize Cultural Sustainability Elements
Del Baldo, & R. Abreu (Eds.), Encyclopedia of sustainable
management (pp. 1–7). Springer.
Spencer, D. (2009).Card sorting: Designing usable categories.
Rosenfeld Media.
Suntikul, W. (2018). Cultural sustainability and fluidity in
Bhutan’s traditional festivals. Journalof Sustainable Tour-
ism, 26(12), 2102–2116.
Tan, S.-K., Lim,H.-H., Tan, S.-H., &Kok, Y.-S. (2020). A cul-
tural creativity framework for the sustainability of intan-
gible cultural heritage. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism
Research, 44(3), 439–471.
Terkenli, T. S., & Georgoula, V. (2021). Tourism and cul-
tural sustainability: Views and prospects from Cyclades,
Greece. Sustainability, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.3390
/su14010307
Throsby,D. (2003). Cultural sustainability. InR. Towse (Ed.),
A handbook of cultural economics (pp. 183–186). Edward
Elgar.
Throsby, D. (2016). Tourism, heritage and cultural sustain-
ability: Three ‘golden rules.’ In P. N. Luigi Fusco Girard
(Ed.),Cultural tourism and sustainable local development
(pp. 31–48). Routledge.
Torres, J. L. X. de S. (2013). Analisis cuantitativo de los hote-
les en Tripadvisor: Destinos costeros en España y Portugal
[Master thesis]. University of Malaga.
Weng, L., He, B. J., Liu, L., Li, C., & Zhang, X. (2019). Sus-
tainability assessment of cultural heritage tourism: Case
study of Pingyao ancient city in China. Sustainability,
11(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051392
Yeniasir, M., & Gökbulut, B. (2018). Perception and atti-
tudes of local people on sustainable cultural tourism on
the Islands: The case of Nicosia. Sustainability, 10(6).
https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061892
22 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Original Scientific Article
Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19
Pandemic Times
Zuzana Kvítková
Ambis University, Czech Republic
zuzana.kvitkova@ambis.cz
Zdenka Petrů
Prague University of Economics and Business, Czech Republic
petru@vse.cz
Being on the unesco list is a privilege and a sign of exclusivity and uniqueness.
Destination Management Organizations (dmos) extensively use the international
popularity of the unesco list inscription. Many researchers have confirmed that
unesco list inscription is an advantage. However, there are also papers with op-
posite results. Several factors influence the visitor numbers at the unesco site –
the structure of the visitors (international and domestic), and location, including
accessibility, seasonality, and regional importance. covid-19 dramatically affected
world tourism. This research aims to answer whether unesco heritage list inscrip-
tion was an advantage in the covid-19 pandemic times and what role international
tourism plays in unesco sites. The authors used a method of comparative analysis
based on available statistical data, correlation analysis and t-test. The paper com-
pares the change in the number of visits to unesco attractions to similar tourist
attractions. The Czech Republic has 16 tangible attractions on the unesco list. The
analysis includes 12 cultural unesco attractions. The results show that unesco
list inscription was rather a disadvantage in the first year of the pandemic (2020)
but brought a faster recovery in 2021. The role of changes in international tourist
arrivals is important for collective accommodation establishments in both unesco
and non-unesco sites, but more for unesco sites. The correlation of changes in
international tourism with changes in visitor numbers in the unesco attraction is
also high; however, it is not statistically significant.
Keywords: tourist attractions, unesco sites, Czech Republic, covid-19 pandemic
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.23-34
Introduction
Cultural heritage plays a very important role in tour-
ism development in many countries. The Czech Re-
public is a country of cultural tourism. It is very rich
in the number of cultural monuments; almost forty
thousand are protected as immovable cultural monu-
ments, and 336 have the status of national cultural her-
itage (see https://www.npu.cz). The most important
cultural attractions for tourism are those which are on
the unesco list of cultural and natural heritage (un-
esco, 2021c). Their exclusivity and uniqueness are the
highlights of the destinations. The inclusion on the
unesco list impacts domestic and foreign tourism in
the destination. The World Heritage-listed sites typi-
cally receive more tourist visits than their non-listed
counterparts (Yang et al., 2010; Gao & Su, 2019, Han
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 23
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
et al., 2020). In 2020 and later, tourism and World
Heritage Sites experienced dramatic changes due to
the covid-19 pandemic (unesco, 2021d; unwto,
2021). This paper examines if inscription on the un-
esco list was an advantage compared to non-unesco
attractions. Their competitiveness and resilience are
important for the restart of tourism (unwto, 2020).
The paper brings new findings and contributes to
the knowledge about cultural heritage. The situation
caused by the covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented
and the effect of restrictions and critical tourism col-
lapse brought new impacts and challenges.
Theoretical Background
The paper is based on the tourismdemand theory (Di-
visekera, 2013). Tourism demand is affected by many
factors such as income in the origin country, prices
in the tourist destination, the safety of the destination
and a set of other demand factors on the tourist site
(e.g. motivation). Tourism demand and its influenc-
ing factors are topics of many papers, e.g. Dogru et al.
(2017) and Agbola et al. (2020).
Significance of UNESCO List Inscription
A World Heritage Site is an area with an outstand-
ing universal value that requires long-term protection
and is non-renewable and irreplaceable, as was identi-
fied in 2021 by the United Nations Educational, Scien-
tific and Cultural Organisation (unesco) and World
Heritage Committee (whc). Inscription on theWorld
Heritage list and the resulting prestige helps raise
awareness among citizens and governments about her-
itage preservation. Greater awareness leads to a gen-
eral rise in the level of protection and conservation
given to heritage properties. Countries may also re-
ceive financial assistance and expert advice from the
World Heritage Committee to support activities for
the preservation of their sites (unesco, 2022). A lo-
calized monument, building, town, landscape, or cul-
tural tradition becomes globalized through its inclu-
sion into theworld heritage list and gets a new status as
being of ‘outstanding universal value’ (Scholze, 2008).
World heritage areas especially are used as a means
of economic regeneration through tourism develop-
ment (Su et al., 2015; Buckley et al., 2020; Agapiou,
2021). These sites also have a significant economic im-
pact on local communities (Jimura, 2011; Christensen
& Jones, 2020; Slabbert et al., 2021; Zhang, 2021). The
research reveals that residents and entrepreneurs per-
ceive inscription in the unesco heritage list as an
advantage (Kvitkova et al., 2022). The World Heritage
Sites contribute to national image creation (Silverman,
2011; Kim et al., 2019; Wang & Yuan, 2020) and due to
that, they play an important role, especially in interna-
tional tourism. They also promote destination brand-
ing (Poria et al., 2011; Xu & Ye, 2018; Kim et al., 2019).
These two aspects are why various national and re-
gional governments actively apply for the inscription
of sites on the unesco list (Poria et al., 2011). Some
authors (Ryan et al., 2011; Li et al., 2020; Panzera et
al., 2021) discuss a symbiosis tension between tourism
utilization and conservation. Panzera et al. (2021) in-
vestigate the impact of tangible cultural heritage on
the tourism attractiveness of European regions. They
show that the presence of unesco sites reduces the
distance decay effect. International tourists, when not
faced with barriers, are willing to travel longer dis-
tances if a destination is endowed with unesco cul-
tural World Heritage Site status. According to, e.g.,
Bloch (2016) and Allen and Lennon (2018), poor legis-
lation, management and some inappropriate tourism
operations are leading to conflicts between heritage
conservation and tourism development. On the other
hand, tourism development can create new values and
can be seen as a tool to combat poverty in less de-
veloped countries/destinations and promote sustain-
ability (Su et al., 2016; Vargas, 2018; Lin et al., 2020;
Maruyama &Woosnam, 2021).
Several authors (Shen et al., 2014; Park et al., 2019;
Fu, 2019; Katahenggam, 2020) pay attention to the
significance of authenticity, which is important for
heritage tourism. Authenticity and its perception in-
crease the heritage destination value (Kolar & Žabkar,
2010). On the other hand, the acceptance of authen-
ticity itself depends on tourists’ perceptions. Tourists’
satisfaction and their level of education are the main
factors influencing their perception of the outstand-
ing universal value of unesco sites (Verma & Ra-
jendran, 2017; Alazaizeh et al., 2020). This outstand-
ing universal value is beneficial for enhancing the in-
24 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
ternational and national image and tourism attrac-
tiveness of destinations where these sites are located
(Parga-Dans et al., 2020). It is generally believed that
the inscription of a site on the unesco list positively
impacts local tourism demand (Zhang et al., 2022).
The effects of the sites on the World Heritage List
on tourism, of course, vary from country to country
and region to region. They are monuments of global
significance. As mentioned, these monuments have a
special protection status and are of great importance,
especially in international tourism (Kučová, 2009).
All the above confirms that unesco list inscription
is an advantage. Several factors (Johnová, 2008) influ-
ence the visitor numbers at the unesco site. There
are some factors on the site itself (internal ones), such
as the type of attraction, whether indoor or open air,
opening hours, regulation of visits, etc. Other factors
(external ones) are the social and economic situa-
tion in the destination, the structure of the visitors
in the destination (domestic/international, one day
visitors/tourists), and location, including accessibility,
seasonality, and regional importance. Of course, there
are also the general factors influencing tourism devel-
opment (Holloway & Humphreys, 2020), which can
impact the number of visitors, e.g. terrorism, natural
disasters, diseases/pandemics.
Tourism Impacts on UNESCO Sites and COVID-19
Impact
According to Zhang et al. (2022), great attention is paid
to the impacts of tourism on World Heritage Sites,
such as environmental, economic, social, and cultural.
The highly intensive tourist demand and the number
of World Heritage Sites visitors is a great challenge for
sustainability (Li et al., 2008; Berg, 2018). Tourism de-
velopment has both positive and negative impacts on
World Heritage Sites, an obviously positive economic
impact in smaller sites, and negative impact on, for
example, the local population in bigger cities such as
Venice and Barcelona (Kumar, 2019). New standards
for sustainable tourism in unesco sites are being
adopted (Kumar, 2019; Pedersen, 2020). On the other
hand, World Heritage Sites impact tourism develop-
ment in destinations and places where they are located
(Yang et al., 2019).
According to unwto statistics (2021), with few
exceptions (e.g. 2003, 2009), international tourism
was constantly growing for decades until 2019. At a
certain development stage, the situation, especially
in cities, became unsustainable. Similarly to the gen-
eral development, tourism grew in the Czech Repub-
lic till 2019. In 2019, 22 million guests stayed in col-
lective accommodation establishments in the Czech
Republic (czso, 2020). Due to the covid-19 pan-
demic, tourism was almost paralysed in 2020. The
number of accommodated guests fell to 10.8 million
in 2020 (czso, 2021), which meant a decrease of 51.
The number of foreign guests fell from 10.9 million
in 2019 (czso, 2020) to 2.8 million in 2020 (czso,
2021), which is an even higher drop of 74. That
means domestic tourism dropped less than interna-
tional tourism in the Czech Republic. covid-19 has
affected all sectors and regions worldwide and has
deeply impacted the entire cultural ecosystem. The
world’s 1,000-plus unesco World Heritage proper-
ties were no exception. World Heritage Sites expe-
rienced a 66 drop in visitation and a 52 decline
in ticket sales in 2020 because of covid-19 (un-
esco, 2021a). The uncertain surroundings of this cri-
sis changed the policy of re-alignment of properties
towards domestic tourism in the short term. Accord-
ing to a study (Falk et al., 2022), in the summer season
of 2020 (July and August), official data of 65 regions
in four countries in Europe (Austria, the Czech Re-
public, Germany, and Switzerland) showed that the
domestic overnight stays evolved unevenly, with de-
creases from 10 in sparsely populated areas up to
27 in densely populated regions. The different im-
pacts on the different site types described by Caru-
ana et al. (2021) highlight the lower effect of the pan-
demic on open-air (archaeological) sites and the im-
portant role of such open-air sites within the local
community. Also, the official data fromCzechTourism
(see https://tourdata.cz) confirms that the most vis-
ited attractions during the covid-19 pandemic years
are the open-air attractions, in comparison with in-
door attractions. As covid-19 is widely recognized
as a challenge or even a game-changer for travel and
tourism, Higgins-Desbiolles (2021) explains how ad-
vocates of tourism industry rapid recovery stand op-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 25
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
posed to wider efforts to reform tourism to be more
ethical, responsible, and sustainable. In response to the
pandemic, unesco (2021b) launched global moni-
toring to assess, among other things, the impact of
covid-19 on the cultural sector as whole. The down-
turn in tourism has had a deep financial impact on
heritage sites, thereby weakening their conservation
and preservation. Therefore, the reactivation of more
sustainable, resilient, and inclusive tourism in the long
term will be a priority. This will include working on-
site with local communities and site managers to re-
flect on and design new ways of preserving sites, pro-
mote sustainable tourism models, and emphasize the
importance of sustainable development approaches in
linewith theWorldHeritage SustainableDevelopment
Policy (unesco, 2015).
The synthesis of the current knowledge shows that
the effect of the World Heritage Site List enhances the
site’s attractiveness and positively influences tourism
demand. On the other hand, a synthesis confirmed
that other factors (like the covid-19 pandemic) are
influencing the tourism demand (number of visitors),
both domestic and international.
Methods and Aim
The paper aims to bring new insight into the unesco
sites situation during the covid-19 pandemic and an-
swerwhether unesco heritage list inscriptionwas an
advantage during the covid-19 pandemic and what
role the international importance of these sites played
in the results.
As the published research acknowledges both pos-
itive and negative effects on the destination and the
situation with the pandemic was completely unprece-
dented, the first stage of the research was brainstorm-
ing. During the brainstorming, the findings from liter-
ature were discussed and two additional ideas emerg-
ed: (1) Residents will expect that the usually over-
crowded sites will be pleasant for a visit now and will
tend to visit the unesco sites and their attractions,
and (2) the unesco sites are more dependent on in-
ternational tourists than the others, and the domestic
tourism will not be sufficient to cover the decrease in
international tourism. These ideas raised more ques-
tions, such as what was the real development in un-
esco sites and if it was different from the non-un-
esco sites?
The research questions are formulated as follows:
rq1 Is inscription into the unesco heritage list an
advantage during the covid-19 pandemic?
rq2 What role does international tourism play in the
unesco sites during the covid-19 pandemic?
The following hypotheses are developed in line
with the research questions:
h1a The decrease in visitor and tourist numbers will
be on average smaller in unesco sites than in
non-unesco sites.
Comparative analysis is used with these criteria: (1)
change in the number of visitors in unesco attrac-
tions compared to change in the non-unesco attrac-
tions. The change between 2019 and 2020 is consid-
ered. (2) change of the tourists in collective accommo-
dation establishments (cae). The decrease is analysed
and compared in the two groups. F-test is applied to
test the variance, and t-test is applied to test the sig-
nificance of the difference. The tests were done on the
95 significance level.
h1b The average decrease of visitors in unesco at-
tractions will be smaller than the average de-
crease in the region.
The change in visitor numbers to the unesco at-
tractions are taken and compared to the total numbers
of visitors to all attractions in the regions. The decrease
is compared individually, and average values are calcu-
lated. The year-to-year changes are compared.
h1c The recovery is faster in unesco sites than in
non-unesco sites.
The statistics from cae are analysed, explicitly
the change in tourist numbers/number of guests and
amount of nights/number of overnight stays of tourists
in the accommodation establishment. The change in
both indicators is compared. The numbers from 2020
and 2021 are compared. F-test is applied to test the
variance, and t-test is applied to test the significance
of the difference. The tests are done on the 95 signif-
icance level. Unfortunately, the number of visitors to
the attractions in 2021 have not been published at the
date of elaboration of this paper (June 2022).
26 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
h2a The unesco sites aremore dependent on inter-
national tourists than the non-unesco sites.
For this hypothesis the statistics from cae are
analysed, explicitly the share of international tourists
in the number of tourists and nights at the site. F-test is
applied to test the variance, and t-test is applied to test
the significance of the difference. The tests are done
on the 95 significance level.
h2b The decrease in visitors to unesco sites is ma-
inly influenced by the decrease in international
tourists, as they are the most frequent visitors.
The data on the decrease in visitor numbers in the
unesco attractions and international tourists in cae
are compared, and the correlation coefficient is calcu-
lated.
h2c For the results of non-unesco sites, domestic
tourists are more important than international
ones.
The data on the decrease in visitor numbers in
the non-unesco attractions and domestic tourists
in cae are compared, and the correlation coefficient
is calculated. The spss program is used to make the
calculations and test the significance.
Data sources are different for attractions and cae.
The attractions aremonitored, and the number of pay-
ing visitors is reported; one tourist can be reported
more times on different attractions. There is a platform
in the Czech Republic managed by CzechTourism (the
Czech nto – National Tourism Organization), tour-
data.cz, where all the information is available. The
data are reported directly from the attractions based
on their ticket sales or entrance monitoring. Unfortu-
nately, the visitors are not monitored according to the
country of origin, so there is no information about the
share of international tourists. Tourists in cae are re-
ported by hotels to the Czech Statistical Office (cszo)
and represent one person arriving at the destination.
Nights are reported by cae and represent how many
nights the tourists stayed in the destination. This is
taken from the Czech Statistical Office. The statistics
do not include tourists staying in private apartments.
The Czech Republic has 16 tangible attractions on
the unesco list. 14 of them are cultural ones. Anal-
ysis and comparison include 12 cultural unesco at-
tractions in 9 towns/sites. One of the excluded un-
esco sites is Prague, with the specifics of the capital
and big city, where the influence of unesco/non-un-
esco could be negligible. The second excluded site is
Villa Tugendhat in Brno for a similar reason. One villa
in the whole of Brno would probably have a negligi-
ble effect on the total numbers, and it would be im-
possible to detect the impact of unesco inscription
amongmany others. Considering the aim of the paper,
all relevant attractions are included in the analysis.
The second step was to choose the appropriate sites
for comparison. As authors apply the statistical meth-
ods, the bigger the sample, the better. Therefore, as
many relevant attractions as possible were selected.
Nonprobability sampling was performed. Based on
the number of visitors, attraction character, and loca-
tion, 19 similar attractions were chosen for compari-
son. However, during the analysis it was found that 4
relymostly on one-day visitors, and there is no data for
accommodation available in the towns/villages. These
were excluded. Therefore, 15 attractions in different
sites were selected as suitable for comparison. The sta-
tistical methods allow different size of samples and,
considering the low numbers, every additional data
point can increase the reliability. The character of the
attractions is cultural and sacral, mostly castles and
chateaux, as the unesco sites are also cultural ones.
The level of protection was not one of the selection
criteria, as authors approach the attractivity of the at-
traction from the visitors’ perspective. However, most
of the non-unesco attractions are protected on the
national level (national cultural monument).
The paper uses an empirical analysis based on dy-
namic panel data methodology for 2019–2020.
Research Results
As mentioned, there are 12 unesco sites and 15 non-
unesco sites in the sample. Table 1 presents the name,
unesco heritage list inscription, the number of vis-
itors in 2019 and 2020, and the percentage change.
The order is according to the percentage change in the
number of visitors.
Table 1 presents the attractions in the sample and
the basic information. The percentage decrease ranks
the attractions in visitor numbers, and 7 out of the 10
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 27
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Table 1 Attractions in the Sample
Name unesco?   Change*
Kostnice/Kutná Hora y   –.
St. Prokop Basilica y   –.
St. Barbora Church/
Kutná Hora
y   –.
Telč Castle y   –.
Italian Court/Kutná Hora y   –.
Konopiště Castle n   –.
Litomyšl Castle y   –.
Český Krumlov Castle y   –.
Vsetín Castle n   –.
Karlštejn Castle n   –.
Vranov nad Dyjí Castle n   –.
Valtice Castle y   –.
Hluboká Castle n   –.
Svojanov Castle n   –.
Lednice Castle y   –.
Velehrad Basilica n   –.
Buchlovice Chateau n   –.
Lipnice Castle n   –.
Želiv Monastery n   –.
Jindřichův Hradec Castle n   –.
J. Nepomuk Church
Zelena Hora
y   –.
Kroměříž y   –.
Hrad Lichnice n   –.
Třebíč Castle y   –.
Cimburk Castle n   –.
Bítov Castle n   .
Svatý kopeček Mikulov n   .
Notes * In percent. Based on data from the Czech Tourism
(www.tourdata.cz).
worst are on the unesco list. In comparison, only 3
out of the 10 best ones are inscribed on the unesco
list. Already this indicates that unesco inscription is
not necessarily an advantage.
The attractions are grouped into unesco andnon-
unesco attractions. First, the samples are tested with
the F-test if the variance is the same. First, the change
in the number of visitors is compared. A result of 0.68
(F-crit = 0.39) leads to the rejection of the null hy-
pothesis. The t-test with the t-stat 2.33 (t-crit(1) = 1.72)
leads to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The tests
are done on the 95 significance level. The analysis
of cae numbers reveals the opposite result. The vari-
ance in both samples is similar (F-test = 0.25, F-crit(1)
= 0.33), the correct t-test is applied, and the result (t-
stat = 0.55, t-crit(2) = 2.07) leads to support of the null
hypothesis. The means –41.67 and –38.65 are not
significantly different. This different result in visitors
to the attractions and the tourists’ numbers in cae
can be explained by higher dependence of unesco
sites on the one-day visitors.
Hypothesis h1a: ‘The decrease in visitor num-
bers will be on average smaller in unesco sites than
in non-unesco sites’ is rejected because the results
show a significant difference in the means (–27.28 and
–46.15). Indeed, the unesco inscription seems to be
rather a disadvantage for the sites. In terms of accom-
modation, neither advantage nor disadvantage has
been confirmed.
The comparison to the regional numbers (h1b)
also leads to the conclusion that being on the un-
esco list is rather a disadvantage in the covid-19
pandemic. In individual cases, 5 out of 12 unesco at-
tractions have a smaller decrease, and 7 have a more
significant decrease than the whole region. For statis-
tical comparison, the F-test is applied to analyse the
variance and then the t-test. As the hypothesis sup-
poses the mean in unesco sites will be smaller, the
one-side criterium is used (t-crit(1) = 1.76), and the
result, –2.14, leads to rejecting the null hypothesis and
acceptance of the significant difference between the
means –47.77 in unesco attractions and –33.49 in
regions as a whole.
The following hypothesis h1c assumes that the
unesco sites will start growing faster than the non-
unesco sites. The data from cae from the years
2020 and 2021 are compared.
The results show an opposite trend than in Table
1. Out of the 10 best-growing sites, 6 are inscribed
on the unesco heritage list. Out of the 10 worst, 8
are not unesco sites. To decide about the hypothesis
h1c: The recovery is faster in unesco sites than in
28 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Table 2 Number of Tourists in cae in 2020 and 2021
in the unesco and Non-unesco Sites
Name unesco?   Change*
Velehrad Basilica n   .
Telč Castle y   .
St. Prokop Basilica y   .
Třebíč Castle y   .
Kroměříž y   .
Kostnice/Kutná Hora y   .
St. Barbora Church/
Kutná Hora
y   .
Italian Court/Kutná Hora y   .
Valtice Castle y   .
Vsetín Chateau n   .
Svatý kopeček Mikulov n   .
Želiv Monastery n   .
J. Nepomuk Church
Zelena Hora
y   .
Vranov nad Dyjí Castle n   .
Litomyšl Castle y   .
Lichnice Castle n   .
Konopiště Castle n   .
Lednice Castle y   .
Cimburk Castle n   .
Buchlovice Chateau n   .
Hluboká Castle n   .
Jindřichův Hradec Castle n   .
Bítov Castle n   .
Svojanov Castle n   –.
Karlštejn Castle n   –.
Český Krumlov Castle y   –.
Lipnice Castle n 
Notes * In percent. Based ondata from theCzech Statistical
Office (https://vdb.czso.cz/).
non-unesco sites, the relevant data are analysed and
tested. For the analysis of the data from cae, the sam-
ple slightly changes. There are no data for Lipnice for
the year 2021, so only 14 non-unesco sites are anal-
ysed. Three unesco attractions are in Kutná Hora,
so only 10 unesco sites are in the analysis.
Whereas the mean of the growth in non-unesco
sites is 12.14, the mean of the growth in unesco
sites is 16.71. First, again the F-test is applied to test
the variance. The result, 0.40, exceeds the F-crit 0.33,
and the variance in the samples is statistically differ-
ent (288.50 and 115.01). It can be assumed that the un-
esco sites grow as a group, and individual conditions
influence the non-unesco sites. The hypothesis sup-
poses that the growth in unesco sites is higher; we
can check the one-side criterium to evaluate the hy-
pothesis (t-stat = 0.81, T-crit(1) = 1.72). With this re-
sult, it is impossible to reject the null hypothesis, and
we must admit that the difference in growth is not sta-
tistically significant.
However, with deeper insight, there is one excep-
tional site among the non-unesco siteswith a growth
of 65.88 (the Velehrad Basilica), an outlier. As this
is an exception among the sites, the question arises of
how the situation changes if the site is excluded. The
mean of the growth of non-unesco sites decreases
to 8.01 (from 12.14). The variance, in this case, is
statistically not significantly different (F-stat = 2.16, F-
crit(1) = 2.80). The correct t-test is appliedwith the fol-
lowing result: t-stat = 2.31, t-crit(1) = 1.72; it leads to re-
jection of the null hypothesis, and the idea of the faster
recovery of unesco sites represented by the year-to-
year growth is supported in the adjusted sample.
Approaching the second research question: What
role does international tourism play in the unesco
sites during the covid-19 pandemic? The first hy-
pothesis h2a: The unesco sites are more dependent
on international tourists than the non-unesco sites,
will be tested.Data from the cae in 2019 are analysed.
The mean shares of international tourists in un-
esco and non-unesco sites are 27.24 and 19.42,
respectively. Firstly, the F-test supports the null hy-
pothesis, and samples have statistically the same vari-
ance. The difference in the share of international tour-
ists and nights in unesco and non-unesco sites is
compared. The t-test 1.25 and 1.50 are within the crite-
ria 1.71 and support the null hypothesis that the shares
are similar. We can reject hypothesis h2a that the
unesco sites depend more on international tourism
based on this sample. This correlates with the second
part of hypothesis h1a, that the decrease in tourist
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 29
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Table 3 Tourists in cae in 2019
Name unesco? Number () ()
Český Krumlov Castle y  . .
Hluboká Castle n  . .
Svatý kopeček Mikulov n  . .
Kostnice/Kutná Hora y  . .
St. Barbora Church/Kutná
Hora
y  . .
Italian Court/Kutná Hora y  . .
Konpiště Castle n  . .
Telč Castle y  . .
Vsetín Chateau n  . .
Velehrad Basilica n  . .
Litomyšl Castle y  . .
Kroměříž y  . .
Jindřichův Hradec Castle n  . .
St. Prokop Basilica y  . .
Třebíč Castle y  . .
Lednice Castle y  . .
Karlštejn Castle n  . .
Buchlovice Chateau n  . .
Valtice Castle y  . .
Vranv nad Dyjí Castle n  . .
J. Nepomuk Church Zelena
Hora
y  . .
Svojanv Castle n  . .
Želiv Monastery n  . .
Hrad Lichnice n  . .
Bítov Castle n  . .
Cimburk Castle n  . .
Lipnice Castle n  . .
Notes (1) share of international tourists, (2) share of inter-
national tourists in nights, in percent. Based on data from
the Czech Statistical Office (https://vdb.czso.cz/).
numbers in cae is not significantly different in un-
esco and non-unesco sites.
To decide about hypotheses h2b and h2c, the cor-
relations are calculated in spss for both groups, un-
esco and non-unesco. The following variables are
included: change in visitor numbers (attraction), chan-
Table 4 Correlation Matrix for unesco Sites
unvis untot undom unint
unvis ()  . –. .
() . . .
untot () .  –. .**
() . . .
undom () –. –.  –.
() . . .
unint () . .** –. 
() . . .
Notes unvis – visitors change in the unesco attraction,
untot – tourists change in cae in total in unesco sites,
undom – domestic tourists change in cae in unesco
sites, unint – international tourists change in cae in un-
esco sites, (1) correlation, (2) significance (2-tailed). ** Cor-
relation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Based on
data from the Czech Statistical Office (https://vdb.czso.cz)
and from the Czech Tourism (www.tourdata.cz).
ge in total tourist numbers (cae), change in domes-
tic tourist numbers (cae), change in international
tourist numbers (cae). Results are presented in Ta-
bles 4 and 5.
The table works with changes in the numbers, not
with the absolute numbers. The correlation indicates
how much a decrease in one variable correlates with a
decrease in another variable. First, the unesco sites
are analysed.
The tourist change in cae in total is strongly and
significantly correlated with the international tourists’
decrease in cae, demonstrating a significant role of
international tourism in these sites for cae and the
effect of losing this segment. The other correlations
are not significant. The correlation between change
in visitors in attractions and the decrease in interna-
tional tourists in cae is, however, high (0.467) and
is the second highest out of the analysed variables.
The correlation is not statistically significant. Even if
this is a correlation, from the logical perspective, we
can assume that the loss of international tourism had
the most significant impact on the visitor numbers at
unesco sites. In contrast, the decrease in domestic
tourists did not play a role.
30 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Table 5 Correlation Matrix for non-unesco Sites
vis total dom int
vis ()  . . .
() . . .
total () .  .** .**
() . <. .
dom () . .**  .
() . <. .
int () . .** . 
() . . .
Notes vis – visitors change in the non-unesco attrac-
tion, total – tourists change in cae in total in non-
unesco sites, dom – domestic tourists change in cae
in non-unesco sites, int – international tourists change
in cae in non-unesco sites, (1) correlation, (2) signifi-
cance (2-tailed). ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01
level (2-tailed). Based on data from the Czech Statistical
Office (https://vdb.czso.cz) and from the Czech Tourism
(www.tourdata.cz).
In the non-unesco sites, the total decrease in
tourist numbers strongly and significantly correlates
with the decrease in domestic tourist numbers (0.843).
However, in the sample, the decrease in international
tourists is also significantly correlated with the total
decrease (0.653). This confirms the dominant effect of
domestic tourism in non-unesco sites from the cae
perspective. Considering the change in visitor num-
bers in the attractions, both domestic and interna-
tional tourist numbers are correlated. The correlation
of domestic tourism development is stronger; none of
them is statistically significant.
Conclusion and Discussion
Based on the analysis, the authors can answer the ques-
tion: is inscription into the unesco heritage list an
advantage during the covid-19 pandemic? The re-
sults reveal that for the attractions, unesco inscrip-
tion was rather a disadvantage in the first year of the
pandemic. This answer is supported by comparing the
unesco and non-unesco attractions and the com-
parison of the regions as a whole. The second year
brought a faster recovery in unesco sites. The sec-
ond question, dealing with the role of international
tourism in the unesco sites during covid-19 pan-
demic, is also answered, even if the answer is ambigu-
ous.
Hypothesis h2a has been rejected. The t-test did
not support higher dependence in terms of tourist
numbers nor in terms of tourist nights for the un-
esco sites. The difference in share of 27.24vs. 19.42
was not statistically significant enough. Within the
discussion, it must be mentioned that the non-un-
esco sites in the sample were the most important
ones. Considering that the others will be rather of
regional and local importance and their share of in-
ternational visitors will be even smaller, the share of
international tourists in unesco vs. non-unesco
sites, in general, could be seen from a different per-
spective. The further hypotheses confirmed the effect
of decrease of international tourists in terms of cae in
unesco sites and revealed a high correlation with the
decrease in visitor numbers (not significant). The cae
in non-unesco sites performs higher dependence
on domestic tourism changes. Indeed, the analysis
also confirmed the significant role of changes in in-
ternational tourist numbers. The correlations with the
change in visitor numbers are stronger for changes in
domestic tourism; the change in international tourism
is also positively correlated.
Authors can conclude that the unesco sites are
less influenced by domestic tourism than the non-
unesco, but international tourism plays a role in
both types. It must be mentioned again that impor-
tant and highly visited attractions were selected for
the research.
The main limit of the research is the number of the
analysed sites in the sample. The size of the sample
is influenced by the objective conditions. The num-
ber of unesco sites is given in the Czech Republic.
To be able to compare data from cae for unesco
and non-unesco sites, only similar attractions lo-
cated in towns/villages with own accommodation fa-
cilities were needed. And, therefore, the number of
non-unesco sites is also limited.
Regarding the future research directions, an anal-
ysis of larger destinations (Prague, Budapest, etc.)
would be worth researching. The cities offer more
types of tourism, and cultural tourism is only one.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 31
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
More factors will influence the changes and results.
It is also interesting how the covid-19 pandemic af-
fected the perception of the unesco brand in domes-
tic tourism.
The covid-19 pandemic had a devastating effect
on tourism. The pandemic and the restrictions espe-
cially endangered entrepreneurs. However, some at-
tractions suffered in 2019 by overtourism, and this is
a good opportunity to restart the strategy and man-
age the attractions in more sustainable ways. The pan-
demic showed the vulnerability of tourism and espe-
cially of international tourism. From the managerial
perspective, it is important for unesco sites (Peder-
sen, 2020) to diversify the target groups and audience,
and to focus on quality instead of quantity. The pan-
demic was a shock and caused a crisis. But after the
crisis it is important to take the good from the devel-
opment. The pandemic showed the potential of virtual
reality, ict, reservation systems, and other technolo-
gies. The situation forced both unesco and non-un-
esco sites to communicate current issues and restric-
tions on time, mainly online, and to inform visitors
what to expect. This might be taken as an opportunity
to continue with communication and to educate fu-
ture visitors in terms of sustainability and responsibil-
ity. The second lesson learned is the diversification of
the products offered.Open-air attractionswere less af-
fected; this might be an impulse to develop additional
products which will offer a different kind of leisure ac-
tivity and can complement the indoor product. This
approach could increase resilience and help with spa-
tial distribution of the tourists and contribute to sus-
tainability.
Acknowledgments
This paper was written in the context of the project
Nr. 22120090 ‘unesco sites – balanced and sustain-
able development.’ The project is co-financed by the
Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia
through Visegrad Grants from the International Viseg-
rad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas
for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
References
Agapiou, A. (2021). unesco World Heritage properties in
changing and dynamic environments: Change detection
methods using optical and radar satellite data. Heritage
Science, 9(1), 1–14.
Agbola, W. F., Dogru, T., & Gunter, U. (2020). Tourism de-
mand. Tourism Economics, 26(8), 1307–1310.
Alazaizeh, M. M., Ababneh, A., & Jamaliah, M. M. (2020).
Preservation vs. use: Understanding tourism stakehold-
ers’ value perceptions toward Petra Archaeological Park.
Journal of Tourism & Cultural Change, 18(3), 252–266.
Allen, A., & Lennon, M. (2018). The values and vulnerabil-
ities of ‘Star Wars Island:’ Exploring tensions in the sus-
tainable management of the Skellig Michael World Her-
itage Site. International Journal of Sustainable Develop-
ment & World Ecology, 25(6), 483–490.
Berg, F. (2018). Wear and tear of world heritage preventive
conservation and tourism in Norway’s stave churches.
Studies in Conservation, 63(1), 320–322.
Bloch,N. (2016). Evicting heritage: Spatial cleansing and cul-
tural legacy at the Hampi unesco site in India. Critical
Asian Studies, 48(4), 556–578.
Buckley, R., Shekari, F. M., Zahre, A. F., & Ziaee, M. (2020).
World heritage tourism triggers urban-rural reverse mi-
gration and social image. Journal of Travel Research,
59(3), 559–572.
Caruana, J., Debono, E., Stroud, K., & Zammit M. E. (2021).
The impact of covid-19 closures on the Megalithic
Temples of Malta heritage site. Journal of Cultural Her-
itage Management and Sustainable Development, 13(1),
15–27.
Christensen, J., & Jones, R. (2020).World Heritage and local
change: Conflict, transformation and scale at Shark Bay,
Western Australia. Journal of Rural Studies, 74, 235–243.
czso (Czech StatisticalOffice). (2020, 2 February).Cestovní
ruch – 4. čtvrtletí 2019. https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/cri
/cestovni-ruch-4-ctvrtleti-2019
czso (Czech Statistical Office). (2021, 9 February). Cestovní
ruch – 4. čtvrtletí 2020. https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/cri
/cestovni-ruch-4-ctvrtleti-2020
Divisekera, S. (2013). Tourism demandmodels: Concept and
theories. In C. A. Tisdell (Ed.), Handbook of Tourism
Economics (pp. 33–66). World Scientific.
Dogru, T., Sirakaya-Turk, E., & Crouch, I. G. (2017). Re-
modelling international tourism demand: Old theory
and new evidence. Tourism Management, 60, 47–55.
Falk, M., Hagsten, E., & Lin, X. (2022). Uneven domestic
tourism demand in times of pandemic. Tourism Eco-
nomics. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548166211059
Fu, X. (2019). Existential authenticity and destination loy-
alty: Evidence from heritage tourists. Journal of Destina-
tion Marketing & Management, 12, 84–94.
32 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Gao, Y., & Su, W. (2019). Is theWorld Heritage just a title for
tourism? Annals of Tourism Research, 78, 102748.
Han, W., Cai, J., Wei, Y., Zhang, Y., & Han, Y. (2020). Im-
pact of the World Heritage List inscription: A case study
of Kaiping Diaoulu and villages in China. International
Journal of Strategic Property Management, 24(1), 51–69.
Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2021). The ‘war over tourism:’ Chal-
lenges to sustainable tourism in the tourism academy af-
ter covid-19. Journal of sustainable Tourism, 29(4), 551–
569.
Holloway, J. C., & Humphreys, C. (2020). The business of
tourism. Sage.
Jimura, T (2011). The impact of world heritage site designa-
tion on local communities: A case study of Ogimachi,
Shirakawa-mura, Japan. Tourism Management, 32(2),
288–296.
Johnová, R. (2008). Marketing kulturního dědictví a umění.
Grada.
Katahenggam, N. (2020). Tourist perceptions and prefer-
ences of authenticity in heritage tourism: Visual com-
parative study of George Town and Singapore. Journal of
Tourism and Cultural Change, 18(4), 371–385.
Kim, H., Stepchenkova, S., & Yilmaz, S. (2019). Destination
extension: A faster route to fame for the emerging des-
tination brands? Journal of Travel Research, 58(3), 440–
458.
Kolar, T., & Žabkar, V. (2010). A consumer-based model of
authenticity: An oxymoron or foundation of cultural
heritage marketing? Tourism Management, 31(5), 652–
664.
Kučová, V. (2009). Světové kulturní a přírodní dědictví un-
esco. Národní památkový ústav, ústřední pracoviště.
Kumar, S. (2019). The economic effects of tourism on World
Heritage Sites. Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org
/the-economic-effects-of-tourism-on-world-heritage
-sites/
Kvitkova, Z., Petru, Z., & Šauer, P. (2022, 2–3 March). Sus-
tainability in smaller unesco sites from the entreprene-
urs’ perspective [Conference presentation]. Aktuální
problémy cestovního ruchu, College of Polytechnics
Jihlava.
Li, M. M., Wu, B. H., & Cai, L. P. (2008). Tourism devel-
opment of World Heritage Sites in China: A geographic
perspective. Tourism Management, 29(2), 308–319.
Li, Y., Lau, Ch., & Su, P. (2020).Heritage tourism stakeholder
conflict: A case of aWorldHeritage Site inChina. Journal
of Tourism and Cultural Change, 18(3), 267–287.
Lin, Y. X., Chen, M. H., Lin, B. S., & Su, Ch. H. (2020).
Asymmetric effects of cultural and natural World Her-
itage Sites on tourism receipts.Current Issues in Tourism,
23(24), 3134–3147.
Maruyama, N. U., & Woosnam, K. M. (2021). Representa-
tion of ‘mill girls’ at a unesco World Heritage Site in
Gunma, Japan. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(2–3),
277–294.
Panzera, E., De Graaff, T., & De Groot, H. L. F. (2020). Euro-
pean cultural heritage and tourism flows: The magnetic
role of superstarsWorld Heritage Sites. Regional Science,
100(1), 101–122.
Parga-Dans, E., González, P. A., & Enriquez, R. O. (2020).
The social value of heritage: Balancing the promotion-
preservation relationship in the Altamira World Her-
itage Site, Spain. Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management, 18, 100499.
Park, E., Choi, B. K., & Lee, T. (2019). The role and dimen-
sions of authenticity in heritage tourism. Tourism Man-
agement, 74, 99–109.
Pedersen, A. (2020). Managing tourism at World Heritage
Sites: A practical manual for World Heritage Site man-
agers. unesco World Heritage Centre.
Poria, Y., Reichel, A., & Cohen, R. (2011). World Heritage
Site: Is it an effective brand name? A case study of a reli-
gious heritage site. Journal of Travel Research, 50(5), 482–
495.
Ryan, Ch., Zhang, Ch., & Zeng, D. (2011) The impact of
tourism at a unesco heritage site in China: A need for
a meta-narrative? The case of the Kaiping Diaolou. Jour-
nal of Sustainable Tourism, 19(6), 747–765.
Scholze, M. (2008). Arrested heritage: The politics of in-
scription into the unesco world heritage list; The case
of Agadez in Niger. Journal of Material Culture, 13(2),
215–231.
Shen, S. Y., Guo, J. Y., & Wu, Y. Y. (2014). Investigation the
structural relationship among authenticity, loyalty, in-
volvement, and attitude towards world cultural heritage
sites: An empirical study of Nanjing Xiaoling Tomb,
China. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 19(1),
103–121.
Silverman, H. (2011). Border wars: The ongoing temple dis-
pute between Thailand and Cambodia and unesco’s
World Heritage List. International Journal of Heritage
Studies, 17(1), 1–21
Slabbert, E., Du Plessis, E., & Oghenetejiri, D. A. (2021). Im-
pacts of tourism in predicting residents’ opinion and in-
terest in tourism activities. Journal of Tourism and Cul-
tural Change, 19(6), 819–837.
Su, M. M., Wall, G., & Xu, K. (2015). Heritage tourism and
livelihood sustainability of a resettled rural community:
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 33
Zuzana Kvítková and Zdenka Petr Cultural UNESCO Heritage in COVID-19 Pandemic Times
Mount SanqingshanWorld Heritage Site, China. Journal
of Sustainable Tourism, 24(5), 735–757.
Su, M.M.,Wall, G., & Xu, K. (2016). Tourism-induced liveli-
hood changes at Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage
Site, China. Environmental Management, 57, 1024–1040.
unesco. (2015). Policy document for the integration of a sus-
tainable development perspective into the processes of the
World Heritage Convention.
unesco. (2021a). Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on
World Heritage and responses by the Secretariat.
unesco. (2021b).Operational guidelines for the implementa-
tion of the world heritage convention. https://whc.unesco
.org/en/guidelines/
unesco. (2021c).World Heritage list. https://whc.unesco
.org/en/list/
unesco. (2021d). World heritage in the face of covid-19.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377667
?posInSet=1&queryId=bd741d77-d5ef-4c62-b83b
-bfaf040b7b32
unesco. (2022).What does it mean for a site to be inscribed
on the World Heritage List? https://.whc.unesco.org/en
/faq/20
unwto. (2020). Global guidelines to restart tourism.
unwto. (2021). International TourismHighlights.https://doi
.org/10.18111/9789284422456
Vargas, A. (2018). The tourism and local development in
world heritage context: The case of the Mayan site of
Palenque,Mexico. International Journal ofHeritage Stud-
ies, 24(9), 984–997.
Verma, A., & Rajendran, G. (2017). The effect of historical
nostalgia on tourists’ destination loyalty intention: An
empirical study of the world cultural heritage site, Ma-
habalipuram, India. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Re-
search, 22(9), 977–990.
Wang, Z, & Yuan, B. (2020). Harmonizing the branding
strategy of World Natural Heritage in China: Visitors’
awareness of themultiple brands ofWulingyuan, Zhang-
jiajie. Geoheritage, 12(2), 41.
Xu, H., & Ye, T. (2018). Dynamic destination image forma-
tion and change under the effect of various agents: The
case of Lijiang, ‘The Capital of Yanyu.’ Journal of Desti-
nation Marketing & Management, 7, 131–139.
Yang, C., H., Lin, H. L., & Han, C. C. (2010). Analysis of in-
ternational tourist arrivals in China: The role of World
Heritage Sites. Tourism Management, 31(6), 827–837.
Yang, Y., Xue, L., & Jones, T. (2019). Tourism-enhancing ef-
fect ofWorldHeritage Sites: Panacea or placebo?Ameta-
analysis. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 29–41.
Zhang, J., Xiong, K., Liu, Z., & He, Li. (2022). Research
progress and knowledge system of world heritage tour-
ism: A bibliometric analysis.Heritage Science.https://doi
.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00654-0
Zhang, X. (2021). Impact of rural tourism on residents’ well-
being in traditional ancient villages: A case of North
Guangxi.Heritage Science. https://doi.org/10.1186
/s40494-021-00616-y
34 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Original Scientific Article
eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during
a Pandemic: The Case of ‘Tourism Management
at UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’
Ilaria Rosani
Università della Svizzera Italiana,
Switzerland
rosani@usi.ch
Maria Gravari-Barbas
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne,
France
maria.Gravari-Barbas@wanadoo.fr
Silvia De Ascaniis
Università della Svizzera Italiana,
Switzerland
silvia.de.ascaniis@usi.ch
Lorenzo Cantoni
Università della Svizzera Italiana,
Switzerland
lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch
The tourism industry relies heavily on new technological advancements; through
them, hospitality and service businesses can perform their operations, influence and
predict future trends and visitors’ demands, and create new experiences. Due to
its characteristics – high staff turnover, seasonality, a delicate equilibrium of micro,
small andmedium enterprises as well as global business conglomerates – the tourism
sector must adapt at the same pace of innovations in digital technologies in order to
survive. Education and training have been adopting digital media and Information
and Communication Technologies (icts) extensively in instances where traditional
face-to-face lessons are not possible or sustainable.Where learning activities happen
online thanks to digital means, we speak of ‘eLearning,’ which has shown to be ben-
eficial in terms of cutting costs, offering time and space flexibility and, in the case of
the tourism industry, in keeping tourism operators continuously updated, upskilled
and engaged with industry and consumer trends.With the outbreak of covid-19 in
2020, the usefulness and flexibility of digital technologies for education and training
have become even more apparent. Remote work or telecommuting have become an
integral part of people’s lives and workplaces. In many instances, eLearning proved
to be the key element for an industry’s survival – and in some cases success. In this
paper, the case of a particular type of eLearning phenomenon will be analysed: that
of so-called Massive Open Online Courses, or ‘moocs.’ The example of the third
volume of a mooc series dedicated to tourism and heritage, ‘TourismManagement
atWorldHeritage Sites (Vol. 3),’ will be used to outline the characteristics of its learn-
ers, as well as to show the significance and relevance of eLearning for the tourism and
heritage sector.
Keywords: eLearning, Tourism, Heritage, moocs, icts
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.35-47
Introduction
Tourism’s properties must be understood in order to
truly understand the sector. One of its defining fea-
tures is that the majority of its firms are either small,
medium, or even micro enterprises, along with all of
the issues this entails for their operational structures
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 35
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
and dynamics. Only a small number of tourism busi-
nesses are huge international conglomerates, yet they
face the same difficulties as their smaller peers, but on
a larger and global scale. Coordinating their branches
through standardized strategies and skill sets is already
one of the most important responsibilities for the en-
terprise’s sustainability.
Even more daunting is the industry’s tendency to
suffer from skill shortages and employee turnover (one
of the worst in the world) (hefce, 1998); training
proves thus to be a significant time- and resource-
consuming issue (Cantoni et al., 2009). The ability
to afford and deliver continuous education and ad-
vanced upgrading courses to one’s personnel is a crit-
ical success factor for tourism as an industry (Boi-
severt, 2000). Information and communication tech-
nologies (icts) have repeatedly shown to be an ideal
instrument for training in this context. Indeed, digital
technologies are being used to overcome constraints
regarding accessibility, time, and cost, as well as to
bring additional flexibility in learning and training to
meet distinct work conditions (Sigala, 2002).
In the years following the outbreak of the ongoing
covid-19 pandemic, the numerous inter- and intra-
national restrictions on movement of people (if not
outright travel bans) and lockdowns have, in many
instances, halted the whole world, including tourism.
The pandemic’s impact on already faltering economies
has rendered tourism particularly vulnerable, making
it the most damaged sector thus far (Pololikashvili,
2020), although the trend seems to be reversing in
2022. During the first months of the disease’s global
spread, many tourist operators had to discover new
methods in order to adjust their companies. This
was a chance for everyone, from the housebound
tourist to the ceo of an international tour opera-
tor, or even the policymakers or stakeholders of na-
tional tourism ministries attempting to reorganize
their country’s tourism business, to rediscover the
value of icts for training and tourism. Some orga-
nizations or institutions, such as the unesco Chair
in ict to develop and promote sustainable tourism in
WorldHeritage Sites at usi –Università della Svizzera
italiana (Lugano, Switzerland), had already begun fo-
cusing on and researching the various ways icts, par-
ticularly eLearning, can be applied to tourism educa-
tion, and had made their archives and resources avail-
able all.
The focus of this article will be on a Massive Open
Online Course (mooc) published in English andAra-
bic in May 2021 (and closing in December 2022) avail-
able on the French platform fun mooc: ‘Tourism
Management at unesco World Heritage Sites (Vol.
3).’1 Following its presentation, it will serve to out-
line the learners’ motives for taking a course focus-
ing on tourism in heritage sites, as well as to dis-
play how they interact with e-classmates, instructors,
and course materials. The unesco unitwin Net-
work ‘Culture, Tourism, Development,’ coordinated
by Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, France), created
the mooc, which was released on 24 May 2022. The
course addresses many areas of tourism management
at unesco WorldHeritage Sites: Tourism Interpreta-
tion, Tourism Marketing, Site Management Systems,
unesco’s Heritage Conventions, Local Communities’
Involvement, Sustainable Tourism, and icts for Her-
itage Tourism. This training course is designed for and
intended for policymakers, site managers, students,
and other professionals of the tourism sector.
By 25 June 2022, the course had attracted 5,974
students from 164 countries. Based on the number
of free course completion certificates provided as of
their latest creation on the same date, 373 students el-
igible to receive a certificate (only a grade of 80 or
higher would is awarded the free certification, somore
students have surely finished the course with a lower
grade) finished the course, indicating a completion
rate of at least 6.2.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs):
An eLearning Phenomenon
moocs appeared for the first time in 2008. Stephen
Downes and George Siemens, two Canadian academ-
ics, created the first of its kind, which was based on
a distributed peer-learning model. moocs are exam-
ples of open education resources (oer), which en-
courage researchers and institutions to make educa-
1 https://www.fun-mooc.fr/en/courses/tourism
-management-unesco-world-heritage-sites-vol-3/
36 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
tional materials available to everybody, allowing stu-
dents and educators to reuse, repurpose, and remix
them (Universities uk, 2013). Indeed, moocs are, by
definition, online learning environments that provide
full and free open access to an unlimited number of
participants to various learning resources without the
need for prior knowledge on the topic or entry require-
ments, and can be accessed from anywhere as long as
an internet connection is available (Tracey, 2013; Mur-
phy et al., 2017). mooc resources often exist in the
form of recorded or live video lessons, ad hoc writ-
ten materials, quizzes, other peer-reviewed activities,
and discussion forums (Lin &Cantoni, 2018; Lin et al.,
2018).
The rising popularity and spread of moocs, as
well as the growing number of famous schools and
universities rebranding themselves as mooc provid-
ers are generatingmajor media interest. As a matter of
fact, as reported on the website Class Central, the In-
dian Institute of Technology and mit have the second
and third biggest mooc catalogue as of 2022,with 494
and 435 courses, respectively (the number has approxi-
mately doubled for both since 2021, when they had 230
and 235 courses); The Open University overtook them
in 2022, reaching a total of 1,023 published moocs.
The openness, flexibility, and scalability supported by
these online courses is appealing to higher education
institutions as well as tourism organizations wishing
to train and educate their own staff.
At the close of 2021, approximately 19,400 moocs
and 70 mooc-based degrees had been launched or
announced (Shah, 2021). The number of courses ad-
dressing tourism or historical subjects is unclear; no
comprehensive list is available. Studies that attempted
to establish one, such as Ryan et al. (2016), discov-
ered at least 30 tourist moocs; in 2017, the Europeana
Foundation (2017) estimated that there were approxi-
mately 400 heritage moocs. Still, this list of courses
has at best a generic categorization, since it defines
them as dealing with arts, humanities, or cultural her-
itage, but without specifying the objective they seek.
moocs are relatively new phenomena that have
grown more important by the year. Their appear-
ance and success spurred researchers to examine this
eLearning method to a greater extent. Some of the
principal investigation foci of mooc studies will be
briefly mentioned in the following paragraphs.
Research onMassive Open Online Courses
Before delving into the case at hand, various studies
devoted to moocs will be presented: they were done
to investigate the course structure, pedagogical and
instructional design, evaluation, reception, usages,
and efficacy. There is a considerable interest in under-
standing learners’ perspectives in eLearning. In an ar-
ticle on learner motivation and self-directed learning
(Fournier et al., 2014), control of learning was shown
to be mainly maintained by learners. Furthermore, as-
sessing the characteristics of participants through the
use of learning analytics generated by them might re-
veal learner types and motivations, as well as draw
attention to engagement, which Deboer et al. (2013)
describe as a ‘promising mooc measure.’
Other studies have directed their focus on teachers’
experiences in an effort to fill a vacuum in the current
state of mooc research. According to Lin and Can-
toni (2018), instructor experience follows the three
steps of the innovation-decision process: decision,
implementation, and confirmation; their motivation
to design and develop the mooc was documented
through semi-structured interviews.
Some researchers sought to identify the prospec-
tive providers with an interest in developing and deliv-
ering ict-based training services. Studies attempted
to map the eLearning offer by analysing the types of
eLearning course distributors and their features and
approaches in terms of delivery formats, eLearning
tool types, and even reach. Academic institutions,
public entities (divided into international institutions
and destination management organizations), cultural
heritage sites, museums, or unesco World Heritage
Sites, ngos, and individuals were identified as mooc
providers in the tourism and hospitality field (Cantoni
et al., 2009).
mooc research trends are another noteworthy
subject: knowing which topics, models, theories, re-
search methodologies, frameworks, and concepts are
employed and how they lead to focused studies that
are able to address the gaps in mooc research litera-
ture (Bozkurt et al., 2016).
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 37
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Some studies have sought to analyse the success
of moocs by measuring student engagement. Kahn
et al.’s (2017) research put at its centre reflexivity and
how itmay be induced by student interaction in online
learning settings. Gamage et al. (2016), on the other
hand, measured the effectiveness of 22 moocs by en-
rolling and participating themselves in the course ex-
perience, analysing the quality of the learning experi-
ence through the evaluation of the platforms used to
host the courses.
Objectives
moocs dealing purely with tourism are still uncom-
mon, but their importance, potential, and limitations
have been newly recognized, leading to the develop-
ment of fresh instances of online courses teaching
about the industry’s reality. Some of the inherent bene-
fits of moocs include the fact that the Internet, which
includes icts in general and eLearning in particular,
provides great flexibility in specificwork conditions; in
an information-intensive domain like tourism, these
adaptable characteristics are greatly valued, especially
in situations comparable with the limits and restric-
tions of the covid-19 pandemic.
Due to the scarcity of eLearning courses and mo-
ocs on tourism at heritage sites, the goal of this re-
search is to find and outline what motivates learn-
ers to enrol in such moocs and how they engage as
they advance through the course. This will ideally aid
other course creators in constructing and incorpo-
rating moocs into their teaching programmes. The
primary research objectives were thus: (a) to identify
the learners’ motivations for participating in such a
mooc; and (b) to identify their behavioural patterns
in terms of effort, engagement, and satisfaction.
Methodology
To answer the research objectives, two distinct sur-
veys were released for the course ‘Tourism Manage-
ment at unesco World Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’ – one
at the start of the course on 24 May 2021 and one af-
ter all chapters had been published, on 28 June 2021
(henceforth they will be referred to as ‘first survey’
and ‘final survey,’ respectively). On 15 May 2022, when
the data for this article was collected, the first survey
had received 533 replies, while the final survey had
199 responses. On the same date, 5,832 students were
registered in the course. The information gathered re-
lates to demographics, education, participation mo-
tives, past eLearning experiences, level of effort and in-
volvement, and transfer to professional practice. Data
was collected and evaluated in order to discover learn-
ers’ behavioural patterns and incentives to engage.
Results
The survey results pertinent to addressing the study
goals will be presented and discussed in the following
paragraphs.
MOOC Participants
When responding to the first survey, students were re-
quested to share information on gender, age, educa-
tional level, and employment status. Beforemoving on
to the data on motivations to participate, effort, and
engagement, the findings are briefly presented to of-
fer an indication of who the learners of tourism and
heritage moocs are.
Starting with gender distribution, female learners
made up 63.1 of survey respondents, compared to
only 35.6 of male respondents. The remaining either
did not state their gender (0.9) or did not respond to
the question (0.5).
In terms of age, learners were born between 1946
and 2006. The birth intervals were distributed as fol-
lows: 1940–1949 (0.5); 1950–1959 (2.2); 1960–1969
(11.4); 1970–1979 (16.1); 1980–1989 (23.0); 1990–
1999 (31.8); 2000+ (14.3). This indicates that the av-
erage student ranged between the ages of 16 to 42.
The educational level of the respondents tended
to be graduate: 40.3 of mooc participants held a
Master’s degree, and 7.8 a PhD. Undergraduate de-
grees accounted for 37.4, while secondary education
or lower degrees accounted for 11.6. Respondents
having academic training outside of standard catego-
rizations made up 2.0, while learners that had not
received any academic training and those that did not
respond both represented 0.4 of the sample.
In terms of employment, 40.7 of respondents were
employed; 20.8 were seeking employment; 0.7 had
no occupation; 1.1 had previously retired; and 26.4
38 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Table 1 Demographics, Educational Level
and Employment Status of Learners
Gender Male .
Female .
Other/Not Specified .
No answer .
Age – .
– .
– .
– .
– .
– .
– .
Educational level Doctoral or equivalent .
Master or equivalent .
Bachelor or equivalent .
Secondary ed. or lower .
No academic training .
Other academic training .
No answer .
Employment status High school student .
University student .
Employed .
Looking for work .
No occupation .
Retired .
Other .
No answer .
Notes In percent.
were still completing their education (of which 1.1
were high school students and 25.3 university stu-
dents). Participants that did not respond were 0.5,
and 9.8 could not be sorted into a specific employ-
ment or education category.
Learners’ Motivations for Their Participation
in the MOOC
The first survey asked learners why they wanted to
take a tourism and heritage mooc. The questions
would reveal the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of
learners: intrinsic motivations refer to activities per-
formed because they are fundamentally interesting
or delightful, whereas extrinsic motivations are de-
scribed as acts performed because they result in a ‘sep-
arable outcome’ (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Students could
choose multiple answers from a pool of three intrinsic
motivations, four extrinsic motivations, and an option
for undecided learners. The results are shown here-
after.
Examining the reasons for participating in the
mooc, the most common is intrinsic in nature: ‘Be-
cause I am particularly interested in this topic’ (47.5
of respondents chose this option). ‘Because I enjoy
learning new things’ (39.6) and ‘Completing this
course is a personal challenge’ (16.1) are second and
third in the key intrinsic motivations.
The most common extrinsic motivation was con-
nected to the respondents’ careers: 39.2 of respon-
dents answered ‘Because in my opinion it could be an
asset in my career (or my future career).’ Others in-
cluded: ‘to assist me with my professional integration’
(27.4), and ‘in order to access a better job’ (12.2).
Other, more specific, reasons included the respon-
dents’ jobs being connected to tourism and heritage,
and they were searching for more in-depth informa-
tion and knowledge to better perform in their respec-
tive roles (1.7).
A few of the respondents also stated that they were
taking the course for no specific purpose: ‘I have no
particular reason’ (1.3).
Learners’ Expectation about Effort and Engagement
In many instances, mooc literature seeks to assess
learner effort and engagement – defined as the time
and energy students dedicate to educationally pur-
poseful activities (Kuh, 2001) – in order to discover
how learners act and what interests them and makes
them engage in a course (Harper &Quaye, 2009), be it
more general or more topic-specific material. In most
situations, this information is gathered using surveys;
some researchers, however, prefer interviews, student
self-reports, experience sampling, direct observation,
focused case studies, checklists and rating scales, in-
structor assessments of students, and work sample
analysis (Mandernach, 2015).
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 39
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Because I enjoy learning new things .
Because I am particularly interested in this topic .
Because in my opinion it could be an asset in my career .
To help me with my professional integration .
In order to access a better job .
It is a personal challenge to complete this course .
I have no particular reason .
Other .
Figure 1 Motivations of Learners for Their Participating in the mooc
Learners were invited to share their expectations
on how they thought they intended to arrange their
learning experience as part of the first survey. When
asked how much hourly effort they expected to put
into the mooc every week, The majority of respon-
dents said that in terms of hourly effort, for the most
part they expected to invest in the mooc 1–2 hours
(39.7) to 2–3 hours (30.0), as opposed to 4–5 hours
(17.6), more than five hours (8.4), and less than one
hour (4.2).
The majority also demonstrated a willingness and
eagerness to engage in the mooc: they intended to
view most, if not all, of the videos (28.5 and 58.8,
respectively). Only 8.7 claimed they would watch
some, while 4.0 said they would watch half of them.
Similarly, learners were expecting to complete the
majority (36.0) or all (51.9) of the course activi-
ties (quizzes, homework, exams), 7.2 intended to do
some, and 5.0 half of them.
The following projections revealed a different pic-
ture: in regard to how much respondents planned
to participate in the mooc’s ‘social’ features (gen-
eral discussion forum, Facebook group, peer evalu-
ations), a slight majority of responses indicated a pref-
erence for engaging in some of the social mooc el-
ements. Specifically, the percentages were: some of
them (41.7); most of them (30.0); all of them
(16.6); and half of them (11.4).
Actual Effort and Engagement of Learners:
Kirkpatrick’s Model and National Survey of Student
Engagement
The final survey, based on Lin & Cantoni (2017), was
conceived as an assessment strategy using two frame-
works: the Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick, 1975) and
Table 2 Learners’ Expectations about Their Own Effort
and Engagement
Expected weekly effort Less than h .
h to h .
h to h .
h to h .
More than h .
Do you plan to watch
the videos?
Some of them .
Half of them .
Most of them .
All of them .
Do you intend to do
the activities?
Some of them .
Half of them .
Most of them .
All of them .
How much do you plan
to contribute to the ‘social’
elements of mooc?
Some of them .
Half of them .
Most of them .
All of them .
Notes In percent.
the National Survey of Student Engagement (nsse)
tool. The Kirkpatrick model delineates four levels of
training outcomes (reaction, learning, behaviour, and
results) and established itself as an international refer-
ence point for training evaluation. The current study,
based on its scope as well as on the survey’s structure,
focused only on the first two layers.
The nsse survey has repeatedly demonstrated its
reliability as the most established tool for measuring
learner engagement; for this reason, it was used to ad-
dress the second layer of Kirkpatrick’smodel, learning.
40 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
In 2014, it was later expanded into the ukes MOOC
Engagement Research Survey (Wintrup et al., 2015).
The 2014 version was used in the mooc’s final survey.
The term reaction refers to how much participants
appreciated a particular training programme and the
amount of time they dedicated to it. Reaction mea-
sures affective responses to the programme’s quality or
usefulness of training (Bates, 2004). The final survey
revealed learners’ high level of time investment: 73.8
spent 1 to 3 hours in the ‘TourismManagement at un-
esco World Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’ mooc and 18.1
studied for more than 4 hours every week. The re-
maining 5.4 claimed to engage with the course for
less than one hour everyweek. The percentage of those
who did not respond to this questionwas 2.7. The find-
ings were comparable to the results of the first survey
for students’ expected weekly hourly effort.
Of all survey respondents, 96.6 were quite satis-
fied (24.8) or completely satisfied (71.8) with the
competences they gained thanks to participating in the
mooc. The students that voiced some dissatisfaction
were a total of 0.7, while 2.7 of those that answered
the final survey did not express their opinions.
The overall satisfaction of learners is demonstrated
further by the fact that almost all would recommend
the course to other peers or friends: 96.0 (yes, defi-
nitely 74.5; yes, probably 21.5). Only 1.3 would ab-
stain from recommending this mooc (0.7 for each
of the answers: no, not really; no, not at all) and 2.7
gave no answer.
More than half of the participants claimed that
they reached a good degree of Higher order learning
(a learner’s ability to undertake cognitive tasks, e.g.
application, analysis, judgment, and synthesis, as op-
posed to simplymemorizing facts and data) during the
mooc. The most agreed-upon statement was ‘During
this mooc, you formed a new understanding from
various pieces of the course’ (very much 21.6; quite
a bit 26.1), closely followed by ‘During this mooc,
you memorized course content’ (very much 19.1;
quite a bit 27.1). The least agreed-upon statementwas
‘During this mooc, you evaluated or judged a point
of view, decision, or information source’ (very much
11.1; quite a bit 24.1).
The perception of learners as to whether the course
Table 3 Survey Respondents’ Higher Order Learning
Item () () () () ()
Formed a new understand-
ing from various pieces of
the course
. . . . .
Evaluated or judged a point
of view, decision, or infor-
mation source
. . . . .
Analysed ideas or theories
in depth by examining their
parts
. . . . .
Applied facts, theories, or
methods to new situations
. . . . .
Memorised course content . . . . .
Notes In percent. Column headings are as follows: (1) very
often, (2) often, (3) sometimes, (4) never, (5) no answer.
challenged them to do their best wasmeasured: the out-
comes showed that they are more interested in educa-
tional activities that are achievable with some degree
of challenge. Almost three quarters of those polled
(73.7) confirmed they pushed themselves to perform
their best in their learning efforts, 42.1 by answer-
ing somewhat agree, and 31.6 by answering strongly
agree. Only 4.5 strongly disagreed with the state-
ment, and similarly, 3.8 somewhat disagreed with it.
Undecided respondents numbered 13.5, and 4.5 did
not respond to this question.
Collaborative learning regards the extent to which
peers work together to solve issues or tackle challeng-
ing subject matter. The mooc was mostly tackled in-
dividually by the learners – roughly a fifth of them
interacted with other participants, while the others
chose not to. To the question ‘During this mooc,
you asked another learner to help you understand
the course material’ learners gave answers that ranged
from never (72.9) to sometimes (13.5), with the
other options achieving much smaller percentages of
the total replies: 6.8 for often, and 3.0 for very of-
ten. The remaining 3.8 concluded that no response
was required. The results for the question ‘During this
mooc, you explained course material to one or more
learners’ revealed that 62.4 never did, some occa-
sionally did (18.8), and a small share of respondents
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 41
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Strongly Disagree .
Somewhat Disagree .
Neither Agree nor Disagree .
Somewhat Agree .
Strongly Agree .
No answer .
Figure 2 Course Difficulty as Perceived by Learners
Table 4 Survey Respondents’ Collaborative Learning
Item () () () () ()
You asked another learner
to help you understand the
course material
. . . . .
You explained course mate-
rial to one or more learners
. . . . .
Notes In percent. Column headings are as follows: (1) very
often, (2) often, (3) sometimes, (4) never, (5) no answer.
did so frequently for 7.5 of the time or very frequently
for 6.8. The remaining 4.5 did not respond.
In Academic integration the focus is not limited
to course-related channels, but can potentially extend
beyond the course scope and course learner base. A
similar tendency noticed in Collaborative learning is
replicated here. During the mooc, only 18.8 of all
replies (often 10.5, very often 8.3) indicated that
they ‘asked questions or contributed to course dis-
cussions.’ A high percentage of the students (76.7)
chose not to exchange with fellow mooc participants
(never 45.9, sometimes 30.8). Those who did not
respond were 4.5. Interaction with others (not nec-
essarily only learners) outside of official and related
mooc channels or even offline was limited: never
40.6, sometimes 32.3, often 15.0, and very often
6.0. Students that decided not to answer were 6.0.
Reflective and integrative learning requires creat-
ing connections between learning materials and the
settings in which they are presented, as well as re-
examining and re-evaluating one’s own beliefs and
viewpoints, sometimes also through the eyes of oth-
ers. Many of the ‘Tourism Management at unesco
World Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’ mooc students used
reflective and integrative learning throughout the du-
ration of the course. In terms of integrative learn-
Table 5 Academic Integration of Survey Respondents
Item () () () () ()
Discussed ideas from the
course with others outside
the course, including by
email/online
. . . . .
Asked questions or con-
tributed to course discus-
sions
. . . . .
Notes In percent. Column headings are as follows: (1) very
often, (2) often, (3) sometimes, (4) never, (5) no answer.
ing, for the most part students ‘connected ideas from
[the] course to prior experience and knowledge’ dur-
ing the mooc: Often and Very Often both received
35.3 of answers for a total of 70.7 (sometimes 21.0,
never 1.5, no answer 6.8), followed by ‘During this
mooc, you learned something that changed the way
you understood an issue or concept’ and ‘During this
mooc, you examined the strengths and weaknesses
of your own views on a topic or issue,’ which gathered
61.7 and 57.1 of affirmative answers, respectively
(sometimes 31.6 and 30.8, never 0.8 and 4.5, no
answer 6.0 and 7.5). Approximately half of those
surveyed ‘tried to better understand someone else’s
views by imagining how an issue looks from his or her
perspective’ (often 33.1, sometimes 30.8, very often
18.1, never 10.5, no answer 7.5) and ‘connected
[their] learning to societal problems or issues’ (some-
times 32.3, often 23.3, never 21.1, very often 18.8,
no answer 4.5).
Skills development assesses leaners’ perception of
whether there was an improvement in their analyti-
cal, critical or job-related skills thanks to their partic-
ipation and learning in the course. More than half of
mooc participants acknowledged (often, very often)
42 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Table 6 Survey Respondents’ Reflective and Integrative
Learning
Item () () () () ()
Connected ideas from your
course to prior experience
and knowledge
. . . . .
Learned something that
changed the way you under-
stood an issue or concept
. . . . .
Tried to better understand
someone else’s views by
imagining how an issue
looks from his or her per-
spective
. . . . .
Examined the strengths and
weaknesses of your own
views on a topic or issue
. . . . .
Connected your learning to
societal problems or issues
. . . . .
Notes In percent. Column headings are as follows: (1) very
often, (2) often, (3) sometimes, (4) never, (5) no answer.
that they indeed learned new skills. This was true for
the following statements:
• ‘During this mooc, you became an independent
learner’ (very often 38.4, often 36.8, some-
times 12.8, never 3.0, no answer 9.0),
• ‘During this mooc, you thought critically and
analytically’ (often 38.4, very often 33.8, so-
metimes 18.8, never 2.3, no answer 6.8),
• ‘During this mooc, you understood people of
other backgrounds (economic, racial/ethnic, po-
litical, religious, nationality, etc.)’ (often 38.4,
very often 33.1, sometimes 18.1, never 2.3, no
response 8.3),
• ‘During this mooc, you developed or clarified
personal values’ (often 33.1, very often 29.3,
sometimes 25.6, never 3.8, no response 8.3),
• ‘During this mooc, you acquired job or work-
related knowledge and skills’ (often 33.1, very
often 23.3, sometimes 22.7, never 13.3, no an-
swer 7.5),
• ‘During this mooc, you wrote clearly and effec-
Table 7 Survey Respondents’ Skill Development
Item () () () () ()
Understood people of other
backgrounds (economic,
racial/ethnic, political, reli-
gious, nationality, etc.)
. . . . .
Developed or clarified per-
sonal values
. . . . .
Were innovative and creative . . . . .
Became an independent
learner
. . . . .
Acquired job or work-
related knowledge and skills
. . . . .
Analyzed numerical and
statistical information
. . . . .
Thought critically and ana-
lytically
. . . . .
Wrote clearly and effectively . . . . .
Notes In percent. Column headings are as follows: (1) very
often, (2) often, (3) sometimes, (4) never, (5) no answer.
tively’ (often 31.6, sometimes 25.6, very often
21.1, never 14.3, no answer 7.5).
Conversely, learners appear to have been not very
innovative and creative throughout the mooc (some-
times 32.3, often 31.6, very often 18.1, never 9.0,
no response 9.0), as well as avoided analysing nu-
merical and statistical data (sometimes 38.4, never
21.8, often 20.3, very often 9.8, no answer 9.8).
The latter outcome might possibly lie in the fact that
the course was not focused on numerical or statistical
analysis.
As the seventh engagement indicator in the mooc
Engagement Research Survey (Engagement with re-
search) was rated less relevant for the final survey of
the ‘Tourism Management at unesco World Her-
itage Sites (Vol. 3)’ mooc, Course Resources took its
place. It investigates the relationships between learn-
ers and course content from the perspective of learner
engagement.According to the final survey’s responses,
53.4 of the mooc’s students viewed all and 19.6
most of the video lectures for a total of 73.0, which
is lower compared to learners’ projections in the first
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 43
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Table 8 Survey Respondents’ Engagement with Course
Resources
Item () () () () ()
Chose to purchase resources
directly related to the course
subject matter
. . . . .
Used additional resources
that were not suggested
within the course
. . . . .
Found the given resources
useful
. . . . .
Notes In percent. Column headings are as follows: (1) very
often, (2) often, (3) sometimes, (4) never, (5) no answer.
survey (87.3). In terms of quizzes and peer-to-peer
assessed activities, 85.7 and 28.6 completed all or
most of them, respectively, compared to the first sur-
vey’s 87.9 and 46.6. When asked if they found
the mooc’s materials useful, 84.2 of respondents
indicated they indeed did (very often 51.9, often
32.3), while 7.5 found them useful occasionally,
and 0.8 considered them to be of no use to them.
The remaining 7.5 did not select an answer. For
the most part, students chose to use course materials
and materials recommended by instructors. Slightly
more than a third of respondents looked for addi-
tional documents on their own (sometimes 33.1, of-
ten 24.8, never 20.3, very often 13.5, no answer
8.3), while a fourth chose to ‘purchase resources
directly related to the course subject matter’ (never
48.1, sometimes 17.3, often 15.0, very often 9.8,
no response 9.8).
Discussion
In the preceding sections, the data gathered through
the two surveys of the mooc ‘Tourism Management
at unesco World Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’ have been
illustrated. This investigation had the goal of identi-
fying and explaining characteristics and behavioural
patterns of tourism and heritage mooc participants
in regard to why they enrol, how and to what extent
they engage in such moocs. By having access to this,
course designers are able to understand on a deeper
level if their moocs performwell or not, and for what
reason. It is essential to determine what these learners
are seeking so that the offer may be adapted properly,
both in terms of its content and instructional design
and delivery.
Beginning with demographics, the surveys showed
that the characteristics of the participants of the mooc
are comparable to prior findings in tourism eLearning
research (Rosani et al., 2018; 2020). After three vol-
umes of the ‘TourismManagement at unesco World
Heritage Sites’ mooc, these results may in part be ex-
plained with a certain amount of returning learners.
However, with the data available to us, whichwas gath-
ered automatically by the fun mooc platform, a pre-
cise ‘census’ of these returning learner base could not
be done.
A differing result was the employment status of
learners: therewere fewer employed learners andmore
unemployed learners compared to the results in Rosa-
ni et al. (2018; 2020); seeing how tourism was one of
the hardest hit industries during the first year of the
covid-19 pandemic, this result is not unexpected.
Considering students’ statedmotives, it is clear that
acquiring information and skills is their leading objec-
tive. This occurs primarily for intrinsic reasons, but
a more pragmatic angle can also be observed. This
pattern is also confirmed by Fournier et al. (2014):
students enrol in moocs for a variety of reasons,
with knowledge and skills as their top priorities, while
course completion is not as highly valued.
In other research studies where the nsse was part
of the tools employed, a positive association between
the adoption of learning technology, learner engage-
ment, and learning outcomes has been noted (Chen et
al., 2010).
A defining quality of online learning environments
is that they can motivate students and teachers to in-
teract and communicate asynchronously (Robinson &
Hullinger, 2008), which enables learners to think in-
dependently and critically. In the present study, this
was reflected in the responses to the survey questions
corresponding to higher order learning, reflective and
integrative learning, and collaborative learning.
Previous research outcomes regarding student en-
gagement in online training courses have had differ-
ing results. Student retention rates are usually signif-
44 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
icantly lower than in courses with required in-class
attendance (Dietz-Uhler et al., 2007). Studies have in-
dicated that the completion rate for moocs lies be-
tween 5 and 10 (the ‘Tourism Management at un-
esco World Heritage Sites (Vol. 3)’ mooc analysed
in this paper reaches at least a 6.2 completion rate).
This discrepancy between offline and online class re-
tention may be due to various reasons but can be
mostly ascribed to learners needing to prioritize other
work or personal obligations (or any kind of issue tak-
ing precedence over course completion) (Moore et al.,
2003), technical and technological obstacles (Jaggars,
2014), inability to self-regulate their learning sched-
ule and attendance (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2004), or a
combination thereof.
When communicating with one another, students
can be passive, active, and community contributors,
according to Koller et al. (2013). Positive correlations
have been found between reciprocal interaction and
achievement rates in a certain selection of moocs
(Cisel, 2014). The percentage of learners who inter-
acted with one another throughout this mooc was
low, according to the responses provided for collab-
orative learning and academic integration. In addi-
tion, just a few students were very active in complet-
ing peer-evaluated tasks. Furthermore, compared to
the outcomes on the actual learner effort of the stud-
ies on the previous two mooc volumes (Rosani et al.,
2020), learners appeared to be interacting less with
the videos, approximately to the same degree with
the quizzes, and a bit more for the activities in com-
parison to the previous moocs. However, percent-
ages regarding the engagement with course resources
grew.
Conclusion
The research objectives of this paper were to investi-
gate the factors thatmotivate and explain learners’ par-
ticipation in a tourism and heritage-themed Massive
Open Online Course. To achieve this goal, two sur-
veys were developed for the ‘Tourism Management at
unesco WorldHeritage Sites (Vol. 3)’ mooc. The re-
sults of those surveys were examined, which helped to
gain insight into what learners likely anticipate in such
a mooc: an entertaining and challenging eLearning
course with the opportunity to obtain career-relevant
knowledge and skills. In addition, learners have high
expectations about the relevance and specificity of the
offered material (as well as the quality of its delivery).
We can cite the following limitations of the pa-
per: primarily, the limited number of tourism moocs
with which the findings might be compared. Possess-
ing wider data pools regarding learner personas and
motivations to participate in particular, but also en-
gagement, retention, and transfer to professional prac-
tice gathered from tourism moocs or other online
courses in general would shedmore light on how effec-
tive online training for tourism in heritage sites should
be achieved.
The mooc, as it is still open for enrolment, might
yield different outcomes or confirm the ones presented
in this paper at its closing in December 2022. The re-
sults shown might thus be considered partial, as more
learners will submit their answers to the first and fi-
nal survey. To paint a definitive picture of this mooc
volume, a final analysis of the two surveys should be
undertaken in 2023.
Finally, several of the identified features might be
investigated in greater depth. Specifically, issues per-
taining to engagement and retention should be ex-
amined further in order to comprehend why spe-
cific outcomes were discovered. For instance, under-
standing the dynamics of a mooc requires consid-
eration of not only peer-to-peer interaction but also
communication and relationships with instructors.
moocs are massive and open by nature as well as
definition – hence, it is even more difficult to have
enduring, substantial, or on-topic interactions with
the few instructors available. Therefore, eLearning
course providers must carefully consider how to ar-
range their content and delivery in order to increase
engagement, retention, and course completion rates.
Especially due to the pandemic, it became apparent
that engagement between learners, and learners and
instructors became lower, but the completion rate still
increased compared to the previous volume of the
mooc. While covid-19 is a plausible factor that can
explain these changes, there is not enough data to con-
firm or deny if, in addition to the correlation, there is
also a causality.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 45
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
References
Bates, R. (2004). A critical analysis of evaluation practice:
The Kirkpatrick model and the principle of beneficence.
Evaluation and Program Planning, 27(3), 341–347.
Boisevert, L. (2000). Web-based learning, the anytime, any-
where classroom. Information Systems Management, 17
(1), 35–40.
Bozkurt, A., Keskin, N. O., & De Waard, I. (2016). Research
trends inmassive open online course (mooc) theses and
dissertations: Surfing the tsunami wave. Open Praxis,
8(3), 203–221.
Cantoni, L., Kalbaska, N., & Inversini, A. (2009). eLearning
in tourism and hospitality: A map. Journal of Hospitality,
Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 8(2), 148–156.
Chen, P. D., Boenink, A. D., & Guidry, K. R. (2010). Engag-
ing online learners: The impact of web-based learning
technology on college student engagement. Computers
& Education, 54(4), 1222–1232.
Cisel, M. (2014). Analyzing completion rates in the first
French xmooc. In U. Cress, & C. Delgado Kloos (Eds.),
Proceedings of the European mooc Stakeholder Summit
2014 (pp. 26–32). pau Education.
Dabbagh,N., &Kitsantas,A. (2004). Supporting self-regula-
tion in student-centered web-based learning environ-
ments. International Journal on E-Learning, 3(1), 40–47.
DeBoer, J., Stump, G., Seaton, D., & Breslow, L. (2013). Di-
versity in mooc students’ backgrounds and behaviors
in relationship to performance in 6.002x. In Proceed-
ings of the Sixth Learning International Networks Consor-
tium Conference (pp. 281–290). Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Dietz-Uhler, B., Fisher, A., & Han, A. (2007). Designing on-
line courses to promote student retention. Journal of Ed-
ucational Technology Systems, 36(1), 105–112.
Europeana Foundation. (2017, 29 August). The rise of the
mooc for digital cultural heritage.https://pro.europeana
.eu/post/the-rise-of-the-mooc-for-digital-cultural
-heritage
Fournier, H., Kop, R., & Durand, G. (2014). Challenges to
research in moocs. merlot Journal of Online Learn-
ing and Teaching, 10(1), 1–15.
Gamage, D., Perera, I., & Fernando, S. (2016). Evaluating
effectiveness of moocs using empirical tools: Learn-
ers perspective. In L. Gomez Chova, A. Lopez Mar-
tinez, I. Candel Torres (Eds.), inted2016 Proceedings of
the 10th International Technology Education and Devel-
opment Conference (pp. 8276–8284). iated Academy.
http://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2016.0937
Harper, S. R., & Quaye, S. J. (2009). Beyond sameness, with
engagement and outcomes for all. In J. Q. Stephen & R.
H. Shaun (Eds.), Student engagement in higher education
(pp. 1–15). Routledge.
hefce (Higher Education Funding Council for England).
(1998). Review of hospitality management.
Jaggars, S. S. (2014). Choosing between online and face-to-
face courses: Community college student voices. Ameri-
can Journal of Distance Education, 28(1), 27–38.
Kahn, P., Everington, L., Kelm, K., Reid, I., & Watkins, F.
(2017). Understanding student engagement in online
learning environments: The role of reflexivity. Educa-
tional Technology Research and Development, 65, 203–
218.
Kirkpatrick, D. (1975). Evaluating training programs. Tata
McGraw-Hill Education.
Koller, D., Ng, A., & Chen, Z. (2013, 3 June). Retention and
intention in massive open online courses: In depth. Edu-
cause. http://er.educause.edu/articles/2013/6/retention
-and-intention-in-massive-open-online-courses
-in-depth
Kuh, G. D. (2001). Assessing what really matters to student
learning: Inside the National Survey of Student Engage-
ment. Change, 33(3), 10–17.
Lin, J., & Cantoni L. (2017). Assessing the performance of
a tourism mooc using the Kirkpatrick model: A sup-
plier’s point of view. In R. Schegg, & B. Stangl (Eds.),
Information and communication technologies in tourism
2017 (pp. 129–142). Springer.
Lin, J., & Cantoni, L. (2018). Decision, implementation, and
confirmation: Experiences of instructors behind tourism
and hospitality moocs. The International Review of Re-
search in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(1), 275–293.
Lin, J., Cantoni, L., & Murphy, J. (2018). moocs in tourism
and hospitality: A review. Journal of Teaching in Travel &
Tourism, 18(3), 1–19.
Mandernach, B. J. (2015). Assessment of student engagement
in higher education: A synthesis of literature and assess-
ment tools. International Journal of Learning, Teaching
and Educational Research, 12(2), 1–14.
Moore, K., Bartkovich, J., Fetzner,M., & Ison, S. (2003). Suc-
cess in cyberspace: Student retention in online courses.
Journal of Applied Research in the Community College,
10(2), 107–118.
Murphy, J., Kalbaska, N., Cantoni, L., Horton-Tognazzini,
L., Ryan, P., & Williams, A. (2017). Massive open on-
line courses (moocs) in hospitality and tourism. In P.
Benckendorff, & A. Zehrer (Eds.), Handbook of Teach-
ing and Learning in Tourism (pp. 154–172). Edward Elgar
Publishing.
46 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Ilaria Rosani et al. eLearning Courses for Tourism and Heritage during a Pandemic
Pololikashvili, Z. (2020, 17 March). Covid-19 statement of the
secretary-general,WorldTourismOrganization. unwto.
https://www.unwto.org/news/covid-19-statement
-zurab-pololikashvili
Robinson, C. C., &Hullinger,H. (2008). Newbenchmarks in
higher education: Student engagement in online learn-
ing. Journal of Education for Business, 84(2), 101–109.
Rosani, I., De Ascaniis, S., Gravari-Barbas, M., & Cantoni,
L. (2018). icts to train on World Heritage and tourism:
The case of ‘Tourism Management at unesco World
Heritage Sites’ mooc. In C. Gambardella (Ed.), Proceed-
ings of the xvi International Forum ‘Le vie dei mercanti’
World Heritage and Knowledge Conference (pp. 783–791).
Gangemi Editore.
Rosani, I., Gravari-Barbas, M., De Ascaniis, S., & Cantoni,
L. (2020). icts as a gateway to lifelong learning and
training for World Heritage and tourism: The case of
‘Tourismmanagement at unesco World Heritage Sites
(Vol. 2)’ mooc. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of Ed-
Media + Innovate Learning (pp. 1054–1062). Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Computing in Education
(aace).
Ryan, P., Horton-Tognazzini, L., & Williams, A. (2016). A
snapshot of moocs in hospitality and tourism. Journal
of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 28(2), 107–112.
Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2000). Self-determination theory and
the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social develop-
ment, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–
78.
Shah, D. (2021, 1 December). By the numbers: moocs in
2021.ClassCentral. https://www.classcentral.com/report
/mooc-stats-2021/
Sigala,M. (2002). The evolution of internet pedagogy: Bene-
fits for tourism and hospitality education. Journal of Hos-
pitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 1(2), 29–45.
Tracey, R. (2013, 2 September). The definition of a mooc.
eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/the
-definition-of-a-mooc.
Universities uk. (2013). Massive open online courses: Higher
education’s digital moment?
Wintrup, J., Wakefield, K., & Davis, H. C. (2015). Engaged
learning in moocs: A study using the uk Engagement
Survey. The Higher Education Academy.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 47

Original Scientific Article
Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Using Flickr Geotagged Photos: The Case
of Dispersed Plečnik’s Architectural Heritage
in Ljubljana
Gorazd Sedmak
University of Primorska, Slovenia
gorazd.sedmak@fts.upr.si
Dejan Paliska
University of Primorska, Slovenia
dejan.paliska@fts.upr.si
Aleksandra Brezovec
University of Primorska, Slovenia
aleksandra.brezovec@fts.upr.si
The aim of this study is to analyse the patterns and structure of spatial visitor be-
haviour in Ljubljana, focusing on the spatially dispersed attractions of Jože Plečnik’s
architectural heritage recently inscribed in the unesco WorldHeritage List.Mean-
ingful incorporation of architectural heritage into the overall tourist experience of
the city poses several challenges for dmos – how to properly communicate the role
and the value of remarkable architectural units, how to regulate uneven visiting times
and place over-concentration, how to provide visitors the opportunity for a rich and
comprehensive tourist experience, and finally, to form ‘cumulative attractions.’ In the
case of Ljubljana, these challenges are compounded by the spatial dispersion of the
elements of the chosen attraction. The objectives of our study were: to illustrate the
spatial interactions between the World Heritage attractions in Ljubljana and their
interaction with other tourist ‘hot spots,’ and to investigate the movement patterns
of visitors to the Plečnik attractions. To this end, Big Data analysis was performed on
geotagged photos uploaded by visitors to the photo-sharing platform Flickr. Spatial
clustering and movement patterns were used to achieve the objectives. The results
show that Ljubljana’s landmarks designed by Plečnik in the old city centre are inte-
grated into a broader attraction network, while the more remote landmarks appear
to be less visited and isolated. It is reasonable to assume that one-day visitors who
have visited one ormore attractions in the historic centre rarely venture further away
and therefore they do not experience theWorldHeritage Site entirely. Themain con-
tribution of this research is a better understanding of the behavioural patterns of dis-
persed unesco site visitors, their structure, and the role of these attractions within
the destination.
Keywords: visitors’ spatial movements, Plečnik’s architectural heritage, big data
analysis, geotagged photos, spatial behavioural patterns
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.49-62
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 49
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Introduction
Understanding inter-destination and especially intra-
destination tourists’ movement patterns is important
for strategic policy-making decisions, organisation of
public transport, planning of road networks and pub-
lic spaces, safety issues, and management and market-
ing of the tourist destination, which includes prod-
uct development and visitor use policies (Caldeira &
Kastenholz, 2020; Lew & McKercher, 2006, 2006; Li
et al., 2019; Park et al., 2020; Vu et al., 2015). While
inter-destination movements have received consider-
able attentionwithin tourism studies (Flognfeldt, 1999;
Oppermann, 1995; Tideswell & Faulkner, 1999), there
have been a relatively limited number of empirical
studies on intra-destination tourist’s movement pat-
terns. One of the main reasons for this is the complex-
ity of tourist movements within the destination, with a
virtually unlimited number of combinations of places
tourists might visit and stochastic individual move-
ment patterns, which make the study of movements
within a destination more challenging compared to
movements between destinations (Mckercher & Lau,
2008). Another challenge is the difficulty in obtaining
relevant and reliable data (Lau & McKercher, 2006).
In the past, data for movement analysis was usually
collected through resource-limited surveys. However,
with the bloom of social media, evolution of mobile
technology and datamining procedures these patterns
have become easier to monitor (Park et al., 2020). In
the last few years, user generated content (ugc) has
become an important source of information for intra-
destinationmovement patterns analysis. In particular,
if we wish to monitor tourists’ movement patterns in
connection to freely accessible tourist attractions or
points of interest, which can be accessed from many
different directions, this approach has strong poten-
tial.
Tourist intra-destination movement is influenced
by a set of destination’s and a set of tourist’s charac-
teristics. The latter include time and money restric-
tions, motivations, transport mode preferences, in-
terests, knowledge, familiarity with the destination,
emotional attachment to the destination or attraction,
etc. (Lew & McKercher, 2006; Zoltan & McKercher,
2015). On the other hand, destination configuration,
type and locations of attractions and accommodation
facilities location, and transportation accessibility –
including costs, congestion and quality of signage and
other destination features – affect tourists movements
as well (Lau & McKercher, 2006).
Architecture as objectified cultural capital is a vi-
tal element of city tourism. It characterises a partic-
ular sense of the place. Especially, ‘the iconic archi-
tecture (buildings, landmarks,monuments) is particu-
larly alluring as it identifies a place’ (Scerri et al., 2016,
p. 1). As such, it has a major role within destination
marketing. The touristic role of urban architecture is
twofold. It can, on the one hand, be seen as a town-
scape, offering pleasant scenery for various touristic
activities or, on the other hand, can represent an attrac-
tion per se. For architecture in urban spaces, Ebejer
(2021, p. 65) suggests the following definition: archi-
tectural attraction is ‘a site that is of sufficient aesthetic,
narrative and cultural interest to provide for the en-
joyment, amusement, entertainment and education of
visitors.’ Understanding the function and relative im-
portance of specific architectural attractions is vital for
their sensible inclusion into the overall tourism prod-
uct and citymarketing activities. This is especially true
in the case of highlight attractions such as unesco
protected buildings.
The aim of this study was to analyse the spatial
movement patterns of visitors in the newly declared
World Heritage city of Ljubljana, focusing on the spa-
tially dispersed attractions of Jože Plečnik’s architec-
tural heritage.
Theoretical Framework
Tourism implies movement, and tourism attractions
spatial distribution undoubtedly plays a crucial role in
shaping tourist spatial movement patterns. As tourists
usually cannot consume all the destination attrac-
tions in a few days’ visit, they have to decide which
attractions they will visit and which not (Shoval &
Raveh, 2004). There are several tourist personal traits
and destination specifics influencing these decisions,
which to a great extent overlap with general factors
defining intra-destination movement. Many schol-
ars have investigated the role of tourists’ socio-demo-
graphic, psychographic and behavioural characteris-
50 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
tics in connection to visited attractions. They found
that tourists with limited time budgets, those with
low incomes, or those travelling in organised groups,
first-time visitors, and foreign tourists tend to visit
only the main attractions of the destination, while
those who are less constrained in terms of time and fi-
nances, individual tourists, repeat visitors, and domes-
tic tourists are more active and explore more and also
more remote areas (Zoltan &McKercher, 2015; Shoval
& Raveh, 2004; Cooper, 1981). Regarding tourist per-
sonality traits, previous studies show that tourists from
the allocentric pole tend to visit and explore a wider
set of attractions compared to more psychocentric
tourists (Debbage, 1991). Another obvious factor af-
fecting the decision on the attractions visit is the length
of stay in the destination (Kang et al., 2018).
On the other side, tourist movement patterns also
depend on the destination’s characteristics, including
number, spatial distribution and density of attractions.
Lue et al. (1996) introduced the concept of cumulative
attraction, where the compatibility of attractions plays
an important role. If there aremany compatible attrac-
tions within an area, they have a greater chance to be
visited than in the case where there is only a single at-
traction in the area (Lue et al., 1996). In addition, pop-
ularity and ratings of attractions cause co-occurrence
of visits between specific attractions (Hernández et al.,
2021). A destination can thus be perceived as a (more
obvious) geographical space or as a relational space (of
attractions), which can be different from each other
(Van der Zee & Bertocchi, 2018). The authors (Van der
Zee & Bertocchi, 2018) stress that the two spaces tend
to be more interrelated for international tourists and
less for domestic ones.Another theory that can explain
the effects of the spatial distribution of attractions on
movement patterns is gravitational theory (Park et al.,
2020). According to this theory, primary attractions
have greater gravitational pull than secondary attrac-
tions, while clustered attractions can create a greater
gravitational effect than a single attraction. Another
approach, the so-called anchor-point theory, was in-
troduced by Couclelis et al. (1987). The so-called an-
chor points refer to primary nodes or reference points
of distinct regions and define the spatial cognition of
individuals. That means that tourists tend to create
their specific cognitivemaps of the destination accord-
ing the relative importance and hierarchical arrange-
ment of attractions (Couclelis et al., 1987).
Movement patterns within the destination are un-
doubtedly also affected by tourists’ specific motives
and affinity for different types of attractions. Spa-
tial distribution of architectural attractions, for ex-
ample, has a greater impact on movement patterns
for cultural tourists than for recreational ones (Steb-
bins, 1996). Therefore, understanding the structure
of tourists and the movement patterns of different
segments in relation to the architectural attractions
is also important for destination marketing decision-
making.
Urban Spatial Structure, Architectural Attractions
and Tourists’ Spatial Behaviour
In the context of tourism, spatial behaviour refers to
the sequence of attractions visited by tourists within
a geographic space and the sequence of movements
between one attraction and another (Caldeira & Kas-
tenholz, 2017). Studies from the field of urban tourism
have confirmed that spatial behaviour and spatial struc-
ture are interdependent (Ashworth, 1988; Karski, 1990;
Law, 1996). Urban spatial characteristics that have
a major impact on tourist spatial behaviour are ‘the
physical configuration of space, the location of attrac-
tions, and the relative distance between accommoda-
tion and attractions’ (Caldeira & Kastenholz, 2020, p.
25).
Architecture has a specific role in urban spatial
structure as it aestheticises spaces with recognisable
markers that create a particular sense of place and
draw tourists into an area by providing a focal point for
tourist attention and experience (Hayllar et al., 2008).
Iconic architecture provides, in the words of Mar-
cus Vitruvius, the great Roman architect and histo-
rian, ‘firmness, utility and delight’ (Scerri et al., 2016).
While firmness refers to structural durability and util-
ity refers to its spatial functionality, delight refers to ar-
chitectural aesthetics. As stated byMaitland and Smith
(2009), architectural aesthetic value is particularly im-
portant to tourists because it involves intense sensory
presence, resonatesmeanings, and expands awareness.
According to Maitland and Smith (2009), the aes-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 51
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
thetics of the built environment influences tourists’
spatial behaviour in three ways. First, the tourist expe-
rience is affected by the built environment design and
the way in which it is consumed. Second, the tourism
experience affects people’s aesthetic judgments and in-
fluences their demands. Third, the form, appearance
and aesthetic qualities of built environments are to
some degree shaped by the desire of cities to impress
visitors (Maitland & Smith, 2009, p. 171).
Urban cultural tourists tend to behave in a spe-
cific way – in order to visit as many historical sites
as possible, they move predominantly in the central
areas and frequently at a fast pace (Caldeira & Kas-
tenholz, 2020, p. 8). Edwards and Griffin (2013) pro-
pose the use of spatial syntax in the analysis of tourists’
spatial behaviour in cities. Space syntax theory, intro-
duced by Hillier and Hanson (1984) and further elab-
orated by Edwards and Griffin (2013), explains spa-
tial relations that consider howdifferent groups organ-
ise and arrange space in which they find themselves.
In their study, Edwards and Griffin (2013) used gps
tracking to find out how various segments of tourists
moved around the cities. Using this method, the au-
thors diagnosed, for example, the lack of spatial dis-
persion of tourists in Sydney and proposed more ef-
ficient wayfinding systems and tourism information
policies. Paulino et al. (2019) noted that, despite the
tendency of tourists to explore areas close or immedi-
ate to their accommodation, touristmovements can be
more concentrated or dispersed due to the influence
of various factors. These include the spatial relation-
ship between attractions, attraction characteristics, ag-
glomeration of attractions, and spatial characteristics
of the destination. Generally, tourists are more willing
to visit remote places if they are unique ormore attrac-
tive (e.g. iconic sights, landmark cultural institutions,
places of historical significance) (Paulino et al., 2019).
Urban intra-destination spatial behaviour can be
examined through movement patterns and multi-
attraction visitation patterns. The former are deter-
mined by territoriality (attractions visited and dis-
tance from accommodation), linearity (patterns of
movement that depend mainly on spatial configura-
tion), locomotion (means of transportation used), and
wayfinding (orientation in physical space), while the
latter refer to intensity (number of nodal points) and
specificity (particular features of attractions) (Caldeira
& Kastenholz, 2020, p. 11).
Over the past two decades, among the multiple
sources of information used to monitor human mo-
bility, location loggers, cell phone satellite position
records, and geotagged content from social media
have been used to track the spatial behaviour of tour-
ists in urban destinations (Domènech et al., 2020).
User-generated content (ugc) has become a central
subject of examination in tourism studies, as users
now produce, share, or tag large amounts of their own
information, including images and videos. Költringer
and Dickinger’s (2015) research shows that ugc is the
richest and most diverse source of online informa-
tion used to analyse tourists’ destination image and
tourists’ spatial behaviour at destinations.
Visualising the geographical positions of photos
taken by tourists is a commonly usedmethod formea-
suring tourist activity in cities, including World Her-
itage cities (cities with unesco World Heritage as-
sets) (e. g. Domènech et al., 2020). Using Big Data,
researchers have tracked tourists and identified areas
of congestion and underutilisation (case of Akka, Is-
rael; Shoval, 2008); compared spatial behaviour pat-
terns of first-time and repeat visitors (case of Hong
Kong; McKercher et al., 2012); measured public use of
iconic buildings (Bilbao case; Plaza et al., 2015) and
identified spatial shift of attention to exceptional ar-
chitecture (Hamburg case; Alaily-Mattar et al., 2022).
Numerous studies have demonstrated the useful-
ness of network analysis in studying tourism system
related networks. In the context of tourist destinations
analysis, more recently, Kádár and Gede (2021) used
network analysis to determine the spatial and tem-
poral complexity of tourist flows in the cross-border
Danube region, Xu et al. (2022) and Jin et al. (2018)
analysed the characteristics of the tourist flow net-
work in Nanjing City̧ Paulino et al. (2019) analysed
the boundaries of destinations, Mou et al. (2020) used
network analysis to study the spatiotemporal changes
of tourist flows in Shanghai, Lozano and Gutierrez
(2018) studied global tourism flows, and Zheng et al.
(2021) analysed the spatiotemporal behaviour of Chi-
nese tourists in the Nordic countries of Europe. These
52 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
authors used various network and node centrality in-
dicators (e.g. degree centrality, weighted degree cen-
trality, betweenness centrality) to assess the network
as a whole and the importance of individual destina-
tions/attractions.
The Case of Plečnik’s Dispersed Architectural
Heritage in Ljubljana
In 2021, the unesco World Heritage Committee in-
scribed the selected works of architect Jože Plečnik
(1872–1957) in Ljubljana in the unesco List of World
Heritage Sites. The unesco WorldHeritage property
consists of a series of dispersed public spaces (squares,
parks, streets, promenades, bridges) and public insti-
tutions (national library, churches, markets, funerary
complex) created in the period between the twoWorld
Wars and sensitively integrated into the pre-existing
urban, natural and cultural context, thus contributing
to the city’s new identity.
As a result of Jože Plečnik’s intervention between
the two world wars, the urban design in Ljubljana has
the easily recognisable characteristics of a symbolic
capital city (unesco, 2021). This is apparent through
the urban landscape design of the two axes: the land
axis and the water axis. The design of both prome-
nades is based on the continuous use of space, which
determines the structure and use of bridges, parks,
squares, markets and other public spaces, as well as
buildings. These public spaces serve as spiritual places
(the churches of St. Michael and St. Francis of Assisi,
Plečnik’s Žale – The Garden of All Saints) and spaces
for relaxation (archaeological park along the Roman
walls and promenades along the embankments of
the Ljubljanica River, Trnovo Quay), as well as en-
abling market activities (Plečnik’s Market), socialising
(Congress Square, the Three Bridges, the Cobblers’
Bridge), and intellectual and cultural activities (Veg-
ova Street, National and University Library). The se-
lection of Plečnik’s works in Ljubljana comprises 14
components:
i The Green Promenade
1. the Congress Square with Zvezda Park
2. Vegova Street
3. the National and University Library
4. the Square of the French Revolution with the
Križanke open-air theatre
ii The Promenade along the Embankments and
Bridges of the Ljubljanica River
5. Plečnik’s Arcades/Market
6. the Three Bridges
7. the Cobblers’ Bridge
8. the Trnovo bridge
9. Trnovo Quay
10. the Sluice Gate
iii Other Plečnik works
11. the Church of St. Michael
12. the Church of St. Francis of Assisi
13. Plečnik’s Žale/the Garden of All Saints
14. The archaeological park/the Roman wall in
Mirje.
The locations of the designated Plečnik’s heritage
in Ljubljana are shown in Figure 1.
Previous studies show that the designation of ar-
chitectural heritage as a World Heritage Site increases
its value in the eyes of tourists, arouses their inter-
est and influences their spatial behaviour (Khairi et
al., 2022). Plečnik’s architecture was a highlight of the
city even before the inscription on the unesco list.
The city dmo ‘Tourism Ljubljana’ was awarded ‘the
best emerging Europe tourism campaign of the year’
in London in 2018. The campaign was based on the
Plečnik heritage. According to dmo staff, the Plečnik
House is one of the most visited tourist spots (Bandur,
2018).
To better understand the role of Plečnik’s heritage
in the tourism system of Ljubljana, questions arise
about the nature of the tourists’ urban experience. As
suggested by Gravari-Barbas (2020), analyses of her-
itage tourism should ‘move away from the heritage
attractions per se to the tourists and their motivations
as constitutive of the visited heritage’ (Gravari-Barbas,
2020, p. 5).
Study Area, Data andMethods
Data Collection and Database Construction
The data for this study has been retrieved from the
photo-sharing platformFlickr (www.flickr.com). Flickr
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 53
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
is one of the first and largest social photo sharing plat-
forms to offer a geotagging service, and unlike Insta-
gram, Panoramio, Facebook and others, is available
almost worldwide. There are numerous tourism stud-
ies that use Flickr data, as it is the only major platform
that offers free access to photos and metadata.
Moreover, previous research has demonstrated the
feasibility and reliability of using such data. Su et al.
(2016) analysed the geographical preferences of for-
eign and domestic visitors to China using photos from
the Flickr platform. The authors found an extremely
strong correlation (r = 0.9) between the number of
photos posted and the number of foreign tourists in of-
ficial statistics. The same strong statistical correlation
(r = 0.9) was also found by Kim et al. (2019) in a study
of tourism in protected areas in developing countries
when they compared the average daily number of pho-
tos posted over a year (‘photo-used-day;’ Wood et al.,
2013) with tourism receipts.
An even stronger correlation (r = 0.98) between
the number of photos on the Flickr platform and the
official number of overnight stays in cities along the
Danube was calculated in a study on tourism flows by
Kádár and Gede (2021). Flickr data mining has been
proved effective in previous studies of tourist move-
ment behaviour (for details see e.g. Jankowski et al.,
2010; Vu et al., 2015; Mou et al., 2020; Park et al., 2020;
Kádár & Gede, 2021; Han et al., 2021).
To crawl the data, we used a Python code for recur-
sive Flickr Application Programme Interfaces (api)
calls. The api – flickr.photo.search returns the pub-
licly available photos’ meta-information including the
photo id, photo title, geocode (longitude and lati-
tude), textual tags, photo timestamp, upload date,
owner name and owner id. A boundary box contain-
ing the administrative area of the city was used to limit
a query response.
In the next step, the acquired owner ids were used
to retrieve the information about the user (api –
flickr.people.getInfo), including the user’s name and
location. Then this informationwasmergedwith pho-
tos metadata using the owner id. In this process, we
also downloaded all available photos. However, the
content of the photos was not relevant in this study
and was therefore not included in this analysis. The
collected dataset consisted of the meta-information
of photos taken between January 2007 and Decem-
ber 2018. We were able to crawl 68,520 photo meta-
information records that were taken by 4,735 individ-
ual users. Occasionally, the Flickr apis returned du-
plicate photos, errors, spatial outliers and incomplete
records. These records were deleted from the dataset
during the data cleansing process. The final dataset
contains 65,210 records.
In accordance with the purpose of the study, we
developed a set of rules to distinguish locals (resi-
dents) from tourists. In previous studies (e.g. Kádár
and Gede, 2013; Önder et al., 2016; Su et al., 2016; Li et
al., 2018; Kádár and Gede, 2021) researchers have used
various heuristic methods to identify tourists; how-
ever, none of these methods are completely reliable
or statistically tested. Although our procedure follows
the methods used in previous studies, we applied a
more rigorous classification criterion. Specifically, all
Flickr users who indicated a foreign home country or
a hometown outside Slovenia and for whom the time
span of a sequence of their uploaded photos (within
one year) was less than one month were classified as
tourists. All other users were classified as non-tourists
and thus removed from the dataset.
In the next step, we followed the suggestions of
Hu et al. (2015) and eliminated active user behaviour
bias (caused by users uploadingmultiple photos of the
same micro-location in a very short period of time)
from the data. First, the photo collections of each user
were sorted chronologically. Then, using a spatial and
temporal filter, we merged multiple consecutive pho-
tos of the same attraction/location into a single record.
After cleaning and filtering the dataset, we ended up
with a dataset of 42,572 photos from 3,556 users classi-
fied as tourists. Their spatial distribution is shown in
Figure 1.
The numbers of uploaded photos and users per
year are shown in Table 1.
AOIs Identification and Network Construction
Since in this study we focus on intra-destination tour-
ist movement, which in our case corresponds to tour-
ists’ trajectories from one spatial location to another
(where locations represent tourist attractions or Areas
54 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Figure 1 Spatial Distribution of Uploaded Photos in Ljubljana
Table 1 Number of Uploaded Photos and Users per Year
Year            
Number of users            
Number of photos            
Of Interest (aois)), the temporal sequence of daily
photos of different users was used to create daily tra-
jectories. In this process, the density-based spatial
clustering algorithm with noise dbscan (Ester et al.,
1996) was applied to identify the most popular aois.
Details of this widely used data mining algorithm for
identifying aois can be found, for example, in Park
et al. (2020), Hu et al. (2015), Vu et al. (2015), or Paliska
et al. (2022). We then aggregated the users’ individual
daily trajectories into daily cluster level (aois) trajec-
tories (see conceptual scheme in Figure 2). In this way,
we constructed aweighted directed networkwhere the
aois (clusters) represent nodes, the edges between
each pair of i and j nodes represent the movements,
and the weight wij of the edges equals the count of
user trajectories (tourist flow) between i and j nodes.
A total of 2,612 trajectories between 559 nodes and
8,537 tourist movements were extracted.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 55
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
1. Spatio-temporal movements
Temporal sequence of user/day
photos (single photos were not
suitable for analysis).
Extraction of 9.229 user’s
trajectories.
2. Identification of AOI
(Areas of Interest)
Identification of point clusters
using density based spatial
clustering (DBSCAN).
3. Spatial aggregation
of trajectories
Point-to-point matrix with
aggregated moves between AOI.
Building network with flows.
4. Tourists
movement
patterns
analysis
Figure 2 Conceptual Scheme of Tourist Trajectories Building Process
Network Analysis
The constructed weighted directed network of tourist
movements provides an opportunity to quantitatively
analyse structural properties of the tourist attractions
and the relations between them. Following the pre-
viously cited studies (e.g. Kádár and Gede, 2021; Liu
et al., 2017), we selected node degree centrality (Free-
man, 1978), node weighted degree centrality (Barrat
et al., 2004; Newman et al, 2004), and betweenness
centrality (Freeman, 1978; Wasserman & Faust, 1994)
to estimate the role and importance of individual at-
tractions. In the context of tourism flows analysis,
node degree (in-degree and out-degree for directed
networks) measures the importance of attractions in
terms of how well (number of edges between nodes)
they are connected to other attractions.
A comparison of node in-degree and out-degree of
each attraction can be used to determine the attrac-
tion’s role in the tourists’ route: as a beginning, core, or
terminal (Shih, 2006). When analysing weighted net-
works, it is common to extend the node degree indi-
cator to the weighted degree. The weighted degree re-
flects the connection frequency (sum of edge weights
or tourist flows) between the target attraction and ad-
jacent attractions. Opsahl et al. (2010) argue that it is
important to consider both indicators when examin-
ing the centrality of a node because node weighted de-
gree only takes into consideration a node’s total level
of involvement in the network and not the number of
adjacent nodes to which it is connected.
The final indicator, betweenness centrality, mea-
sures the number of shortest paths (or weighted short-
est paths) between pairs of non-adjacent nodes that
pass through a given node and reflects the ability of a
given attraction to control interactions between pairs
of other attractions in the attraction network (Shih,
2010). A high betweenness centrality of a particular at-
traction means that tourists would most likely make a
stop at that attraction while travelling between other
attractions (Shih, 2010).
Results and Findings
By visualising the constructed network, valuable in-
sights into the movement can be gained. As can be
seen in Figure 3, movement patterns are spatially con-
centrated within the city centre. Additional analysis of
the non-clustered movement trajectories shows that
nearly two-thirds of the movements (63) occurred
in the city centre between the 10 main attractions
and that the maximum number of moves (213) were
recorded between the Three Bridges area (id1) and the
Robba Fountain area (id3). In addition, the analysis
revealed that more than half (51) of the movements
were related to only two attractions, 15 were re-
lated to three attractions, and 23 of trajectories con-
nected six or more attractions. These results suggest
56 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Figure 3 Network of Movement between Attractions in Ljubljana
that the destination attracts different tourist profiles –
roughly, those who exhibited a greater spatial move-
ment and are interested in detailed urban exploration,
and those inclined to visit only a limited number of
attractions. Since our network is composed of flows
of one day-trip, differences in movement patterns can
also be attributed to the length of stay at the desti-
nation. Unfortunately, our study was not designed to
investigate those differences. The network also pro-
vides an overview of the popularity of attractions in
terms of the number of photographs taken (Figure 3).
The Three Bridges, together with Prešeren Square, are
themost photographed attractions in Ljubljana (2714),
followed by Ljubljana Castle (1406), Robba Fountain
(1406), Plečnik Market (1357), Dragon Bridge (1322),
Congress Square (1078), and Cobbler’s Bridge (1055),
just to name the places with more than 1000 photos in
the cluster. These attractions are also the most visited
in terms of tourist flows. The analysis of the structural
characteristics of the network provides additional in-
sight into the role and importance of the attractions in
the network (Table 2). Due to space limitations, only
the structural characteristics of the Plečnik works and
the main other attractions are listed in Table 2.
In general, we can see that the attractions in the
old city centre have higher values for node central-
ity and that these values decrease with distance from
the centre. This indicates that centrally located at-
tractions play a dominant role in the network (are
connected with primary flows) and that the impor-
tance of other attractions in tourists’ movement be-
haviour decreases with their distance from the core
attractions. Furthermore, if we compare the values
of in-centrality and out-centrality, no evident differ-
ences emerge. This implies that the attractions are
balanced in the inbound and outbound connections
(in-out degree) and flows (in-out weighted degree),
which means that there are no typical beginning or
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 57
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Table 2 Node Centrality Measures for Selected Attractions in the Network
Attraction () () () () () ()
Three Bridges*      
Cobbler’s Bridge*      
Robba Fountain      
Ljubljana Castle      
The Dragon Bridge      
Congress Square*      
Plečnik’s Market*      
Old Square      
Vegova Street      
National and University Library*      
River banks – Trnovo Quay*      
Skyscraper      
Križanke Open-Air Theatre*      
Slovenian National Drama Theatre      
Riverbanks – Sluice Gate*      
Plečnik’s Žale (area )      
Roman Wall in Mirje (area )*      
Roman Wall in Mirje (area )*      
Trnovo Bridge*      
Plečnik’s Žale (area )*      
The Church of St. Michael*      .
The Church of St. Francis of Assisi*      .
Notes * Plečnik works. Column headings are as follows: (1) attraction id, (2) in-degree, (3) out-degree, (4) in-weighted
degree, (5) out-weighted degree, (6) betweenness centrality.
terminal attractions of the tourist routes. Looking at
Table 2 and Figure 3, we can see that the core attrac-
tions consist of attractions id1, id2, id3, id5, id6,
id7, and id8. According to the values of node central-
ity (node degree, weighted degree and betweenness ),
the most important attraction in the network is the
Three Bridges with Prešeren Square (id1), which is
also the most important stopover that connects pairs
of other attractions.
Because of their popularity, these attractions are in-
cluded in many thematic itineraries. In addition, four
other Plečnik architectural attractions from the un-
esco whs are among the top ten attractions in Ljubl-
jana (in terms of node centrality), namely: Congress
Square (id7), the Plečnik Market (id8), Cobbler’s
Bridge (id2), and the National and University Library
(id11). This is a clear indication that the Plečnik ar-
chitectural heritage is an integral part of Ljubljana’s
tourism system and plays a very important role in the
network of core attractions. Less visited attractions are
peripheral in the network and in blocks with low cen-
trality values. In general, we can observe that as the
distance from the main attractions in the old city cen-
tre increases, all centrality values gradually decrease.
Although it is well known in tourism literature that
spatial flows within a destination are less sensitive to
distance than flows between destinations (Xiao et al.,
2013; Liu et al., 2012; Jin et al., 2018), a significant dis-
58 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
tance decay effect can be observed in tourist move-
ments in our case. Regarding Plečnik architecture, low
centrality values can be observed for some Plečnik
works on the water axis (id126, id63, id29) and for
Plečnik’s architectural attractions at the periphery of
the network (id121, id152, id429, id430).
Discussion and Conclusion
In the research we focused on the behavioural ap-
proach to the spatio-temporal behaviour of tourists
in the city in relation to the architectural heritage of
Jože Plečnik. For this purpose, a set of his works from
the unesco World heritage list have been considered
for interpretation. Movement patterns were identified
by analysing temporal sequences of daily photos re-
trieved from the photo-sharing platform Flickr.
A clearly visible concentration of movements was
identified in the relatively limited area with a high ag-
glomeration of attractions, including the banks of the
Ljubljanica River and the bridges, Vegova Street with
the National and University Library and Congress
Square with Zvezda Park. The area around the three
bridges has proven to be a primary node which, to-
gether with the picturesque Old Town, cultural events,
gastronomic establishments and lively social life, forms
a cumulative attraction (Lue et al., 1996) with a strong
gravitational pull (Park et al., 2020). The friction of
distance related to the three ‘detached’ Plečnik sights
– St. Michael’s Church, the Church of St. Francis of
Assisi, and Plečnik’s Žale – despite relatively good ac-
cessibility, and popularity as well as promotional ex-
posure of Plečnik’s heritage is obviously a more im-
portant factor for (non)visitation than the uniqueness,
iconic character, aesthetic and cultural value of these
attractions (Paulino et al., 2019). Thus, the tourist at-
tractiveness of Ljubljana seems to lie in its overall
value, where no single element stands out. As Hernán-
dez (in Caldeira & Kastenholz, 2020) would put it,
Ljubljana is an ‘attraction city’ rather than a ‘city of at-
tractions.’ Indirectly, these results suggest that there is
a high degree of compatibility of attractions (including
Plečnik’s heritage) around the primary node.
Our findings confirmed intuitive expectations re-
garding the role and degree of integration of Plečnik’s
architectural heritage into the destination’s overall
tourism offerings. Although there is undoubtedly a
segment of tourists primarily interested in the archi-
tectural sites inscribed on the unesco World Her-
itage List, for an average visitor to Ljubljana these at-
tractions seem to represent an organic part of the city’s
picturesque scenery.
The length of stay at the destination, promoted by
Kang et al. (2018) as a factor in attraction visitation
decisions, was not included in the empirical analy-
sis as this is beyond the scope of our work. Still, pre-
liminary research using official statistics data (https://
pxweb.stat.si) suggests that this factor has some in-
fluence on the spatio-temporal behaviour of tourists.
In the summer months, when the average length of
stay is shorter, daily trajectories tend to be shorter,
suggesting that tourists’ movements are less dispersed
and they visit fewer attractions that are further away.
These relations are definitely worth considering in fur-
ther research.
Of course, there are some limitations to the present
study that must be mentioned at the end. One of the
main limitations of this study is that it examines the
movement patterns of tourists in a newly designated
unesco whs. According to previous studies (Khairi
et al., 2022), tourists’ behaviour, and consequently
theirmovement patterns, are expected to changewhen
they become aware of the unesco brand of the city’s
architectural attractions. With this limitation, the re-
sults of this study primarily serve as a situation anal-
ysis that can help destination management take mea-
sures to ensure timely and sustainable management of
tourist flows in the destination.
The small number of photos by domestic visitors
and deficiency and inconsistency of the personal in-
formation disclosed by Flickr users did not allow us
to make comparisons that would show the differences
in movements between segments of domestic and for-
eign tourists.Moreover, the information source itself is
likely to be biased – it is virtually impossible to verify
how representative the sample of Flickr users is in re-
lation to the population of visitors to Ljubljana. Never-
theless, a brief overview of the tags (the most frequent
are: Ljubljana, Slovenia, architecture, Europe, Plečnik,
city, castle, river) suggests that these users are relatively
‘serious’ tourists who focus more on the city’s features
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 59
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
than on people or fun. In terms of the potential impli-
cations of the findings on destinationmanagement,we
can note that Ljubljana is already an established desti-
nation with established tourist flows and ‘roles’ of in-
dividual architectural attractions. The organic embed-
ding of Plečnik architecture in the city, defined in the
unesco charter as the central value of its exceptional
world heritage, is indeed reflected in the tourist ‘con-
sumption’ of Ljubljana, which allows for an authentic
and sustainable communication of its exceptionality
with relatively little intervention.
As Plečnik’s scattered attractions were added to the
unesco list only last year, the destination manage-
ment can better prepare for development, promotion
and mobility measures related to Plečnik’s attractions
based on our analyses.We suggest that the destination
be promoted as a ‘new unesco World Heritage City,’
as Plečnik’s attractions are already a key component of
tourist tours. This emphasiswould increase the visibil-
ity and value of the architectural heritage and the city,
especially in the eyes of cultural tourists.
The development of tourism products andmarket-
ing communicationmust also take into account the at-
tractiveness/photogenicity of Plečnik’s attractions and
the existing patterns of their visits/viewing, which can
be seen from the frequencies and sequences of visits of
intra-destination points. Furthermore, it is also useful
to adapt the tourist product andmarketing communi-
cation to different visitor segments (according to av-
erage length of stay, motives and other criteria) and to
the season. To this end, it would be useful to conduct
additional research to identify differences between vis-
itor groups and movement patterns in different parts
of the year.
Finally, the impact of the unesco brand and its
implementation on the spatial behaviour of tourists in
Ljubljana and on the degree of attractiveness of indi-
vidual Plečnik architectural attractions, especially in
remote locations, definitely needs to be measured in
the future with some time lag.
References
Alaily-Mattar, N., Arvanitakis, D., Vordemann, L., & Thier-
stein, A. (2022, 20 June). From exceptional architecture
to city icons? Analyzing data scraped from Flickr. Pro-
jections. https://projections.pubpub.org/pub/nlq0v1z9
/release/2
Ashworth, G. J. (1988). Marketing the historic city for tour-
ism. In B. Goodall & G. J. Ashworth (Eds.), Marketing
in the tourism industry: The promotion of destination re-
gions (pp. 162–175). Croon Helm.
Bandur, S. (2018, 20 August). Turisti imajo radi zlasti Pleč-
nikovo Ljubljano. Delo. https://www.delo.si/magazin
/zanimivosti/turisti-imajo-radi-zlasti-plecnikovo
-ljubljano/
Barrat, A., Barthélémy, M., Pastor-Satorras, R., & Vespig-
nani, A. (2004). The architecture of complex weighted
networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci-
ences, 101(11), 3747–3752. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas
.0400087101
Caldeira, A., & Kastenholz, E. (2017). Tourists’ spatial be-
haviour in urban destinations: The effect of prior desti-
nation experience. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 24(3).
https://doi.org/10.1177/1356766717706102
Caldeira, A. M., & Kastenholz, E. (2020). Spatiotemporal
tourist behaviour in urban destinations: A framework of
analysis. Tourism Geographies, 22(1), 22–50.
Cooper, C. P. (1981). Spatial and temporal patterns of tourist
behaviour. Regional Studies, 15(5), 359–371.
Couclelis, H., Golledge, R. G., Gale, N., & Tobler, W. (1987).
Exploring the anchor-point hypothesis of spatial cogni-
tion. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 7(2), 99–122.
Debbage, K. G. (1991). Spatial behavior in a bahamian resort.
Annals of Tourism Research, 18(2), 251–268.
Domènech, A., Mohino, I., & Moya-Gómez, B. (2020). Us-
ing Flickr geotagged photos to estimate visitor trajecto-
ries in world heritage cities. isprs International Journal
of Geo-Information, 9(11). https://doi.org/10.3390
/ijgi9110646
Ebejer, J. (2021). Tourism in European cities: The visitor ex-
perience of architecture, urban spaces and city attractions.
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Edwards, D., & Griffin, T. (2013). Understanding tourists’
spatial behaviour: gps tracking as an aid to sustain-
able destination management. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 21(4), 580–595.
Ester,M., Kriegel, H. P., Sander, J., &Xu, X. (1996). A density-
based algorithm for discovering clusters in large spatial
databases with noise. kdd’96: Proceedings of the Second
International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and
Data Mining, 96(34), 226–231. aaai.
Flognfeldt, T. (1999). Traveler geographic origin and market
segmentation: The multi trips destination case. Journal
of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 8(1), 111–124.
60 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Freeman, L. C. (1978). Centrality in social networks concep-
tual clarification. Social Networks, 1(3), 215–239.
Gravari-Barbas, M. (2020). A research agenda for heritage
tourism. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Han, S., Liu, C., Chen, K., Gui, D., & Du, Q. (2021). A
tourist attraction recommendation model fusing spatial,
temporal, and visual embeddings for Flickr-geotagged
photos. isprs International Journal of Geo-Information,
10(1), 20.
Hayllar, B., Griffin, T., & Edwards, D. (2008). City spaces –
tourist places: Urban tourism precincts. Routledge.
Hernández, J. M., Santana-Jiménez, Y., & González-Martel,
C. (2021). Factors influencing the co-occurrence of visits
to attractions: The case of Madrid, Spain. Tourism Man-
agement, 83, 104236.
Hillier, B., &Hanson, J. (1989).The social logic of space.Cam-
bridge University Press.
Hu, Y., Gao, S., Janowicz, K., Yu, B., Li, W., & Prasad, S.
(2015). Extracting and understanding urban areas of in-
terest using geotagged photos. Computers, Environment
and Urban Systems, 54, 240–254.
Jankowski, P., Andrienko, N., Andrienko, G., & Kisilevich,
S. (2010). Discovering landmark preferences and move-
ment patterns from photo postings. Transactions in gis,
14(6), 833–852.
Jin, C., Cheng, J., & Xu, J. (2018). Using user-generated con-
tent to explore the temporal heterogeneity in tourist mo-
bility. Journal of Travel Research, 57(6), 779–791.
Kádár, B. (2014). Measuring tourist activities in cities using
geotagged photography. Tourism Geographies, 16(1), 88–
104.
Kádár, B., & Gede, M. (2013). Where do tourists go? Visual-
izing and analysing the spatial distribution of geotagged
photography. Cartographica, The International Journal
for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, 48(2),
78–88.
Kádár, B., & Gede, M. (2021). Tourism flows in large-scale
destination systems. Annals of Tourism Research, 87,
103113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103113
Kang, S., Lee, G., Kim, J., & Park, D. (2018). Identifying the
spatial structure of the tourist attraction system in South
Korea using gis and network analysis. Journal of Desti-
nation Marketing & Management, 9, 358–370.
Khairi, N. D. M., Ismail, H. N., & Jaafar, S. M. R. S. (2022).
Knowledge of tourist spatial behaviour to improveMela-
ka World Heritage Site management. International Jour-
nal of Tourism Cities, 8(1). https://www.emerald.com
/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJTC-01-2021-0018/full
/html?skipTracking=true
Kim, Y., Kim, C. K., Lee, D. K., Lee, H. W., & Andrada, R. I.
T. (2019).Quantifying nature-based tourism in protected
areas in developing countries by using social big data.
Tourism Management, 72, 249–256.
Költringer, C., & Dickinger, A. (2015). Analyzing destination
branding and image fromonline sources. Journal of Busi-
ness Research 68(9), 1836–1843.
Lau, G., & McKercher, B. (2006). Understanding tourist
movement patterns in a destination: A gis approach.
Tourism and Hospitality Research, 7(1), 39–49.
Law, C. M. (1996). Tourism in major cities. International
Thomson Business Press.
Lew, A., & McKercher, B. (2006). Modeling tourist move-
ments: A Local destination analysis. Annals of Tourism
Research, 33(2), 403–423.
Li, Y., Yang, L., Shen, H., & Wu, Z. (2019). Modeling intra-
destination travel behavior of tourists through spatio-
temporal analysis. Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management, 11, 260–269.
Liu, B., Huang, S. S., & Fu, H. (2017). An application of net-
work analysis on tourist attractions: The case ofXinjiang,
China. Tourism Management, 58, 132–141.
Liu, F., Zhang, J., Zhang, J., Chen, D., Liu, Z., & Lu, S. (2012).
Roles and functions of tourism destinations in tourism
region of South Anhui: A tourist flow network perspec-
tive. Chinese Geographical Science, 22(6), 755–764.
Lozano, S., & Gutiérrez, E. (2018). A complex network anal-
ysis of global tourism flows. International Journal of
Tourism Research, 20(5), 588–604.
Lue, C.-C., Crompton, J. L., & Stewart,W. P. (1996). Evidence
of cumulative attraction inmultidestination recreational
trip decisions. Journal of Travel Research, 35(1), 41–49.
Maitland, R., & Smith, A. (2009). Tourism and the aesthet-
ics of the built environment. In J. Tribe (Ed.), Philosophi-
cal issues in tourism (Aspects of Tourism No. 37, pp. 171–
190). Channel View Publications.
Mckercher, B., & Lau, G. (2008). Movement patterns of
tourists within a destination.TourismGeographies, 10(3),
355–374.
McKercher, B., Shoval, N., Ng, E., & Birenboim, A. (2012).
First and repeat visitor behaviour: gps tracking and gis
analysis in Hong Kong. Tourism Geographies, 14(1), 147–
161.
Mou, N., Yuan, R., Yang, T., Zhang, H., Tang, J. J., & Makko-
nen, T. (2020). Exploring spatio-temporal changes of
city inbound tourism flow: The case of Shanghai, China.
Tourism Management, 76, 103955.
Newman, M. E. (2004). Analysis of weighted networks.
Physical Review E, 70(5), 056131.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 61
Sedmak et al. Data Mining of Visitors’ Spatial Movement Patterns
Önder, I., Koerbitz, W., & Hubmann-Haidvogel, A. (2016).
Tracing tourists by their digital footprints: The case of
Austria. Journal of Travel Research, 55(5), 566–573.
Oppermann,M. (1995). Amodel of travel itineraries. Journal
of Travel Research, 33(4), 57–61.
Opsahl, T., Agneessens, F., & Skvoretz, J. (2010). Node cen-
trality in weighted networks: Generalizing degree and
shortest paths. Social Networks, 32(3), 245–251.
Paliska, D., Kerma, S., & Drobne, S. (2022). Identifying
visitor mobility patterns in Slovenia using Flickr data.
Geodetski vestnik, 66, 175–188.
Park, S., Xu, Y., Jiang, L., Chen, Z., & Huang, S. (2020). Spa-
tial structures of tourism destinations: A trajectory data
mining approach leveraging mobile big data. Annals of
Tourism Research, 84,
Paulino, I., Prats, L., & Schofield, P. (2019). Tourist hub con-
sumption systems: Convenient flexibility versus admin-
istrative constraint. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, 41, 69–179.
Plaza, B., González-Casimiro, P., Moral-Zuazo, P., & Wal-
dron, C. (2015). Culture-led city brands as economic en-
gines: Theory and empirics. The Annals of Regional Sci-
ence, 54, 179–196.
Scerri, M., Edwards, D., & Foley, C. (2016, 8–11 February).
The value of architecture to tourism [Conference presen-
tation]. 26th Annual cauthe Conference, Blue Moun-
tains International Hotel Management School.
Shih, H. Y. (2006). Network characteristics of drive tourism
destinations: An application of network analysis in tour-
ism. Tourism Management, 27(5), 1029–1039.
Shoval, N., & Raveh, A. (2004). Categorization of tourist at-
tractions and the modeling of tourist cities: Based on the
co-plot method of multivariate analysis. Tourism Man-
agement, 25(6), 741–750.
Shoval,N. (2008). Local icons and the use of space by tourists
in the old city of Akko, Israel. In M. Jansen-Verbeke, G.
K. Priestley, & A. P. Russo (Eds.), Cultural resources for
tourism: Patterns, processes and policies. Nova Science.
Stebbins, R. A. (1996). Cultural tourism as serious leisure.
Annals of Tourism Research, 23(4), 948-950.
Su, M. M., & Wall, G. (2016). A comparison of tourists’ and
residents’ uses of the Temple of Heaven World Heritage
Site, China. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research,
21(8), 905–930.
Tideswell, C., & Faulkner, B. (1999). Multidestination travel
patterns of international visitors to Queensland. Journal
of Travel Research, 37(4), 364–374.
unesco. (2021). World Heritage Convention. https://whc
.unesco.org/en/convention/
Van der Zee, E., & Bertocchi, D. (2018). Finding patterns in
urban tourist behaviour: A social network analysis ap-
proach based on TripAdvisor reviews. Information Tech-
nology & Tourism, 20(1), 153–180.
Vu, H. Q., Li, G., Law, R., & Ye, B. H. (2015). Exploring the
travel behaviors of inbound tourists to Hong Kong using
geotagged photos. Tourism Management, 46, 222–232.
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis:
Methods and applications. Cambridge University Press.
Wood, S. A., Guerry, A. D., Silver, J. M., & Lacayo, M. (2013).
Using socialmedia to quantify nature-based tourismand
recreation. Scientific Reports, 3(1), 1–7.
Xiao-Ting, H., & Bi-Hu, W. (2012). Intra-attraction tourist
spatial-temporal behaviour patterns. Tourism Geogra-
phies, 14(4), 625–645.
Xiao, Y., Wang, F., Liu, Y., &Wang, J. (2013). Reconstructing
gravitational attractions ofmajor cities in China from air
passenger flow data, 2001–2008: A particle swarm opti-
mization approach. The Professional Geographer, 65(2),
265–282.
Xu, T., Chen, R., Chen, W., Zheng, L., & Zhang, Y. (2022).
Comparing the spatiotemporal behavior patterns of lo-
cal, domestic and overseas tourists in Beijing based on
multi-source social media big data. Asia Pacific Journal
of Tourism Research, 27(7), 692–711.
Zheng, Y., Mou, N., Zhang, L., Makkonen, T., & Yang, T.
(2021). Chinese tourists in Nordic countries: An analy-
sis of spatio-temporal behavior using geo-located travel
blog data. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems,
85, 101561.
Zoltan, J., & McKercher, B. (2015). Analysing intra-desti-
nation movements and activity participation of tourists
through destination card consumption.TourismGeogra-
phies, 17(1), 19–35.
62 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Original Scientific Article
Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site
Bahá’í Gardens
Tadeja Jere Jakulin
University of Primorska, Slovenia
tadeja.jerejakulin@fts.upr.si
The Bahá’í religion is the world’s youngest religion, founded in 1863 by the Persian
sage Baha’u’llah. Its followers, including its founder, were persecuted for more than
a century until they found peace in the 21st century when its two centres in Haifa,
Israel, became unesco World Heritage Sites in 2008. The research aims to put the
principles of systems thinking into practice in the case of the conservation of the
Bahá’í Gardens, a World Heritage Site. The data for the causal-loop model (cld)
within the system dynamics framework, which we present in this paper, was ob-
tained through a field survey of leaders of the Bahá’í religion. The theoretical model
is followed by a practical demonstration of the functioning and management of the
Bahá’í Gardens in harmony with the social environment, the natural surroundings,
pilgrims, and tourists, which illustrates the interplay between theory and the prac-
tical application of systems thinking for the highest good of world heritage and
tourism. The research goes further by presenting, through the literature, the pos-
sibility of integrating religion and science, which as independent systems, are linked
by a systems approach. The essence of Bahá’í thought is compassion, equality of races,
interdependence, harmony, and living aesthetics and symmetry. All these elements
fit into the modern systems’ principles, where systems cannot work until all their
interdependent elements are balanced. The feedback loop and one’s awareness of it
bring balance to the system, which presents the systems approach as a valuable tool
in modern science.
Keywords: Bahá’í Gardens, systems approach, cld modelling, unesco, world
heritage site, pilgrimage tourism
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.63-71
Introduction
The Bahá’í faith began as a local religious movement
in late 19th century Persia and is the youngest of the
independent world religions. Today, the Bahá’í reli-
gion has more than 8.5 million followers, and is one
of the world’s fastest-growing religions and probably
the most diverse. The religion has only eight cen-
tres worldwide, one on each continent and the two
main centres in Israel. Many Bahá’ís converted from
other faiths, and its members come from different re-
ligions, races, ethnic backgrounds, and nationalities
(Hartz, 2009). As their faith forbids prejudice of any
kind, they work together to break down prejudices
and build a harmonious, balanced global society. Bal-
ance is also an essential feature of every living and
non-living system: soft systems such as an individual
being, global or local community, and complex tech-
nical systems. Modern society, which promotes sus-
tainability, underlines corporate social responsibility,
but this cannot exist if one does not include an indi-
vidual’s responsibility. The Bahá’í religion emphasizes
individual responsibility and personal development
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 63
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
in a physical and a spiritual sense. People must not
only satisfy their basic physical needs, but must also
recognize that to be truly happy is to develop their
spiritual (non-visible) side (Hartz, 2009). The nature
of Bahá’í faith and thought is systems thinking. Bahá’í
texts intertwine with systems principles in the natural
environment and sustainable soft systems such as suc-
cessful companies, organizations, and societies. Some
basic Bahá’í principles of physical and spiritual devel-
opment go well with basic systems thinking since the
religion considers all living systems, including flora,
fauna, and human races, as parts of nature. This paper
uses the term systems thinking, which is nothingmore
than sustainability thinking. All living systems strive
for equilibrium or homeostasis, so systems thinking is
about the stability of a system’s elements. In the same
way, sustainability thinking is thinking in terms of bal-
ance and equal use of the resources that are part of a
system (nature or an organizational system). For this
paper, we have chosen to use systems terminology for
the most part.
Systems Methodology
Systemsmethodology includes methods of expert sys-
tems, causal loopmodelling and simulations, thinking
and system dynamics. Jay Forrester initially developed
System dynamics (Forrester, 1961) and Wolstenholme
(1996) describes it as a five-phase systems thinking and
modelling process inwhich phases are interrelated and
followed by a causal loop model (diagram). The steps
go as follows:
1. problem structuring,
2. causal loop modelling (causal loop diagrams,
cld),
3. dynamic modelling,
4. scenario planning and modelling, and
5. implementation and organizational learning.
In our research, we set the analogy of Bahá’ís’ way of
thinking, living, acting, and systems thinking as a first
step. The data we received helped us to go to the sec-
ond step; we built a causal loopmodel (cld), wherewe
identified the main variables and developed a causal
loop model to illustrate the relationships among the
variables and discuss their behaviour. As we have fo-
cused on building a qualitative model to represent
Bahá’í systems thinking, we have omitted the third
step, i.e. making a simulation model, which is unnec-
essary for our research. Instead, as the fourth and fifth
steps, we have presented the world cultural heritage of
the Bahá’ís and its regulation in the context of tourism,
which fully follows the modelling process and systems
thinking principles (Anderson & Johnson, 1997).
Method of Systems Thinking
Systems thinking is a framework based on the belief
that we can understand a system’s parts in the con-
text of a relationship with each other and other sys-
tems rather than in isolation (Capra, 1997). Systems
thinking principles (below, in italics) complement
the five-step modelling process described in systems
methodology: (1) Problem structuring (The Big Pic-
ture or from the point of view of a whole, long term),
(2) Causal Loop Modelling (complexity, interdepen-
dency, qualitative – non-measurable data) (3) Dynamic
modelling (dynamics –measurable data) (4) Scenario
planning and modelling (short and long-term scenar-
ios), and (5) Implementation and organizational learn-
ing (we are a part of the system). Systems thinking is,
at its core, a natural way of thinking. Our planet is a
large systemmade up of nature with its living systems,
technology with its technical systems, and conscious-
ness as an evolutionary system. Aristotle spoke of sys-
tems and the systemic whole (when both contained
and container are parts of the same whole, the whole
may be said to be, since we can also say of the whole
what is true of the parts) when he discussed the parts
and the whole, and observed nature and things (Wa-
terfield & Bostock, 1996). But throughout the planet’s
evolution, only people closely connected to nature,
who have observed its cycles and learned from nature
have thought systemically. The thought of Eastern civ-
ilization is based on nature as a system within which
humans are also a part. Western civilization thought
has gone its own way. It began to divide and to see
the parts as the ones to focus on. As a result, systems
thinking did not emerge as a leadingway of thinking in
Western society until the 19th century, when philoso-
phers and mathematicians came to discuss systems,
64 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
the relationship between the whole and its parts, and
the human as a system (Hegel, 2008; Chardin, 1955;
Peirce, 1998).However, it was not until theAustrian bi-
ologist Bertalanffy expressed systems thinking in his
manifesto General System Theory (Bertalanffy, 1951)
that the systems way of thinking came to wider so-
cial acceptance. From then on, systems thinking began
to take hold in the Western world, and several works
dedicated to the different models and methodologies,
systems, and systemdynamics arose. These include In-
dustrial Dynamics (Forrester, 1961), System Thinking
(Senge, 2006), Systems Theory (Kljajić, 1994), Systems
Thinking, Systems Practice (Checkland, 2005), Think-
ing in Systems (Meadows & Wright, 2015), The Tree
of Knowledge (Maturana & Varela, 1992), Living Sys-
tems (Miller, 1978), ‘The Viable System Model’ (Beer,
1984), and Anticipatory Systems (Rosen, 1985), as well
as others. In practice, systems thinking is an upgrade
of linear-analytical or conventional thinking, where
one thinks about parts and what one sees. On the
other hand, systems thinking achieves its upgrading
in a feedback loop or the awareness that there are also
elements that are not visible but are crucial for the
harmonious development of society and the individ-
ual. These elements are thought patterns that are not
visible but are part of human evolution. In modern
times, many old thought patterns no longer serve a
purpose. It is good for humanity to recognize them
because they are becoming unnecessary and harmful.
This recognition is a point where one can start talk-
ing about systems consciousness. An individual’s, and
later the society’s, systems awareness, which leads to
co-creativity, rather than competitivity, and must take
into consideration the principles of living systems as
brought out in Haines (2006): system clarity first; the
whole is primary; understand systems holistically in
their environment; each system functions uniquely;
system purposes first; the role of parts – to support the
whole; all parts are interdependent; small changes pro-
duce big results; maximizing parts sub-optimizes the
whole; causes and effects are not closely related; faster
is ultimately slower; feedback loop; multiple goals;
flexibility; natural hierarchy; entropy; and tendency to
run down. A system cannot be understood by analysis
but by synthesis, looking at it within its environment.
With systems consciousness (not just knowledge) as
a guiding mindset, social dynamics begin to circulate
in a way that achieves synergy, connectedness, and in-
terdependence with each other and nature. Through
the example of the Bahá’í Gardens of Haifa, we will
present the systemic consciousness of the members of
the religion, who have achieved environmental sym-
metry through their thinking and work, and who rep-
resent an example of a systemically (sustainably) ori-
ented tourism that, despite the increasing numbers of
tourists, maintains the unesco World Heritage Site
in balance with its social surroundings and physical
environment.
Bahá’í Gardens and its Sinergy with Social
Surroundings and Physical Environment
The International Bahá’í Community has been regis-
tered with the United Nations as a non-governmental
organization since 1948. The Bahá’í Faith offers an ad-
vanced set of social teachings that teach how to think
in systems. The individual’s responsibility implies a
commitment to the whole, in this case, Bahá’í society,
whose approach to tourism reflects the system’s qual-
ities. These qualities – awareness of interdependency,
connectedness, dynamics, big picture point of view,
and feedback effect – lead the Bahá’ís to behaviour
such as generosity, honesty, truthfulness, humility, and
selfless service to others and nature. They are aware of
their essential role in society, the economy, the envi-
ronment, and tourism.
The terraced gardens of Haifa represent the syn-
ergy and symmetry of beauty and spirituality. They
have a rich history linked to the founder of the Bahá’í
Faith. When Baha’ullah came from Acre to Haifa, he
pitched his tent and camped on a mountain whose
name means God’s vineyard – Mount Carmel (Wor-
thington, 2011). Today, a tourist might say that these
gardens are beautiful for their symmetry and spiri-
tual peace and tranquillity that can be felt when walk-
ing on the terraces. The Bahá’í community has built
them with love and care. The idea began in the early
20th century with the construction of the first shrine.
The structure of the gardens was completed in 1999
and opened to tourists the same year. The photo below
shows the terraced gardens in the evening light angled
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 65
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
from German Colony Plaza up to Mount Carmel. The
Bahá’í Gardens show the symmetry and the aesthetic
of the whs, which evokes in the modern tourist a de-
sire to participate emotionally, intellectually, and psy-
chologically in this experience of beauty (Sedmak &
Brezovec, 2017). There are 450 plant species in the gar-
dens, and the vertical rise of the terraced gardens in
Haifa is 225 metres long. Altogether, the gardens have
1,206 steps, and annually about 1 million tourists and
visitors. In themiddle of the hill, one can see the Shrine
of Báb, a prayer site for pilgrims. The Shrine is open to
tourists and visitors only in the morning and not ev-
ery day. Image 2 shows the Universal House of justice,
a seat of the Bahá’í administration, and image 3 shows
the terraced gardens from the German Colony Plaza,
the bottom of Mount Carmel, up, in the evening with
the distinctive aesthetic of the light.
Bahá’í Gardens in Systems Theory andModelling
Bahá’í principles of physical and spiritual development
represent the basic systems thinking model, which
discusses understanding a feedback loop as their sys-
tems awareness. Bahá’ís, aware that they are building
a religious and administrative centre for themselves
according to their principles, which support nature,
symmetry, aesthetics, and harmony with the environ-
ment, have made sure to consider the feedback loop
as one of the important elements of modern systemic
principles. They anticipated that their gardens inHaifa
would be visited by pilgrims and tourists who have
a different relationship to their sacred yet attractive
tourist space, which is open to all. With a basic system
model, we can demonstrate the awareness of a feed-
back loop that implies a sustainable solution and the
regulation of tourist arrivals.
Figure 1 presents a basic system model, also called
a causal loop diagramor cld. Despite different names
of models and practices, the term ‘sustainability’ ap-
pears in the context of connected or equal evaluations
that are re-established by post-modern society with its
mainly liberal rules (Zabukovec Baruca & Brezovec,
2014). The basic system model is a regulation circle,
represented by two arrows showing the interaction be-
tween the attractiveness of gardens and tourists. The
bottom arrow represents the feedback loop that com-
Attrac-
tiveness
of the Bahá’í
gardens
Tourists
+
–
Figure 1 Basic cld (Causal Loop Diagram) of the Bahá’í
Gardens’ Attractiveness and Tourists
pletes the process. The interpretation of a model is the
following: the Bahá’ís are aware that the greater the
attractiveness of their gardens, the more tourists they
will attract, which is indicated in the model by the +
sign, representing the magnifying effect and growth.
However, by being aware of the feedback loop, in-
dicated by the – sign in the figure, they have shown
that they are aware that the attractiveness of their gar-
dens decreases as the number of tourists increases.
This basic demonstration of systems thinking goes be-
yond linear thinking in considering the feedback loop.
Without the awareness of the feedback loop, linear
thinking shows only one interest: the goal of contin-
uous growth, sometimes dramatically. Constant rise
is a cause of levelling off or falls depending on the
strength of the limiting structure, which we name a
systems archetype of ‘limits to success’ (Kim&Ander-
son, 2011). With their level of consciousness, Bahá’ís
have avoided the pitfalls of linear thinking. They be-
lieve that the challenges facing humanity today call
for spiritual transformation in the hearts and minds
of individuals and the systems of structures of society
(Fisher, 2017), representing their shift of consciousness
from linear to systems. The Bahá’ís say that human his-
tory is a spiritually dynamic process (Hatcher, 2017),
representing consciousness’s evolution.
Humanity has emerged from its former degrees
of limitation and preliminary training. Man
must now become imbuedwith new virtues and
powers, new moralities, new capacities. New
bounties, bestowals and perfections are await-
ing and already descending upon him. The gifts
and graces of the period of youth, although
66 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
timely and sufficient during the adolescence
of the world of mankind, are now incapable of
meeting the requirements of its maturity. The
playthings of childhood and infancy no longer
satisfy or interest the adult mind. [Bahá, 1979,
p. 9]
This stage of maturation, the adulthood of our
species, can only come about with a new conscious-
ness of the oneness of humanity (Langness, 2020).
With this information and the systems orientation, we
could build a larger cld model of interdependency
among stakeholders who play essential roles in the
sustainable growth of Bahá’í Gardens’ tourism.We se-
lected the following stakeholders.
• Bahá’í whs in Haifa
• Investments in the Heritage
• Infrastructure
• Bahá’í Pilgrimage Events
• Programmes and Products for Tourists
• Attractivity of the Bahá’í Gardens
• Number of Tourists
• Local Community
• Environment and Water Preservation
Figure 2 shows the causal loop model as a com-
plex whs tourism system with all its interdependent
elements (Jere Jakulin et al., 2020) that influence each
other. The ‘pluses’ represent reinforcing cycles, where
elements positively influence each other, and their val-
ues increase. The ‘minuses’ maintain systems stability,
or ‘harmony’ in the language of Bahá’í.
The system presents the interdependency and dy-
namics among the elements. This whole cannot prop-
erly function without the strength of each of the stake-
holders. In systems methodology and philosophy, one
must always think of feedback loops. The system will
decline if it contains too many plus signs, ‘+,’ which
denote growth. The minuses, ‘–,’ are essential as they
represent a sustainable or balancing factor. The in-
terpretation of picture 2 would be as follows: Bahá’í
whs in Haifa increases and positively (+) influences
the infrastructure in the gardens. The infrastructure
Bahá’í WHS
in Haifa
Investments
in the
heritage
Local
community
Infrastructure
Number
of tourists
Baha’i
Gardens
visits
Environ-
ment/water
preservation
Bahá’í
Gardens
attractivity
Tourism
programmes
+
+
+
+
–
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
–
Figure 2 cld Model Diagram of Dependency
among Tourism System Elements
increases and positively (+) influences tourism pro-
grammes, which positively (+) influences the attrac-
tivity of Bahá’í Gardens. The attractiveness of the gar-
dens increases (+) the number of tourists, and the
number of tourists increases positively (+) in the lo-
cal community. The local community ultimately (+)
influences the whs in Haifa. The description of a re-
inforcing circle shows upbeat (+) influences among
the elements of the system. To maintain sustainabil-
ity, one must anticipate and seek balancing elements
to maintain sustainable (systems) growth. We can see
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 67
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
from the model that infrastructure causes a decrease
(–) in environmental preservation, but the preserved
environment positively (+) influences the attractivity
of the gardens. The gardens positively (+) influence
the number of tourists, which causes growth (+) of
crowds in the local community, and a crowded local
community is a cause for the decrease (–) of the Bahá’í
Gardens’ attractivity.
Bahá’í practically operates on this systems level.
They believe in harmony with nature and all living be-
ings; they take proper care of the terraced gardens to
conserve water in an arid climate and practise water-
saving measures, energy conservation, and recycling.
Bahá’í whs administration increases (+) investments
in the heritage, which influences (+) balanced visits
to the gardens, and these positively (+) impact the at-
tractivity of the gardens. Bahá’í Holy Places are asso-
ciated with the green pilgrimage network. The Green
Pilgrimage Network members teach visitors (tourists
and pilgrims) about systems or sustainable thinking
by ‘walking the talk’ rules.
Systems Approach in the Practice of Bahá’í
Gardens Management
Managing Pilgrims and Tourists
The Bahá’í visitor management manages the flow of
tourists with walk-in tours and tours for organized
groups. There are many different tours and program-
mes available. The gardens offer a Lower Terraces
tour (for less than 20 people), extensive group tours
(for more than 20 people), and self-guided visits from
Wednesday to Sunday in the forenoon and afternoon.
The visitor management opened two entrances, one
for the tourists, and a guided tour through the gar-
dens (groups or individuals) from the entrance to
Mount Carmel. The visitors climb down to the mid-
dle of the gardens. The pilgrims climb up Mount
Carmel. This climbing up includes the Hakramin (134
steps) and Shifra (236 steps) stairs, which lead to the
Pilgrim Reception Centre, where pilgrims register.
There are 1,625 steps all over the terraces. Entrances
are separated so that tourists and pilgrims do not
meet. Both motivations are different, but the envi-
ronment induces serene admiration of the symmet-
rical, floristic-rich garden terraces. Differentiation be-
tween pilgrims and tourists is essential when explor-
ing the socio-spatial dynamics of tourism and pil-
grimage landscapes (Gatrell & Collins-Kreiner, 2006).
The Bahá’í visitor management created distinct spa-
tial practices to preserve the integrity of pilgrims and
tourists and their activities. In 2013, 917,031 tourists
and 8,000 Bahá’í pilgrims visited the gardens (Collins
Kreiner et al., 2015). In 2019 more than 1.6 million vis-
ited (Bahá’í World News Service, 2019). Noteworthy
is that all tours are free of charge, representing the
essence of this heartful and hospitable religion, which
wants to share the beauty of their belief and think-
ing with society and those who wish to experience the
symmetry of nature.
The entrance for the smaller group of tourists is
located at the western edge of the Bahá’í Gardens at
Hatzionut – up from the bridge. The tour takes ap-
proximately one hour and includes 600 steps. This
tour is of medium difficulty and is not suitable for
people with walking difficulties. The tour ends at the
German Colony Plaza on Ben Gurion Avenue. The
entrance for groups of more than twenty people is at
the Bahá’í Gardens balcony and includes 750 stairs.
The tours are unique experiences, offering views of
the upper and lower terraces and the Haifa Temple.
They include informal and formal gardens with a mix
of native and adapted trees, plants, and flowers. As
at most other places of this type, visitors are advised
to wear modest clothing that covers the shoulders and
reaches to the knees withoutmodern rips, to help keep
the place clean and beautiful, and to be considerate of
the sensitivities of others.
Environment: Recycling, Water Conservation
and Saving Measures
The Bahá’í Gardens inHaifa andAkko have beenman-
aged in an environmentally conscious way from the
beginning, with a particular focus on water conser-
vation. The recycling of green waste into mulch and
compost, for example, dates to the 1950s, as does the
practice of treating large areas of lawn in early sum-
mer and leaving them to lie fallow until the winter
rains arrive, when they are re-seeded.During the plan-
ning of the construction of the terraced gardens on
Mount Carmel in the 1980s, Bahá’ís carried out exten-
68 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
sive research and discussions with theWater Commis-
sion, the water companyMekorot, and some of Israel’s
top consultants and academics in the fields of horti-
culture, irrigation, and water management. The con-
clusions were fully considered in the detailed design
of the garden planting and infrastructure systems so
that the project was based on sound ecological prin-
ciples and incorporated the most advanced technol-
ogy. The irrigation systems installed in the Bahá’í Gar-
dens are among themost advanced in theworld. At the
heart of the system is a computer that controls hun-
dreds of valves to direct water through a complex net-
work of polyethylene pipes so that each type of plant
gets the amount it needs at the right time according
to atmospheric conditions. Evapotranspiration (et) is
the transfer of water in the form of water vapor from
the earth’s surface and through the leaf slits of plants
into the atmosphere. It is the leading indicator of the
amount of water the vegetation will need. The irriga-
tion planner uses meteorological data from a detailed
weather forecast to predict the evapotranspiration rate
(Bahá’í International Community, 2020).
To reduce the strain on drinking water, the Bahá’í
Gardens extensively use saline and contaminated wa-
ter, which is drawn from licensed wells on the prop-
erty and then treated to meet the Gardens’ require-
ments. Most of the water is delivered directly to the
roots of the plants at night by drips and sprinklers.
At the same time, the occasional overhead irrigation,
which must be carried out during the day to ensure
the absorption of fertilizers and other agrochemicals,
is planned for early in the morning when evapora-
tion is at its lowest. The computer detects any leaks
or other anomalies, and the irrigation team checks the
equipment frequently to ensure any problems are de-
tected and corrected immediately. In addition, there is
an ongoing review of irrigation programming and wa-
ter delivery systems, including the study and testing of
new technologies, new types of equipment, and new
approaches to improve system performance. The cen-
tral design feature of the terraced gardens on Mount
Carmel is the flowingwater, which seems to always fol-
low the visitor, pleasing both the eye and the ear. These
effects are achieved without wastage, as the fountains
and streams flowing along the steps are fed from a sin-
gle closed system that circulates in each terrace unit.
The amount of water added to the evaporation system
each day for the whole area is less than the daily con-
sumption of an average person (Bahá’í International
Community, 2020). The Baha’i Gardens are members
of the Green Pilgrimage network.
Infrastructure and Cooperation with Local Community
The magnificent infrastructure, reflecting the beauty,
symmetry, and light of the Bahá’í Faith, has become a
magnet for visitors, a source of strength for pilgrims,
and a world attraction for tourists. The Golden Dome
Shrine is the first thing one sees when entering the
Bahá’í Gardens. The Golden Dome Shrine, located
in the northern part of Mount Carmel, was built at
the beginning of the twentieth century to bury the re-
mains of the founder of the Bahá’í religion, the martyr
and prophet of Shiraz, the Báb. The site was shown to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1891 by his father Bahá’u’lláh, a Persian
noblemanwhowas persecuted for following the teach-
ings of the Báb and had to flee Persia in 1853. ‘Abdu’l-
Bahá built a modest mausoleum on the present site
in 1909 and buried the Báb’s remains. The subsequent
systematic, gradual, and strategic development of the
surrounding gardens reflected the growth of the Bahá’í
community. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s successor, Shoghi Effendi,
expanded the Bahá’í faith and formed the world com-
munity. The construction of the Golden Dome Shrine
was finished in 1953 (https://www.bahai.org/the-bab
/shrine). The building of the Universal House of Jus-
tice is on the northern slope ofMount Carmel together
with the Shrine of the Báb and other administrative
buildings. It is the international governing council of
the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh ordained its creation. He
also conferred authority upon the Universal House
of Justice to positively influence humankind’s wel-
fare, promote education, peace, and global prosperity,
and safeguard human honour and the position of re-
ligion. It is charged with applying the Bahá’í teachings
to the requirements of an ever-evolving society and
is thus empowered to legislate on matters not explic-
itly covered in the Faith’s Sacred Texts. The guidance
provided by the Universal House of Justice ensures
unity of thought and action in the Bahá’í community
as it learns to translate into reality Bahá’u’lláh’s vision
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 69
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
for a spiritually and materially prosperous global civi-
lization (see https://universalhouseofjustice.bahai.org
/unique-institution).
Local Community and Cooperation
The Bahá’í religion encourages cooperation, helping,
learning, and thinking about systems where every-
thing is connected and interdependent. The work of
volunteers, many among the Bahá’ís, plays a signifi-
cant role. They maintain the gardens themselves, keep
them tidy and run programmes and tours of the gar-
dens. The many tours and the millions of annual vis-
itors to the gardens help the local tourist board and
the city of Haifa, which in 1909 became the most im-
portant city for the Bahá’ís and, for decades, a centre
for Bahá’í pilgrims. Haifa became one of the most vis-
ited tourist attractions in Israel after listing the Bahá’í
Shrines and Gardens as a unesco World Heritage
Site in 2008.
Conclusions
The knowledge that World Heritage Sites are magnets
that attract tourists and visitors from all over the world
is attractive, but it is also the responsibility of all site
managers. The Bahá’ís, through their work, voluntary
contributions, love, and trust, have built the terraced
gardens of Haifa and the buildings that have become
part of unesco’s cultural heritage. The harmony of
scientific and spiritual truth functions as one of the
central tenets of the Bahá’í Faith. Science and religion
both contribute to a profound synergism. Both reveal
themselves progressively. The great Faiths build upon
and reinforce each other over time, just as the scien-
tific method advances knowledge with each discovery
(Langness, 2021). As wisdom is rarely explained in the
language of science (Jere Jakulin, 2019), so is religion.
Nevertheless, religion and science have systems
qualities: balance, common goals, dynamics, inter-
dependency, and feedback loops. Consequently, it is
necessary to consider the feedback loop that balances
an overloaded system. In our field research, we have
experienced that the Bahá’í religion’s representatives
are true systems thinkers. They follows systems think-
ing principles: the first principle is The Big Picture,
which is visible in their tourism and pilgrimage orga-
nization for the benefit of the environment and future.
Their respect shows the second principle of interde-
pendency, dedication to the feedback, and symmetry
of the surrounding. The third principle is visible in
their measuring water supplies, numbers of visitors
and pilgrims, which influences the fourth principle of
short and long-term – they are aware of all the poten-
tial impacts of whatever strategy they choose. The fifth
system’s principle is the Bahá’í awareness that they are
part of the environment in which they live. They care
for it ecologically, sociologically and economically and
preserve it for future generations. They anticipate the
feedback loop and ensure that all activities are planned
with clear rules and respect for balance of nature and
fellow human beings. We have illustrated their sys-
tems or sustainable attitude in a qualitative causal loop
model, which presents the first step in systems mod-
elling, a basis for a quantitative model. At the same
time, we have presented the parameters captured in
themodel through field observation and photographs.
The future of preserving the world’s cultural her-
itage for the planet’s and humanity’s benefit lies in un-
derstanding the systems approach of those who make
decisions about the future development of tourism.
Understanding systems thinking and systems dynam-
ics brings sustainability to tourism development in
a natural way. The example set by the Bahá’í reli-
gion, with its systems practice of managing tourism
to maintain a balance in the environment, is one that
tourism operators, regardless of the type of tourism,
must follow in the present and the future.
References
Bahá, A. (1979). Foundations of world unity. us Bahá’í Pub-
lishing Trust.
Anderson, V., & Johnson, L. (2007). Systems thinking basics:
From concepts to causal loops. Pegasus Communications.
Bahá’í World News Service. (2019, 25 October). For bicen-
tenary, Shrine of the Báb opens to thousands of visitors,
community leaders. https://news.bahai.org/story/1365/
Beer, S. (1984). The viable systemmodel: Its provenance, de-
velopment, methodology and pathology. The Journal of
the Operational Research Society, 35(1), 7–25.
Bertalanffy, L. von. (1951). General system theory: A new ap-
proach to unity of science. JohnHopkins University Press.
70 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Tadeja Jere Jakulin Systems Approach in the World Heritage Site Bahá’í Gardens
Capra, F. (1997). The web of life: A new scientific understand-
ing of living systems. Anchor Books.
Chardin, P. T. de. (1955). Phenomene humaine. Editions du
Seuil.
Checkland, P. (2005). Systems thinking, systems practice: In-
cludes a 30-year retrospective. John Wiley & Sons.
Coleman, S. (2017). Pilgrimage policy management: Be-
tween shrine strategy and ritual improvisation. In M.
Lappakari & K. Griffin (Eds.), Pilgrimage and tourism to
holy cities: Ideological and management perspectives (pp.
87–99). cab International.
Collins Kreiner, N., Shmueli, D. F., & Gal, M. B. (2015). Un-
derstanding conflicts at religious-tourism sites: The Ba-
hai World Center, Israel. Tourism Management Perspec-
tives, 16, 228–236.
Fisher, M. P. (2017). Living religions. Pearson.
Forrester, J. W. (1961). Industrial dynamics. mit Press.
Gatrell, J. D., &Collins-Kreiner, N. (2006).Negotiated space:
Tourists, pilgrims, and the Bahá’í terraced gardens in
Haifa. Geoforum, 37(5), 765–778.
Hartz, P. (2009). Bahai faith. Chelsea House.
Hatcher, J. S. (2007). The ascent of society: The social imper-
ative in personal salvation. Baha’i Publishing Trust.
Hegel, G.W. F. (2008).Wissenschaft der Logik: die Lehre vom
Sein (Philosophische Bibliothek No. 385). Meiner.
Jere Jakulin, T. (2019). The ancient wisdom and motivation
of Shams-i Tabrizi or analogy of contemporary systems
science and Shams-i Tabrizi Wisdom. In R. Dowson, J.
Yaqub, & R. Raj (Eds.), Spiritual and religious tourism:
Management andmotivations andmanagement (pp. 153–
162). cab International.
Jere Jakulin, T., Rozman, C. K., Pažek, K. U., Kljajić Borštnar,
M., Škraba, A. U., Kofjač, D. U., & Jakulin, V. U. (2020).
Systems approach concepts in contemporary society sys-
tems thinking, modelling and simulation in science and
practice. Kovač.
Kim, D. H., & Anderson, V. (2011). Systems archetype basics:
From story to structure. Pegasus Communications.
Kljajić, M. (1994). Teorija sistemov.Moderna organizacija.
Langness, D., & Poer, B. (2021, 2 February). Unity of science
and religion.Bahai Teachings. https://bahaiteachings.org
/bahai-principles-the-unity-of-science-and-religion/
Langness, D., & Muquit, M. Y. (2020, 9 December).Oneness
of humanity.Bahai Teachings. https://bahaiteachings.org
/bahai-principles-oneness-of-humanity/
Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1992). The tree of knowledge:
The biological roots of human understanding. Shambhala.
Meadows, D. H., &Wright, D. (2015). Thinking in systems: A
primer. Chelsea Green Publishing.
Miller J. G. (1978). Living systems.McGraw-Hill.
Peirce, C. S. (1998).The essential peirce: Selected philosophical
writings. Indiana University Press.
Rosen, R. (1985). Anticipatory systems. Pergamon.
Sedmak, G., & Brezovec, A. (2017). Visitors’ preferences for
museum interpretation: Identifying and targeting mar-
ket segments. Academica Turistica, 10(2), 141–150.
Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art & practice of the
learning organization. Currency-Doubleday.
Zabukovec Baruca, P., & Brezovec, A. (2014). The responses
of responsible tourists. Academica Turistica, 7(1), 23–33.
Waterfield, R., & Bostock, D. (1996).Aristotle physics.Oxford
University Press.
Wolstenholme, E. F. (1996). System enquiry: A systemdynam-
ics approach.Wiley.
Worthington, F. (2011). Abraham: One God, three wives, five
religions. Bahai Pub.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 71

Original Scientific Article
The Role Higher Education Plays
towards the Development of Sustainable
Socio-Economic Opportunities for Mapungubwe
World Cultural Heritage Site Communities
Lombuso Precious Shabalala
University of South Africa, South Africa
shabalp@unisa.ac.za
Using Mapungubwe World Cultural Heritage Site as a case study, this paper inves-
tigates the role academics at Higher Education Institutions (heis) can play in fa-
cilitating the development of a more holistic approach to cultural heritage tourism
(cht). cht is presented as a vehicle that can be utilised by higher education insti-
tutions within protected heritage areas towards mitigating poverty alleviation and
socio-economic development, which contributes to addressing Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals (sdgs) 1, 8 and 11. A sequential mixed method was adopted for this
study. Focus groups were conducted with 15 participants using a semi-structured
interview guide. The researcher also administered a survey of 100 questionnaires.
Content analysis and spss were used to analyse the data. The key finding is that
community engagement initiatives of heis could play an important role in socio-
economic development. However, it is essential to involve different stakeholders in
order to effectively identify socioeconomic opportunities aimed at addressing the
primary needs of the communities. Stakeholders’ involvement in decision-making
processes about community development projects is vital because imposing devel-
opment upon communities could result in disputes and withdrawal of community
support. In the Mapungubwe area, heis, through community education, engage-
ment and involvement in socio-economic development projects from an initial stage
could contribute towards achieving sustainable socio-economic opportunities and in
this way accelerate the implementation of sdgs. This study highlights the value of
community engagement projects as potential drivers of a holistic approach to cht
and the drive towards more sustainable management of cultural heritage sites.
Keywords: cultural heritage tourism, community development and engagement,
Mapungubwe World Cultural Heritage Site, higher education, Sustainable
Development Goals
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.73-87
Introduction
Globally,many cultural heritage sites are located in ru-
ral areas, and this often results in social and economic
challenges related to job opportunities, infrastructure
and socio-economic reforms. In some communities
located near protected area sites, the declaration of a
World Heritage Site can be viewed as an opportunity
due to an increase in the number of visitors to the ge-
ographical area, and an associated increase in income
through tourism activities (Lopez-Guzman & Santa-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 73
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Cruz, 2016). On that note, a declaration could suggest
an answer to the socio-economic challenges faced by
the respective local communities. The envisaged ben-
efits of the declaration of World Heritage Sites speaks
directly to sdg 1 that advocates for the end of global
poverty in all its forms, followed by sdg 8, that alludes
to the promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustain-
able economic growth, full and productive employ-
ment and decent work for all. Lastly, sdg 11 strives to
make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, re-
silient and sustainable (United Nations, 2015, p. 18).
Closely aligned to the 2030 sdg Agenda (United
Nations, 2015) implemented in 2015 is the South Afri-
can Department of Higher Education and Training
(dhet) agenda captured in the White Paper for Post-
School Education andTraining (dhet, 2013) that places
the empowerment of society as one of the focus areas
of Higher Education in South Africa. In addition, em-
powerment should include the building of a lifelong
learning and training system that will not only assist
in the eradication of the apartheid legacy but will also
help to build a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous
South Africa where access to quality education (sdg
4) is viewed as an important component in the fight
against poverty (sdg 1) and inequality in affected so-
cieties.
This paper investigated the role academics at High-
er Education Institutions (heis) can play in facilitat-
ing the development of a more holistic approach to
cultural heritage tourism (cht). The focus of this pa-
per was to investigate how community development
initiatives undertaken by academics in the area of cul-
tural heritage tourism has facilitated a more holistic
approach in achieving sustainable development in a
local community in South Africa, the Mapungubwe
whs communities. Such a study could play a role in
empowering people to participate in the development
of sustainable socio-economic opportunities in their
own communities. MapungubweWorld Cultural Her-
itage Site (mwchs) situated in South Africa, Limpopo
Province has been adopted as the case study.
Background
The White Paper for Post-School Education and Ed-
ucation (dhet, 2013, p. vii) indicates that the pur-
pose of an education and training system is to pro-
vide the relevant knowledge and skills that are needed
within an economy. With such a system, populations
can have a better understanding of their own com-
munities and be able to provide a more meaningful
contribution to political, social and cultural societies
in SouthAfrica. The authors of this paper contend that
Higher Education Institutions (heis) can, through
their community-engaged research, contribute to a
cohort of citizens who can think, who are creative,
who are more effective and are ethical in their actions
to achieve better lives for themselves within their re-
spective societies.
A robust connection exists between tourism and
Cultural Heritage (ch) because cultural tourism gives
an experience and is related to cultural treasures. Fur-
thermore, the ch belongs to the people of the partic-
ular community, clan or tribe. Through cht, ch can
be shared by many through education and the pro-
motion of tourism. Similarly, the social and economic
action benefits the locals and the custodians of the
culture. Nowadays, the ch is packaged or commer-
cialised in a way that suits and caters for the specific
segment that exists in the tourism market. Therefore,
through research, academics in heis can play a vi-
tal role in connecting communities and the manage-
ment of these sites to ensure that more suitable man-
agement models are used that will be to the benefit
of all stakeholders, including communities. Over and
above this, research can also add value to the role that
academics can play in the lifelong training of commu-
nity members through community engagement. un-
esco (2007b) is of the view that cht is an extended
developing segment that permitsmaintainable growth
through the development of and commitment to lo-
cal but sustainable cultural tourism projects and re-
lated practices to the benefit of the local community.
In support of the view by unesco, the argument for
a need to educate communities using community en-
gagement (ce) as directed by the South African dhet
to heis becomes paramount. Keitumetse (2014) and
Kurin (2004) advocate for community education and
knowledge enhancement within their respective geo-
graphic sites, and this must include the potential com-
mercial benefits that would proceed from the preser-
74 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
vation of the local cultural heritage such as relics,mon-
uments, sites and physical and human landscapes. Fur-
thermore, these scholars also indicate that educated
communities tend to value heritage in such a manner
that reinforces relations between the custodians of the
culture and the project managers leading the process.
Therefore, this paper suggests the importance of ed-
ucating the custodians of the local culture, including
the local communities that reside closer to protected
sites. This education should relate to the systems, poli-
cies and the tangible and intangible gains or benefits
related to cht.
TheWorldHeritage Committee (unesco, 2002) is
aligned with the 2030 sdg Agenda (United Nations,
2015), and the White Paper for Post-Schooling Educa-
tion and Training (dhet, 2013) declared job creation
and community involvement as part of their key ar-
eas of performance. In acknowledgement of the dec-
laration, the South African Government, through the
National Department of Tourism (ndt, 2011), imple-
mented the National Tourism Sector Strategy 2016–
2026, (ntss) supported by the National Heritage and
Cultural Tourism Strategy (nhcts) that was imple-
mented in 2012. The ntss maintains that tourism is a
crucial global industry, for its contribution to the gross
domestic product of many countries and in addition
to the local trade power. This implies that tourism has
the potential to contribute towards job creation and
to mutual understanding when it is well guided and
managed. This is most likely why the South African
Government plays an important role in its viability
and success. The strategy recognises tourism as an in-
dustry with a massive potential role in growing the
economy as it is in accordance with the nhcts vi-
sion to ‘realise the global competitiveness of South
African heritage and cultural resources through prod-
uct development for sustainable tourism and eco-
nomic development’ (ndt, 2012, p. 15). Evidently, since
the adoption of the White Paper on Science, Technol-
ogy and Innovation (dst, 2019), the South African
Government has been committed to using science,
technology and innovation (sti), in which tourism
forms a part, to develop the country through eco-
nomic growth, job creation and socio-economic re-
form and to overcome the legacy of apartheid. For
these reasons, academics in he, through their exper-
tise, such as research, and guided by the White Pa-
per for Post-Schooling Education and Training (dhet,
2013) and the White Paper on Science and Technol-
ogy (dacst, 1996) aligned with the 2030 sdg Agenda
(United Nations, 2015) and the 2030 National Devel-
opment Plan (npc, 2011), can take the current status
of the tourism industry, in particular cht, to greater
heights by taking a lead in advocating for sti ac-
ceptance and usage, and development and adapta-
tion of community education methods/content, in-
cluding management models enhancement. Further-
more, academics can also play a role in facilitating the
proper implementation of the sdgs on the ground
level, which could assist in improving the interaction
between site management and communities. In ad-
dition, this facilitation could also alleviate the exist-
ing discourse, in particular the barriers to achieving
a more holistic development approach to ch and ac-
celerating the implementation of the sdgs in a local
community in South Africa.
Furthermore, the ntss and nhcts deal with the
credit granted to tourism as a needed instrument that
can be utilised to stimulate reciprocal understanding
and tolerance during interactions between tourists
and host communities. For example, South African
National Parks (sanparks) is working in conjunc-
tion with the mwchs Management towards the im-
plementation of the stated strategies into practice in
order to benefit all the inhabitants of Mapungubwe
and local community members. Although the contri-
bution of tourism to this community is substantial, a
number of challenges remains. The challenges must
be afforded attention in order to successfully facili-
tate more opportunities relating to sustainable local
development and poverty alleviation, through the lo-
calisation of benefits.
These challenges include issues of ownership, ac-
cess, economic leakages (from the local economy and
through imports), local employment, benefit distribu-
tion, social and environmental impacts and depen-
dency. Such challenges are perceived to effectively
yield positive impacts when addressed at the desti-
nation level with the active participation of the local
communities. In addition, Landorf (2009, p. 53) notes
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 75
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
that the concept of sustainable heritage tourism identi-
fies two key principles of sustainable practice, namely:
first, a planning process that is long term and holis-
tic and second, multiple stakeholder participation in
that planning process. On that note, the promotion
of the integration of heritage resource conservation
within urban and rural planning and in the context
of social and economic development, utilising the re-
inforcement of policy and more operational admin-
istration with relevant legislative implementation, as
is delineated in the National Heritage Resource Act
(nhra), No. 25 of 1999, could be envisaged as a tool to
realise the desired goals. Similarly, the ntss Strategy,
unesco (2007a) Guidelines, Tourism White Paper
(deat, 1996) and sdgs 2030 guidelines, including
peer-reviewed literature (Triangulation), can also be
utilised to serve this purpose.
A study conducted by Ayoo (2007) noted that the
allocation of world heritage status could be utilised
by the management of these areas as a very effective
marketing strategy of their destination as the status
could provide a competitive advantage when market-
ing a tourism site globally. On the same note, manage-
ment can utilise the status to ensure that heritageman-
agement and conservation activities are perceived to
be fundamental at all times, as alluded to by the ntss,
nhra and unesco, just to name a few. In addition,
Jimura (2019) alluded to the importance of sustain-
able tourism projects development relating to a proper
management plan within whs, as findings have estab-
lished that through engaged research, tourism has the
potential to address real life issues that can be ben-
eficial to the local communities residing within and
around the project area. It is noted that careful, consid-
ered and meaningful interactions with the local com-
munity are crucial to ensure a positive adoption of the
management model by a whs in order to eliminate
a negative impact on the site. Through research and
community engagement, academics in he could posi-
tion themselves to contribute meaningfully to the de-
velopment of tailored-mademanagement models that
could benefit protected areas with unique character-
istics, as is the case with mwchs. Furthermore, he,
through their academics, could advisemanagement or
policy makers during the policy and strategy devel-
opment process to ensure practicality and sustainabil-
ity, by ensuring that the sdgs guidelines are imbed-
ded during the development of management models
or policies and are not treated as an add-on at a later
stage. In this case, mwchs management could draw
a great deal of insight from academics by ensuring the
inclusion of concerned communities from the initial
stage and also practice the bottom-up strategy at all
times although it is viewed as a practice that is time
consuming by some practitioners/managers.
To complement the employed paradigms, theCom-
plexity Science Theory and the Basic Needs Theory
were employed. Saturation of employment of these
theories is based on the nature of the study. Complex-
ity Science Theory is perceived as complex because
of many challenges that are often dynamic and un-
predictable and of multi-dimensional nature through
relationships that are interconnected (University of
Victoria, 2012). In the case of mwchs, complex issues,
some relating to community involvement and engage-
ment pertaining to sustainable community develop-
ment, including decision making regarding projects
initiation or project prioritising based on community
needs, do exist. Within the Basic Needs Theory, as
applied by de Wet (2018), community development
expanded beyond earlier applications of the theory,
through an integration of the multi-dimensional na-
ture of community development, into a theory that ac-
knowledges the complexity of the interdisciplinary ap-
proach to development. This is done by introducing a
priority index into a basic needs assessment technique
that enables the researcher to prioritise the ‘real’ basic
needs in a particular community (de Wet, 2018, p. 1).
Prideaux et al. (2008) noted that tourism and culture
in any particular geographical setting could be utilised
for a variety of purposes that could extend from enter-
tainment, preservation, information, education, profit
and propaganda. The stated utilisation could be done
through socio-economic development that prioritises
responsible and authentic tourism and in this way
could speak directly to the various guidelines of the
sdgs. In the case of mwchs communities, it is clear
that a number of ‘real’ basic needs require the attention
of various stakeholders such as heis, mwchs Man-
agement and Community Traditional Leaders. Appli-
76 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Figure 1 Mapungubwe World Heritage Site Map (adapted from Shabalala, 2020)
cation of a bottom-up strategy from the initial stage
becomes key, as it gives a chance for affected and con-
cerned stakeholders to contributes towards achieving
a sustainable development and yield meaningful ben-
efits for the community.
Description of the Study Areas andMethodology
Study Area
This paper makes use of a case study of Mapungubwe
World Cultural Heritage Site as presented in Figure
1. The study extended to the local communities’ res-
idential areas, which included Musina, and the All-
Days area, including the descendants’ residential ar-
eas (in Venda) in Limpopo Province. This Province is
geographically situated on the northern part of South
Africa, and considered to be one of the developing
provinces in the country (Tshiala et al., 2011, p. 14). Ac-
cording to Limpopo Department of Agriculture and
Rural Development (2018), this province has distinct
climate regions that vary from a semi-arid to a sub-
humid climate.
Mapungubwe is celebrated as a National Park, de-
clared in 2004, and a World Heritage Site, declared by
unesco in July 2003 (South African National Parks,
2014, p. 2). Previously, theMapungubweNational Park
was referred to as the VhembeDongolaNational Park,
and is now globally labelled the Mapungubwe World
Cultural Heritage Site (mwchs) under the manage-
ment of South African National Parks. According to
scholars such as Carruthers (2006, p. 1) and Schoe-
man and Pikirayi (2011, p. 1), the geographical area
of Mapungubwe was occupied by one of the earliest
kingdoms in the region and there is recorded evidence
in the mwchs of its extensive regional and continen-
tal links with East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Per-
sian Gulf, India and the Far East. It must be noted
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 77
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Table 1 Qualitative Data Collection Participants
Representative participants Village, area and date Sample size
Vhangona cultural movement member Mutale Village, Thohoyandou, March  
Tshivhula representatives from the Royal family Elias Resort, Ndzhelele, March  
Leshiba representative from the Royal family Dzanani, Ndzhelele, March  
Lemba representative Tzaneen area, March  
Sematla Den Staat Farm (west boundary of Mapungubwe), May  
Mapungubwe staff member Mapungubwe wchs, April  
Machete Royal Council members Andermark Village, All Days & Vivo, March  
sanparks: Head Office Staff Representatives Pretoria: sanparks Head Office, March  
Notes Interview method: semi-structured interview. Adapted from Shabalala (2020).
that mwchs boarders three countries, South Africa,
Botswana and Zimbabwe, with a meeting point be-
tween the Limpopo and Shashe rivers (Schoeman &
Pikirayi, 2011, p. 1). A study conducted by Chirikure et
al. (2010, p. 34) described the site as important, firstly
for its evidence of the earliest state system in the re-
gion and for the unique farming communities that ex-
isted on the 169 hectares of savannah southern Africa.
According to Shabalala (2020), there are six Mapun-
gubwe descendants groups who regard themselves as
the heirs of the land as they claim to be the offspring
of the indigenous people who were forcefully removed
from the land by the colonial government, namely: the
Vhangona Cultural Movement, the Tshivhula Royal
Family, the Leshiba Royal Family, the Machete Royal
Council, the Lemba Cultural Association and the Se-
matla people. In line with the purpose of this paper,
due to the rich culture and heritage of the study area,
an excellent opportunity is presented for academics at
heis to apply their mandate of engaged research and
community engagement to contribute to sustainable
development of the area that will be of benefit to all
stakeholders.
Study Methodology
The data used in this paper was collected as part of a
bigger research project by the same author/researcher
and only the data relevant to the purpose of this pa-
per is provided as the basis of the analysis and discus-
sion section. A sequential mixed method was adopted
for this study. Focus groups were conducted with
15 participants formed by the Mapungubwe descen-
dants traditional leaders using a semi-structured inter-
view guide. The researcher also administered a survey
of 100 structured questionnaires to the community.
Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative
data and spss was used to analyse the quantitative
data. Secondly, in order to determine the socially con-
structed reality, including the deeper meanings and
significance of the respondents’ responses, qualita-
tive data was collected through interactions with re-
spondents in the form of focus groups using interview
guides. The data for the latter were then analysed and
interpreted by the researcher.
Sample Selection
The study adopted a non-probability purposive meth-
od of sampling, to identify sampling participants (Ta-
ble 1) that met specified criteria, i.e. had a direct con-
nection with the research area as the claimant of the
land, and also are one of the recognised traditional
leaders from the six descendants groups. The Mapun-
gubwe descendants traditional leaders, mwchs Staff,
and South African Parks staff, including a Heritage
Sites Manager, formed the participants. The Snowball
SampleMethodwas applied in an attempt to secure the
participation of the community during the last days of
stage 2 data collection. It must be noted that, in accor-
dance with the wishes of the traditional leaders, hard
copies of a translated version of the survey question-
naireswere administered to encourage the local people
to willingly respond to the survey questionnaire. The
78 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
local community residing around the area formed part
of the respondents (survey).
The target population for the descendants was ge-
ographically dispersed and the total is unknown to the
researcher. For this reason, a non-probability purpo-
sive sampling method was applied to identify respon-
dents who satisfied specific criteria and could thus be
included as research respondents. As was the case with
the collection of the qualitative data, the identifica-
tion of participants for the quantitative part of the
data collection was done through the knowledge of
the researcher and referrals from other participants.
Although the researcher interviewed 100 people, the
responses of 17 respondents could not be utilised as
the completed questionnaires were considered to be
incomplete. Despite the loss of these responses, the
83 questionnaires utilised for data analysis was con-
sidered sufficient as data saturation had been reached.
The researcherwas accompanied by local fieldworkers
from the area who are fluent in the local language and
who understood the local dynamics. The field workers
guided the researcher in terms of the traditional pro-
tocols and observation, especially when meeting and
interviewing the royals (chief/royal councilmembers).
As this research was undertaken in a traditional rural
area, it was important for the researcher to gain an
understanding of the community dynamics and tradi-
tional protocols as this played a vital role in building
trust with communities and their leaders. The ques-
tionnaire was administered a month after the qualita-
tive data collection. All data collection tools utilised in
this study were applied using the indigenous language
of the participants and respondents.
Data Analysis
Although the data collected was for a bigger research
project by the same author/researcher, relevant re-
sponses related to the purpose of this paper were ex-
tracted. Both the qualitative and quantitative data col-
lection questions included topics such as economic
benefits derived from mwchs for the descendants/lo-
cal communities, and the role presented to descen-
dants/local communities by mwchs, including the
level of knowledge of the descendants about the ex-
isting products/services in mwchs. Respondents and
participants were also asked to present or list sustain-
able opportunities that they wish to see being pre-
sented or developed by the park, that will not only ben-
efit them but the park as well, especially cht prod-
ucts/services.
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (spss)
was used to analyse the quantitative data and a content
analysis (thematic and descriptive in nature) was used
to analyse the qualitative data. The analyses were done
according to content analysis style, where coding (Se-
lective Coding, Axial Coding, Open Coding) was ap-
plied using themes and sub-themes, aligned with the
research objectives. The identified themes included
socio-economic benefits, role presented to descen-
dants/local communities, existing products/services
knowledge and so forth.
Results and Discussion
Qualitative Results and Discussion
The results of the study indicate that heis, in collabo-
ration with mwchs Management and Communities,
can assist in mitigating challenges with the goals of
achieving sustainable development. Communities re-
ported that cultural heritage tourism in Mapungubwe
should firstly be about bringing the communities close
to the park to partake in activities that will contribute
towards ensuring community development, as cht
seems to have the potential to develop communities.
Park management style and strategy implementation
becomes key. The findings indicate that park manage-
ment style has an impact on community involvement
and participation, including the fair benefit sharing to
stakeholders. This has a direct impact on the role of
mwchs. As shown in Table 2, the quantitative results
suggest that the Mapungubwe management style is
very poor, with only 9 viewing it as good. The table
shows that 32 of respondents rated mwchs man-
agement style as poor and 59 as very poor, meaning
that 91 view the mwchs management style as poor.
2 of the respondents reported that they regard the
mwchs management style as good, and another 2
as very good, which gives a combined score of 4. The
remaining 5 reported that the management style is
excellent. Overall, 91 of the respondents view the
mwchs management style as poor and 9 view it as
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 79
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Table 2 Mapungubwe Management Style
Excellent 
Very good 
Good 
Poor 
Very poor 
Notes Adapted from Shabalala (2020).
good. heis can assist with development of a stake-
holder participation model and also assist manage-
ment with ways on how to apply a bottom-up strat-
egy in a fruitful manner or possibly provide work-
shops/training to both communities and park man-
agement under the pillar of community engagement.
The descendants of Mapungubwe also wish to see
themselves benefiting economically, therefore, they
wish for the park management to establish a form of
benefits sharing whereby the proceeds derived from
mwchs can be shared with the descendants. An em-
phasis was placed on park management to consider
offering bursaries to deserving students from local
communities and descendants groups to further their
studies in conservation or tourism and other related
studies. The reality is that some of the children of the
descendants’ community sometimes need a place to do
their Work Integrated Learning (wil) for their formal
qualifications, and they could be afforded such op-
portunities by the park. The findings suggest that aca-
demics and stakeholders such as heis, un, and un-
esco have a crucial role to play in identifying socio-
economic opportunities for sustainable development
aimed at addressing the immediate needs of the tar-
geted beneficiaries and potentially improve their lives.
Given a chance, the very same communities could play
a vital role by advising project managers on which
projects to implement and prioritise based on the real
needs of the respective communities. Therefore, re-
searchers should be the voice of their respondents, eth-
ically carry out their views and educate management
about the importance of community engagement and
involvement in order to achieve sustainable develop-
ment and secure community buy-in. The study par-
ticipants indicated, in various ways, that they should
be part of the initial stages of any actions related to the
socio-economic development of the area. This is re-
flected in the following comments of RespondentsA, B
and C (Table 3). For instance, this research established
that the study participants wish to see the main roads
leading to Mapungubwe fixed and well maintained.
The community also expressed the need for the park
management to look at the possibility of attracting
other businesses (for example a petrol station) closer
to the park and in this way reduce the travelling to re-
fuel in towns located a distance from the site. In addi-
tion, theMapungubwe descendants traditional leaders
believe that constructing a cultural village in mwchs
could yield positive outcomes such as sustainable job
creation opportunities, and enhance the value or au-
thenticity of the cultural heritage tourism products
and services offered by the park. In addition, it could
enable skills transfer as the senior citizens could be
presented with an opportunity to teach the youth on
how things should be done (in line with their customs
and traditions) while sharing their culture with the
world (tourists). Furthermore, these seasoned tradi-
tional leaders could also serve as advisers to manage-
ment, scholars and policy makers on certain matters,
especially heritage, cultural and spiritual-related mat-
ters in protected areas such as Mapungubwe. In this
manner, the achievement of accelerating the imple-
mentation of sustainable goals could be realised.
The focus of this paper was to investigate how com-
munity development initiatives undertaken by aca-
demics in the area of cultural heritage tourism has
facilitated a more holistic approach in achieving sus-
tainable development in a local community in South
Africa, Mapungubwe whs communities. The three
sdgs underpinning this paper, namely: sdg 1, sdg
8 and sgd 11 advocate for achievement of sustainable
development that comprises the nature of projects like
the above narrated wishes from the mwchs commu-
nities. On the same note, some of the wishes narrated
by the mwchs community can be realised sooner,
provided heis, through their academics, take a lead in
this agenda and contribute to sustainable development
through the act of teaching, research and commu-
nity engagement in cht. In conjunction with the key
finding and the results of the study, the paper demon-
strates that the descendants’ traditional leaders and the
80 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Table 3 Study Participants’ Views (Mapungubwe Descendants’ Traditional Leaders) about Their Expectations towards
Community Involvement and Engagement
Respondent Excerpt
Respondent A They wish to be consulted on the initial stage, not be treated as the park management is currently doing,
only consulting them on the drafted document at the last minute for input and approval without giving
them enough time to deliberate.
Respondent B They wish to be a part of the products/service initiation and of development and enhancement of these
products because they believe that they know what needs to be done and how it needs to be done cultur-
ally.
Respondent C They want to be involved from the initiation stage, not when the project is already at an advanced stage,
when all the important decisions have been made.
Respondent D The communities expect to be included during the planning process; also to be consulted by manage-
ment before starting whatever they want to do, and for them to also make use of a language that they will
understand.
Respondent E Since they are indigenous people, some of them have not acquired any formal education, therefore use of
technical jargon when management make presentations in meetings makes things difficult, and at times
results in communities not being able to interact. Instead they just sit there like a piece of stick lying
down.
Respondent F The communities wish for management to also give them a chance to present their proposals or sugges-
tions that they have as communities, not it always being the park management that proposes or suggests.
For instance, the communities’ leaders indicated that they have been presenting the need for building
a cultural village right inside the park. They also believe that they cannot say the site is a cultural land-
scape while there is nothing cultural, such as a cultural village.
Respondent G As the descendants they communicated their thoughts regarding the park management plan draft with
the park management but it was not reflected in the new draft.
Respondent H Most importantly, the descendants indicated that they do not want to hear only what the park manage-
ment is saying about the new management plan, instead they must also hear what, as the descendants,
they have to say (their proposals), how they wish to see the place develop so that it will appeal to them,
cater for their needs, and also attract tourists.
Notes Adapted from Shabalala (2020).
community members are better positioned to address
their own needs and the needs of their communities
as they were well informed about the community dy-
namics. As such, a bottom-up strategy is a key com-
ponent in any community engagement and involve-
ment. The study participants presented their views in
line with their expectations towards community in-
volvement or engagement and are captured in Table
3 (Respondents D, E, F, G and H). heis could con-
tribute by aligning their sdgs-related research to ad-
vocate for community engagement and involvement.
Furthermore, academics at heis can foster mutually
beneficial ways of doing things and can actively doc-
ument and/or develop models that will ensure the
all-inclusive achievement of the sdgs in cht sites.
Community education, engagement and involvement
in sustainable socio-economic development projects
from the initial stages play an important role towards
achieving the desired sustainable socio-economic op-
portunities creation. The descendants in particular are
in possession of indigenous knowledge and skills; they
also view themselves as heirswho are deserving to eco-
nomically benefit through sustainable job opportuni-
ties and are in a position to improve their lives when
they are involved or advising management. Therefore,
it is important for researchers to take into consider-
ation the views of respondents and participants on
how they wish to see their communities contribut-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 81
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
ing towards uplifting of the park. The same applies to
management, practitioners and policy makers.
The findings of the paper established that com-
munities and sanparks staff representatives were of
the opinion that cht should play a more prominent
role in achieving community sustainable develop-
ment. Furthermore, mwchs should be the platform
that can be utilised to facilitate the restoration of the
presently non-existent (or limited) networks and con-
nections that would use community development and
participation in such a way as to restore the dignity of
the descendants community.
Descendants group 1: ‘It means the descendants of
Mapungubwe should visit the site from time to time,
because that is how they understand Mapungubwe;
it must be a tourism centre which they could benefit
from through the economy created by tourism led by
sanparks or Mapungubwe.’
Descendant group 5: ‘Their understanding would
be that the descendants should have been involved in
development of tourism inMapungubwe in such away
that they have a full role that will result in the devel-
opment of Mapungubwe Heritage Site communities.’
The sanparks representatives said, ‘We view the
role of Cultural Heritage Tourism regarding commu-
nity development in Mapungubwe as one that con-
tributes towards giving a sense of pride to communi-
ties about their culture and heritage.’ In addition, ‘we
believe that the role will reflect back to the communi-
ties as they will be witnessing their own cultural her-
itage being expressed and shared with visitors, which
gives them an opportunity to express themselves. As a
result, this act could present the communities with a
chance to tell their story as the owners of it, and also
assist the communities to connect with their heritage
in every possible way and result in a sense of belonging
for them.’
Furthermore, The sanparks representatives said,
‘We believe that the role of Cultural Heritage Tourism
regarding community development in Mapungubwe
could be perceived as one that contributes to the eco-
nomic development of the communities. When tour-
ists come to the park, they could be the ones involved
in taking the tourists around the cultural heritage site
and this could result in job creation for them as well.’
Therefore, heis, in partnership with mwchs man-
agement and sanparks, should join forces with com-
munities to ensure that cht plays a prominent role in
achieving sustainable development in local communi-
ties.
Quantitative Results and Discussion
In order to establish if the qualitative resultswere valid,
the quantitative data collected used the Cronbach Al-
pha and Likert Scale to measure the involvement of
stakeholders (descendants and local communities)
and to establish their respective benefits. Amongst the
variables and the items used in the scales, statistically
significant correlationswere established on the follow-
ing:
• Economic benefit to descendants and those living
in the local community.
• The need for descendent and local communi-
ties to provide substantial input into the proto-
cols, products, service development and cultural
preservation.
• Descendants and local communitymembers’ rep-
resentation on various mwchs committees.
• Regular consultation and engagement between
descendants/local community and the manage-
ment of mwchs.
• The need for an active Park Forum.
• Proper implementation of the park management
plan and park management style/strategy.
In terms of the first two correlations, it is estab-
lished that some respondents reported that they were
already actively participating in the mwchs and were
receiving some economic benefits. However, a number
of community members reported that they were not
given a chance to participate and had not benefitted
in any way from the proceeds derived from mwchs.
Descendant group 3:
Our great forefathers lived there in Mapun-
gubwe for quite some time and they have ev-
erything that connects them with the Mapun-
gubwe landscape. We believe that if we can sit
down with the park management, there are lot
82 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
of things that can be done, so that our commu-
nity can benefit from cultural tourism, as cur-
rently our community does not benefit from
tourism at all.
The responses to the semi-structured question-
naires completed by respondents indicated that the
majority of the local people and descendants had little
knowledge about the cht products/services that ex-
ist in mwchs. Statistical significance indicates corre-
lation between the statement by the local community
members and descendants indicating that they receive
no benefits from the proceeds derived from mwchs
and their knowledge of the cht products and services
in mwchs. Descendant group 2:
Our communities who are directly descended
from Mapungubwe must keep on going there,
either for rituals for those who seek rituals, or
for those [who go for a] tourism purpose let
it be for tourism. Whoever comes to the park
should be able to develop the park. Also, de-
scendant communities must benefit from the
revenue or any proceeds that come from Ma-
pungubwe Park.
This extended to responses that some community
members and descendants were not actively partic-
ipating in the maintenance and preservation of cul-
tural heritage tourism products/services in mwchs.
This finding could explain why many communities
were losing interest concerning cultural heritage is-
sues, and this can relate to their lack of knowledge and
the scarcity of resources to obtain such knowledge, in-
cluding the lack of traditions/customs adherence in
the site. mwchs staff alluded to the claim made by
the descendants concerning their participation in the
park, and stated that,
though currently there is no clear community
participation and involvement, he believes that
it is something that can be worked on. It is be-
lieved that there are some engagements happen-
ing there though they don’t meet the required
standard. For instance, a few years back during
the previous management, in 2005–2006, there
was an issue of human remains that needed to
be reburied; during those times communities
were hands on, they were very much involved
in these kinds of issues. It was like a full time
kind of relationship between the park and de-
scendants groups. But in recent times, a bond
between the park and these communities is not
being demonstrated. The new park manage-
ment plan could be what the park needs to start
fixing the disconnected relationship.
To address this matter and to ensure the achieve-
ment of sdg 1, sdg 8 and sdg 11, academics at heis
could play a prominent role in the development of
a general community education programme on the
whs and cht, and more tailored education related
to local culture and heritage.
In terms of the latter three correlations, research
results related to the descendants community and lo-
cal communities representation in any role in mwchs
and the level of involvement of these communities in
relation to looking after the existing heritage are de-
picted in Table 4. The evidence revealed that 20 of
the study respondents were definitely not involved in
looking after the existing heritage in the site but 39 of
the study respondents reported that they were not sure
about their involvement. However, 22 of the study
respondents were neutral about their involvement,
which resulted in only 2 of the study respondents
reporting that they were well involved in looking after
the existing heritage. The remaining 17 of the study
respondents indicated that they were very involved in
looking after the existing heritage in the site.
The study respondents were further requested to
indicate their level of involvement during the planning
and decisionmaking process of any activities that took
place in mwchs (Table 4). Only 41 of the study re-
spondents stated that they were definitely not involved
in planning or taking any decision in any activities that
took place in the site. Interestingly, 37 of the study re-
spondents noted that theywere not sure about the level
of their involvement during the planning and decision
making process of any activities in the site. Only 17
of the study participants chose the neutral option as
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 83
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Table 4 Comparison of Various Aspects of Community Involvement in Mapungubwe
Item Very well Well Neutral Not sure Def. not
Involvement looking after existing heritage     
Involved in planning and decision making     
Any involvement on serving on the site/events planning     
Notes In percent. Adapted from Shabalala (2020).
their answer regarding their involvement during the
planning and decision making process of any activi-
ties in the site. However, 5 of the study respondents
reported that they were very well involved during the
planning and decisionmaking process of any activities
in the site, and no participant chose the well involved
option as their answer. Table 4 also depicts the level
of involvement of the study respondents in relation to
any activities taking place in the site, such as events
planning. Only 20 of the study respondents reported
that they were definitely not involved in any activities
taking place in the site such as events planning. How-
ever, 39 of the respondents said that they were not
sure about their involvement in any activities taking
place in the site, while 21 of the respondents chose
the neutral option as their answer. A low 2 of respon-
dents indicated that they are well involved in activities
taking place in the site such as events planning. The
remaining 17 of respondents reported that they are
very well involved in activities taking place in the site
such as events planning.
Concerning the development of sustainable socio-
economic opportunities, the findings propose that
management or practitioners consider the engage-
ment and involvement of communities in all decision-
making stages in its true sense, not solely deciding on
projects to be implemented in those respective com-
munities. In this manner, a number of possible sus-
tainable socio-economic opportunities for commu-
nities can be generated and presented by protected
areas such as the mwchs. Lastly, educating the com-
munity about cht products and services provided by
the park is important. For heis to ensure the success
of the idea stakeholders such as decision makers (sites
managers), policy makers, leaders, and parastatals, in-
cluding funders, should join forces in this agenda, as
the goal for he is to achieve sustainable development.
Consolidation of Results and Discussion
The presented evidence established that a correla-
tion existed between the challenges that are expe-
rienced by descendants and communities and the
mwchs management style. The challenges include
customs/traditional protocols adherence in Mapun-
gubwe Hill (where some of the descendant’s royal
ancestors are laid to rest) and so forth. Therefore,
many, including the traditional leaders, to bring the
change that they arewishing for, hope for the proposed
new park management plan. The excerpts in Table 5
present the voice of the descendants and mwchs staff
regarding community involvement in the site.
The study findings and excerpts demonstrated that
heis could take a leading role in closing the existing
gap as a facilitator for amore holistic approach. In fact,
heis are in a good position to encourage research
with a main focus on sustainable solutions to matters
faced by protected areas such as mwchs and its de-
scendants and local communities, including the farm-
ers bordering the site. In addition, heis could make
use of community engagement as a tool to encourage
parkmanagement or practitioners to acknowledge the
importance of community involvement and engage-
ment. Most importantly, during the identifying, plan-
ning and implementation stage of community devel-
opment, projects that are aimed at the socioeconomic
benefit of the communities can also be utilised to ad-
dress immediate needs of the communities or benefi-
ciaries. Furthermore, heis could be aggressively in-
volved in educating the communities about the essen-
tials of how protected areas should function and be
managed against the traditional way of doing things
and so forth, taking the sdgs guidelines and African
Heritage Laws into account but not leaving out the ex-
isting tourism strategies and policies. As a result, this
approach could revive the relationship between the
84 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
Table 5 The Voice of the Descendants and mwchs Staff Regarding Community Involvement in Mapungubwe World
Heritage Site
Respondent Excerpt
Descendants
group 
The park invites people who know nothing about Mapungubwe and the history of the descendants to talk
about Mapungubwe. They noted that due to the news about the new park management plan, they hope
that they will now be involved in the activities taking place in the park. Therefore, the history of Mapun-
gubwe should be rewritten to carry out the true reflection of Mapungubwe and be told by the owners of the
culture, the descendants who know the history of the area.
Descendants
group  con-
cur with
group , and
expressed
that
They are aware of the scripts used by the tour guides when they are sharing the history of Mapungubwe
to the tourists or visitors; those scripts do not include any details about the descendants as part of Mapun-
gubwe landscape history. They present their own history that goes hand-in-hand with what the profession-
als and researchers say. This is one of the reasons why the descendants are saying there is political inter-
ference in the site because people who are not descendants are the ones that Mapungubwe management
trust and invite to tell our history or give input in the reading of the presentation of the history, including
preservation of their culture in mwchs.
mwchs Staff At present, when we talk about community participation and involvement in the park, it is a situation that
is not pure; areas of improvement exist on the management side. In the same breath, the new park manage-
ment plan is envisaged to be what the park needs to use as a tool to mend the disengaged relationship with
the concerned communities or stakeholders. There is hope that the once-good relationship that the –
 management of park shared with the communities during the engagement regarding the reburial of
human remains can be restored as communities are involved and engaged during the process. The partic-
ipant alluded to the fact that the kind of involvement was like a full-time kind of relationship between the
park and descendants’ groups. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the current bond or relation-
ship between the park and these communities; a disconnection exists.
Notes Adapted from Shabalala (2020).
site management and the communities to potentially
start to see things eye to eye and achieve a healthy and
fruitful partnership. This type of education could also
be extended to the protected areas personnel as well.
The realisation of the above-mentioned findings could
yield sustainable socio-economic opportunities, ben-
efiting the community members and eventually im-
proving their lives, which can be viewed as one of the
many ways that can be used to accelerate the imple-
mentation of the stated three sdgs.
sanparks representatives reported that they un-
derstand that mwchs management is presentlywork-
ing on development of a new park management plan.
The new management plan is expected by the con-
cerned communities to turn things around for the
better and restore the trust and relationship between
the park management and the communities. This in
turn would mean a partnership with all stakehold-
ers, including descendants, and reflects sanparks’s
determination to forge more meaningful and posi-
tive partnerships for the future. heis could form a
partnership with sanparks with an aim to assist with
forming and maintaining healthy partnerships with
its stakeholders, most importantly with local com-
munities/descendants of each park. The partnership
can start with academics proposing to site managers
to consider bringing knowledgeable researchers on
board as advisors when drafting or updating their
park management plans, with an aim to guide and
support the process for the plan to embrace the 2030
sdg Agenda and also be geared towards the achieve-
ment of sustainable development in cht.
Beyond reasonable doubt, heis can, in collabo-
ration with mwchs Management and Communities,
assist in the mitigation of challenges with the goals of
achieving sustainable development. In line with the
aim of the study, as an academic at an hei, the re-
searcher proposes that community involvement and
participation in decision making will not only bene-
fit cht, but will facilitate a more holistic approach in
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 85
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
achieving sustainable socio-economic opportunities
development in cht by 2030.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the study reveals how heis can utilise
community engagement to contribute to achieve sus-
tainable development in cht through community
development initiatives undertaken by academics in
the area of cultural heritage tourism while facilitat-
ing a more holistic approach in achieving sustainable
development in a local community in South Africa,
Mapungubwe whs communities. On the other hand,
researchers can develop or enhance teaching meth-
ods when educating the descendants and the broader
community, with the goal of achieving sustainable de-
velopment. In addition, the study identified the role of
heis in the development of sustainable management
models that will present a platform for both manage-
ment and community to work together in harmony.
Through research, academics at heis can add value
by connecting communities and the management of
the sites, and provide a crucial role in the lifelong
training of community members through community
engagement. While encouraging the participation of
academics in engaged research, it is crucial that aca-
demics take into consideration the views of the study
respondents and participants. In this way heis, to-
gether with all stakeholders, can assist communities in
their mission to ensure that their indigenous knowl-
edge is retained in the park and at the same time be
able to benefit economically through the creation of
sustainable job opportunities and in so doing be in a
position to improve their daily lives. On that note, it
is important for sites like mwchs to utilise knowl-
edgeable practitioners who practice the roots-driven
strategy and engage the communities to ensure they
are included in the decision-making processes that
will drive and accelerate the implementation of sdg
1, sdg 8 and sgd 11.
Study Suggestions
Based on the findings of the conducted investiga-
tion and conclusion of the research, the paper sug-
gests that site management must be encouraged to
involve communities in inclusive decision-making
at the early stages of the development of projects.
Only if communities are involved can site manage-
ment truly claim that community development has
been undertaken to the advantage of communities.
Furthermore, it is suggested that heis play an active
role through research and ce in seeking solutions to
the longstanding issues between management of pro-
tected areas and its communities. Engaged research
that addresses the real issues/needs of the communi-
ties could be used as a vehicle to make realistic recom-
mendations/suggestions to policy makers and strat-
egy developers, while ensuring alignment with the
sdgs guidelines. Furthermore, scholars can use ce
and community involvement as tools to understand
community dynamics and in this way draw realistic
findings/recommendations that could include iden-
tifying possible sustainable socio-economic oppor-
tunities for communities. Lastly, heis should con-
sider making it a requirement for their researchers
to share their research findings with the communities
where they conducted their research. This will mean
that researchers must not only visit communities for
the purpose of data collection for research purposes,
but will take full social responsibility of their activi-
ties for the betterment of the communities that have
supported their research roles. This act may result in
researchers building trust with communities and in
return for communities to see the importance of re-
search and community engagement initiatives under-
taken by heis in their own lives. The result will be
that communities might place more value on the re-
search undertaken by heis, and the establishment of
a better relationship with heis could assist with the
holistic drive for sustainable development into the fu-
ture. Suggested further research could include inves-
tigating the role of advisory boards or the importance
of advisory boards in sites like Mapungubwe Heritage
Site. Obviously, such a board will incorporate aca-
demics as experts in the field. The fact of not having
an advisory board for this site could have contributed
to some of the challenges experienced thus far.
Acknowledgments
The paper has utilised data collected as part of a larger
research project undertaken by the same author for a
86 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Lombuso Precious Shabalala The Role Higher Education Plays
formal qualification at The University ofWitwatersrand,
South Africa. I dedicate this paper tomy latemother Lily
Nomsa Khoza-Shabalala (1952–2022) and to theMapun-
gubwe descendants.
References
Ayoo, C. (2007). Community-based natural resource man-
agement in Kenya.Management of Environmental Qual-
ity: An International Journal, 18(5), 531–541.
Carruthers, J. (2006). Mapungubwe: A historical and con-
temporary analysis of a World Heritage cultural land-
scape. Koedoe, 49(1), 1–13.
Chirikure, S., Manyanga, M., Ndoro, W., & Pwiti, G. (2010).
Unfulfilled promises? Heritage management and com-
munity participation at some of Africa’s cultural her-
itages sites. International Journal of Heritage Studies,
16(1/2), 30–44.
dacst (Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technol-
ogy). (1996).White paper on science and technology.
dhet (Department of Higher Education and Training).
(2013). White paper for post-school education and train-
ing.
dst (Department of Science andTechnology). (2019).White
paper on Science, technology and innovation.
deat (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism).
(1996). White paper on tourism. de Wet, S. (2018). The
basic needs theory for community development. Research
Gate. https://www.doi.org/10.13140
/RG.2.2.11882.98243
Jimura, T. (2019). Heritage management and conservation
activities at World Heritage Site. In T. Jimura (Ed.),
World Heritage Sites: Tourism, local communities and
conservation activities (pp. 20–33). cab International.
Kurin, R. (2004). Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage
in the 2003 unesco Convention: A critical appraisal.
Museum International, 56(1/2), 66–77.
Keitumetse, S. O. (2014). Cultural resource as sustainability
enablers: Towards a community-based cultural heritage
resources management (cobachrem) model. Sustain-
ability, 6, 70–85.
Landorf, C. (2009). A framework for sustainable heritage
management: Study of uk industrial heritage sites. In-
ternational Journal of Heritage Studies, 15(6), 494–510.
Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Develop-
ment. (2018). Background. http://www.lda.gov.za/About
20Us/Background/Pages/default.aspx
Lopez-Guzman, T., and Santa-Cruz, F. G. (2016). Interna-
tional tourism and the unesco category of intangi-
ble cultural heritage. International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research, 10(3), 310–322.
National Heritage Resource Act (nhra). 1999. Republic of
South Africa Government Gazette, no. 19974.
npc (National Planning Commission). (2011). National de-
velopment plan: Vision for 2030.
ndt (National Department of Tourism). (2011). National
Tourism Sector Strategy 2016–2026.
ndt (National Department of Tourism). (2012). National
Heritage and Cultural Tourism Strategy.
Prideaux, B., Timothy, D. J., & K. Chon. (2008). Themes in
cultural and heritage tourism in the Asian Pacific Region.
Routledge.
Schoeman, M. H., & Pikirayi, I. (2011). Repatriating more
thanMapungubwe human remains: Archaeological ma-
terial culture, a shared future and an artificially divided
past. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 29(4),
389–403.
Shabalala, L. P. (2020). Perspectives on the role of cultural
heritage tourism in community development in South
Africa: A study of Mapungubwe World Heritage Site in
Limpopo Province [Unpublished thesis]. University of
Mpumalanga.
SouthAfricanNational Parks. (2014).MapungubweNational
Park.
Tshiala, M. L., Olwoch, J. M., & Engelbrecht, F. A. (2011).
Analysis of temperature trends over Limpopo Province,
South Africa. Journal of Geography and Geology, 3(1), 13–
21.
unesco. (2002).Convention concerning the protection of the
World cultural and natural heritage.
unesco. (2007a). Operational guidelines for the implemen-
tation of the World Heritage Convention.
unesco. (2007b). Safeguarding intangible heritage and sus-
tainable cultural tourism: Opportunities and challenges.
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030
agenda for sustainable development.
University of Victoria. (2012). Complexity science in brief.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 87

Original Scientific Article
The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
Travelling by Low-Cost Carriers to Zadar
Božena KrceMiočić
University of Zadar, Croatia
krceb@unizd.hr
Tomislav Klarin
University of Zadar, Croatia
tklarin@unizd.hr
Gabrijela Vidić
University of Zadar, Croatia
gvidic@unizd.hr
Zadar is a tourism destination in the central part of the Croatian Adriatic coast. Its
geographical position and climatic conditions largely determine its development in
the direction of sun and sea and leisure tourism. However, Zadar is also positioning
itself as a cultural tourism destination, because of its very rich cultural and histor-
ical heritage. To attract more tourists from distant markets, the destination has de-
cided to co-finance and encourage low-cost carriers (lccs) to connect with Zadar
Airport. The aim of this paper is to determine the extent to which Zadar’s strategic
orientation towards cultural tourism is reflected in its communication through vari-
ous platforms, and at the same time to examine the extent to which tourists arriving
in Zadar by lccs are attracted by cultural heritage. The research included a content
analysis of Zadar Tourist Board’s andZadar RegionTourist Board’s socialmedia con-
tent. The results of the survey included data collected using a semi-structured survey
questionnaire on a random sample of tourists, who arrived in Zadar by lccs from
July to November 2021. Descriptive and inferential statistics methods were used for
the data analysis. The results indicate a mismatch between the strategic orientation
of the destination towards cultural tourism and marketing activities on the afore-
mentionedmedia, where culture is not really in the focus. Accordingly, tourists who
come to the destination by lccs are not significantly motivated by culture. The rec-
ommendations are aimed at overcoming the constraints, as well on further study of
the behaviour of cultural tourists who use lccs.
Keywords: culture, pull factor, destination marketing, low-cost carriers, Zadar
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.89-102
Introduction
The liberalization of air transport has led to an in-
crease in the use of aircraft in the tourism travel seg-
ment. Therefore, today the airplane is the first means
of transport for reaching a destination. A total of
58 of all tourists arrive at their destination by air
(unwto, 2019). Low-cost carriers (lccs) have chang-
ed a number of elements of their business models to
ensure lower travel costs (Bachwich &Wittman, 2017)
and to attract a new segment of consumers – tourists
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 89
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
who want to travel more often and have limited funds
for tourist trips (Sarılgan, 2016). According to data
from Statista (2022), lccs make up 35 of the total
capacity of air carriers in the world. At the same time,
there is a strong growth in cultural tourism within
the tourism market as one of the forms of special
interest tourism that represents a shift from classic
mass tourism to tourism aimed at satisfying the spe-
cial wishes of consumers (Weiler & Hall, 1992). Cul-
tural tourism, according to the definition of unwto
(2018), implies ‘a type of tourist activitywhose primary
motivation for visitors is to learn, discover, experience
and consume tangible and intangible cultural attrac-
tions/products in the tourist destination.’ The number
of cultural tourists is constantly increasing, and desti-
nations are finding ways to position themselves in this
rapidly growing market. Cultural heritage protected
by unesco is only one of the attractive factors that
destinations use to attract tourists. From a strategic
point of view, the city of Zadar wants to position itself
as a cultural tourism destination, while at the same
time it attracts and financially supports low-cost car-
riers. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to investi-
gate to what extent the strategic orientation of the city
of Zadar towards cultural tourism is reflected in its
marketing communication through social media, and
with this in mind, to determine whether tourists trav-
elling by lcc aremotivated by culture when choosing
Zadar as their destination.
Culture as a Motivator and Driver of Tourist
Movements
Motivation is determined by a person’s emotional,
spiritual or physical needs (Dai et al., 2019). Tourist
motivation is a state of mind that in a certain way mo-
tivates an individual or a group to travel, and which
is later interpreted by others as a valid explanation
for making the decision to travel (Dann, 1981). The
motivation that drives an individual to make a tourist
trip can be different from the need to learn, get to
know new cultures, escape from reality, or the need
for adventure, etc. Culture represents one of the funda-
mental motives that drive tourists to travel (Richards,
2018; Cros & McKercher, 2015). Cultural tourism de-
velops from the need to discover new cultures, acquire
new knowledge and other cultural motives of tourist
travel. The unwto Report on Tourism and Culture
Synergies (2018) pointed out the importance of cul-
tural tourism. According to their research, 89 of
all National Tourism Administrations point out that
cultural tourism is an element of their tourism pol-
icy. The same research showed that 39 of all tourist
trips are motivated by culture. Such a share of cul-
tural tourists may at first seem extremely high, but
here, above all, the question related to the typology
of who is considered to be a cultural tourist is impor-
tant. Therefore, considering the typology of cultural
tourists, this share can be considered low. A detailed
elaboration of the motivation and typology of cultural
tourists is offered by a whole series of authors (Pulido-
Fernandez & Sanchez-Rivero, 2010; Barbieri & Ma-
honey, 2010), the most famous of which is the one
given by Bob McKercher (2002), Bob McKercher and
Hilary du Cros (2003) and Hilary du Cros and Bob
McKercher (2015; 2020) through various papers. This
classification, based on the motivation when choos-
ing a destination and the depth of experience that
tourists have while visiting cultural attractions, offers
five types of tourists. It starts from tourists who set
out on their trip solely motivated by culture and who
achieve a deep cultural experience, to those acciden-
tal cultural tourists whose motivation by culture when
choosing a destination is extremely small, but who, in
the destination, participate in cultural tourism activi-
ties and whose depth of cultural experience is super-
ficial. In this context, it can be determined that cul-
tural tourists can be categorized as tourists who have
consumed any cultural attraction or participated in
some cultural event in the destination, regardless of
whether they were aware of its existence when choos-
ing the destination, or deeply impressed by that at-
traction/event. There are a number of papers that
have explored the specific characteristics of cultural
tourists. According to these, it can be determined that
those tourists are usually of an older age, who spend
more in the destination and have an above-average
number of overnight stays (Vergori & Arima, 2020;
Cros & McKercher, 2015; Falk & Katz-Gerro, 2017).
Likewise, cultural tourists are on average more loyal
guests, and their motivation is often related to fac-
90 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
tors such as satisfaction and the intention to return
(Richards, 2018).
Too often it has been assumed that a person has
one set of motivations and seeks one type of vacation
to satisfy them. Here it is important to emphasize that
tourists are usually not guided by only one, but that
there are several motives for visiting a destination, i.e.
there is a multiple motivational nature of making va-
cation decisions (Robinson et al., 2011). The findings
also confirm that travelmotives vary depending on the
nature of the trip (Dunne et al., 2007).
Destinations often force the development of cul-
tural tourism in order to valorize their cultural wealth,
but also as a response to the ever-present seasonality
in tourist movements. According to its characteris-
tics, cultural tourism should be less seasonal (Butler,
2001; Vergori & Arima, 2020; Qiang, 2020), although
some studies show that this is not necessarily the case,
especially in cultural coastal destinations (Cuccia &
Rizzo, 2011). With the aim of attracting a larger num-
ber of tourists, especially off-season, destinations de-
cide to attract lccs to nearby airports, offering them
benefits in the form of reduced fees, advertising on
their websites, etc. (Graham & Shaw, 2008; Mandić
et al., 2017; Dobruszkes & Mondou, 2013). Tourists
who come off-season are most often offered a cultural
tourism product that is less seasonally sensitive, and
cultural attractions are used as an attractive motivator
for lcc tourists who come to the destination in the
pre- and post-season (Davison & Ryley, 2010).
Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) in Tourist Movements
Low-CostCarriers represent perhaps the biggest chan-
ge that has taken place in air transport, prompted by
its liberalization, which has also had a strong impact
on the tourismmarket. All lccs share a commitment
to the cult of cost reduction, a business model that of-
fers low fares, reduces total costs and uses resources –
both human and material – to the fullest (Graham &
Shaw, 2008). However, in addition to price competi-
tiveness, lccs have recently started to use a differen-
tiation strategy in their business (Akamavi et al., 2015;
Mandić et al., 2017). These companies, in addition to
the transport function itself, have also taken on ac-
tive engagement in the promotion of the destinations
they connect (Tsui, 2017). This also represents a con-
ceptual change in the business of airline companies,
which, in addition to the role of a carrier, also take on
the role of a co-creator of demand for a certain des-
tination. Therefore, it is expected that an increase in
the number of lcc users leads to an increase in the
total number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays
in the destination (Smith, 2009; Tsui, 2017; Pulina &
Cortés-Jiménez, 2010; Rey et al., 2011; Dobruszkes &
Mondou, 2013). The reduction in air transport prices
has enabled more tourists to reach more distant des-
tinations. lccs promote changes in the behaviour of
tourists, who now travel more often (Martínez-Garcia
et al., 2012).
A number of studies have been conducted with
the aim of determining the profile of lcc tourists
(Smith, 2009; Graham & Dennis, 2010; Clavé et al.,
2015; Krce Miočić et al., 2018; Vidić et al., 2019). It
has been established that most of the demand for lcc
services is generated by tourist movements, and when
viewed from a motivational aspect, they are most of-
ten tourists who travel for vacation and recreation,
and to visit friends and relatives (Kuljanin & Kalić,
2015; Martínez-Garcia et al., 2012; Mason & Alamdari,
2007). Research has confirmed that tourists who use
lccs are usually younger, with medium and higher
spending power and who stay in the destination for a
shorter time than average (Graham & Dennis, 2010;
Smith, 2009; Davison & Ryley, 2010; Eugenio-Martin
& Inchausti-Sintes, 2016). One of the reasons for their
greater buying power in the destination stems from
the low cost of air transportation offered by lccs, so
the total holiday budget is partially redistributed to
increased consumption in the destination (Eugenio-
Martin & Inchausti-Sintes, 2016). lccs found their
market segment of passengers in tourists who want
to travel for a short vacation (most often 2 to 5 days),
who actually represent typical mass tourists, who in
this way have the option of a more flexible choice of
travel dates and can achieve a shorter stay in the des-
tination (Smith, 2009; Pilling, 2008). According to re-
search by Eugenio-Martin & Inchausti-Sintes (2016),
the shortening of the stay of lcc users in the destina-
tion compared to tourists who did not use lccs was
1 to 1.8 days. lccs have changed travel habits, they
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 91
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
have encouraged tourists to travelmore often, to go on
shorter trips and to use this transport for vfr (Visit-
ing Friends and Relatives) trips, but also operate for
the student population that decides to study abroad
(Dobruszkes & Mondou, 2013; Kuljanin & Kalić, 2015;
Craps, 2021).
Research conducted on tourists who visited Malta
using lccs (Graham & Dennis, 2010) showed that
these tourists are younger, wealthier and more inde-
pendent tourists than those who came to Malta by
charter flights or through tourist arrangements, and
they showed less interest in culture and history in
comparison to other tourists. This reduced interest in
culture can be seen especially in the post-season (au-
tumn andwinter), which, according to current knowl-
edge about cultural tourism, aims to reduce seasonal-
ity, and should perhaps be the most important period
for the arrival of cultural tourists. Likewise, destina-
tions often resort to attracting lccs in order to ex-
tend the season of tourist arrivals (Pulina & Cortés-
Jiménez, 2010). Smith (2009) investigated in Malta
how the introduction of lccs affected the share of
cultural tourists from the uk market. He found that
before the introduction of the lccs, this percentage
varied depending on the season – 30 in autumn and
winter, and 30 in the spring before the lcc flights
toMalta were introduced, while after the introduction
of the flights, the percentage was 24 in autumn, 27
in winter and 31 in autumn. As the intention of the
Maltese government in promoting the lccs was pre-
cisely the development of cultural tourism, these data
show that tourists who came to the destination in this
way were less motivated by historical cultural reasons.
In no segment of tourists who used lcc transport was
thismotive among the first two reasons for arrival, nor
did these tourists stay in an area with a high concen-
tration of cultural attractions (Smith, 2009).
Furthermore, research into the motivation of city
break tourists who visited Dublin (Dunne et al., 2007)
using lccs showed that there is no one-sided mo-
tivation to travel. In their research, they also do not
find cultural motives to be an important motive when
choosing a destination. Easy accessibility, ticket price,
but also a number of other motives such as relaxation,
social acceptance and escape are themotives that drive
tourists who use lccs. At the same time, destination
management organizations (dmos) encourage the es-
tablishment of lcc flights in order to attract cultural
tourists (Smith, 2009; Dunne et al., 2007), and the ex-
istence of multidimensional motives has been shown.
Vidić et al. (2019) determined that there are significant
differences in destination satisfaction between groups
of tourists with different primarymotives (a total of 37
motives).
In a similar vein, Krce Miočić et al. (2018) provide
an overview of longitudinal research in Zadar County
(Croatia) from 2013 to 2016, inwhich it was shown that
the motivation of lcc users for culture is relatively
low, and that tourists primarily motivated by culture
make up a maximum share of 2.8. At the same time,
if we look at those tourists who put cultural activities
and events as one of the first three motives, then the
share of cultural tourists in the total number of lcc
users ranges from 13.10 to 33.6 depending on the
observed year.
The lower price of air transportation does not rep-
resent a significantmotivational factor among cultural
tourists, who are less sensitive to price than tourists
motivated by many other motives (Graham&Dennis,
2010). Cultural destinations have their own attractive
power for most tourists (unwto, 2018), according to
which tourists travelling by lccs, when choosing a
destination, most often choose those with cultural at-
tractions. The links between the development strate-
gies of tourist destinations and lcc business models
point to the fact that lccs have played a key role in
the development of city destinations for short vaca-
tions, thus promoting cultural tourism (Graham &
Shaw, 2008; Davison & Ryley, 2010). Davison and Ry-
ley (2010) establish a statistically significant relation-
ship between the destination and the length of stay
of tourists, and the fact that cultural destinations are
suitable for short vacations, but that some (like Rome)
are also suitable for longer vacations. The same re-
search showed that cultural destinations have priority
among lcc users and that the most common moti-
vation when choosing a destination is rich cultural
heritage. From this it can be concluded that the seg-
ment of cultural tourists, regardless of price insensi-
tivity, still recognizes the flexibility achieved by using
92 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
lccs. It was also established that cultural destinations
more often attract tourists travelling as couples, while
summer destinations attract larger groups (Davison &
Ryley, 2010).
Various studies show that these carriers strongly
encourage the segment of emigrants who travel more
often to their country of origin, so sometimes their
share in total lcc passengers exceeds 1/3 (Dobruszkes
&Mondou, 2013; Kuljanin & Kalić, 2015; Craps, 2021).
Although methodologically these travellers can be
seen as part of the tourist demand, their full contri-
bution to the destination is still questionable.
The Arrival of LCCs and Tourist Movements
to Zadar
The city of Zadar is located in the centre of Dalmatia,
on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It is the administrative
and tourist centre of Zadar County. The city of Zadar
and Zadar County are developed tourist destinations
that abound in various natural and cultural beauties.
The diversity of the attraction is the basis for attracting
different segments of tourists, among whom the lead-
ing ones are those motivated by the sun, sea and com-
fortable climate. This is why Zadar and Zadar County
are above all swimming destinations with distinct sea-
sonality. Zadar Airport is located at a distance of 8 km
from the city of Zadar, and is a relatively small airport
with less than 5million passengers. It has relatively low
landing costs and is therefore an ideal port for attract-
ing lccs. lccs base their choice of airports on the
decision that they can be 100 to 120 km away from the
city they serve (Graham & Shaw, 2008), thus Zadar
Airport highlights its advantages in easy destination
accessibility. Since 2007, theCounty of Zadar hasmade
a decision to attract lccs, primarily Ryanair as the
largest lcc in Europe, with the aim of attracting off-
season tourists with more paying power from more
distant outbound markets who will not necessarily be
attracted by the sun and sea, which is the main mo-
tive for coming to this destination (Vidić et al., 2019).
Although tourism in Zadar County is still seasonal,
the introduction of lccs has led to an extension of
the season.While touristmovements are concentrated
in July and August with small shifts towards June and
September, lccs transport takes place from the be-
ginning of April to the beginning of November. There
is an evident increase in tourists in the preseason and
postseason, and the share of tourists who came to the
county by lcc in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 was
as much as 18 of total tourist arrivals (internal data).
In the same year, Zadar County achieved 1.75 million
arrivals and 9.87 million overnight stays, with the city
of Zadar contributing more than 30 (cbs, 2020).
Encouraging the arrival of lccs took place thro-
ugh a joint advertising project in which all stakehold-
ers in the tourist offer financially supported advertis-
ing, and thus the arrival of Ryanair. The very concept
of attracting Ryanair through advertising payments
is a controversial policy that can also represent ille-
gal market competition (Graham & Shaw, 2008). It is
important to emphasize here that the payment of com-
pensation to Ryanair of eur 1.5 million (Šćuric, 2021)
represents a significant expenditure for the tourist
economy of the city of Zadar andZadar County, which
affects the reduction of other forms of promotion
of the destination. At the same time, the contracts
of Croatian airports with lcc companies are short-
term, which means that even the smallest changes in
demand can result in the cancellation of routes. For
destinations like Croatia, this is extremely important
because lccs play a significant role in attracting vis-
itors from distant developing markets in peak season
and off-season (Mandić et al., 2017). According to aci
Europe data, Zadar Airport is one of the five busiest
small airports (up to 5 million passengers, group 4) in
Europe. In the same category, this port recorded the
second highest growth of 37.6 in 2019 (Naletina et
al., 2019).
Heritage represents one of the foundations for des-
tination branding. Every place has its history and her-
itage, which will influence the image that tourists get
(Kotler et al., 2004). The city of Zadar and Zadar
County are extremely rich in cultural heritage, which
goes back over 2,000 years and is visible through the
preserved urban planning of the city and the remains
of the Roman Forum, but it is also enrichedwithmod-
ern heritage, such as the Greeting to the Sun monu-
ment and the Sea Organ. However, tourists did not
particularly express their motivation for cultural her-
itage when visiting Zadar; rather, the sun and the sea
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 93
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
are the most common motive (Gluvačević, 2016). The
city walls of Zadar, as part of the Venetian defences of
the 16th and 17th centuries, along with 5 other desti-
nations in Italy, Montenegro and Croatia, have been
inscribed on the unesco World Heritage List since
2017. Encouraging the inclusion of their cultural her-
itage on the unesco list of cultural heritage repre-
sents the goal that cultural tourism destinations want
to achieve, with the aim of encouraging tourist ar-
rivals. Research has shown that the entry of a desti-
nation into the unesco list of natural and cultural
heritage does not bring an increase in the number
of tourist visits in destinations that were not attrac-
tive to tourists until then; however, in destinations
that already recorded significant tourist attendance,
the number of tourist arrivals after entering the un-
esco list increased (Cros & McKercher, 2015). Zadar
was an active tourist destination even before it was
entered on the list, so it is expected that the cultural
motivation of the tourists who come to it will grow.
Strategic documents for the development of tourism
in Zadar County and the City of Zadar (Matassi, 2013;
KrceMiočić et al., 2016) recognize the strong resource
basis of culture, and cultural tourism is one of the fun-
damental forms in which the destination’s offer should
be developed.
Research Methodology
Based on the defined research subject, and in order to
achieve the set goals of this paper, two studies were
conducted. In the first step, a qualitative research was
conducted, the goal of whichwas to determine to what
extent Zadar’s strategic orientation towards cultural
tourism is reflected in its communication through var-
ious digital platforms. At the same time, the quanti-
tative research examined the extent to which tourists
who arrive in Zadar by lccs are attracted by the cul-
tural heritage of Zadar and towhat extent they actually
consume it.
In the qualitative part of the research, an analy-
sis of the content of the posts on social media of the
Zadar Tourist Board and the Zadar County Tourist
Board was carried out, since these are two organiza-
tions whose primary task is the promotion of tourism
in Zadar and the Zadar region. An additional reason
Table 1 Number of Facebook and Instagram Tourist
Boards of Zadar and Zadar County Users
Profile Facebook Instagram
Like Zadar , ,
Zadar Region , ,
why the aforementioned digital platforms were cho-
sen is that as many as 45.3 of surveyed tourists who
come to Zadar County look for information on the
Internet, with 59.7 stating that social media is their
main source of information, and 32.8 citing websites
of tourist boards as a source (Marušić et al., 2020).
For the purposes of this research, the social media
Instagram and Facebook were chosen, since they are
two different social media where both tourist boards
have active profiles. Instagram is a content commu-
nity that enables the publication, maintenance, man-
agement and sharing of image content, while Face-
book is a social network where, in addition to net-
working and connection, it is possible to publish dif-
ferent types of content such as images, video content,
text, links, etc. (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009). It is also
important to emphasize that these two socialmedia at-
tract different target groups. According to global data,
Instagram is used by a younger population compared
to Facebook. Instagram is mostly used by users in the
age group of 16 to 34 years, while Facebook is used
more often by users over 35 years old (We Are Social,
2022).
The Zadar Tourist Board has an official profile on
the Facebook social network and Instagram called
Like Zadar. The Zadar County Tourist Board has
official profiles on Instagram and Facebook called
Zadar Region. It has 48,853 followers on Instagramand
100,966 followers on Facebook (May 2022). Although
the official Instagram profile of Zadar County Tourist
Board has more followers than that of tb Zadar, the
activity is approximately similar.
Therefore, within this part of the primary research,
social media were used as sources of information for
content analysis. For this purpose, quantitative con-
tent analysis was used. It is also called frequency anal-
ysis of content because, in addition to determining the
presence and characteristics of content, the frequency
94 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
and volume of content are quantitatively expressed
(Tkalac Verčič et al., 2013). In doing so, the frequency
of certain types of content was determined, but also
the frequency of occurrence of the dominant attribute
appearing on the content.
The contents were analysed for the period from
January to November 2021. Considering that tourists
arriving by lcc have the possibility to come to Zadar
and Zadar County from March/April to November,
when most low-cost air routes (especially Ryanair)
with outbound destinations are available, this period
was chosen for analysis. This is the period when the
largest number of potential tourists are looking for in-
formation about the destination, so it is especially nec-
essary to give attention to the communication strategy
of the destination according to the outbound markets.
On Instagram, only image content published dur-
ing the specified periodwas analysed, while video con-
tent and any other content were excluded from the
analysis. In addition, it should be noted that only im-
age content published on the profile feed was anal-
ysed, not posts in stories. On average, both tourist
boards published one image per day on Instagram
during the observed period. The analysis of Facebook
profiles of tourist boards was more demanding, since
tourist boards use this social medium to publish dif-
ferent types of content. This is also a limitation of
this research. To begin with, it was determined that
only the content on the timeline of each tourist board
would be analysed. It was determined that the com-
munication strategies of the Zadar Tourist Board and
Zadar County Tourist Board differ greatly, and that
this will significantly complicate the content analysis.
The Zadar Tourist Board uses Facebook as a kind of
‘bulletin board’ on which it publishes a whole range
of different types of content (links to websites, video
content, photos, etc.), while the Zadar County Tourist
Board uses this social media mostly for posting pic-
tures, although it also occasionally publishes links to
other websites and other content. In order to collect
relevant data, for the purposes of analysis, the initial
display of the website, which is visible to users if the
link is shared on Facebook, as well as the first display
of video content, was taken into account. The afore-
mentioned was analysed using the same methodology
as the image content, i.e. the initial dominant attribute
that was displayed on the image content was analysed.
The analysis of the image content in this paper was
carried out according to the paper of Stepchenkova
and Zhan (2013). These authors classified image con-
tent into twenty categories according to the dominant
attributes of the destination that are shown in the im-
age content depicting Peru (e.g. nature and landscapes,
traditions and customs, architecture/buildings). Given
that this paper deals with the analysis of a Mediter-
ranean destination, the categories have been slightly
modified and a total of sixteen categories have been
established. Each image content is determined by one
dominant feature that prevails over the image content
and is thus classified into categories.
The second part of the empirical research was a
survey, which was conducted on passengers using
lccs that connect the city of Zadar and Zadar County
with numerous European destinations. The aim of this
part was to examine to what extent tourists who arrive
in Zadar by lccs are attracted by the cultural heritage
of Zadar, whether they visit it, and ultimately, how sat-
isfied they are with the offer and the destination. The
research was conducted at the departure terminal of
Zadar Airport from July to October 2021. It was esti-
mated that this is themost favourable time for the con-
sent of the respondents to participate in the research,
because they are in a relatively small and closed space
and thus have the feeling of reducing the waiting time.
This research is part of a longitudinal research that
has been conducted since 2013, but for the purposes
of this paper, only the research conducted during 2021
was considered. The research was conducted using a
structured questionnaire with the presence of an in-
terviewer. Motivation testing is usually done through
surveys, on a representative sample, on an annual ba-
sis (Vanhove, 2012). The questionnaire was answered
by people over the age of 18 who spent at least 2 nights
in Zadar. Considering the characteristics of the city of
Zadar as a destination, it was estimated that this is the
minimum time to get to know the destination, as this
was an effort to ensure the suitability of tourists for
the experience and evaluation of the city of Zadar as a
destination.
The questionnaire contained a total of 35 ques-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 95
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
tions related to the respondents’ demographic char-
acteristics, travel behaviour, satisfaction with the des-
tination, etc. The question of motivation for visiting
the destination was examined with the help of an
adapted scale used in the research tomas – ‘Attitudes
and consumption of tourists in Croatia,’ which has
its origins in the research methodology carried out
in Switzerland under the name ‘Touristisches Mark-
tforschungssystem Schweiz’ (Kožić, 2009). Intention
to recommend and return to the destination was ex-
amined using an adapted composite scale with three
items according to Lam and Hsu (2006). For ease of
understanding, the questionnaire was offered in Ger-
man, English and French. Only results related to the
subject and objectives of the paper were used in the
paper. For this purpose, the characteristics of respon-
dents motivated by the heritage that is under the pro-
tection of unesco were considered, given that the
city of Zadar and other destinations in Dalmatia pos-
sess cultural and natural heritage protected by un-
esco. These respondents were considered in relation
to other respondents in order to determine possible
differences.
Results of Content Analysis
An analysis of the content of the posts of the Zadar
Tourist Board (Like Zadar) on Instagram revealed that
the local Zadar Tourist Board mostly publishes image
content in which the dominant attribute is architec-
ture (buildings, streets, squares, etc.) (35), followed
by people (dominant part of image content is concen-
trated on people) (19), nature and landscape (sunset,
sea, etc.) (18) and lifestyle (everyday activities of peo-
ple in the destination) (11). The results of the analysis
are somewhat different for the Zadar County Tourist
Board, where the image content predominantly de-
picted nature and landscape (29), while people (15),
architecture (14) and gastronomy (food and drinks,
groceries, food preparation and drinks, etc.) (15) are
almost equally represented. These are categories of im-
age content that are represented by more than ten per-
cent in the analysed content.
On the social network of Facebook, the analysis
was more demanding, as previously stated. However,
it was determined that the Zadar Tourist Board pri-
marily publishes events as content (concerts, festivals,
local events, etc.). At the same time, it should be noted
that it is a presentation of a really wide range of dif-
ferent events, from sports to cultural and entertain-
ment events. Next, the contents are dominated by de-
pictions of architecture, followed by contents classi-
fied into the ‘other contents’ category, such as the pro-
motion of products, accommodation, commercial at-
tractions, etc., followed by lifestyle. This tourist board
uses Facebook primarily to inform tourists and poten-
tial tourists about activities in the destination. In this
way, it achieves one of the basic functions of social net-
works – it connects different users. At the same time,
the Zadar County Tourist Board publishes content re-
lated to nature and landscape, architecture, people and
lifestyle. So, its communication strategy is fairly uni-
form for both social media, and it should also be noted
that it does not use the specifics and features of each of
these social media, nor the specifics of the target mar-
ket to which it communicates.
It can be concluded that the aforementioned tourist
boards have different communication strategies on the
analysed social media. This is particularly evident in
the content that is communicated, which refers to cer-
tain forms of tourism. Given that the Zadar Tourist
Board is related to the promotion of the city of Zadar
itself as an urban destination, the emphasis on archi-
tecture is not surprising. Likewise, as previously em-
phasized, it is a destination that has a rich heritage.
However, architecture is only one element through
which cultural destinations can be branded. There are
a whole range of other attractive factors related to cul-
ture that could be emphasized more on social media,
especially intangible heritage. On the other hand, the
Zadar County Tourist Board sees its attractive factor
mainly in the nature and landscape, as well as the basis
for various types of sports activities and recreation in
the destination. This is not surprising considering the
fact that for the last few years this destination has been
positioned through the marketing campaign ‘Say yes
to everything!’ in which there is a special emphasis on
just such activities and outdoor activities. However, it
should be emphasized here that Zadar County is rich
in various resources of tangible and intangible cultural
heritage, but apparently did not recognize them as a
96 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
sufficiently attractive factor for the primary branding
of the destination through social media.
The Results of a Survey Conducted on Tourists
using LCCs
A total of 517 respondents who spent at least two
nights in Zadar County participated in the research.
As stated, certain characteristics of the behaviour of
respondents whose arrival in Zadar and Zadar County
was motivated by unesco heritage were considered,
in relation to other respondents. In the total sample
of surveyed tourists, only 5 respondents (0.97) were
primarily motivated by unesco heritage, while 136
respondents (26.31) stated this as one of the three
secondary motives. So, these 141 (27.27) respondents
were considered in relation to the other respondents.
At the beginning, it should be emphasized that all
respondents in the sample were most often motivated
by the sun, the sea and a pleasant climate, and then by
new experiences. This is also the most common mo-
tive in past researches (KrceMiočić et al., 2018; Vidić et
al., 2019). The demographic characteristics of respon-
dents motivated by unesco heritage are given in Ta-
ble 2.
Respondents are experienced travellers because on
average they travel outside their country of permanent
residence 2 or more times a year (69), with 39 of
respondents using lccs 6 or more times. The demo-
graphic characteristics of the other respondents did
not differ significantly from those motivated by un-
esco heritage. The above characteristics are in accor-
dance with the data on passengers who most often
travel on lccs (Graham&Dennis, 2010; Smith, 2009;
Davison & Ryley, 2010; Eugenio-Martin & Inchausti-
Sintes, 2016).
Respondents motivated by unesco heritage re-
ceived their first information about Zadar and Zadar
County via the Internet (54), and then through the
recommendation of friends and relatives (21), which
shows that the strongest communication channel is
still the Internet and recommendations (Word-of-
Mouth). As for gathering information about the des-
tination, the respondents most often got information
via travel agency websites such as Tripadvisor (41),
followed by recommendations from friends and rela-
Table 2 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
Motivated by unesco Heritage
Gender Male (); Female ()
Age – (); – ()
Education Bachelor or master’s degree ()
Employment Yes ()
Income >, (); ,–, ()
Marital status Single () or in a relationship ()
Travelling with Family () or friends ()
Travelling exp.  times or more a year ()
lcc experience  times or more ()
tives (38) and social media (30). It should be noted
that only 17 of respondents got information about
the destination through the Zadar Tourist Board web-
site and Zadar County Tourist Board website, and 13
through the website of the lccs they used. The other
respondents were similarly informed about Zadar and
Zadar County. They got their information a little more
through recommendations from friends and relatives
(41), and a little less through travel websites (26).
With the other respondents, it is also evident that web-
sites of regional or local tourist boards and websites
of lccs are not significantly represented when seek-
ing information about the destination (about 10),
although Zadar and Zadar County allocate significant
funds for promotion, especially for joint advertising
through the websites of lccs.
The main or primary destination for respondents
motivated by unesco heritage was Zadar and Zadar
County (66), which is slightly more than other re-
spondents (45). However, at the same time, it is
evident that these respondents visited other places
in Dalmatia more often, such as Šibenik, Split and
Dubrovnik, which also have heritage under the pro-
tection of unecso. Also, these respondents visited
protected natural areas more often, especially Krka
National Park and Plitvice Lakes National Park (32),
which is also a unesco heritage site. Considering
the above, it can be concluded that respondents moti-
vated by unesco heritage really actually visited these
places. This is not surprising, because respondents also
mentioned cities like Split and Dubrovnik, as well as
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 97
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
Table 3 Sources of Information about Zadar and Zadar County
Attitudes and behavior Motivated by unesco heritage Others
First informat. on Zadar & Zadar County Internet (); Friends & relatives
()
Internet (); Friends & relatives
()
Information on Zadar & Zadar County Travel websites (); Friends &
relatives (); Social media ()
Friends & relatives (); Social me-
dia (); Travel websites ();
Other information sources Websites of regional or local tourist
boards (); Websites of lcc ()
Websites of regional or local tourist
boards (); Websites of lcc ()
Main destination Zadar and Zadar County () Zadar and Zadar County ()
Visiting other destinations on the trip Šibenik, Split, Dubrovnik (unesco)
()
Šibenik, Split, Dubrovnik (unesco)
()
Visiting protected area on the trip NP Krka, np Plitvice Lakes (un-
esco) ()
np Krka, np Plitvice Lakes (un-
esco) ()
Table 4 Motivation and Consumption of Cultural Events and Facilities
Attitudes and behaviour () ()
Cultural events and facilities as a motive to visit Zadar or Zadar region ()  
Consumption of thematic sightseeing tours (culture, religion, gastronomy, history, etc.) ()  
Consumption of cultural events and activities (museums, exhibitions, theatres, etc.) ()  
Average personal expenditure for cultural and entertainment event and facilities ()  
Average personal expenditure for museums ()  
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) motivated by unesco heritage, (2) others.
Plitvice National Park, as the main/primary destina-
tion on their trip. It should be added to this that all re-
spondents in the sample visited at least one protected
area.
Respondents motivated by unesco heritage were
alsomotivated by cultural events and contents in com-
ing to Zadar andZadar County (about 40of these re-
spondents), which is slightly more than other respon-
dents (10). The results on motivation and consump-
tion of cultural events and contents are shown in Ta-
ble 4.
However, it is evident that respondents motivated
by unesco heritage consumed relatively little of the
cultural offer. Only 28 of them (or 38 respondents)
consumed cultural events and contents (museums, ex-
hibitions, theatres, performances, etc.), and 22 en-
joyed sightseeing cultural heritage and themed tours.
This is also confirmed by consumption, as only 10 of
the respondents actually spent on cultural and enter-
tainment events and activities, and on average around
€75 per person. As for museums, only 3 of the re-
spondents spent on museums and on average around
€25. Other respondents are not overly interested in the
offer of cultural content, as indicated by the results on
motivation and consumption of the same.
At the end of the survey, the respondents evaluated
their satisfactionwith the elements of cultural and nat-
ural heritage in Zadar and Zadar County. They could
evaluate satisfaction with grades from –2 to 2, and the
grades are shown in Table 5. From the table, it is pos-
sible to see that respondents motivated by unesco
heritage are somewhat more critical about satisfac-
tion with cultural heritage, that is, their grades are on
average lower than the group for which this was not
the reason for coming. So, given that they were partly
motivated by cultural heritage and that they visited or
consumed it, the aforementioned elements obviously
did not meet their expectations. At the same time, it is
98 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
Table 5 Satisfaction with the Heritage and Recommendation
Category Item () ()
Satisfaction (from – to ) Maintaining of cultural heritage . .
Accessibility of cultural heritage . .
Presentation of cultural heritage . .
The beauty and preserved nature and landscapes . .
Recommendation () Yes  
Reasons for visiting in the future () Peace and the preserved environment, gastronomy  
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) motivated by unesco heritage, (2) others.
interesting to note how the other respondents rate cul-
tural heritage highly, even though they consumed sig-
nificantly less of it. Natural heritage was rated highly
by both groups of respondents, with respondents mo-
tivated by unesco heritage being somewhat more
critical.
Finally, one can add to this that both groups of
respondents would come again to the city of Zadar
and Zadar County, to enjoy the peace and preserved
nature and gastronomy. Also, respondents would rec-
ommend the same destination to their friends, col-
leagues and relatives (90 of them). This data is not
surprising, because in addition to these, the respon-
dents were also very satisfied with other elements of
the destination’s offer. However, only 55 of all respon-
dents would return to the destination again, which is
in line with consumer behaviour in the tourist mar-
ket, especially the younger population, which is more
inclined to change destinations. Considering the ex-
treme mobility of the respondents, all these elements
related to the examination of the experience and satis-
faction with the elements offered by the city of Zadar
and Zadar County should be taken with caution, be-
cause their impression was partly influenced by the
experience of other places and attractions.
Conclusion
Previous research has shown that lccs have made a
significant shift in the air transport services market.
With their concept of low service prices, along with
a reduced scope of services, they have enabled pas-
sengers with relatively lower incomes to use air trans-
portation services.With this concept, they encouraged
the segment of tourists who tend to take shorter trips
to travel, andwhowant to travel several times a year, as
well as the emigrants of the countries that were their
destinations. Destinations competed to attract lccs
because they expected their arrival to attract more
distant markets, but also to encourage off-season ar-
rivals. Therefore, the destinations encouraged the ar-
rival of lccs through various discounts on the prices
of port fees, as well as through online advertising pro-
grammes about the destination on the lcc websites.
In this paper, it was determined that the extremely
high investment for internet advertising of lcc com-
panies is only one way to attract them. Namely, only
11.5 of surveyed lcc tourists were informed about
the destination via the website of the lccs they used.
Therefore, the above cannot justify the high expenses
that the Zadar County pays to the lccs for connect-
ing the destination with other destinations. The re-
duction of seasonality, which is the primary goal of
both the development of cultural tourism and the at-
traction of lccs, was not yet achieved in the example
of the researched destination. lccs achieve most of
their traffic in the summer months, when it is com-
mon for this coastal destination to have the highest
number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays.
By analysing the social media content, it was pos-
sible to determine that neither of the two observed
tourist boards focused their communication strategy
on digital platforms primarily on culture as an attrac-
tive element, although they have highlighted it as a
primary strategic orientation and one of the tools for
reducing seasonality. Therefore, there is no uniform
positioning of Zadar and Zadar County as a cultural
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 99
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
tourism destination. This is also indicated by the re-
sults of the survey, according to which it is evident that
tourists using lccs are not significantly motivated by
culture and consume it even less. Although culture in
the broadest sense is used as a resource in destination
branding, it seems that this is not clear, nor empha-
sized enough. Although architecture is used as one of
the fundamental attributes of the content that is pub-
lished, especially when it comes to the city of Zadar,
this is also not enough when it comes to highly moti-
vated cultural tourists who are, for example,motivated
by unesco heritage. According to the results of the
conducted research, a relatively small percentage of
such tourists consumed other types of cultural activi-
ties (museums, theatres, etc.), and the satisfactionwith
the various elements of heritage is lower compared to
other surveyed tourists. It is not entirely clear from
these results whether they could find information re-
lated to these other types of cultural activities or if this
offer did not meet their expectations, and for that rea-
son they were not satisfied and did not use it. There-
fore, it is necessary to conduct additional research in
order to determine the specific behavioural patterns of
cultural tourists who travel by lccs. In addition, it is
necessary to conduct a content analysis of other digital
platforms that tourists use when seeking information
about the destination, such as TripAdvisor, the web-
sites of other tourist boards and lccs, in order to de-
termine what type of content is published and to anal-
yse tourist satisfaction through various tourist review
sites.
In conclusion, it has to be stressed that, as seen
from this research, Zadar and Zadar County did not
sufficiently utilize the potentials that lccs could bring
to the destination. This potential is especially visible
in the number of connecting flights between Zadar
and distant European outboundmarkets (https://www
.zadar-airport.hr/destinacije#zad), that are highlymo-
tivated by culture and sightseeing when visiting this
destination and which, therefore, spendmore than av-
erage on cultural activities in the destination, such as
the United Kingdom, France, Scandinavian countries,
Belgium, and the Netherlands (Marušić et al., 2020).
These are also the markets in which a very high per-
centage arrive by plane to Zadar County. So, this is a
very good basis to prolong the tourist season by at-
tracting cultural tourists with higher spending power.
Therefore, Zadar and Zadar County Tourist Boards
should focus their marketing strategies on the rich
cultural heritage and other cultural products to attract
these markets, especially in pre- and post-season. The
role of providing information about cultural tourism
offers is crucial in this sense, as has been visible from
the conducted research. This should be done through
targeted digital marketing activities on their official
digital platforms, and also other offline marketing
channels on the above-mentioned markets.
Acknowledgments
This research has been supported by Zadar County. The
authors would like to acknowledge Zadar airport for
their engagement during the data collection process.
References
Akamavi, R. K., Mohamed, E., Pellmann, K., & Xu, Y. (2015).
Key determinants of passenger loyalty in the low-cost
airline business. Tourism Management, 46, 528–545.
Bachwich, A. R., & Wittman, M. D. (2017). The emergence
and effects of the ultra-low cost carrier (ulcc) business
model in the us airline industry. Journal ofAir Transport
Management, 62, 155–164.
Barbieri, C., & Mahoney, E. (2010). Cultural tourism be-
haviour and preferences among the live-performing arts
audience: An application of the univorous-omnivorous
framework. International Journal of Tourism Research,
12(5), 481–496.
Butler, R.W. (2001). Seasonality in tourism: Issues and impli-
cations. In R. W. Butler, T. Baum, & S. Lundtorp (Eds.),
Seasonality in tourism (pp. 5–22). Routledge.
cbs (Croatian Bureau of Statistics). (2020). Tourist arrivals
and nights in 2019. https://mint.gov.hr/UserDocsImages
/AAA_2020_ABC/c_dokumenti/200228_DZS
_turizam2019.pdf
Clavé, S. A., Saladié, Ò., Cortés-Jiménez, I., Young, A. F., &
Young, R. (2015). How different are tourists who decide
to travel to a mature destination because of the existence
of a low-cost carrier route? Journal of Air TransportMan-
agement, 42, 213–218.
Craps, A. (2021). What are the changes in lca passengers’
mobility practices? Insights from a European survey.
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives,
12(1), 100477.
Cros, H. du, & McKercher, B. (2015). Cultural tourism (2nd
ed.). Routledge.
100 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
Cros, H. du, & McKercher, B. (2020). Cultural tourism (3rd
ed.). Routledge.
Cuccia, T., & Rizzo, I. (2011). Tourism seasonality in cultural
destinations: Empirical evidence from Sicily. Tourism
Management, 32(3), 589–595.
Dai, T., Hein, C., & Zhang, T. (2019). Understanding how
Amsterdam City tourism marketing addresses cruise
tourists’ motivations regarding culture. Tourism Man-
agement Perspectives, 29, 157–165.
Dann, G. M. (1981). Tourist motivation an appraisal. Annals
of Tourism Research, 8(2), 187–219.
Davison, L., & Ryley, T. (2010). Tourism destination prefer-
ences of low-cost airline users in the EastMidlands. Jour-
nal of Transport Geography, 18(3), 458–465.
We Are Social. (2022, 21 October). Digital 2021 October
Global Statshot report. https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog
/2021/10/social-media-users-pass-the-4-5-billion-mark/
Dobruszkes, F., &Mondou, V. (2013). Aviation liberalization
as a means to promote international tourism: The eu-
Morocco case. Journal of Air Transport Management, 29,
23–34.
Dunne, G., Buckley, J., & Flanagan, S. (2007). City breakmo-
tivation: The case ofDublin, a successful national capital.
Journal of Travel and TourismMarketing, 22(3/4), 95–107.
Eugenio-Martin, J. L., & Inchausti-Sintes, F. (2016). Low-cost
travel and tourism expenditures. Annals of Tourism Re-
search, 57, 140–159.
Falk, M., & Katz-Gerro, T. (2017). Modeling travel decisions:
Urban exploration, cultural immersion, or both? Journal
of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(3), 369–382.
Gluvačević, D. (2016). The power of cultural heritage in
tourism-example of the city of Zadar (Croatia). Inter-
national Journal of Scientific Management and Tourism,
2(1), 3–24.
Graham,A., &Dennis,N. (2010). The impact of low cost air-
line operations to Malta. Journal of Air Transport Man-
agement, 16(3), 127–136.
Graham, B., & Shaw, J. (2008). Low-cost airlines in Europe:
Reconciling liberalization and sustainability. Geoforum,
39(3), 1439–1451.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2009). The fairyland of Sec-
ond Life: Virtual social worlds and how to use them.
Business Horizons, 52(6), 563–572.
Kotler, P., Nebenzahl, I. D., Lebedenko, V., Rainisto, S., Gert-
ner, D., Clifton, R., . . . Aaker, D. (2004). Where is place
branding heading? Place Branding, 1(1), 12–35.
Kožić, I. (2009). tomas trends: Attitudes and expenditures
of tourists in Croatia 1987–2008. Tourism, 57(3), 347–
348.
Krce Miočić, B., Klarin, T., & Vidić, G. (2018). The impact
of low-cost carriers on tourists’ motivation and decision
on selection of a destination. In J. Šimurina, I. Nači-
nović Braje, & I. Pavić (Eds.), cauthe 2018: An Enter-
prise Odyssey; Proceedings of feb Zagreb 9th Interna-
tional Odyssey Conference on Economics and Business
(pp. 139–140). University of Zagreb.
Krce Miočić, B., Magaš, D., Bacalja, R., Razović, M., Vidić,
G., & Klarin, T. (2016). Strategija razvoja turizma Grada
Zadra za razdoblje 2016.–2026. godine. Turistička zajed-
nica Grada Zadra.
Kuljanin, J., & Kalić, M. (2015). Exploring characteristics of
passengers using traditional and low-cost airlines: A case
study of Belgrade Airport. Journal of Air TransportMan-
agement, 46, 12–18.
Lam, T., & Hsu, H. C. (2006). Predicting behavioral inten-
tion of choosing a travel destination. Tourism Manage-
ment, 27, 589–599.
Mandić, A., Teklić, M., & Petrić, L. (2017). The effects of the
low cost carriers’ presence on airport performance: Ev-
idence from Croatia. Tourism and Hospitality Manage-
ment, 23(1), 17–34.
Martínez-Garcia, E., Ferrer-Rosell, B., &Coenders,G. (2012).
Profile of business and leisure travelers on low cost car-
riers in Europe. Journal of Air Transport Management,
20, 12–14.
Marušić, Z., Čorak, S., Ivandić, N., Beroš, I., & Ambrušec,
M. (2020). Stavovi i potrošnja turista u Hrvatskoj: Tomas
Hrvatska 2019. Institut za turizam.
Mason, K. J., & Alamdari, F. (2007). eu network carriers,
low cost carriers and consumer behaviour: A delphi
study of future trends. Journal of Air Transport Man-
agement, 13(5), 299–310.
Matassi, J., Kevrić, V., Peričić, S., Krce Miočić, B., Razović,
M., Klarin, T., Magaš, D., Brkić-Velmejka, J., & Kra-
jnović, A. (2013). Glavni plan razvoja turizma Zadarske
županije 2013.–2023. Turistička zajednica Zadarske žu-
panije.
McKercher, B. (2002). Towards a classification of cultural
tourists. International Journal of Tourism Research, 4(1),
29–38.
McKercher, B., & Cros, H. du. (2003). Testing a cultural
tourism typology. International Journal of Tourism Re-
search, 5(1), 45–58.
Naletina, D., Damić, M., & Jabučar, A. (2019). Customer sat-
isfaction with services of low-cost carriers at Pula and
Zadar airports. InterEULawEast: Journal for the Interna-
tional and European Law, Economics andMarket Integra-
tions, 6(2), 71–97.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 101
Božena Krce Mioi et al. The Role of Culture in Attracting Tourists
Pilling, M. (2008, October). Malta looks for a break. Airline
Business.
Pulido-Fernández, J. I., & Sánchez-Rivero, M. (2010). Atti-
tudes of the cultural tourist: A latent segmentation ap-
proach. Journal of Cultural Economics, 34(2), 111–129.
Pulina, M., & Cortés-Jiménez, I. (2010). Have low-cost car-
riers influenced tourism demand and supply? The case
of Alghero, Italy. Tourism Analysis, 15(6), 617–635.
Qiang, M. (2020). Does climate drive tourism seasonality in
cultural destinations? A comparative study. Current Is-
sues in Tourism, 23(22), 2756–2761.
Rey, B.,Myro, R. L., &Galera, A. (2011). Effect of low-cost air-
lines on tourism in Spain: A dynamic panel data model.
Journal of Air Transport Management, 17(3), 163–167.
Richards, G. (2018). Cultural tourism: A review of recent
research and trends. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, 36, 12–21.
Robinson, P., Heitmann, S., & Dieke, P. (Eds.). (2011). Re-
search themes for tourism. cabi.
Sarılgan, A. E. (2016). Impact of low cost carriers on Turk-
ish tourism industry. International Journal of Academic
Research in Business and Social Sciences, 6(4), 176–188.
Šćuric, A. (2021). Zadar 1,5 milijuna eur za 44 linije Ryan-
aira. Zamaaero. https://zamaaero.com/30/12/2021
/novosti-iz-regije/zadar-15-milijuna-eur-za-44-linije
-ryanaira/
Smith, A. (2009). Effects of low cost airlines on efforts to
develop cultural heritage tourism. Anatolia, 20(2), 289–
306.
Statista. (2022). Low cost carriers’ worldwide market share
from 2007 to 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics
/586677/global-low-cost-carrier-market-capacity-share/
Stepchenkova, S., & Zhan, F. (2013). Visual destination im-
ages of Peru: Comparative content analysis of dmo and
user-generated photography. Tourism Management, 36,
590–601.
Tkalac Verčič, A., Sinčić Ćorić, D., & Pološki Vokić, N.
(2013). Priručnik za metodologiju istraživačkog rada u
društvenim istraživanjima: kako osmisliti, provesti i opi-
sati znanstveno i stručno istraživanje (2nd ed.). mep.
Tsui, K. W. H. (2017). Does a low-cost carrier lead the do-
mestic tourism demand and growth of New Zealand?
Tourism Management, 60, 390–403.
unwto. (2018). Report on tourism and culture synergies.
https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/epdf/10.18111
/9789284418978
unwto. (2019). International tourism highlights. https://
www.e-unwto.org/doi/epdf/10.18111/9789284421152
Vanhove, N. (2012). The economics of tourism destination
(2nd ed.). Routledge.
Vergori, A. S., & Arima, S. (2020). Cultural and non-cultural
tourism: Evidence from Italian experience.TourismMan-
agement. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.104058
Vidić, G., Krce Miočić, B., & Žnidar, K. (2019). Tourist sat-
isfaction with a destination: Evidence from low cost car-
rier users in Zadar County. Acta turistica, 31(1), 35–68.
Weiler, B., & Hall, C. M. (1992). Special interest tourism. Bel-
haven.
102 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Original Scientific Article
Reviving Ancient Life: Segmentation Analysis
of the Ancient Life Story Tourism Prospects
Antonis Theocharous
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
antonis.theocharous@cut.ac.cy
Petros Kosmas
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
petros.kosmas@cut.ac.cy
Maria Panagopoulou
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
maria.panagopoulou@cut.ac.cy
Hristo Andreev
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
hd.andreev@edu.cut.ac.cy
Petros Giannoulis
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
petros.giannoulis@cut.ac.cy
Katerina Pericleous
Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus
katerina.pericleous@cut.ac.cy
Kirsi Lorentz
Cyprus Institute, Cyprus
k.lorentz@cyi.ac.cy
This paper introduces a novel intangible heritage tourism product intended to en-
hance the heritage tourism sector. The Ancient Life Story Tourism concept is a new
multidimensional cultural heritage tourism product that features fictional represen-
tations of ancient life as its core and includes many associated physical and digital
products. Based on Kotler’s stp theory, a market segmentation model has been ap-
plied to identify potential segments for novel heritage tourism products. An online
quantitative survey was applied with the aim of identifying the demographic, be-
havioural and psychographic characteristics of a potential audience worldwide. In
this study, cluster analysis was employed to analyse 766 foreign tourists, to identify
potential ancient life story tourism market segments. Three potential market seg-
ments were identified: (1) Gen-Z, Adventure-Seeking Digital Natives, (2) Early Mil-
lennials, Explorers of Local Traditions, and (3) Late Millennials, Family Explorers of
History and Culture. The segments were evaluated based on the alignment of their
profile with the different levels of the proposed heritage tourism product. Overall,
Segments 2 and 3 were more attractive targeting prospects due to higher alignment
with the core, generic and expected product of Ancient Life Story Tourism. Due to
this research, in the near future Ancient Life Story Tourism will be able to establish
a strong positioning and branding strategy in the heritage tourism sector.
Keywords: cultural tourism, ancient life stories, tourism market segmentation,
targeting, tourism product marketing
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.103-119
Introduction
In the global tourism industry, authentic intangible
cultural heritage (ich) gives a community an edge.
But the commercialization of ich has made it less
real, so alternative methods are needed to share and
promote ich as a tourism resource (Kim et al., 2019).
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 103
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Tourism has helped protect and develop ich, and
some governments are using it as a revenue source.
Many heritage sites have created tourism products
to restore ich, which may compromise authenticity
and overcommercialize heritage. Academics prioritize
ich craftsmanship and aesthetic preservation (Qiu et
al., 2019). On the other hand, it is necessary to strike
a balance between ich and non-heritage tourism de-
velopment, whereby tourism-related products reflect
value and satisfy the emotional needs of tourists. Thus,
the ich value can become the focal point of product
development (Keeney, 1994). Therefore, destinations
should aim to create tourist products that integrate
ich and non-heritage aspects so that both visitors and
locals can benefit.
ich is being leveraged by destinationmanagers for
the creation of novel tourist experiences. These prod-
ucts are not limited to historically supported cultural
heritage but also include fictional cultural heritage cre-
ations, such asmovies and tv series (Riley et al., 1998;
Tkalec et al., 2017). Therefore, both historical narrative
and fictional stories can spike tourists’ interest in ich.
This paper introduces a novel ich tourism concept:
the Ancient Life Story Tourism. In a nutshell, ‘ancient
life story tourism’ is a multidimensional tourist prod-
uct that has ancient life stories as its core and com-
bines a variety of associated physical and digital prod-
ucts and experiences.
The ancient life stories are based on osteobiogra-
phies, which are defined as ‘fictional yet evidence-
based, narrative interpretations of archaeological hu-
man remains’ (Boutin, 2019, pp. 284-285). By them-
selves, the ancient life stories are insufficient to gen-
erate significant tourist interest. The introduction of
ancient life stories as a tourist product necessitates the
creation of relevant tourist packages to guide tourists
through the experiences related to the core product.
Traditional products and experiences that are asso-
ciated with the ancient life stories can provide ad-
ditional tangible and intangible evidences that stim-
ulate tourists’ emotions. Ancient life stories can be
enhanced further with exhibitions and print media,
while related digital technology experiences can serve
as a medium for giving a tangible dimension to the
ich through digital storytelling (Tzima et al., 2020).
The rationale of this research will provide the basis
for a market segmentation model that can be used by
destinationmanagers and tour operators to better un-
derstand and identify the relevant audiences and de-
sign more appropriate marketing strategies for novel
tourist products. The research is based on the clas-
sic segmentation, marketing, and positioning (stp)
marketing theory proposed by Kotler (2001), while
the product of Ancient Life Story Tourism is analysed
based on Kotler’s five product levels model.
A quantitative questionnaire was developed based
on the segmentation, targeting, and positioning (stp)
framework proposed by Philip Kotler (2001) and was
translated into seven languages. The questionnaire
was structured around geodemographics, psychogra-
phics, and behavioural characteristics that are needed
for creating comparable profiles for each segment. The
survey was self-administered, anonymous, and dis-
tributed online.
A two-step cluster analysis was conducted to iden-
tify tourismmarket segments, which included 766 for-
eign tourists visiting Cyprus. Cluster analysis is a mul-
tivariate method used to group things that have simi-
lar traits, and this technique is ideal because it allows
for the use of large datasets, automatically determines
the number of derived clusters, and can analyse both
categorical and continuous variables.
As part of this research study, we propose a unique
form of ich tourism named Ancient Life Story Tour-
ism. Considering this is a novel concept, it is necessary
to identify the potential market for this ich product.
For this reason, the main goal of this research is to ap-
proach in a unified way the characteristics of tourists
who visit a tourist destination and at the same time are
interested in ancient life and its revival through phys-
ical and digital products and experiences.
Since there is no typology of this tourist group,
the originality of the study lies in the introduction
of a new tourist product (Ancient Life Story Tourism
product) and in the search for the tourismmarket seg-
ments that make up the profiles of those interested
through demographic, geographic, psychographic and
behavioural variables (Kotler et al., 2014). The objec-
tive of this paper is to provide a clear understanding
of the specific tourist group by creating the framework
104 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
on which a successful branding strategymay be devel-
oped in the future. Finally, the attractiveness of each
segment is evaluated based on its alignment with the
proposed product of Ancient Life Story Tourism. By
doing so, this research will provide a solid foundation
for the positioning and branding strategy of Ancient
Life Story Tourism in Cyprus.
Literature Review
Cultural heritage is perceived as a major asset for
tourist destinations. Both tangible and ich can in-
crease the attractiveness of a tourist destination sig-
nificantly (McKercher & Du Cros, 2002). Like in any
other market, the theories, strategies, and techniques
from the discipline of marketing are being directly ap-
plied in the context of tourism with the end goal of at-
tracting more visitors to destination countries (Oh et
al., 2004). However, attracting more customers is not
always the best and most profitable strategy for desti-
nations. Therefore, themodern application of effective
marketing practises in tourism considers attracting
the right visitors at the right place in order to maxi-
mize satisfaction and increase customer loyalty (Chen
& Gursoy, 2001). Buyers in any market have differ-
ent demands, resources, locations, attitudes, and be-
haviours. Each market is different because customers
have different demands, wants and needs (Kotler et al.,
2014).
In the field of marketing, the most commonly ac-
cepted and widely used theoretical framework among
marketing professionals and academic researchers for
the formulation of marketing strategies is the Seg-
mentation, Targeting, Positioning (stp) framework
proposed by Philip Kotler (2001). This framework
has been implemented in numerous studies for the
research and formulation of marketing strategies for
destinations (Tsiotsou & Goldsmith, 2012; Pyo, 2015;
Cuculeski et al., 2017; Mihailović & Popović, 2017;
Rudiana&Komarlina, 2018; Binbasioglu, 2020; Prayag
et al., 2021; Rianty et al., 2022; Badilla, 2022).
Segmentation
According to Kotler, a market cannot be segmented
in a single manner. Researchersmust experiment with
various segmentation variables and characteristics, ei-
ther using single factors or a combination of factors, in
order to determine the best method for perceiving and
segmenting themarket (Kotler, 2001). Segmentation is
the process of putting together groups of possible tar-
get customers and trying to separate potential markets
for different buyer groups and different types of goods,
as well as putting together the right parts of the mar-
keting mix. Marketing strategy is achieved by prod-
uct segmentation based on differences in customer
attributes, their motives for purchasing or consum-
ing several items, and their brand preferences. Market
segments can be divided by geographic, demographic,
behavioural and psychographic factors (Kotler et al.,
2014).
Geographic segmentation divides the market into
geographical units such as continents, countries, states,
regions, counties, cities, or neighbourhoods. Buyers in
any tourist market have different demands, resources,
attitudes towards purchasing, and buying patterns
based on their geographic location (Kotler et al., 2014).
Because customers have different requirements and
desires, each may be considered a separate market.
In an ideal world, a marketer would create a unique
marketing strategy for each customer. A caterer, for
example, can tailor the meal, entertainment, and en-
vironment to match the demands of a given customer
(Tsiotsou & Goldsmith, 2012). The personalization of
products and services based on location is considered
a best practise in today’s interactive marketing chan-
nels, such as social media, streaming platforms, email,
and others, because of the channels’ automatic capa-
bilities to ask and identify the user’s geolocation via
gps (Matloka & Buhalis, 2010; Buhalis & Amarang-
gana, 2015).
Demographic segmentation separates the market
into groups based on factors such as age, life stage, gen-
der, income, profession, education, religion, ethnicity,
and generation. The most commonly used founda-
tions for segmenting client groups are demographic
factors (Kotler et al., 2014). One reason for this is be-
cause customer demands, desires, and consumption
rates often shift in tandem with demographic charac-
teristics. Another advantage is that demographic char-
acteristics are simple to quantify (Kotler, 2001). Even
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 105
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
if market groups are initially formed using other cri-
teria, such as personality or behaviour, demographic
parameters must be recognized in order to determine
the size of the market and effectively reach it (Pyo,
2015).
Psychographic segmentation separates consumers
into groups based on their socioeconomic status, life-
style, or personality traits (Kotler, 2001). People in the
same demographic category might have a wide range
of psychographic features. As a consequence, mar-
keters often segment their markets based on customer
lifestyles, and their marketing methods are based on
lifestyle attractions (Kotler et al., 2014).
In behavioural segmentation, customers are sepa-
rated into groups based on their product knowledge,
attitudes, use, and responses (Kotler, 2001). Numerous
marketers feel that behavioural characteristics are the
best place to begin when constructing market groups.
Buyers can be classified based on their behavioural
characteristics and behavioural patterns towards the
product or service itself, as well as their relative pat-
terns and characteristics regarding similar experiences
(Kotler et al., 2014).
There are four prerequisites for efficient segmenta-
tion:measurability, accessibility, sustainability, and ac-
tionability. Measurability refers to the extent to which
the segment’s size and buying power may be quanti-
fied. Accessibility is the extent to which segments are
capable of being evaluated and serviced. Substantiality
is the extent to which parts are sufficiently substantial
or lucrative to function as marketplaces. To support a
customizedmarketing campaign, a segment should be
themost economically viable homogeneous group. Fi-
nally, actionability refers to how well plans for attract-
ing new customers and maintaining existing ones can
be implemented (Kotler et al., 2014; Cuculeski et al.,
2016).
Targeting
Choosing the target market presents a challenge. A
target market is a group of purchasers with similar
requirements or characteristics that a destination in-
tends to serve. The selection of the best and most lu-
crative segments in the stp framework is called tar-
geting (Kotler, 2001).Marketing segmentation exposes
market-segment prospects for a destination. As a re-
sult, the destination must assess the different market
segments and choose which to target (Rudiana & Ko-
marlina, 2018). When analysing market segments, a
destination must consider three factors: segment size
and growth, segment attractiveness, and destination
goals and resources. Instead of destination goals and
resources, there are destination goals and resources in
the case of tourist destination targeting (Kotler et al.,
2014; Cuculeski et al., 2016).
A destination must first gather and evaluate data
on current segment sales growth rates and anticipated
segment profitability, if possible. Destinations should
be interested in segments with the appropriate size and
growth.However, ‘appropriate size and growth’ is a rel-
ative term, and in many cases, quality over quantity is
a more profitable and sustainable approach (Tsiotsou
& Goldsmith, 2012). Some destinations want to target
markets with substantial present sales, a rapid growth
rate, and a high profit margin. However, the biggest
and fastest-growing areas are not always the most de-
sirable for all tourist destinations, as factors such as
carrying capacity are highly important. Smaller des-
tinations often discover that they lack the carrying
capacity and resources required to serve the bigger
segments or that these segments are too competitive.
These destinationsmay choose smaller but potentially
more profitablemarket sectors and focus their offering
portfolio on niche target segments (Delgado, 2017).
Even if a section has ideal size and growth, it may
not yield desirable earnings. The destination must
evaluate several significant structural elements that
influence the attractiveness of its long-term segments.
For instance, a market sector is less desirable if it al-
readyhas several aggressive andpowerful competitors.
The existence of several real or hypothetical substi-
tutes may constrain pricing and profits (Kotler, 2001).
The relative purchasing power of buyers also influ-
ences the appeal of a segment. If buyers in a sector
have great negotiating power compared to suppliers,
they will drive down prices, demand higher quality
services, and pit rivals against one another. When it
comes to destinationmarketing, differentiation strate-
gies are more challenging to implement, but their im-
plementation can lead to great economic success if
106 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
the right segments are targeted (Kotler et al., 2014).
Every destination must evaluate its own aims and
resources with respect to accessible market segments.
Because they do not align with the destination’s long-
term goals, certain appealing categories might be ra-
pidly disregarded.Although such divisionsmay be en-
ticing in and of themselves, they may distract a desti-
nation’s focus and resources from its primary objec-
tive. Also, they might not be a good choice from an
environmental, political, or social responsibility point
of view (Binbasioglu, 2020).
Positioning
Once a destination has determined the segments to be
targeted, it must determine its value proposition, or
how it will provide distinct value for those markets,
as well as what positions it will hold in those areas.
Positioning is the process of giving a product a clear,
unique, and desirable place in the minds of target seg-
ments compared to other products in the same mar-
ket (Kotler et al., 2014). The position of a product in
the eyes of customers in comparison to rival goods is
determined by how the product is described by con-
sumers in terms of significant features. Consumers are
inundatedwith product and service information. They
are unable to evaluate items with each purchase deci-
sion. To simplify purchasing choices, customers cate-
gorize things; they ‘place’ destinations in their brains
(Kotler, 2001).
There are various positioning tactics available to
destination marketers. Destination offerings may be
placed according to certain characteristics. The attri-
bution of physical, psychological, and emotional char-
acteristics to the offering must provide valuable as-
sociations in the minds of potential visitors in each
targeted segment (Kotler et al., 2014). The aforemen-
tioned value associations must be aligned with the
value proposition of the destination’s offering. Posi-
tioning plays a key role in the implementation of the
differentiation strategy of a destination for either each
tourist product or the destination as a whole (Binba-
sioglu, 2020).
In order to position its offering, the destination
needs to find potential customer value differences that
can provide distinct competitive advantages around
which to create the positioning. The destination may
increase consumer value by charging lower rates than
competitors or by providing more features to justify
higher costs (Rudiana & Komarlina, 2018). However,
if the destination claims a higher value, it must de-
liver on that promise. Otherwise, visitors might re-
spond with negative online reviews regarding their
experience and, as a consequence, damage the brand
of the destination and its global appeal to potential
tourists (Delgado, 2017). Thus, effective positioning
of destination offerings starts with differentiation re-
ally distinguishing the destination’s market offering
so that it delivers greater value to visitors (Neirotti
et al., 2016). Once the destination has determined its
desired stance, it must take aggressive actions to de-
liver and convey that position to its target segments.
The destination’s overall marketing campaign should
complement the chosen positioning approach.
The ‘Ancient Life Story’ Tourism Product
Ancient Life Story-Based Tourism is a novel, ich
product. It is characterized by complexity and con-
sists of many different levels and aspects. In the case
of Cyprus, the life stories developed by the ff-mac
project were based on archaeological findings and the
production of osteobiographies. The general theme
behind each life story is to present interesting aspects
of the lives of ancient Cypriots while introducing de-
tails about how they lived. The ancient life stories are
fictional; however, they are based on archaeological
evidence and therefore provide a more vivid represen-
tation of life in ancient Cyprus.
As an intangible cultural heritage product, ancient
life stories rely heavily on other products and services
in order to be converted into a tourist product. Left
alone as is, their potential as a tourist attraction is very
limited. Ancient life stories must essentially be com-
bined with tangible elements that can be used to con-
struct a tourist experience. Moreover, the techniques
of digitization and digital storytelling can provide a
tangible character to the intangible stories. As a result,
the final proposed product consists of the following el-
ements that are illustrated in Figure 1 and described in
depth below.
Tourist Packages. Complete tourist packages that
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 107
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Ancient Life
Story
Tourism
Tourist Packages
Complete tourist packages.
Excursions and wanderings.
Exhibitions
Museum exhibitions.
Local products exhibitions.
Experiences
Wine Tasting.
Local gastronomy.
Pottery workshops.
Traditional Products
Jewelry; ceramics; textile;
wine.
Digital Platform
Cultural Routes in a GIS system.
Points of interest in a GIS system.
Augmented Reality Experiences.
Print Media
Tour Guidebook with
Ancient Life Stories.
Figure 1 The Ancient Life Story Tourism Product
include points of interest and cultural heritage routes
based on ancient life stories. The theme of the com-
plete tourist packages is to provide the tourist with the
experience of learning about and experiencing the life
of ancient Cypriots, alongwith their life stories. Excur-
sions and wanderings will have a similar but less in-
tegrated effect than complete tourist packages. Their
purpose is to allow foreign and domestic tourists to
learn about and experience the lives of ancient Cypri-
ots.
Print Media. A tour guidebook with ancient life
stories has as its goal to imprint the stories of ancient
Cypriots into a tangible tourist guidebook that pro-
vides information regarding the various places tourists
can visit and the experiences they can take part in.
The goal with the guidebook is to connect the life sto-
ries with the associated experiences and products. The
guidebook must be written in a way to stimulate the
minds of tourists and foster a sense of connectionwith
the past.
Exhibitions. Museum exhibitions are a valuable
aspect of the product as they can connect the raw
material that stories are inspired by, namely the os-
teobiographies. Exhibition visitors will be able to see
exhibits from the archaeological excavations that in-
spired the ancient life stories andmake connections in
their minds. Local product exhibitions are completely
different than museum exhibitions, and their purpose
is to showcase products that are inspired by the lives
of ancient Cypriots and how these products connect
to the ancient life stories.
Traditional Products.While travel packages, books,
and exhibitions can provide great intangible value,
the traditional product creation is an essential ele-
ment of connecting the life of ancient Cypriots with
something tangible. Jewellery creation is the first tra-
ditional product category to be created based on the
lives of ancient Cypriots. The goal of jewellery creation
is to provide jewels that are branded and associated
with the lives of ancient Cypriots and their life sto-
ries. Through these product exhibitions, visitors will
be able to connect the traditional products with the
stories from ancient times and gain a deeper under-
standing of life in ancient Cyprus. Ceramic utensils
made of clay, such as pots and plates, are great for rep-
resenting the traditional culture of the island, as well
as its ancient history. The goal of ceramics creation is
to recreate the atmosphere of ancient Cyprus and to
provide visitors with a glimpse into the ancient ances-
tors’ lifestyle. Alongside ceramics, textiles can play a
huge role in the perception of tourists regarding the
lives of ancient Cypriots. Textiles are a representation
108 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
of the artisanal skills, culture, and social life of ancient
Cypriots. Last but not least, the creation of wine based
on an ancient grape variety is a key product for under-
standing and appreciating the culture of Cyprus and
the ancient life stories. The wine of ancient Cypriots is
a product that can bring the past to life and stimulate
visitors’ feelings because it is consumable. The overall
goal of developing traditional products is to provide
tangible evidence and make visitors connect with the
lives of ancient Cypriots.
Experiences. While traditional products serve as
great tangible evidence, experiences are essential for
making visitors experience the lives of ancient Cypri-
ots. The first experience that is based on the creation of
thewine of ancient Cypriots is wine tasting. As a popu-
lar cultural experience, wine tasting will make tourists
experience the lives of ancient Cypriots and help them
connect with the past. The second, but not less impor-
tant, experience is local gastronomy. Similar to wine
tasting, through local gastronomy, the visitor should
be able to associate the experience of tasting certain
specially created dishes with the life of ancient Cypri-
ots. Gastronomy and wine can be combined to create
a more compelling experience that engages visitors’
senses of taste and smell while also assisting them in
developing psychological associations between wine,
food and ancient life. Last but not least, pottery work-
shops can be a great experience that will show off the
artisanship and creativity of ancient Cypriots. Pottery
workshops offer visitors a hands-on experience that
allows them to directly explore the artistry of ancient
Cypriots. By visiting local oenogastronomy spots and
participating in pottery workshops, visitors can gain
an understanding of the tastes, smells and creative pur-
suits of ancient Cypriots.
Digital Platform.All of the above-mentioned prod-
ucts and services focus on the tangible and experi-
ential aspects of ancient life story-based tourism. As
ich, ancient life stories can be presented in a tangi-
ble way through digital technology. The digitization
should not be limited to the life stories but include
all elements related to the concept of ancient life story
tourism. As a result, the digital platform should be de-
signed and developed with two goals: (1) serving as a
tour guide for ancient life story tourists, and (2) pro-
viding interesting interactive information and experi-
ences to enrich the experience of the life stories.
Cultural routes based on ancient life stories are the
first feature of the digital platform. The routes include
points of interest related to the geolocation of the life
stories and the locations of the various experiences.
The routes within the platform follow a linear narra-
tive. The storytelling and the logic behind the presen-
tation of the geoinformation, descriptions, and media
on the platform is that of storymaps. User interface is
divided between an interactive map and a container
that contains the information and multimedia related
to the stories. Routes are connected point-to-point,
and by following them, tourists can experience the
concept of ‘ancient life story tourism’ as a whole. The
goal of the cultural routes is to guide users through
experiencing the lives of ancient Cypriots.
A linear narrative is not the best choice for all
tourists. Some of them might want to take a different
path or select different experiences and points of in-
terest to visit. As a result, many tourists might want to
skip certain points of interest or experiences and cus-
tomize their trips. In that case, an interactivemapwith
all the available points of interest and experiences is
necessary. The map will give users the ability to select
and visit only the points of interest and experiences
they want. The map will allow users to fully customize
their visit experience by allowing them to selectively
explore only those points of interest and experiences
that appeal to them.
Finally, augmented realitymoduleswill enable users
to gain more information by adding digital elements
to the ancient life stories. The augmentations consist
of 3d models such as monuments and objects that are
related to each story. Augmented reality enables users
to see the 3d models in their own space through their
mobile devices and enhance each story’s narrative.
By providing an immersive and engaging experience
through the use of augmented reality, users can gain a
more meaningful appreciation for the stories they ex-
plore. Moreover, the addition of digital elements can
provide the users with deeper insights into each life
story and connect them to ancient history in a more
tangible way.
Asmentioned previously, ancient life story tourism
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 109
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Table 1 Product Levels of Ancient Life Story Tourism
Potential
Product
Future Expansion and Combination
Combination of experiences such as wine tasting & gastronomy.
Adding new technological storytelling tools and techniques to the platform.
Augmented
Product
Exhibitions, Print Media & Digital Platform
Museum Exhibitions, local products exhibitions.
Tour Guidebook with Ancient Life Stories.
Cultural Routes in a GIS system, Points of interest in a GIS system, Augmented Reality Experiences.
Expected
Product
Traditional Products & Experiences
Jewelry, ceramics, textile, wine.
Wine tasting, local gastronomy, pottery workshops.
Generic
Product
Tourist Packages
Complete tourist packages.
Excursions and wanderings.
Core
Product
Ancient Life Stories
The life stories of Ancient Cypriot produced based on osteobiographies.
is proposed as a complex product that consists ofmany
elements. As a result, a further,more structured analy-
sis of the product is necessary. Theoretically, the anal-
ysis of each product element is based on Kotler’s five
product levels model (Kotler, 2001).
The core of the ancient life story tourism is based
on ancient life stories. In and of themselves, fictional
life stories based on osteobiographies are inadequate
to spike significant tourist interest (Table 1). To intro-
duce the ancient life stories as a tourist product, it is
essential to develop relative tourist packages that will
serve as the generic tourist product. The development
of traditional products and experiences can create ex-
pectations among potential visitors due to their tangi-
ble and experiential nature. Traditional products and
experiences can serve as the part of the product that
tourists expect from ancient life story tourism. The in-
troduction of exhibitions, print media, and the digi-
tal platform can go beyond the expected product by
adding additional factors for visitors to engage in this
type of tourism.
As a result, these product aspects can be classified
as the augmented product. Finally, there is the pos-
sibility of future growth and the combination of ex-
periences, which can provide additional tangible and
intangible benefits. The potential developments and
combinations can be classified as the potential prod-
uct. The potential product is key for future expansion
of ancient life story tourism growth, as it combines
various elements from both the expected and aug-
mented products.
Our purpose in conducting this study is to explore
the characteristics of tourists interested in cultural her-
itage (tangible and intangible), with a particular focus
on thosewho can potentially benefit fromcultural her-
itage experiences through theAncient Life Story prod-
uct. As a means of achieving the above-mentioned
purpose, four (4) research questions (rq) have been
proposed in this study:
rq1 What are the potential segments that are inter-
ested in Ancient Life Story Tourism?
rq2 How are psychographic, behavioural and geode-
mographic characteristics defining the segments?
rq3 What are the most prominent segments for An-
cient Life Story Tourism?
rq4 Why are certain segments of Ancient Life Story
Tourism more attractive than others?
Methodology
In order to identify tourism market segments, a two-
step cluster analysis was conducted, which included
766 foreign tourists visiting Cyprus. Cluster analysis is
a multivariatemethod that is used to group things that
have similar traits (Hair et al., 2010). To classify and
build a segmentation profile of the potential visitors
110 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Table 2 Research Questions
What? rq: What are the potential segments that are interested in Ancient Life Story Tourism?
rq: What are the most prominent segments for Ancient Life Story Tourism?
How? rq: How are psychographic, behavioural and geodemographic characteristics are defining the segments?
Why? rq: Why certain segments of Ancient Life Story Tourism are more attractive than others?
for ancient life story tourism, a two-step cluster anal-
ysis was used. According to Sarstedt and Mooi (2014),
this technique is ideal because it allows for the use of
large datasets, automatically determines the number of
derived clusters, and can analyse both categorical and
continuous variables; attributes that other hierarchical
and partitioning clustering methods cannot consider
holistically.
It is also worth noting that we followed Dolnicar’s
suggestions for the methodological design of our seg-
mentation investigation (Zopiatis & Pericleous, 2021),
particularly in terms of sample size adequacy and the
avoidance of both factor-cluster analysis and the use of
ordinal data.
Two Step Cluster Analysis is a sort of analysis that
groups items into two phases (Harantová et al., 2023).
There are two stages to the two-step cluster analysis:
(1) Pre-clustering is the first stage of the two-step clus-
tering process. Sequential clustering is the method
used to create subclusters from each variable object.
Score (threshold) and maximum sub-cluster are two
factors that influence the outcome of basic sequential
clustering. (2) Hierarchical Cluster to Subcluster is the
next stage to classify sub-clusters inside the larger clus-
ters. Two-step cluster analysis uses a different type of
ratio than previous cluster studies, the Log-Likelihood
ratio (Harantová et al., 2023).
When data consists of both continuous and cate-
gorical factors, the log-likelihood ratio is used. The
formula for the log-likelihood ratio between the ith
and jth clusters is:
d(i, j) = ξi + ξj − ξi,j,
ξS = NS
⎛⎜⎜⎜⎜⎜⎜⎜⎝
KA∑
k=1
1
2
log(σ́2k + σ́
2
sk) +
KB∑
g=1
Ésk
⎞⎟⎟⎟⎟⎟⎟⎟⎠ ,
Ésk = −
Lk∑
l=1
Nskl
NS
log
Nskl
NS
,
where d(i, j) is the ratio between the ith and jth cluster;
ξi is the ith cluster variance; S is ith, jth or combination
between ith and jth cluster symbol; ξj is the jth cluster
variance; ξi,j is the ith and jth cluster variance; KA is
the number of continuous variable; KB is the number
of categorical variable; Lk is the number of category
in the kth (categorical variable); NS is the number of
object in the ith, jth or combination between ith and
jth cluster; ξS is variance in ith, jth or combination be-
tween ith and jth cluster; σ́2k is the indicator for the kth
continuous variable; Ésk is the estimated score of ith,
jth or combination between ith and jth cluster in the
kth continuous variable; Nskl is the number of object
of ith, jth or combination between ith and jth cluster
in the kth categorical variable taken from the lth cate-
gory; σ́2sk is the indicator of variance in the ith, jth or
combination between ith and jth of the kth continuous
variable.
The optimal cluster is calculated based on the clus-
ter with the lowest bic score or the greatest distance
measurement ratio. Following is the formula for cal-
culating bic:
bic(J) = −2
J∑
J=2
ξj +mjlog(N),
where bic(J) is bic for total cluster count (E); J is
1, 2, . . . , J; mj is cluster-j ratio determined during the
hierarchical clustering step.
mJ = J(2KA +
kB∑
k=1
Lk − 1).
With the formula above we calculate the optimal
cluster based on the lowest bic score or the highest
distance measure ratio, where mJ is the ratio in clus-
ter jdevelopedduring the hierarchical clustering stage,
J = 1, 2, . . . , J; KA is the number of continuous vari-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 111
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Geodemographics Behavioral Psychographics
Age
Marital status
Annual vacation budget
Like to meet locals
Participation in cultural events
Digital use and familiarity in cultural
heritage
Is looking for historical places where
AR can be used
Takes advantage of digital tour
services at the attraction
Interested in local products and
traditional oenogastronomy
Wants to feel safety
Digital use and familiarity in cultural
heritage
Fascinated by storytelling regarding
cultural heritage
Likes augmented reality application
because they bring the past to life
Believes that digital storytelling is
important tool in archaeological sites
Is familiar with technology
applications
Interest in history and culture
Interest in history of cultures in
archaeological sites
Interest in visiting historical sites
Interest in visiting museums
Fascinated by storytelling regarding
cultural heritage
Figure 2 Important/Considered Clustering Characteristics
able;KB is the number of categorical variable; Lk is the
number of category in the kth (categorical variable).
Additionally, the corresponding tests (Chi-square
and anova) were performed for each variable within
each cluster. These tests were conducted to determine
whether the differences between the clusters are sig-
nificant.
The Survey Research Tool
A structured questionnaire was utilized for the pur-
poses of data collection. The questionnaire was fully
self-administered, anonymous and was distributed
online. It was developed based on the stp framework
proposed by Philip Kotler (2001) and was translated
into seven (7) languages followed by a pilot testing pro-
cedure. Thus, the questionnairewas structured around
the following axes: a. geodemographics variables; b.
geographic variables; c. psychographic variables; and
d. behavioural variables.
In more detail, the questionnaire included four (4)
sections. Section A includes questions concerning de-
mographic variables (gender, age, education, marital
status, occupation, annual income, annual vacation
budget, country of residence). Section B includes ques-
tions related to the Cyprus Tourism Experience. These
questions were focused on tourists who have visited
or are planning to visit the island, in order to investi-
gate their trip characteristics. A recent Cyprus tourism
Strategy (thr, 2017), prepared by the Cyprus Deputy
Ministry of Tourism, was utilized to select the relevant
112 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
questions. For those participants who had never vis-
ited Cyprus and/or do not intend to, the survey ended
at this point. Section C includes questions concerning
tourists’ motivations based on the typology proposed
by McIntosh et al. (1995) and Cruz et al. (2006): phys-
ical; cultural; interpersonal; and status and prestige
motivators. The motivation questions concern psy-
chographic variables. They were based on Maslow’s
Need Theory and were structured on a 5-point Likert
scale. Finally, Section D includes questions concerning
behavioural variables (technology use, main activities,
types of travel and travel means). The questions’ for-
mulation related to the use of technology by tourists
was based on a relevant literature review (Eriksson et
al., 2014; Neuhofer, 2015; Okazaki et al., 2015; Valle-
spín et al., 2017) and the questions were structured on
a 5-point scale Likert. Multiple-item scales were used
for the question categories ‘type of travel’ and ‘main
activities’ preferences.
The Sample
The questionnaire was fully self-administered, anony-
mous and was distributed mainly online due to re-
strictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. The
data collection process was conducted between July
and December of 2021. In particular, 676 question-
naires were collected online from various social me-
dia platforms, 48 from the Larnaca International Air-
port and 42 from the Paphos Airport. The quantita-
tive research was based on a non-probability sampling
methodology. The data was gathered using Qualtrics
software and processed with the Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences (spss v.20).
Among the 766 participants in the study, 60.7
were women and 39.3 were men (Table 3). The par-
ticipants in the sample were relatively young, with
65.1 of them being between the ages of 18 and 44.
A further 34.9 of those surveyed were over the age
of 45. In terms of marital status, 50.8 of respondents
were married and 40.7 were single. Moreover, ac-
cording to the survey, 26.2 of visitors to Cyprus were
from the United Kingdom. The next largest source
of visitors was Greece, with 14.6, followed by Rus-
sia with 9.5. Most participants had a high level of
education (71) with 45.8 having a bachelor’s de-
Table 3 Geodemographic Profile of the Respondents
Variables Category () ()
Gender Male  .
Female  .
Age –  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
–  .
+  .
Country of
Residence
United Kingdom  .
Russia  .
Israel  .
Germany  .
France  .
Greece  .
Nordic countries  .
Other (please specify)  .
Marital
Status
Single  .
Married/Civil Partnership  .
Divorced/Separated  .
Widowed  .
Educational
Back-
ground
Up to secondary education  .
Bachelor’s degree  .
Master’s degree  .
PhD  .
Occupation Student  .
Stay-at-home Spouse/Partner  .
Employed  .
Self-employed  .
Retired  .
Unemployed  .
Continued on the next page
gree and 25.2 a postgraduate degree. Approximately
54.8 were employed in either the public or private
sector. In the survey, 60.9 of respondents stated that
their annual family income exceeded 20,000.00€. The
remaining 39.1 reported earning up to €19,999.00
per year. Most respondents (37.9) reported annual
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 113
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Table 3 Continued from the previous page
Variable Item () ()
Frequency
of vacation
taking
Once a year  .
– times a year  .
– times a year  .
More than  times a year  .
Annual
household
income
Less than ,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
More than ,  .
Annual
travel ex-
penditures
Up to   .
,–,  .
,–,  .
,–,  .
More than ,  .
Notes (1) frequency, (2) valid percentage. n = 766.
travel expenditures of up to €999.00 and 33.5 be-
tween €1,000.00 and €1,999.00. Additionally, 50.4
of respondents indicated that they take vacations two
to three times per year, and 40.5 once per year (Ta-
ble 3).
Presented in Table 4 are descriptive statistics for 28
behavioural and psychological items used in our study.
Based on the table, it is apparent that all items used
have low standard deviations and high mean scores.
Empirical Results
Analysis of the Segments
Based on the findings of the cluster analysis technique,
we identified threemain segments of potential tourists
for ancient life story-based tourism in Cyprus (Ta-
ble 5). Each of these segments has been named based
on its generational membership and most prominent
characteristics. As a result of the corresponding tests
(Chi-square and anova) performed for each variable
within each cluster, significant differences were ob-
served between the three clusters.
This section describes each segment in the follow-
ing manner:
Segment 1: Gen-Z, Adventure-Seeking Digital Na-
tives. They range in age from 18 to 24. Most of them
are single, with an annual vacation budget of up to
€999.00. They show above-average interest in local
products and traditional oenogastronomy. They are
adventure seekers and not so concerned with travel
safety, while being less extroverted when it comes to
meeting locals. They are Tech-savvy, emphasizing the
use of technology as a storytelling tool to enhance their
visits to cultural heritage sites and museums. Also,
they were less enthusiastic about participating in cul-
tural events and less interested in history and culture
than the other segments.
Segment 2: Early Millennials, Explorers of Local
Traditions. They range in age from 25 to 34. Most of
them are single, with an annual vacation budget of
up to €999.00. They show a very high interest in lo-
cal products and traditional oenogastronomy. They
are very concerned with travel safety while being very
extroverted when it comes to meeting locals. More-
over, they are tech savvy and emphasize the use of
technology as a storytelling tool to enhance their vis-
its to cultural heritage sites and museums. Also, they
were more enthusiastic about participating in cultural
events and quite interested in history and culture.
Segment 3: LateMillennials, Family Explorers ofHis-
tory and Culture. They range in age from 35 to 44.
Most of themaremarried or in a civil partnership,with
an annual vacation budget of up to €1999.00. They
show the highest interest in local products and tradi-
tional oenogastronomy. They are the most concerned
with travel safetywhile also being themost extroverted
when it comes to meeting locals. Moreover, they are
less tech-savvy and place less emphasis on the use of
technology as a storytelling tool for cultural heritage
than the other segments. Also, they were the most en-
thusiastic about participating in cultural events and
the most interested in history and culture.
Distinct similarities and differences are identified
between the segments (Table 6).While there are differ-
ences between the segments in terms of travel safety,
meeting locals, technology use, and enthusiasm for
cultural events, they all demonstrate an interest in his-
tory and culture. All three segments expressed an in-
terest in learning about history and culture, though
114 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Table 4 Descriptive Statistics for 28 Behavioural and Psychographical Items
Construct Question Item Mean sd
Behavioural I am looking for historical places where I can use augmented reality applications to learn
about culture in a more experiential way.
. .
I like to rest and relax. . .
I like to visit theme parks. . .
I follow fashion trends. . .
I like to be physically active during vacation. . .
Sharing the experiences on social media is important part of holidays. . .
I participate in cultural events. . .
I try to go places visited by wealthy and influential people. . .
I take advantage of digital tour services if available at an attraction. . .
Psychographics I’m interested in learning about different cultures. . .
I participate in cultural events. . .
I like to learn about local products and try the local wine and food. . .
I enjoy the folk architecture. . .
I enjoy the contact with nature. . .
I am looking for intense emotions. . .
I’m interested in having fun. . .
I like to meet locals. . .
I want to feel safe. . .
I like to try something new. . .
I like to listen and learn about the history of cultures when I visit archaeological sites. . .
I like to visit museums. . .
I like augmented reality applications because they bring the past back to life. . .
I am familiar with technology applications. . .
I am fascinated by storytelling and it helps me better understand the culture of a place. . .
I like to visit historical sites. . .
I like to visit museums. . .
Digital storytelling is a very important tool in archaeological sites. . .
When travelling I am interested in having fun. . .
Notes 1 – strongly disagree, 2 – disagree, 3 – neither agree nor disagree/neutral, 4 – agree, 5 – strongly agree. n = 766.
the early and late millennials were the most enthusi-
astic about it. Early and late millennials had the most
in common when it came to interests and enthusi-
asm. They were both interested in meeting locals and
engaging in cultural activities such as trying the lo-
cal cuisine. On the other hand, Gen Z had a more
independent attitude, emphasizing their need to un-
derstand the world and explore it with less interest
in engaging with locals or trying the local cuisine.
Furthermore, Gen Z are digital natives who use and
appreciate the added value of technology use related
to cultural heritage. Overall, both early and late mil-
lennials shared similar interests when travelling, but
there was a significant difference between the use and
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 115
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Table 5 Clusters
Variable Cluster
() () ()
Size  () . () . ()
Marital status Single
.
Single

Married
.
Age –
(.)
–
(.)
–
()
Annual vaca-
tion budget (eur)
<
(.)
<
(.)
–
(.)
Table 6 Behavioural and Psychographic Profiles of the
Segments
Variable Cluster
() () ()
Interested in local products and
traditional oenogastronomy
. . .
Safety when travelling . . .
Like to meet locals . . .
Digital use and familiarity in
cultural heritage
. . .
Participation in cultural events . . .
Interest in history and culture . . .
appreciation of technology for cultural heritage by
the early millennials. On the other hand, Gen Z fo-
cused more on understanding the world through re-
search and technology, as well as exploring the world
independently.
Targeting
At first glance, it seems like Segments 2 and 3 aremore
attractive targeting prospects. The reason is that their
behavioural and psychographic profiles align better
with the core product, the generic product, and the ex-
pected product of ancient life story tourism. However,
Segment 1 aligns better with the augmented product
of ancient life story tourism and the potential product.
Because ancient life story tourism is a novel tourist
product, there is no prior research to indicate if it is
better to limit the targeting to Segments 2 and 3 or to
include segment 1 in the targeting procedure.
The segment that has the best alignment with all
Table 7 Geodemographic Profiles of the Three Segments
Variable Category Cluster
  
Marital status Single ,
()

()
.
()
Married ,
()

()
.
()
Divorced .
()

()
.
()
Widowed .
()

()
.
()
Annual
vacation
budget (eur)
< .
()
.
()
.
()
.-. .
()
.
()
.
()
.–. .
()

()
.
()
.–, 
()
.
()
.
()
>, .
()
.
()
.
()
Age – .
()
.
()
.
()
– .
()
.
()
.
()
– .
()
.
()

()
– .
()
.
()
.
()
– .
()
.
()

()
> .
()

()

()
five levels of the product is the Early Millennials, Ex-
plorers of Local Traditions because their behavioural
and psychographic profile is aligned almost perfectly
with the product of ancient life story tourism. On the
other hand, Segment 1: Gen-Z, Adventure-Seeking
Digital Natives is less alignedwith the core and generic
product of ancient life story tourism. However, the
current data cannot indicate if Segment 1 should not
be targeted as their alignment with the product is less
116 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
when compared to the other segments, but in and of
itself the alignment is high.
Conclusions
This research represents the first attempt to explore
a new, innovative heritage tourism product based on
archaeological evidence. As an ich tourism product,
Ancient Life Stories Tourismdepends on and connects
to other products and services in order to be a com-
plete cultural heritage tourism offering.
The empirical research revealed three main seg-
ments of potential tourists for ancient life tourism
in Cyprus: (1) Gen-Z, Adventure-Seeking Digital Na-
tives, (2) Early Millennials, Explorers of Local Tradi-
tions, and (3) Late Millennials, Family Explorers of
History and Culture. Similarities and differences were
identified between the three segments.While there are
differences between the segments in terms of travel
safety, meeting locals, technology use, and enthusi-
asm for cultural events, all segments demonstrate an
interest in history and culture. All three segments ex-
pressed an interest in learning about history and cul-
ture, though the early and late millennials were the
most enthusiastic about it. On the other hand, Gen Z
had a more independent attitude, emphasizing their
need to understand the world and explore it with less
interest in engaging with locals or trying the local cui-
sine. Utilizing digital technologies in order to high-
light cultural heritage has proven to be extremely valu-
able to the young generation (Gen Z) segment.
Overall, segments 2 and 3 are more attractive tar-
geting prospects due to higher alignment of their be-
havioural and psychographic profiles with the core
product, generic product, and expected product of an-
cient life story tourism, while segment 1 aligns better
with the augmented product and potential product.
The segment that has the best alignment with all five
levels of the product is the Early Millennials, Explor-
ers of Local Traditions, as they are aligned almost per-
fectly with the product.
Due to the covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the
study has a limitation due to the large number of ques-
tionnaires collected online. During the study period,
only a very small samplewas collected fromairports. A
corresponding data collection should cover all tourist
gathering points in order to ensure a more representa-
tive sample and more accurate results.
As a final remark, this paper presents a frame-
work for market research for a novel heritage tourism
product. The results of this research can be used as
the groundwork for developing and implementing an
integrated marketing and branding strategy for An-
cient Life Story Tourism in Cyprus. Future research
should evaluate the effectiveness and appeal of ancient
life story tourism as a product, as well as how this
novel ich product can be further developed. More-
over, future research could explore what positioning
and branding strategies can be applied to such tourist
products based on this research framework.
Acknowledgments
This paper is an intellectual output of a research project
funded by the European Regional Development Fund
and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research and
Innovation Foundation (rif) entitled ‘Face to Face:Meet
an Ancient Cypriot (ff-mac) project’ (Grant No. inte-
grated/0609/29). The authors would like to thank the
two funding bodies and all those who participated in the
project.Moreover, the authorswould like to express their
gratitude for the insightful comments and suggestions
provided by the two anonymous reviewers.
References
Badilla,M. C. G. (2022). New approaches tomarket segmen-
tation, targeting and positioning: The case of Maribo-
joc, Bohol, Philippines. In I. Mensah, K. Balasubrama-
nian, M. R. Jamaluddin, G. Alcoriza, V. Gaffar, & S. M.
Rasoolimanesh (Eds.), Marketing tourist destinations in
emerging economies: Towards competitive and sustainable
emerging tourist destinations (pp. 189–210). Springer.
Binbasioglu,H. (2020).World heritage sites and their impact
in the context of destination marketing. In A. Sharma,
J. I. Pulido-Fernández, & A. Hassan (Eds.), Sustainable
destination branding andmarketing: strategies for tourism
development (pp. 106–116). cabi.
Boutin, A. T. (2019). Writing bioarchaeological stories to
right past wrongs. In J. E. Buikstra (Ed.), Bioarchaeolo-
gists speak out: Deep time perspectives on contemporary
issues (pp. 283–303). Springer.
Buhalis, D., & Amaranggana,A. (2015). Smart tourism desti-
nations enhancing tourism experience through person-
alisation of services. In Information and Communication
Technologies in Tourism 2015 (pp. 377–389). Springer.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 117
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
Chen, J. S., & Gursoy, D. (2001). An investigation of tourists’
destination loyalty and preferences. International Jour-
nal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 13(2), 79–
85.
Cruz, Z. (2006). Principles of tourism. Rex Bookstore.
Cuculeski, V., Miladinoski, S., & Cuculeski, N. (2016). Seg-
mentation, positioning and branding of the tourist prod-
uct of Ohrid. Knowledge – International Journal, Scien-
tific and Applicative Papers, 12(1), 73–79.
thr. (2017). Cyprus tourism Strategy. Deputy Ministry of
Tourism.
Delgado, R. (2017). Strategies for branding cultural tourism.
Organisational Studies and Innovation Review, 3(2), 20–
27.
Eriksson,N. (2014). User categories ofmobile travel services.
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 5(1), 17–
30.
Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., & Anderson, R. (2010). Multi-
variate data analysis: A global perspective (7th ed.) Pear-
son Prentice Hall.
Harantová, V., Mazanec, J., Štefancová, V., Mašek, J., & Foltý-
nová, H. B. (2023). Two-step cluster analysis of passenger
mobility segmentation during the covid-19 pandemic.
Mathematics, 11(3), 583.
Keeney, R. L. (1994). Creativity in decision making with
value-focused thinking. Sloan Management Review, 35,
33–33.
Kim, S., Whitford, M., & Arcodia, C. (2019). Development
of intangible cultural heritage as a sustainable tourism
resource: The intangible cultural heritage practitioners’
perspectives. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 14(5–6), 422–
435.
Kotler, P. (2001).Marketing management, millenium edition.
Prentice-Hall.
Kotler, P., Bowen, J. T., Makens, J. C., & Baloglu, S. (2014).
Marketing for hospitality and tourism. Pearson.
Matloka, J., & Buhalis, D. (2010). Destination marketing
through user personalised content (upc). In Informa-
tion and communication technologies in tourism 2010 (pp.
519–530). Springer.
McIntosh, R. W., Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J. B. (1995).
Tourism: principles, practices, philosophies.Wiley.
McKercher, B., & Du Cros, H. (2002). Cultural tourism: The
partnership between tourism and cultural heritage man-
agement. Routledge.
Mihailović, B., & Popović, V. (2017). The role of segmen-
tation and positioning in the development of modern
tourist market in Serbia. In Modern management tools
and economy of tourism sector in present era (pp. 550–
565). Association of Economists and Managers of the
Balkans and Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality.
Neirotti, P., Raguseo, E., & Paolucci, E. (2016). Are cus-
tomers’ reviews creating value in the hospitality indus-
try? Exploring the moderating effects of market posi-
tioning. International Journal of Information Manage-
ment, 36(6), 1133–1143.
Neuhofer, B., Buhalis, D., & Ladkin, A. (2015), Smart tech-
nologies for personalized experiences: A case study in
the hospitality domain. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 243–
225.
Oh, H., Kim, B. Y., & Shin, J. H. (2004). Hospitality and
tourism marketing: Recent developments in research
and future directions. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 23(5), 425–447.
Okazaki, S., Campo, S., Andreu, L., & Romero, J. (2015). A
latent class analysis of Spanish travellers’ mobile internet
usage in travel planning and execution.Cornell Hospital-
ity Quarterly, 56(2), 191–201.
Prayag, G., Alrawadieh, Z., & Alrawadieh, Z. (2021). Motiva-
tion, emotion andworld heritage status in discerning the
heritage tourists: A segmentation perspective. Tourism
Management Perspectives, 40, 100906.
Pyo, S. (2015). Integrating tourist market segmentation, tar-
geting, and positioning using association rules. Informa-
tion Technology & Tourism, 15, 253–281.
Qiu,Q., Zheng, T., Xiang, Z., &Zhang,M. (2019). Visiting in-
tangible cultural heritage tourism sites: From value cog-
nition to attitude and intention. Sustainability, 12(1), 132.
Rianty, R., Simanihuruk, M., Chairani, A., Supriyanto, B., &
Ingkadijaya, R. (2022). Analysis of segmentation, target-
ing, and positioning in the tourism sector: The case of
Pekalongan City. firm Journal of Management Studies,
7(2), 200–210.
Riley, R., Baker, D., & Van Doren, C. S. (1998). Movie in-
duced tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(4), 919–
935.
Rudiana,D., &Komarlina,D.H. L. (2018).Market segmenta-
tion, targeting strategy and positioning strategy perfor-
mance effects to the tourists satisfaction. International
Journal of Scientific and Technology Research, 7(9), 67–
76.
Sarstedt, M., & Mooi, E. (2014). A concise guide to market
research: The process, data, and methods using ibm spss
statistics. Springer.
Tkalec,M., Zilic, I., & Recher, V. (2017). The effect of film in-
dustry on tourism: Game of Thrones andDubrovnik. In-
ternational Journal of Tourism Research, 19(6), 705–714.
Tsiotsou, R. H., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2012). Target marketing
118 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Antonis Theocharous et al. Reviving Ancient Life
and its application to tourism. In R. H. Tsiotsou & R. E.
Goldsmith (Eds.), Strategic marketing in tourism services
(pp. 3–16). Emerald.
Tzima, S., Styliaras, G., Bassounas, A., & Tzima, M. (2020).
Harnessing the potential of storytelling andmobile tech-
nology in intangible cultural heritage: A case study in
early childhood education in sustainability. Sustainabil-
ity, 12(22), 9416.
Vallespín, M., Molinillo, S., & Muñoz-Leiva, F. (2017). Seg-
mentation and explanation of smartphone use for travel
planning based on socio-demographic and behavioral
variables. IndustrialManagement&Data Systems, 117(3),
605–619.
Zopiatis, A., & Pericleous, K. (2021). Profiling the package
traveller. Journal of Destination Marketing & Manage-
ment, 21, 100636.
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 119

Original Scientific Article
Social Media as a Management Tool: Opportunities
for Sustainable Heritage Destinations
Anđela Šormaz
Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
andela.sormaz10@gmail.com
Engelbert Ruoss
Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
engelbert.ruoss@usi.ch
The popularity of certain tourist spots on social media triggers unexpected trends
leading to unsustainable tourism development, commodification, cultural disso-
nance, and other negative impacts on the territory. The popularity is gained mainly
due to the amplified dissemination of data through social media. Dealing with these
impacts is especially challenging in heritage destinations where nature and culture
are essential elements. In this paper a quantitative content analysis of posts and re-
views on Instagram, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb is conducted for five World Heritage
Sites, 13 Regional Nature Parks, and two unesco Biosphere Reserves in Switzer-
land. The results provide insight into the distribution of visitors within a larger her-
itage area during and after the covid-19 pandemic. This will help management
agencies develop strategies for a more balanced flow of visitors within the heritage
area. The similarities between the heritage destinations allow for comparison, while
the differences provide opportunities to apply the methodology to different contexts
and heritage sites. Social media analysis of large protected areas opens the field for
other applications, mainly with regard to adopting new site governance and visitor
management systems.
Keywords: tourism management tool, social media, visitor flows, heritage
destinations, sustainable development
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.121-138
Introduction
Understanding Visitor Flows in Heritage Destinations
The importance of displaying and sharing information
about visited places and about the impact of such be-
haviour was discussed in The Economist (‘For some in
China, the aim of travel is to create 15-second videos,’
2019). The article explains that ‘it’s not about where
you’ve been, it’s about where you’re seen to have been.’
As we become embedded within cultures of sharing
and co-creation, travellers become even more active
agents in the visual production and consumption of
destinations (Kang & Schuett, 2013; Leung et al., 2013;
Munar & Jacobsen, 2014; Urry, 1990; Xiang & Gretzel,
2010). Anyone who owns a mobile phone with a cam-
era is now a photographer, and more photos are being
taken today than ever before (Bonnington, 2011), with
an intension to share them on social media (Siegel et
al., 2022).
Photos not only document the tourist experience
butmay also shape it (Haldrup&Larsen, 2003; Larsen,
2008). The so-called ‘Instagram Effect’ implies that
a point-of-interest becomes increasingly popular by
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 121
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
highlighting it on social media (Miller, 2017), regard-
less of its capacity to absorb visitors (Falk & Hagsten,
2020).
The popularity of certain tourist spots on social
media triggers unexpected trends leading to unsus-
tainable tourism development, commodification, cul-
tural dissonance, and other negative impacts on the
territory. The popularity is gained mainly due to the
amplified dissemination of data through social media.
Dealing with these impacts is especially challenging in
heritage destinations where nature and culture are es-
sential elements.
Even in times when spatial movement of people is,
to a certain extent, limited – e.g. during a pandemic
– issues related to visitor flows are relevant (Sormaz,
2020). Due to their popularity among visitors, cer-
tain areas or spots inside destinations are more visited
than others, which consequently leads to surpassing
the carrying capacity (Ruoss & Sormaz, 2022a) and
impacting cultural, social, environmental, and eco-
nomic components of a heritage destination. This cre-
ates a disbalance in flows of visitors and pressures to
the above-mentioned components.
Factors that contribute to the increase in the num-
ber of visitors and to the complexity of their flows are
(Sormaz, 2020):
• historical facts (i.e. some areas have longer tour-
ism history than others),
• availability of tourism infrastructure (e.g. accom-
modation facilities, attractions),
• spatial position of hotspots (i.e. concentration
or distribution of main points of interest in ge-
ographical space),
• quality and authenticity of experiences,
• access (e.g. availability of transportation services
and paths),
• seasonality,
• communication (e.g. through social media),
• presentation and interpretation of heritage values
both tangible and intangible (Van Loggerenberg
et al., 2015),
• destination attributes, image and attractiveness,
• cultural, demographic, and psychographic char-
acteristics of visitors,
• perceived value and satisfaction (Chui Teo et al.,
2014), etc.
New Opportunities for Tourism Management
Tourism statistics merely rely on accessible aggre-
gate data such as arrival and overnight while relevant
space- and time-related data on how visitors move
spatially and what they do are missing (Beritelli et
al., 2020). Big data data-sources are disparate, and en-
compass the internet and webpages (internet searches,
social network activities, reviews), mobile phone data,
bank card transactions, city-sensors (cameras, weather
and air conditions) as well as user-generated content
from reviewers, bloggers (Li et al., 2018) and other
types of social media users. Collecting and analysing
these kinds of big data offers new opportunities in
tourism research, which provides contextual informa-
tion (e.g. about traffic, weather) but also spatial and
temporal data that is able to describe the behaviour
and mobility of visitors (Bertocchi et al., 2021).
Content analysis is an explorative and system-
atic way to analyse images and data and is noted as
especially appropriate for addressing phenomena in
mass media (Rose, 2016). This type of analysis can be
both qualitative and quantitative.Quantitative content
analysis allows for features of textual and visual ma-
terial to be systematically categorized and recorded
so that it can be analysed. It involves following a set
of instructions about what features to look for in a
text and then making the designated notation when
that feature appears (Coe & Scacco, 2017). The present
study focuses on the user-generated contents (ugcs),
that is, monitoring of the contributions produced by
other users. This type of content is produced and pub-
lished on social media that allow users to easily create
and upload contents such as texts, videos, and photos
(Marchiori, 2012).
The discussion on over- and undertourism in rela-
tion to social media has increased dramatically in the
last decade, which put exposed heritage destinations
especially – being more vulnerable – to external hu-
man impacts. Therefore, the investigations began with
exploring the interactions of media – particularly dig-
122 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
ital media – and tourism development in unesco-
designated sites, which coincided with the elaboration
of a methodology to analyse visitor flows with social
media.
The results led to the conclusion that areas with a
special focus on conservation and nature protection
are particularly endangered by such fast and intrinsic
changes of visitor flows and that social media reflect
tourism development as well as the reasons for un-
balanced visitor flows (Ruoss & Somaz, 2020a, 2022b;
Sormaz & Ruoss, 2020; Sormaz, 2020). The impor-
tance of social media has even increased during the
covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. At that point the
research mentioned above was extended to selected
World Heritage Sites and Regional Nature Parks in
Switzerland in cooperation with World Heritage Ex-
perience Switzerland and Forum Landscape, Alps and
Parks of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (scnat). The
aim of the study was to have a clear view of the state
of the art of the influence of social media in relation
to visitor flows, which will be the basis for assessments
of tourism development in the post-covid-19 period
(Ruoss& Sormaz, 2022b, 2022c). The existingmethod-
ology was adapted so that more differentiated insights
could be collected (Sormaz, 2020).
The study shows the methodology to analyse the
content related to tourism destinations and published
on social media, which then allows for monitoring,
planning and controlling visitor flows and overall des-
tination development in space and time, which is
especially important in periods of uncertainty (e.g.
covid-19 and post-covid-19). The analysis delivers
tangible results on potential over- and undertourism
spots within large heritage areas and provides a basis
for monitoring during and after the covid-19 pan-
demic.
Methods
The research method chosen for the study is a quanti-
tative content analysis to find patterns, generalize re-
sults to wider populations, and suggest further devel-
opment of strategies and plans.
Since the volume of data – i.e. number of posts and
reviews – on social media is changing constantly, it
is important to collect data within a short period to
ensure reliability and comparability (Ruoss & Sormaz,
2022a).
Social media platforms considered for the study
are Instagram, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb since the con-
tent that they contain is shared publicly, and is highly
user-generated, travel-related, and experience-driven.
Instagram is an open source for visual experience,
communicating places one has visited, and collecting
travel-related information and inspiration shared by
travellers, locals, and tourism organizations. TripAd-
visor and Airbnb are commercial providers that offer
travel-related information, products and services by
private or public businesses (Ruoss & Sormaz, 2022a).
These differ from other social media – e.g. Facebook
or Twitter – that are used rather as a large information
or market place.
Functional differences among the three platforms
chosen for the study require different approaches to
their examination, as described below (Sormaz, 2020):
• The analysis of Instagram examines the number
of posts within the most used hashtag related to
an analysed tourist spot or area – particularly, the
last 100 posts were examined as the most recent
posts made by users of the analysed hashtags.
Then the extraction of posts with the multiple-
meaning is done by selecting those that do not
relate to the analysed spot. The result is applied
to the whole population and represents the to-
tal number of spot-related posts. For example,
some of the hashtags that are monitored for wh
LavauxWineyard Terraces are #corseaux (place),
#terrassesdelavaux (wine terraces, natural and
cultural area and attraction), #villalelac (cultural
attraction).
• The analysis of TripAdvisor aims at providing
insights into the number of reviews related to
tourism facilities – e.g. attractions (sights and
landmarks, nature andparks,museums) andbusi-
nesses (restaurants, hotels, vacation rentals) –
and generated by visitors, as well as the number
of facilities offered by hosts in a heritage desti-
nation. The focus is on the number of reviews,
which is data to be visually presented on a map.
For example, the total number of TripAdvisor re-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 123
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
views is collected for each of the localities within
the site area of wh Lavaux Wineyard Terraces –
e.g. Corseaux, Lutry, Grandvaux.
• The Airbnb analysis examines the number of re-
views generated by visitors as well as the num-
ber of lodging rentals offered by locals and busi-
nesses. Also, it aims at providing insights into the
relation between the frequency of rentals and re-
views per lodging. For example, the total number
of Airbnb reviews is collected for each of the lo-
calities within the site area of wh Lavaux Wine-
yard Terraces – e.g. Corseaux, Lutry, Grandvaux.
Prior to the examination of posts on Instagram and
reviews on TripAdvisor and Airbnb, lists of key tourist
spots need to be compiled for each heritage destina-
tion, which is done in collaboration with managing
authorities of chosen World Heritage Sites (whss),
parks, and Biosphere Reserves (brs).
Data on posts and reviews were collectedmanually
since there is not yet existing software that would be
suitable for such analysis.
The visualization of the outcome allows presenta-
tion of the distribution of the posts and reviews in a
spatial context and consequently, the presence and dis-
tribution of visitors in studied heritage areas in a given
period in time. For the purpose of visualization, the
Arcgis® geographic information system software de-
veloped by Esri is used. It helps to create maps, per-
form spatial analysis and manage data by transferring
data previously collected into the supported file. It uses
contextual tools to visualize and analyse data and helps
to spot spatial patterns in data for a better decision-
making process (Esri, n.d.).
Case Studies: Swiss World Heritage Sites and Regional
Nature Parks
In total, 13 Swiss sites have been designated a un-
esco status, becoming whss, while the Swiss Parks
Network included 18 Parks and two brs in 2021. The
study by Ruoss and Sormaz (2022b, 2022c) focuses on
seven whss, 13 Regional Nature Parks, and two brs
that cover a territory relevant for tourismdevelopment
and conservation and are examined along timeframes
presented in Table 1. For the present paper, ten Swiss
whss, Regional Nature Parks, and brs have been se-
lected to present and discuss the role of social media
in visitor flow management.
For the analysis of whss (with an exception of
the Castles of Bellinzona), perimeters as well as en-
tire wh regions including the municipalities are con-
sidered. The tourist spots within perimeters are often
photographed from the outside or mentioned in the
hashtag without visiting. By including the surround-
ing touristic areas, insights into the potential impact
of visitors on the perimeter is also collected. In the
case of wh regions of Monte San Giorgio and Swiss
Tectonic Arena Sardona, the spots inside and outside
wh perimeters were recorded separately.
SelectedWorld Heritage Sites
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes
(RhB). Situated in theCanton of Graubünden (eastern
Switzerland) and in the Province of Sondrio (northern
Italy), the railway line – the Rhaetian Railway – runs
from Thusis through the Albula and Bernina land-
scapes to Tirano with a total length of around 130 km.
It was given cultural unesco World Heritage sta-
tus in 2008 as an impressive example of engineering
achievements intertwined with history, culture and
nature, and a harmonious relationship between hu-
man action and a natural Alpine environment of great
beauty and human development.
It encompasses 19 Swiss and one Italian municipal-
ity. TheAlbula andBernina railway lineswith its struc-
tures, installations and systems are defined as the core
zone of the whs while the buffer zone is comprised of
the surrounding landscape.
Tourism started to develop within the area of En-
gadin in the early 19th century and was ‘limited to the
summer months until 1864, when St. Moritz invited
some regular summer guests for a winter stay’ (World
Tourism Organization, 2018). The construction of the
railway provided a better access and interconnected-
ness among the Alpine localities and greater develop-
ment of the mountain area (International Council on
Monuments and Sites, 2008; Sormaz, 2020).
Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona. In July 2008, unesco
listed the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona as a natural
124 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Table 1 List of studied Swiss unesco whss, Regional Nature Parks, and brs
unesco whss Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair .–..
Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market Town of Bellinzona .–..
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch ..–..
Monte San Giorgio* .–..
Lavaux Vineyard Terraces* .–..
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes* .–..
Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona* .–..
Swiss Parks Naturpark Beverin .–..
Landschaftspark Binntal .–..
Park régional Chasseral .–..
Naturpark Diemtigtal .–..
Parc du Doubs* .–..
Parc Ela .–..
Naturpark Gantrisch .–..
Parc naturel régional Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut* ..–..
Jurapark Aargau* ..–..
Parc Jura vaudois .–..
Naturpark Pfyn-Finges* .–..
Swiss National Park ..
Parco Val Calanca .–..
Biosphere Reserves unesco Biosphäre Entlebuch* .–..
unesco Biosfera Engiadina Val Müstair* .–..
Notes * Areas emphasized in this paper.
whs for its ‘worldwide unique visibility of mountain
building, the exemplary scientific history and the on-
going importance for geological research’ (unesco
Sardona, n.d.).
Thirteen municipalities of the cantons Glarus, St.
Gallen, and Grisons share the area of the almost unin-
habited wh perimeter. At the periphery of the prop-
erty, popular touristic destinations such as Heidiland,
Elm Sernftal, and Flims – Laax – Falera are part of the
wh region, encompassing popular winter resorts such
as Elm, Pizol – Bad Ragaz, Flims, and Laax (Interna-
tional Union for Conservation of Nature, 2008).
Lavaux Vineyard Terraces. The whs Lavaux Vine-
yard Terraces was listed as a cultural landscape in 2007,
covering the territory of ten municipalities, demon-
strating evolution and development over almost amil-
lennium, and a continuation and evolution of long-
standing cultural traditions specific to its locality (Re-
gion du Leman, n.d.).
The core zone is home to nearly 180 families that
still grow its native grape variety, the ‘Chasselas,’ make
some of the best wines in Switzerland, and conserve
450 km of heritage walls and more than 10,000 ter-
races. The buffer zone surrounds and protects the core
zone and is home to vineyards, woodlands and pas-
tures.
Numerous initiatives aim to increase sustainable
tourism related to local products within the perime-
ter of the whs. The Winegrowers’ Festival in Vevey –
inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016 – has addition-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 125
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Table 2 Selected Swiss Regional Nature Parks
Park () () () () ()
Engiadina Val Müstair | Nationalpark   ,–,  
Engiadina Val Müstair | br Engiadina   ,–, * 
Engiadina Val Müstair | Regionaler Naturpark br Val Müstair   ,–, , 
unesco Biosphäre Entlebuch /**  –, , 
Parc naturel régional Gruyère Pays d’Enhaut   –, , 
Naturpark Pfyn-Finges   –, , 
Jurapark Aargau   – , 
Parc du Doubs   – , 
Notes *No permanent. ** br since 2001 Park since 2008. Column headings are as follows: (1) since, (2) surface (km2), (3)
altitude (m.a.s.l.), (4) population, (5) municipalities.
ally been an important step to give even more visibil-
ity to the protected vineyard landscape (International
Council on Monuments and Sites, 2007; Lavaux un-
esco, n.d.; unesco, n.d.).
Monte San Giorgio. The pyramid-shaped mountain of
Monte San Giorgio is surrounded by Lake Lugano in
Canton Ticino (Switzerland) and in the Province of
Varese (Italy). The mountain is the single best-known
fossil deposit of marine life in the world from themid-
dle Triassic period – a geological period which took
place between 247 and 237 millions of years ago.
The mountain is almost completely wooded and
thus difficult to access. The core zone is protected,
without significant tourism or other anthropogenic
impact. Around Monte San Giorgio, important settle-
ments are Riva San Vitale with the oldest Swiss baptis-
tery, the centre of theMendrisiotto destination –Men-
drisio – with its Holy Week Procession inscribed in
the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Her-
itage of Humanity, and also, Arsizio-Brusino, Porto
Ceresio and Besano with its Museum of Fossils from
Monte San Giorgio. Across the lake are the historic
centre of Morcote and other touristic areas (Interna-
tional Council on Monuments and Sites, 2010; Monte
San Giorgio, n.d.; unesco, n.d.).
Selected Swiss Regional Nature Parks
Swiss National Park Biosphere Reserve Engiadina Val
Müstair. The Swiss National Park forms, togetherwith
Val Müstair and parts of the municipality of Scuol,
the unesco Biosphere Reserve Engiadina Val Müs-
tair. The Swiss National Park received the br label in
1979, and ValMüstair was added in 2010 and extended
in 2017. Scuol and Val Müstair encompass the buffer
and transition zones, while the Swiss National Park
forms the core zone.
The Monastery St. John in Müstair is listed as a
whs and therefore analysed separately. The Regional
Nature Park Biosphere Reserve Val Müstair is located
mainly within the buffer zone and thus inhabited,
with agriculture and tourism as the main economic
activities. The Swiss National Park and the Engiad-
ina (Scuol) part of the Biosphere Reserve are not, or
not permanently, inhabited. The major tourism des-
tinations Scuol and Zernez are situated at the border
of the perimeter, and St. Maria and the winter resort
Minschuns Tschierv in the ValMüstair (Nationalpark,
n.d.).
unesco Biosphere Reserve Entlebuch. The Entlebuch
Biosphere Reserve is a pre-alpine moorland landscape
where the core and buffer zones are composed pre-
dominantly of peat bogs and wetlands of national im-
portance and cover around 50 of the whole territory.
With sustainable use of local resources and a sustain-
able tourism strategy,managing authorities aim at bal-
ancing the number of visitors within the perimeter.
Nevertheless, the main summer and winter destina-
tion is Sörenberg/Brienzer Rothorn, where the strik-
126 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
ing karst landscape is a major attraction for visitors
(unesco Biosphäre Entlebuch, n.d.).
Jurapark Aargau. Jurapark Aargau, a recreational area
close to Basel and Zurich, situated in the cantons
of Aargau and Solothurn, is a hilly landscape of the
folded Jura and the tabular Jura betweenAarau, Brugg,
Laufenburg and Rheinfelden. The Jurapark is domi-
nated by agriculture. The residents are predominantly
commuting to the adjacent urban areas. Tourism ser-
vices and infrastructure are less common due to the
dominating day tourism (Jurapark Aargau, n.d.).
Naturpark Pfyn-Finges. TheNaturpark Pfyn-Finges in
Valais is characterized by rocky steppes and biotopes,
idyllic mountain villages, and charming small towns,
hillside vineyards and one of the largest Scotch pine
forests in the Alps. The major tourist place within
the park is Leukerbad. The municipality of Crans-
Montana, a popular tourism destination and ski re-
sort, shares the territory with the park (Pfyn-Finges,
n.d.).
Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut Regional Nature Park. In the
Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut Regional Nature Park situated
in the cantons of Friburg, Vaud, and Bern, nature and
culture form a combination of centuries-old culture,
lush mountain meadows with wood shingle alpine
huts, historical villages and old bridges over the river
Saane, and the nature reserves Pierreuse and Vanil
Noir that are part of a pre-Alpine landscape. Small
tourism destinations – Chateau-d’Oex or Gruyère –
and day-tourism spots are distributed all over the
territory with well-known destinations such as Saa-
nen/Gstaad, Les Diablerets, Aigle, and Bulle. Towards
Lake Geneva, the park perimeter reaches Montreux
and Vevey, with its intangible cultural heritage Wine-
growers’ Festival, and edges to the whs Lavaux Vine-
yard Terasses (Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut Regional Na-
ture Park, n.d.).
Parc du Doubs. Parc du Doubs, characterized by ex-
tensive pastured woodlands and forests, is the typi-
cal regional cultural landscape situated in the cantons
of Jura, Neuchatel, and Bern. The landscape has been
formed over the centuries through cattle farming and
horse breeding. Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds are
major centres of watch production and situated at the
border of the park. They form the core of the whs La
Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle, Watchmaking Town Plan-
ning and are therefore attractive to visitors (Interna-
tional Council onMonuments and Sites, 2009; Parc du
Doubs, n.d.; Swiss Parks, n.d.).
Results
The results – especially those of the analysis of Insta-
gram– support the statementmade in previous studies
by Sormaz and Ruoss (2020) that social media can be
used as a tool to assess, analyse, manage, and monitor
visitor flows in heritage destinations.
The results show that posts generated from tourism
organizations and managing authorities, whose over-
all commitment is to communicate importance, dis-
tinctiveness, and values of a heritage destination, have
been modest when it comes to social media (Ruoss &
Sormaz, 2022a, 2022b).
World Heritage Sites
The results of the whss analysis are visualized com-
paratively in Figure 1. The dataset includes in total
679 hashtags with over 3,278,402 posts on Instagram,
982 listings (254 attractions and 728 businesses) with
141,401 reviews on TripAdvisor, and 3,446 lodging
rentals with 80,392 reviews on Airbnb (Table 3).
In addition to heritage properties, the whole wh
regions, including the involved municipalities, are
considered in the analysis. This gives not only a broad-
er picture of parts of a site that are more or less visited
but also shows potential for tourism clusters that can
support sustainable tourism development and better-
balanced visitor flows in studied heritage destinations.
The results show where anthropogenic impact and
possible pressure from the developed surroundings
is higher or lower.
On Instagram, the whs with the highest presence
(i.e. highest number of posts) is the saja (1,208,616
posts; Table 3). The posts related to the area of the
saja make around 1/3 of all generated posts for the
analysed whss. The presence of the saja on Insta-
gram is almost two times higher than that of the
Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes
(668,847 posts). Around 68 of the total number of
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 127
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Figure 1 Presence of Analysed whss on Instagram
Table 3 Presence of whss on Instagram, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb
World Heritage Site Instagram TripAdvisor Airbnb
() () () () () () () ()
Lavaux Vineyard Terraces  ,   ,  , 
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch  ,, * * , , , 
Monte San Giorgio  ,   ,  , 
Castles of Bellinzona  ,  *  * * *
RhB in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes  , * * ,  , 
Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona  ,   ,  , 
Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair**  ,      
Total  ,,   , , , 
Notes * Data are not available. **Data taken from the analysis ofMüstair since visitors to the Convent visit other attractions
and businesses in Müstair. Column headings are as follows: (1) analysed hashtags, (2) posts, (3) attraction, (4) business, (5)
reviews, (6) lodging rentals, (7) reviews, (8) reviews per lodging.
posts related to the saja, relate to the North of the re-
gion (i.e. Jungfrau, Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald).
OnTripAdvisor, theRhaetianRailwayhas the high-
est presence on TripAdvisor with 63,354 reviews, 42
of which relate to the area of St. Moritz. The sec-
ond whs with the highest presence is Lavaux Vine-
128 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Figure 2 Presence of Localities of whss Rhaetian Railway, Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, and
Monte San Giorgio on Instagram
yard Terraces (25,980). On the other hand, the Swiss
Tectonic Arena Sardona contains the highest num-
ber of listings on TripAdvisor (377 business- and 78
attraction-related) and is among the four most re-
viewed whss considered in the study.
OnAirbnb, the saja has the highest presencewith
54,102 reviews for 1,682 lodging rentals, followed by
the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona with 11,635 reviews.
The saja also contains the highest number of reviews
per lodging. Reviews per lodging show the frequency
of rentals.
Cultural landscape whss (e.g. Lavaux Vineyard
Terraces, Monte San Giorgio) are inhabited and char-
acterized by a specific land use and thus tourism spots
are distributed all over the perimeter.
The area within the Rhaetian Railway with the
highest presence across the three analysed social me-
dia platforms is the Upper Engadin – in particular, St.
Moritz (Figure 2). It is followed by the Bernina area on
Instagram and Pontresina and Tirano across all three
platforms. The least present are Thusis, Alvaschein
and Stuls located in the northern part of the heritage
site. Visitors experience the cultural heritage mainly
while on the train, which therefore increases the pres-
ence of certain spots along the railway on social media
and potentially provides unrealistic insight into the
distribution of visitors across the area.
Laax and Flims, localities and popular tourism re-
sorts, are the most present localities of the Swiss Tec-
tonic Arena Sardona on Instagram with more than
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 129
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Figure 3 Presence of Analysed Parks on Instagram
twice as many posts as Glarus and Mels. The core
area of the whs is significantly less present on the
three social media platforms – e.g. Pfäfers, Tamins,
and Vilters-Wangs.
The municipality of Vevey along the shore of Lake
Geneva is at the triangle of three designations and has
approximately 2.5 times more posts than the hashtag
of the Lavaux region on Instagram. Vevey is the most
popular tourism destination in the region and there-
fore results in the highest presence of allmunicipalities
within the wh Lavaux Vineyard Terraces. The least
present are Riex, Jongny, and Villette.
The results of the analysis ofMonte SanGiorgio in-
clude its core and buffer zones and the surrounding
area of Mendrisiotto – Monte Generoso and Morcote.
The most present locality is Mendrisio (a tourism des-
tination and commercial centre), followed byMorcote
(a historic centre of national importance), while the
least present are Tremona and Bresazio.
Swiss Regional Nature Parks and Biosphere Reserves
The results of the parks and brs are visualized com-
paratively in Figure 3. The dataset includes in to-
tal 1,833 hashtags with 2,446,798 posts on Instagram,
2,108 listings (366 attractions and 1,742 businesses)
with 127,985 reviews on TripAdvisor, and 3,100 lodging
rentals with 55,087 reviews on Airbnb (Table 4).
Despite the fact that the number of analysed park-
related hashtags ismore than double that of the whss,
the analysis shows that whss have a higher presence
across the three social media platforms (i.e. up to 1.3
times higher).
For the interpretation of the results, it is impor-
tant to distinguish whether a park is primarily ori-
ented towards tourism (e.g. Parc Naturel Régional
Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut and Naturpark Pfyn-Finges)
or whether it is an agricultural region and local recre-
ation area visited by day tourists (e.g. Jurapark Aar-
gau). Parc Naturel Régional Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut,
130 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Table 4 Presence of the Parks and Biosphere Reserves on Instagram, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb
Park Instagram TripAdvisor Airbnb
() () () () () () () ()
Naturpark Beverin  ,   ,  , 
Landschaftspark Binntal  ,     , 
Parc régional Chasseral  ,   ,  , 
Naturpark Diemtigtal  ,   ,  , 
Parc du Doubs  ,   ,  , 
Parc Ela  ,   ,  , 
unesco Biosphäre Entlebuch  ,     , 
Naturpark Gantrisch  ,   ,  , 
Parc naturel régional Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut  ,   ,  , 
Jurapark Aargau  ,     , 
Parc Jura vaudois  ,   ,  , 
Naturpark Pfyn-Finges  ,   ,  , 
Nationalpark  ,   ,  , 
Parco Val Calanca  ,      
Biosfera Val Müstair  ,   ,  , 
Total , ,,  , , , , 
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) analysed hashtags, (2) posts, (3) attraction, (4) business, (5) reviews, (6) lodging
rentals, (7) reviews, (8) reviews per lodging.
Pfyn-Finges Nature Park and Parc Ela are the most
present parks on the three platforms compared to
other analysed parks (Table 4). Pays-d’Enhaut has
over two times more Instagram posts (922,161) than
Pfyn-Finges (367,643). Other parks count fewer than
150,000 posts for each.
Val Calanca, Diemtigtal, Val Müstair and Binntal
have the lowest presence on Instagram and TripAdvi-
sor, while the Jurapark Aargau has the lowest presence
only onTripAdvisor. Pays-d’Enhaut counts the highest
number of reviews (14,880) and lodging rentals (869)
on Airbnb. At the same time, it is one of the parks
with the lowest number of reviews per lodging (17).
Diemtigtal – with twomunicipalities – has a low pres-
ence on the three platforms compared to other parks.
Compared to Val Müstair, Entlebuch has more
than a twice-higher presence on Instagram (Table
4). Also, it has a higher number of listings but lower
number of reviews on TripAdvisor. Flühli-Sörenberg
(tourism destination) and Entlebuch (name of the lo-
cality, municipality, and region) are the localities of the
br Entlebuch that are the most present on Instagram
while Hasle and Doppleschwand are the least present
(Figure 4). The localities of Biosphere ValMüstair that
are the most present on Instagram are Tschierv and
Santa Maria Val Müstair while the least present are
Valchava, Fuldera, and Lü.
The results of the Pays d’Enhaut analysis show that
Montreux, a famous festival and tourism destination
at Lake Geneva, is the most present locality on In-
stagram with over ten times more posts compared to
Veytaux. Localities such as Châtel-sur-Montsalvens,
Crésuz, Bas-Intyamon, and Rougemont are among the
least present on the three platforms (Figure 5). The
tourism resort and municipality Mollens/Crans Mon-
tana is the most present of all municipalities of Natur-
park Pfyn-Finges on Instagram with more than twice
asmany posts as the destination Leukerbad and the ur-
ban area outside the park of Sierre. The mountainside
and areas under higher protection (e.g. Varen, Guttet-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 131
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Figure 4 Presence of Localities within the Area of Biosphere Reserves – National Park Biosphere Reserve Engiadina Val
Müstair (Left) and Entlebuch (right) on Instagram
Feschel, and Unterems) are significantly less present
on the three platforms since they are less visited com-
pared to other areas within the heritage destination.
As for themunicipalities of Parc duDoubs, themu-
nicipalities of the whs ‘Watchmaking Town’ have the
highest social media presence – Le Locle with almost
twice asmany Instagramposts as La Chaux-de-Fonds.
La Chaux-de-Fonds generates the highest number of
TripAdvisor reviews mainly related to business. On
the other hand, La Chaux-des-Breuleux and La Fer-
rière are little- or not present on Airbnb.
Municipalities within the JuraparkAargauwith the
highest presence are Laufenburg and Schinznach, the
most popular tourism places in the region, while the
least present are the predominantly agricultural mu-
nicipalities – Oberhof andUeken. Tourist spots within
the area of Jurapark Aargau attract day visitors and
therefore the park’s presence on the three platforms is
homogeneous.
Discussion
The study shows that the three social media platforms
are suitable monitoring and management tools for
tourism development in heritage destinations such
as whss and parks. Even though social media – in
heritage and other tourism destinations – have been
mainly focused on tourism marketing and communi-
cation activities, their role as a managing instrument
has been largely underestimated. Due to the peculiar-
ities of heritage destinations, their strategies and plans
regarding social media need to consider the local evi-
dence.
Differences of the results among whss and parks
are manifold. Possible reasons are related to:
• tourism history (i.e. some areas have longer tour-
ism history than others),
• access and seasonality,
• vicinity of larger places and urban areas,
• attractiveness of natural and cultural assets and
heritage clusters,
• marketing and communication activities of tour-
ism organizations and other tourism stakehold-
ers,
• media presence (especially new media – e.g. so-
cial media),
• demographic, psychographic and behavioural
characteristics of visitors, etc.
The results provide the whss and Swiss Regional
Nature Parks insight into the distribution of visitors
within a larger heritage area by identifying patterns in
flows of visitors. This helps managing authorities to
create strategies and plans to monitor andmanage vis-
132 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Figure 5 Presence of Localities within the Areas of Pays d’Enhaut, Pfyn-Finges, Parc du Doubs, and Jurapark Aargau
itor flows (e.g. to create a narrative of a heritage desti-
nation that will lead visitors to a less visited area), and
achieve a better-balanced share of benefits as well as a
more effective use of local resources.
The example of the Swiss National Park empha-
sizes that the differences of the social media presence
are more significant outside than inside the perimeter.
Possible reasons for the low presence of the Swiss Na-
tional Park in comparison to other parks is that it of-
fers alternative spots (e.g. wildlife observation points),
as well as spots within the perimeter that are difficult
to access – e.g. only bywalking (apart from the Pass dal
Fuorn) – or the visitor segment is not particularly ac-
tive on social media platforms considered in the study.
Therefore, the use of social media for visitor flow
management within the perimeter is less suitable in
such cases. These observations correspond to natural
whss with little inhabited perimeter areas (e.g. saja,
Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona). However, as soon as
the surrounding areas or regions (e.g. in the buffer
zone) are included in the study, the observations differ
significantly. Since the perimeters of the natural whss
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 133
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
are largely uninhabited, views from the outside (e.g.
to Aletsch Glacier in case of the saja, Martinsloch in
the case of the Tectonic Arena, or Monte San Giorgio)
dominate.
An example of a natural whs where significant
differences between socialmedia presence in the north-
ern and the southern part are observed and there-
fore highlight a disbalance in flows of visitors, is saja
(Sormaz & Ruoss, 2020; Sormaz, 2020). The area with
the highest presence is Jungfrau in the northern part
while the least present is Raron-Niedergesteln in the
southern part of the wh region. The northern area,
especially the area of Jungfrau, is historically well-
known for its tourism offerings. It is somewhat in-
habited and is home to the High Alpine observatory
– Jungfraujoch. Due to the easy access, international
visitors aremore present in the North compared to the
other parts of the wh region. In the southern part, the
presence of the spots overlooking the Aletsch Glacier
and those around Bettmeralp overshadow other spots.
In contrast, cultural whss (the Castles of Bellin-
zona, RhB or Benedictine Convent at Müstair) are
tourist spots themselves, which may have an impact
on their social media presence. The visitors as well as
the local population use the cultural heritage during
their visit (core zone) or living in the area (mainly in
the buffer zone). They are equally ambassadors and
communicators of their activities, experiences, and
perceptions towards heritage through social media.
These can be insights into the outside or inside views
of heritage (e.g. museum, interior of a castle, wine cel-
lar, train, landscape).
As for the wh Three Castles, Defensive Wall and
Ramparts of the Market-Town of Bellinzona, only the
three castles were analysed in order to collect reference
values for observation of the tourismdevelopment and
visitor flows. Castelgrande is the most present on In-
stagram andTripAdvisor. However, the two upper cas-
tles, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro, are located out-
side the city centre and are more difficult to access, are
less communicated and less present on social media
compared to Castelgrande (Sasso Corbaro is not listed
on TripAdvisor; Table 3; Ruoss & Sormaz, 2022b).
The Benedictine Convent of St. John at Müstair is
a small whs with one analysed hashtag on Instagram.
However, visitors to the Convent visit other spots in
Müstair and for the purpose of the analysis, the Con-
vent is included in the Biosphere Reserve Engiadina
Val Müstair (Table 3; Ruoss & Sormaz, 2022b).
In the whs Lavaux Vineyard Terraces and Monte
SanGiorgio, the high number of posts is also due to the
intangible cultural heritage – the Winegrowers’ Festi-
val in Vevey and, respectively, Holy Week Processions
in Mendrisio.
The results thus show that social media support
taking preventive measures on potential negative im-
pacts on the Outstanding Universal Value of the wh
properties from outside the perimeter. The overlap-
ping of tangible and intangible heritage can signifi-
cantly improve the presence on social media. Social
media are also a suitable monitoring tool for tourism
development in parks.
Similarities among studied heritage destinations
allow for a comparison, while the differences (e.g.
type of heritage site, its tourism, offerings, and visi-
tors’ segment) outline the particularity of transfering
the methods to various contexts and opportunities to
study other heritage areas.
TourismManagement and Monitoring Opportunities
with Social Media
As previously stated in the study, social media can be
used as a tool for strategic management and moni-
toring in all studied whss and parks. Management
strategies and action plans must consider the differ-
ences and specificities of the individual heritage desti-
nation.
Less inhabited perimeters of the whss have con-
sequently few posts from the local population, but
are particularly noticed by visitors and communicated
through social media. Since the perimeters are fre-
quently photographed from outside, social media can
provide insights on tourism trends, patterns, and po-
tential impacts from the outside. In the tourist areas
surrounding the protected areas, the role of social me-
dia can be to balance over- and undertourism or to
promote less-known areas. The imbalance, with high
differences in the visitors’ distribution, ismost obvious
in the saja whs where a high potential for over- and
undertourism can be observed. In cultural landscapes
134 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
or whss that are attractive to tourists (e.g. Lavaux
Vineyard Terraces), social media are particularly suit-
able as interactive visitor management tools.
Lavaux Vineyard Terraces and the Rhaetian Rail-
way in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes are cultural
whss founded on territorial land use. Interactions of
the local population with the heritage is an essential
part of their life. The results of the analysis of these
sites are comparable to the results of the parks and
their visitor flow management with social media can
be applied to the whole perimeter.
Little-inhabited parks are of major interest to visi-
tors communicating, taking pictures and sharing them
on social media. Because of the low social media pres-
ence, visitor flowmanagementwith socialmedia is less
suitable in these parks. However, socialmedia can pro-
vide information about tourism trends and can there-
fore be important as a management tool.
The study strengthens the statement made in the
previous studies (Sormaz & Ruoss, 2020; Ruoss & Sor-
maz 2022a) that social media are a tool for the whole
tourism management cycle. In other words, for a suc-
cessful visitor flow management, it is crucial to have
integrated communication and management strate-
gies that will use social media as an intermediator.
Through social media, the meaning and values of her-
itage destinations and tourist areas and spots within
them will be communicated, while the same means
– i.e. social media – will also serve to direct flows of
visitors and adapt them to local circumstances.
By sharing their experiences, the visitors become
multipliers or marketers of heritage destinations and
reviewers of the quality of the services within them.
Further, social media are an added value for all whss
and parks as a tool for interacting, information-ex-
change, and communication inside the locals-visitors-
tourism stakeholders’ chain, as well as in participatory
decision-making processes.
Conclusions and theWay Forward
Social media analysis of large protected areas opens
the field for other applications mainly with regard to
adopting new site governance and management sys-
tems and visitor flow concepts. The social media data
provide sites and parks management with meaningful
insights into mobility and distribution of visitors and
support application of more specific action planning
with social media in heritage destinations and their
use for visitor management.
This study presents the current situation (zero
monitoring). Further analysis (e.g. every 2–3 years)
supports observing, planning, and controlling the de-
velopment of tourism. Socialmedia analysis also serves
as a permanent monitoring tool. The so-called Social
Media Action Planning (smap) (Sormaz, 2020) helps
to observe and monitor development in a tourist des-
tination and to understand the distribution of visitors.
Between evaluation and monitoring, the smap com-
prises eight stages (Figure 6). Its strategies and plan-
ning combine online and offline solutions, and enable
success to be monitored during the observation pe-
riod. The implementation of a smap allows for bal-
anced visitor flows as well as other components of the
tourism management cycle, two-way communication
between local people and businesses and visitors, and
a well-informed decision-making process.
The added value of social media data was summa-
rized by Sormaz (2020). Methodology used to analyse
social media supports managing authorities of natural
and cultural heritage destinations in:
• understanding distribution of visitors within an
area and distinguishing between overcrowded
and less-visited areas or spots,
• understanding management and marketing ac-
tivities in the area,
• analysing, controlling and directing visitor flows,
• understanding the processes of impact and chan-
ge (e.g. retreating glaciers, decay and rebuilding
of ruins, changes in the quality of hospitality ser-
vices), since the user-generated content is witness
to a development.
According to these, social media strategies and ac-
tion plans are established which then support:
• enabling interactions and deepening relation-
ships between the local population, visitors,man-
agement and other stakeholders,
• communicating values of a heritage destination,
• communicating alternative spots in periods of
high pressure of visitors,
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 135
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Figure 6
Social Media as Management
Tool in Heritage Destinations
and the Social Media Action
Planning (smap)
Marketing
Communi-
cation
Value
Creation
Destination Management
Visitors Flow
Management
Destination
Image
Community-Building
Multiplication Interactions
Eval-
uation
of social
media
Social
Media
Strategy
5W
Action
Plan
Monitoring
Analysis
of social
media
Visuali-
zation
Identi-
fication of
relevant
KPIs
Imple-
mentation
• raising awareness and respect for heritage values
and local communities,
• accompanying visitors in all phases of their jour-
ney.
Social media supports communication, sensitiza-
tion and mediation as well as the active participation
of actors in a heritage destination. With the smap,
new opportunities for strategic orientation in tourism
management as well as communication – which is one
of the strategic goals of managing authorities – are
opened. The strategic orientation is also necessary for
the future use of other information and communica-
tion technologies in destination development and the
concept of heritage stewardship destinations. For these
reasons, there is a need for heritage destinations to an-
chor social media in the communication strategy and
define a binding smap.
Further studies on visitors’ perception would help
in understanding the elements of travel experience
and destination itself that drive the motivation and
visit decisions. These can be evaluated through a qual-
itative content analysis. Data collected will enrich the
existing dataset of the quantitative analysis and sup-
port better-informed decision-making processes.
Acknowledgments
The study was conducted jointly by usi unesco Chair
and Innoreg Sagl with the financial support of the Swiss
Academy of Sciences (scnat), Forum Landscape, Alps
and Parks (folap) and the patronage of theWorld Her-
itage Experience Switzerland (whes).
References
Beritelli, P., Reinhold, S., & Laesser, C. (2020). Visitor flows,
trajectories and corridors: Planning anddesigning places
from the traveler’s point of view. Annals of Tourism Re-
search, 82, 102936.
Bertocchi, D., Camatti, N., & van der Borg, J. (2021). Tourism
peaks on the three peaks: Using big data to monitor
where, when and howmany visitors impact theDolomit-
es unesco World Heritage Site. Rivista geografica ital-
iana, 128(3), 59–81.
Bonnington, C. (2011). How smartphones are changing pho-
tography: The numbers are in.Wired. https://www.wired
.com/2011/12/smartphone-photography-2011/
136 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
Chui Teo, C. B., Mohd Khan, N. R., & Abd Rahim, F. H.
(2014). Understanding cultural heritage visitor behavior:
The case of Melaka as World Heritage city. Procedia: So-
cial and Behavioral Sciences, 130, 1–10.
Coe, K.& Scacco, J.M. (2017). Content analysis, quantitative.
In The International Encyclopedia of Communication Re-
search Methods. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731
.iecrm0045
Esri. (N.d.). Arcgis. https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis
/about-arcgis/overview
Falk,M. T., &Hagsten, E. (2021). Visitor flows toWorld Her-
itage Sites in the era of Instagram. Journal of Sustainable
Tourism, 29(10), 1547–1564.
Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut RegionalNature Park. (N.d.). https://
gruyerepaysdenhaut.ch/en/
Haldrup, M., & Larsen, J. (2003). The family gaze. Tourist
Studies, 3(1), 23–46.
International Council on Monuments and Sites. (2007).
Lavaux (No. 1243). unesco World Heritage Center.
International Council on Monuments and Sites. (2008).
Rhaetian Railway (No. 1276). unesco World Heritage
Center.
International Council on Monuments and Sites. (2009). La
Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle (No. 1302). unesco World
Heritage Center.
International Council on Monuments and Sites. (2010).
Monte San Giorgio (No. 1090bis). unesco World Her-
itage Center.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. (2008).
World Heritage Nomination – iucn Technical Evalua-
tion: Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (No. 1179). unesco
World Heritage Center.
Jurapark Aargau. (N.d.). Natur & Landschaft. https://www
.jurapark-aargau.ch/natur
Kang, M., & Schuett, M. A. (2013). Determinants of sharing
travel experiences in social media. Journal of Travel &
Tourism Marketing, 30(1–2), 93–107.
Larsen, J. (2008). De-exoticizing tourist travel: Everyday life
and sociality on the move. Leisure Studies, 27(1), 21–34.
Leung, D., Law, R., VanHoof, H., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Social
media in tourism and hospitality. Journal of Travel and
Tourism Marketing, 30(1–2), 3–22.
Li, J., Xu, L., Tang, L., Wang, S., & Li, L. (2018). Big data in
tourism research. Tourism Management, 68, 301–323.
Lavaux unesco. (N.d.).The area listed for inclusion.https://
en.lavaux-unesco.ch/le-perimetre-inscrit
Marchiori, E. (2012). Destination reputation in online me-
dia: covered topics and perceived online dominant opinion
[Doctoral thesis]. Università della Svizzera italiana.
Miller, C. (2017, 26 January). How Instagram is changing
travel. National Geographic. https://www
.nationalgeographic.com/travel/travel-interests/arts
-and-culture/how-instagram-is-changing-travel/
Munar, A. M., & Jacobsen, J. K. S. (2014). Motivations for
sharing tourism experiences through socialmedia.Tour-
ism Management, 43, 46–54.
Monte San Giorgio. (N.d.). The Monte San Giorgio. http://
www.montesangiorgio.org/en/Monte-San-Giorgio.html
Nationalpark. (N.d.). unesco Biosfera Engiadina Val Müs-
tair. https://www.nationalpark.ch/de/about/ueber-uns
/unesco-biosfera-engiadina-val-muestair/
Parc du Doubs. (N.d.). https://www.parcdoubs.ch
Pfyn-Finges. (N.d.). https://www.pfyn-finges.ch/en
Rose, G. (2016). Visual methodologies: An introduction to re-
searching with visual materials (4th ed.). Sage.
Ruoss, E. & Sormaz, A. (2020a). Social media and ict tools
to manage tourism in heritage destinations. In K. Luger
& M. Ripp (Eds.),World heritage, place making and sus-
tainable tourism – towards integrative approaches in her-
itage management (pp. 247–259). StudienVerlag.
Ruoss, E. & Sormaz, A. (2020b). Managing tourism flows
on Mediterranean islands with social media. In L. T. Al-
farè & E. Ruoss (Eds.), Governing future challenges in
Mediterranean protected areas (pp. 131–155). cnr Edi-
zioni.
Ruoss, E. & Sormaz, A. (2022a). The disintermediation role
of social media to manage and monitor visitor flows in
heritage sites. In S. De Ascaniis & L. Cantoni (Eds.),
Handbook on heritage, sustainable tourism and digital
media (pp. 311–328). Edward Elgar.
Ruoss, E. & Sormaz, A. (2022b). SocialMedia in den Schweiz-
er Welterbestätten. unesco Chair in ict to develop
and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage
Sites. https://www.unescochair.usi.ch/unesco-world
-heritage-sites
Ruoss, E. & Sormaz, A. (2022c). Social Media in den Schweiz-
er Pärken. unesco Chair in ict to develop and pro-
mote sustainable tourism inWorldHeritage Sites. https://
www.unescochair.usi.ch/unesco-world-heritage-sites
Region du Leman. (N.d.). Land of inspiration and heritage
classified by unesco. https://www.region-du-leman.ch
/en/Z9278/lavaux-unesco-terraced-vineyards
Siegel, L. A., Tussyadiah, I., & Scarles, C. (2022). Cyber-
physical traveler performances and Instagram travel
photography as ideal impression management. Current
Issues in Tourism, 25(14). https://doi.org/10.1080
/13683500.2022.2086451
Sormaz, A. (2020). Social media and icts as tools for visi-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 137
Anela Šormaz and Engelbert Ruoss Social Media as a Management Tool
tor flow management in heritage destinations. [Master’s
thesis]. Università della Svizzera italiana.
Sormaz, A. & Ruoss, E. (2020). Social media to balance
tourism flow in natural heritage destinations. In L. Can-
toni, S. De Ascaniis & K. Elgin-Nijhuis (Eds.), ‘Preceed-
ings’ of the Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Interna-
tional Conference hthic2020: Living Heritage and Sus-
tainable Tourism (pp. 15–28). Università della Svizzera
italiana.
Swiss Parks. (N.d.).The Swiss Parks: 20 unique places.https://
www.parks.swiss/en/the_swiss_parks/
For some in China, the aim of travel is to create 15-second
videos. (2019, 15 August). The Economist. https://www
.economist.com/china/2019/08/15/for-some-in-china
-the-aim-of-travel-is-to-create-15-second-videos
unesco Sardona. (N.d.). What do you know about the for-
mation of our mountains? https://unesco-sardona.ch/en
/understand
unesco Biosphäre Entlebuch. (N.d.). The Entlebuch land-
scape – more than phenomenal views. https://www
.biosphaere.ch/en/unesco-biosphere-a-z/nature-and
-landscapes/landscapes/the-entlebuch-landscape/
World Tourism Organization. (2018). Sustainable mountain
tourism: Opportunities for local communities. unwto.
Urry, J. (1990). The ‘consumption’ of tourism. Sociology,
24(1), 23–35.
Van Loggerenberg, E., Saayman, M., & Kruger, M. (2015).
The influence of interpretation on visitors’ behavior in
the Kruger National Park. African Journal of Hospitality,
Tourism and Leisure, 4(2). https://repository.nwu.ac.za
/handle/10394/20775
Xiang, Z., &Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of socialmedia in online
travel information search. Tourism Management, 31(2),
179–188.
138 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Predlog za kategorizacijo elementov kulturne trajnosti za upravljanje območij
svetovne kulturne dediščine
Rafael Almeida de Oliveira, Silvia De Ascaniis, Renata Maria Abrantes Baracho,
Hebert Canela Salgado in Lorenzo Cantoni
Predlagamo različne interpretacije o tem, kako je kultura povezana s konceptom traj-
nosti. Kultura je bila skupaj z ekonomsko, okoljsko in s socialno razsežnostjo opisana
kot četrta dimenzija trajnosti; velja za posrednika, ki omogoča ravnovesje med osta-
limi tremi dimenzijami; velja tudi za temelj pri doseganju ciljev trajnosti. Vendar pa
sestavni deli, zaradi katerih je kultura temeljni del trajnostnih posegov, še niso niti
jasno definirani niti enakomerno implementirani. V turizmu je treba, ko gre za ob-
močja svetovne kulturne dediščine (oskd), vprašanje kulturne trajnosti obravnavati
tako s strani upravljavcev kot s strani obiskovalcev: ali upravljavci oskd upoštevajo
razsežnosti kulturne trajnosti, ko razvijajo trajnostne strategije za svoje območje?
Ali na izkušnje obiskovalcev in podobe območja vplivajo elementi, povezani s kul-
turno trajnostjo? Raziskava želi odgovoriti na ti vprašanji in analizirati oba vidika.
V namen razlage razmerja med kulturo in trajnostjo najprej obravnavamo različne
interpretacije, da bi identificirali ključne deskriptivne sestavne dele. Nato analizi-
ramo vzorec spletnih ocen potovanj o izkušnjah obiskovalcev oskd unesco, da bi
ugotovili, ali so bili ti ključni elementi del zgodb in ocen obiskovalcev. Nazadnje so
bili intervjuvani vodje in strokovnjaki oskd v Švici, da bi ugotovili, ali se strinjajo
glede ključnih deskriptivnih elementov, ki smo jih opredelili. Rezultati so omogočili
kategorizacijo 24 elementov, povezanih s kulturno trajnostjo, njihovo združitev v pet
dimenzij in njihovo končno organizacijo v konceptualni okvir.
Ključne besede: kulturna trajnost, svetovna dediščina, kategorizacija, turisti,
upravitelji območij, spletne ocene potovanj
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 9–22
Kulturna dediščina UNESCA v pandemskem obdobju covida-19
Zuzana Kvítková in Zdenka Petrů
Biti na unescovem seznamu je privilegij ter znak ekskluzivnosti in edinstvenosti.
Organizacije destinacijskegamanagementa (odm) pogosto izkoriščajomednarodno
prepoznavnost vpisa na unescov seznam. Da je vpisanost na ta seznam prednost,
so potrdili že številni raziskovalci, obstajajo pa tudi nasprotni dokazi. Na število
obiskovalcev unescovega območja vpliva več dejavnikov: struktura obiskovalcev
(mednarodnih in domačih), lokacija, vključno z dostopnostjo, sezonskost in njen
regionalni pomen. Covid-19 je dramatično vplival na svetovni turizem. Namen pri-
čujoče raziskave je bil odgovoriti na vprašanji, ali je bila v času pandemije covida-19
vpisanost na unescov seznam dediščine prednost in kakšno je bila vloga medna-
rodnega turizma na unescovih območjih. Avtorji so uporabili metodo primer-
jalne analize na podlagi razpoložljivih statističnih podatkov, korelacijske analize in
t-testov. V prispevku primerjajo spremembe v številu obiskov unescovih zname-
nitosti in spremembe v obisku podobnih turističnih znamenitosti v času covida-19.
Češka ima na unescov seznam vpisanih 16 enot snovne dediščine, od katerih jih
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 139
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
je bilo v analizo vključenih 12. Rezultati kažejo, da je bila vpisanost na unescov se-
znam v prvem letu pandemije (2020) prej pomanjkljivost kot prednost, vendar pa je
v letu 2021 omogočila hitrejšo normalizacijo. Sprememba v številu prihodovmedna-
rodnih turistov je pomembno vplivala na nastanitvene obrate na vseh obravnavanih
lokacijah, vendar bolj na tiste v bližini unescovih znamenitosti. Korelacija med
spremembami v številu mednarodnih obiskovalcev in spremembami v številu obi-
skovalcev unescovih znamenitosti je visoka, vendar ni statistično značilna.
Ključne besede: turistične atrakcije, vpisanost na unescov seznam, Češka,
pandemija covida-19
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 23–34
Tečaji e-učenja za turizem in dediščino med pandemijo: primer »Turističnega
upravljanja na UNESCOVIH območjih svetovne dediščine (3)«
Ilaria Rosani, Maria Gravari-Barbas, Silvia De Ascaniis in Lorenzo Cantoni
Turistična dejavnost je močno povezana s tehnološkim napredkom: z njegovo po-
močjo lahko gostinska in storitvena podjetja izvajajo svoje procese, vplivajo na pri-
hodnje trende in zahteve obiskovalcev ter ustvarjajo nove izkušnje slednjih. Turi-
stični sektor se mora zaradi svojih lastnosti – visoke fluktuacije zaposlenih, sezon-
skosti, krhkega ravnovesja mikro, malih in srednje velikih podjetij ter globalnih po-
slovnih konglomeratov – za svoje preživetje sprotno prilagajati inovacijam na po-
dročju digitalnih tehnologij. V izobraževanju in usposabljanju se digitalni mediji ter
informacijsko-komunikacijske tehnologije (ikt) v veliki meri uporabljajo v prime-
rih, ko izvedba tradicionalnega učnega procesa v živo nimogoča ali ne podpira načel
trajnosti. Kadar učne dejavnosti potekajo preko spleta s pomočjo digitalnih orodij,
govorimo o »e-učenju«, ki se je izkazalo za koristno z vidika zmanjševanja stroškov,
časovne in prostorske prilagodljivosti, v primeru turistične industrije pa za konti-
nuirano obveščanje, izpopolnjevanje in prilagajanje turističnih delavcev trendom v
sektorju ter značilnostim potrošnikov. Z izbruhom covida-19 leta 2020 sta uporab-
nost in prilagodljivost digitalnih tehnologij za izobraževanje ter usposabljanje postali
še samoumevnejši. Delo na daljavo je postalo sestavni del življenja in delovnih mest.
V številnih primerih se je e-učenje izkazalo za ključni element za preživetje sektorja
in v nekaterih primerih tudi za njegov uspeh. V tem prispevku bomo analizirali po-
sebno vrsto e-učenja: t. i. množične odprte spletne tečaje ali »mooc«. Na primeru
tretje serije tečajev mooc, posvečenih turizmu in dediščini, »Turistično upravljanje
na unescovih območjih svetovne dediščine (3)«, bomo opisali značilnosti udele-
žencev ter prikazali pomen in pomembnost e-učenja za sektor turizma ter dediščine.
Ključne besede: e-učenje, turizem, dediščina, mooc, ikt
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 35–47
140 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
Podatkovno rudarjenje vzorcev prostorskega gibanja obiskovalcev
s pomočjo geooznačnenih fotografij na Flickr: primer razpršene
Plečnikove arhitekturne dediščine v Ljubljani
Gorazd Sedmak, Dejan Paliska in Aleksandra Brezovec
Namen pričujoče raziskave je analizirati vzorce in strukturo prostorskega vedenja
obiskovalcev Ljubljane s poudarkom na prostorsko razpršenih znamenitostih arhi-
tekturne dediščine Jožeta Plečnika, ki je bila nedavno uvrščena na unescov se-
znam svetovne dediščine. Smiselna vključitev arhitekturne dediščine v celovito tu-
ristično doživetje mesta dmo-je postavlja pred več izzivov – kako ustrezno komu-
nicirati o vlogi in vrednosti izjemnih arhitekturnih enot, kako uravnavati neenako-
meren čas obiska in preveliko koncentracijo obiskovalcev na posameznih točkah,
kako obiskovalcem omogočiti bogato in celovito turistično izkušnjo ter nenazadnje
oblikovati »kumulativne atrakcije«. V primeru Ljubljane predstavlja dodaten izziv
prostorska razpršenost elementov izbrane atrakcije. Cilja naše raziskave sta bila: pri-
kazati prostorske interakcije med znamenitostmi unescove dediščine v Ljubljani
in njihovo interakcijo z drugimi turističnimi znamenitostmi ter raziskati vzorce gi-
banja obiskovalcev Plečnikovih znamenitosti. V ta namen je bila izvedena analiza
podatkov iz baze geografsko označenih fotografij, ki so jih obiskovalci naložili na
platformo za izmenjavo fotografij Flickr. V ta namen smo izvedli prostorsko groz-
denje in analizo vzorcev gibanja. Rezultati kažejo, da so ljubljanske znamenitosti, ki
jih je Plečnik zasnoval v staremmestnem jedru, integrirane v širšo mrežo znameni-
tosti, medtem ko so oddaljenejše znamenitosti manj obiskane in izolirane. Upravi-
čeno lahko domnevamo, da se enodnevni obiskovalci, ki so obiskali eno ali več zna-
menitosti v starem mestnem jedru, le redko odpravijo dlje in zato unescovega
območja svetovne dediščine ne doživijo v celoti. Glavni prispevek te raziskave je
boljše razumevanje vedenjskih vzorcev obiskovalcev območja razpršenih unesco-
vih atrakcij, njihove strukture in vloge teh znamenitosti v destinaciji.
Ključne besede: prostorsko gibanje obiskovalcev, Plečnikova arhitekturna dediščina,
analiza velikih podaktov, fotografije z geografskimi oznakami, prostorski vedenjski
vzorci
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 50–62
Sistemski pristop k območju svetovne dediščine Bahajski vrtovi
Tadeja Jere Jakulin
Bahajska religija je najmlajša religija na svetu, ki jo je leta 1863 ustanovil perzijski
modrec Baha’u’llah. Njeni privrženci, vključno z njenim ustanoviteljem, so bili več
kot stoletje preganjani, dokler niso našli miru v 21. stoletju, ko sta leta 2008 njeni
dve središči v Hajfi v Izraelu postali unescovi območji svetovne dediščine. Cilj
raziskave je uporabiti načela sistemskega razmišljanja v praksi, in sicer na primeru
ohranjanja Bahajskih vrtov, ki so na seznamu svetovne dediščine. Podatki za model
vzročno-posledične zanke v okviru sistemske dinamike (cld), ki ga predstavljamo
v tem prispevku, so bili pridobljeni s terensko raziskavo med voditelji bahajske reli-
gije. Teoretičnemumodelu sledi praktični prikaz delovanja in upravljanja Bahajskih
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 141
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
vrtov v harmoniji z družbenim okoljem, naravnim okoljem, romarji in s s turisti, ki
ponazarja prepletanje teorije in praktične uporabe sistemskega razmišljanja za naj-
višje dobro svetovne dediščine ter turizma. Raziskava gre še dlje, saj preko literature
predstavlja možnost povezovanja religije in znanosti, ki ju kot samostojna sistema
povezuje sistemski pristop. Bistvo bahajske misli sestavljajo sočutje, enakost ras, so-
odvisnost, harmonija ter pogled na estetiko in simetrijo Bahajskih vrtov. Vsi ti ele-
menti se ujemajo z načeli sodobnih sistemov, pri čemer sistemi ne morejo delovati,
dokler niso uravnoteženi vsi njihovi soodvisni elementi. Povratna zanka in njeno za-
vedanje v sistem vnašata ravnovesje, kar sistemski pristop izpostavlja kot dragoceno
orodje v sodobni znanosti.
Ključne besede: Bahajski vrtovi, sistemski pristop, sistemsko modeliranje, unesco,
svetovna dediščina, romarski turizem
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 63–71
Vloga visokošolskega izobraževanja pri razvoju trajnostnih
družbeno-ekonomskih priložnosti za skupnosti območja
svetovne kulturne dediščine Mapungubwe
Lombuso Precious Shabalala
Z uporabo območja svetovne kulturne dediščineMapungubwe kot študije primera v
članku raziskujemo vlogo, ki jo imajo lahko akademiki na visokošolskih ustanovah
pri spodbujanju razvoja celostnejšega pristopa k razvoju turizma kulturne dediščine.
Turizem, vezan na kulturno dediščino, je predstavljen kot sredstvo, ki ga lahko upo-
rabljajo visokošolske ustanove znotraj zaščitenih območij dediščine za zmanjševanje
revščine in spodbujanje družbeno-ekonomskega razvoja, ki prispeva k uresničeva-
nju ciljev trajnostnega razvoja 1, 8 in 11. V raziskavi smo uporabili zaporednomešano
metodo. Fokusne skupine so bile izvedene s 15 udeleženci z uporabo polstrukturira-
nega vodnika za intervjuje. Prav tako smo opravili anketiranje na vzorcu 100 posa-
meznikov, za analizo podatkov sta bila uporabljena analiza vsebine in spss. Ključna
ugotovitev raziskave je, da bi imele lahko pobude visokošolskih ustanov za vklju-
čevanje skupnosti pomembno vlogo pri družbeno-ekonomskem razvoju. Vendar je
ob tem bistveno vključiti različne zainteresirane skupine, da bi učinkovito oprede-
lili družbeno-ekonomske priložnosti, namenjene obravnavanju primarnih potreb
skupnosti. Vključevanje zainteresiranih deležnikov v procese odločanja o projektih
razvoja skupnosti je bistvenega pomena, saj lahko vsiljevanje razvoja skupnostim
povzroči spore in privede do zmanjšanja podpore skupnosti. Na območju Mapun-
gubwe bi lahko visokošolske ustanove z izobraževanjem skupnosti, s sodelovanjem
in z vključevanjem v projekte družbeno-ekonomskega razvoja od začetne faze da-
lje prispevale k doseganju trajnostnih družbeno-ekonomskih priložnosti ter na ta
način pospešile izvajanje ciljev trajnostnega razvoja. Pričujoča raziskava poudarja
vrednost projektov vključevanja skupnosti, ki jih izvajajo visokošolske ustanove, kot
možnih gonil celostnega pristopa k kulturnemu turizmu in prizadevanja za trajno-
stnejše upravljanje območij kulturne dediščine.
Ključne besede: turizem kulturne dediščine, razvoj in sodelovanje skupnosti,
142 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
območje svetovne kulturne dediščine Mapungubwe, visokošolsko izobraževanje,
cilji trajnostnega razvoja
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 73–87
Vloga kulture pri privabljanju turistov, potujočih z nizkocenovnimi
prevozniki, v Zadar
Božena Krce Miočić, Tomislav Klarin in Gabrijela Vidić
Zadar je turistična destinacija v osrednjem delu hrvaške jadranske obale. Njegove
geografski položaj in podnebne razmere v veliki meri določajo njegov razvoj v smeri
sončnega, morskega ter prostočasnega turizma. Vendar se Zadar zaradi svoje zelo
bogate kulturne in zgodovinske dediščine pozicionira tudi kot destinacija kultur-
nega turizma. Da bi pritegnili več turistov z oddaljenih trgov, se je destinacija odlo-
čila za sofinanciranje in spodbujanje nizkocenovnih prevoznikov za povezavo z leta-
liščem Zadar. Cilj prispevka je ugotoviti, v kolikšni meri se strateška usmeritev Za-
dra v kulturni turizem odraža v njegovem komuniciranju preko različnih platform,
hkrati pa preveriti, v kolikšni meri turiste, ki prihajajo v Zadar z nizkocenovnimi
prevozniki, privlači kulturna dediščina. Raziskava je vključevala vsebinsko analizo
vsebine družbenih omrežij Turistične organizacije Zadar in Turistične organizacije
zadarske regije. Rezultati raziskave so vključevali podatke, zbrane s polstrukturira-
nim anketnim vprašalnikom na naključnem vzorcu turistov, ki so v Zadar prispeli z
nizkocenovnimi prevozniki od julija do novembra 2021. Zbrani podatki so bili ob-
delani z deskriptivno in inferenčno statistično analizo. Rezultati kažejo na neskladje
med strateško usmeritvijo destinacije v kulturni turizem in trženjskimi aktivnostmi
v omenjenih medijih, kjer kultura pravzaprav ni v središču pozornosti. Skladno s
tem motivacija turistov, ki pridejo na destinacijo z nizkocenovnimi prevozniki, ni
bistveno povezana s kulturo. Priporočila so namenjena premagovanju omejitev pa
tudi nadaljnjemu preučevanju vedenja kulturnih turistov, ki uporabljajo nizkoce-
novne prevoznike.
Ključne besede: kultura, dejavnik privlačnosti, destinacijski marketing,
nizkocenovni prevozniki, Zadar
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 89–102
Oživljanje starodavnega življenja: segmentacijska analiza turističnih
možnosti starodavne življenjske zgodbe
Antonis Theocharous, Petros Kosmas, Maria Panagopoulou, Hristo Andreev,
Petros Giannoulis, Katerina Pericleous in Kirsi Lorentz
V pričujočem prispevku je predstavljen nov turistični proizvod nesnovne dediščine,
ki naj bi okrepil sektor dediščinskega turizma. Koncept turizma starodavne življenj-
ske zgodbe je nov večdimenzionalni turistični proizvod kulturne dediščine, katerega
jedro so fiktivne upodobitve starodavnega življenja, vključuje pa številne povezane
fizične in digitalne proizvode ter doživetja. Na podlagi Kotlerjeve teorije stp je bil
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 143
Abstracts in Slovene Povzetki v slovenšini
uporabljen model segmentacije trga za opredelitev potencialnih segmentov uporab-
nikov novih proizvodov dediščinskega turizma. Uporabljena je bila spletna kvanti-
tativna raziskava, katere cilj je bil ugotoviti demografske, vedenjske in psihografske
značilnosti potencialnega obiskovalca. V študiji je bila za analizo 766 tujih turistov
uporabljena klasterska analiza, s katero so bili opredeljeni potencialni tržni segmenti
turizma starodavnih življenjskih zgodb. Opredeljeni so bili trije potencialni tržni se-
gmenti: (1) generacija Z – digitalni domorodci, ki iščejo pustolovščine, (2) zgodnji
milenijci – raziskovalci lokalnih tradicij, (3) pozni milenijci – družinski raziskovalci
zgodovine in kulture. Segmenti so bili ocenjeni na podlagi skladnosti njihovega pro-
fila z različnimi ravnmi predlaganega proizvoda dediščinskega turizma. Na splošno
sta bila segmenta 2 in 3 kot ciljna segmenta ocenjena kot primernejša zaradi večje
usklajenosti z jedrnim, s splošnim in pričakovanim proizvodom turizma starodav-
nih življenjskih zgodb. Na podlagi te raziskave bo turizem starodavnih življenjskih
zgodb v bližnji prihodnosti lahko vzpostavil jasno strategijo pozicioniranja in znam-
čenja v sektorju dediščinskega turizma.
Ključne besede: kulturni turizem, starodavne življenjske zgodbe, segmentacija
turističnega trga, ciljni trgi, trženje turističnih proizvodov
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 103–119
Družbeni mediji kot upravljavsko orodje: priložnosti za trajnostne
dediščinske destinacije
Anđela Šormaz in Engelbert Ruoss
Priljubljenost turističnih krajev na družbenih omrežjih lahko sproži nepričakovane
in netrajnostne trende razvoja turizma, komodifikacijo, kulturno disonanco in druge
negativne učinke na realno okolje. Ti učinki se pojavijo predvsem zaradi intenziv-
nega širjenja podatkov preko družbenih medijev, njihovo obvladovanje pa je še po-
sebej zahtevno na dediščinskih destinacijah, kjer sta narava in kultura osrednjega
pomena. V tem prispevku je predstavljena kvantitativna analiza vsebine objav in
ocen na platformah Instagram, TripAdvisor in Airbnb za pet območij svetovne dedi-
ščine, 13 regionalnih naravnih parkov in dva unescova biosferna rezervata v Švici.
Rezultati analize predstavljajo porazdelitev obiskovalcev preučevanih destinacij de-
diščinskega turizma znotraj širšega dediščinskega območja med in po pandemiji
covida-19. S temupravljavcemdediščinskih destinacij omogočajo oblikovanje strate-
gij za bolj uravnotežene tokove obiskovalcev znotraj dediščinske destinacije. Ugoto-
vljene podobnosti med preučevanimi destinacijami dediščinskega turizma omogo-
čajo primerjave med njimi, medtem ko ugotovljene razlike predstavljajo priložnost
za prenos metodologije v druge kontekste in druge dediščinske destinacije. Analizi-
ranje velikih zavarovanih območij v družbenih medijih odpira polje za druge apli-
kacije, predvsem v zvezi s sprejemanjem novih sistemov upravljanja območij in nji-
hovih obiskovalcev.
Ključne besede: orodje za upravljanje turizma, družbeni mediji, turistični tokovi,
dediščinske destinacije, trajnostni razvoj
Academica Turistica, 16(1), 121–138
144 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
Instructions for Authors
Aim and Scope of the Journal
Academica Turistica – Tourism and Innovation Journal
(at-tij) is a peer-reviewed journal that provides a fo-
rum for the dissemination of knowledge on tourism
and innovation from a social sciences perspective. It
especially welcomes contributions focusing on inno-
vation in tourism and adaptation of innovations from
other fields in tourism settings.
The journal welcomes both theoretical and appli-
cative contributions and encourages authors to use va-
rious quantitative and qualitative research methodo-
logies. Besides research articles, the journal also pu-
blishes review articles, commentaries, reviews of bo-
oks and conference reports. Purely descriptive manu-
scripts which do not contribute to the development of
knowledge are not considered suitable.
General Guidelines and Policy of the Journal
Manuscripts are accepted in both American and Bri-
tish English; however, consistency throughout the pa-
per is expected. All manuscripts are subject to an ini-
tial editorial screening for adherence to the journal
style, for anonymity, and for correct use of English.
As a result of this your paper will be either accepted
for further consideration or returned for revision. To
avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to
have your manuscript proofread.
Manuscripts should be organized in the following
order: title, abstract, keywords, main text, acknowled-
gements, references, and appendixes (as appropriate).
Reviewing. Each manuscript, meeting the technical
standards and falling within the aims and scope of the
journal, will be subject to double-blind review by two
reviewers. Authors can propose up to two reviewers
for revision of their work and also up to two reviewers
they would like to avoid.
The referees are chosen by the Editorial Board. As-
sessments by the referees will be presented anonymo-
usly to the author and, in the case of substantial reser-
vations, the article, with the list of corrections needed,
will be returned to the author for correction. The cor-
rected copy of the article with the list of corrections
on a separate page should be returned to the Editorial
Board.
Permissions. Authors wishing to include figures, ta-
bles, or text passages that have already been published
elsewhere, are required to obtain permission from the
copyright owner(s) and to include evidence that such
permission has been granted when submitting their
papers. Any material received without such evidence
will be assumed to originate from the authors.
Submission declaration. Submission of a manuscript
implies that it has not been published previously
(except in the form of abstract or as part of a publi-
shed lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under
consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publi-
cation is approved by all its authors and tacitly or expli-
citly by the responsible authorities where the workwas
carried out. The corresponding author should ensure
that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate
co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-
authors have seen and approved the final version of
the paper and have agreed to its submission for publi-
cation.
Conflict of interest. All authors are requested to dis-
close any actual or potential conflict of interest inclu-
ding any financial, personal or other relationshipswith
other people or organizations within three years of be-
ginning the submittedwork that could inappropriately
influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.
Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the style
prescribed by the Publication Manual of the Ameri-
can Psychological Association (American Psychologi-
calAssociation, 2020; see also http://www.apastyle.org).
Language and style. The first author is fully respon-
sible for the language and style in the context of the
instructions. A good scientific standard command of
grammar and style is expected.
Text formatting. Please, use the automatic page num-
bering function to number the pages. Use tab stops or
other commands for indents, not the space bar.Use the
table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables. Use
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 145
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
the equation editor or MathType for equations. Whe-
never possible, use the si units (Système international
d’unités).
Thetitlepage should include the title of the article (no
more than 85 characters, including spaces), full name
of the author(s), affiliation (institution name and ad-
dress) of each author clearly identified; linked to each
author by use of superscript numbers, corresponding
author’s full name, telephone, and e-mail address.
Abstract. The authors are obliged to prepare two ab-
stracts – one in English and one (translated) in Slo-
vene language. For foreign authors translation of the
abstract into Slovene will be provided.
The content of the abstract should include the pur-
pose, methods, results, and contribution of the rese-
arch. It should only contain the information that appe-
ars in the text as well. It should contain no reference to
figures, tables and citations published in themain text,
and should not exceed 250 words.
Beneath the abstract, the authors should supply
appropriate keywords (3–6) in English and in Slovene.
For foreign authors the translation of the abstract into
Slovene will be provided.
The main text should contain a coherent and logi-
cal structure preferably following the imrad format
(Introduction, Methods, Research [and] Discussion).
However, other structures are also welcome (e.g. In-
troduction, Development and Conclusions) as long as
the text maintains its logical structure and focus. Ac-
knowledgments are optional.
The length of the articles should not exceed 9,000
words (including tables, figures, and references), dou-
ble spaced, using Times New Roman font sized 12.
Tables. Each table should be submitted on a sepa-
rate page in a Word document after References. Each
table shall have a brief caption; explanatory matter
should be in the footnotes below the table. The table
shall contain means and the units of variation (sd,
se, etc.) and must be free of nonsignificant decimal
places. Abbreviations used in the tablesmust be consi-
stentwith those used in the text and figures.Definition
symbols should be listed in the order of appearance,
determined by reading horizontally across the table
and should be identified by standard symbols. All ta-
bles should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table
2, etc.).
Figures. Captions are required for all Figures and shall
appear on a separate manuscript page, beneath table
captions. Each figure should be saved as a separate
file without captions and named as Figure 1, etc. Files
should be submitted in *.tiff or *.jpeg format. Pho-
tographs should be saved at at least 300 dpi. Line art
images should be saved at 1200 dpi. Lettering (sym-
bols, letters, and numbers) should be between 8 and
9 points, with consistent spacing and alignment. Font
face may be Serif (Minion) or Sans Serif (Myriad).
Line width should be 0.5 point or greater. Any extra
white or black space surrounding the image should be
cropped. Ensure that subject-identifying information
(i.e., faces, names, or any other identifying features)
is cropped out or opaqued. Prior to publication, the
author(s) should obtain all necessary authorizations
for the publication of the illustrative matter and sub-
mit them to the Editorial Board. All figures should be
numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The
journal will be printed in black and white. If the pa-
per contains graphs, we would appreciate that you also
e-mail them in a separate Excel file.
References
References should be formatted according to the Pu-
blication Manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (American Psychological Association, 2019).
The list of references should only include works
that are cited in the text. Personal communications
and unpublished works should only be mentioned in
the text. References should be complete and contain all
the authors that have been listed in the title of the ori-
ginal publication. If the author is unknown, start with
the title of the work. If you are citing a work that is in
print but has not yet been published, state all the data
and instead of the publication year write ‘in print.’
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the
last name of the first author of each work. Do not use
footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference
list. Full titles of journals are required (not their abbre-
viations).
146 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023
Academica Turistica Instructions for Authors
Citing References in Text
One author. Tourism innovation specific is mentioned
(Brooks, 2010). Thomas (1992) had concluded . . .
Two authors. This result was later contradicted (Swar-
brooke &Horner, 2007). Price andMurphy (2000)
pointed out . . .
Three or more authors. Wolchik et al. (1999) or (Wol-
chik et al., 1999).
If two references with three or more authors shor-
ten to the same form, cite the surnames of the first
author and of as many of the subsequent authors as
necessary to distinguish the two references, followed
by a coma and et al.
List several authors for the same thought or idea
with separation by using a semicolon: (Kalthof et al.,
1999; Biegern & Roberts, 2005).
Examples of Reference List
Books
American Psychological Association. (2019). Publica-
tion manual of the American Psychological Associ-
ation (7th ed.).
Swarbrooke, J., &Horner, S. (2007).Consumer behavi-
our in tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Journals
Laroche,M., Bergeron, J., & Barbaro-Forleo, G. (2001).
Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more
for environmentally friendly products. Journal of
Consumer Marketing, 18(6), 503–520.
Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.–
Y., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L., . . . Griffin, W. A.
(2000). An experimental evaluation of theory-
basedmother andmother-child programs for chil-
dren of divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 68, 843–856.
Newspapers
Brooks, A. (2010, 7 July). Building craze threatens
to end Lanzarote’s biosphere status. Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/
nature/building-craze-threatens-to-end
-lanzarotes-biosphere-status-2020064.html
Chapters in Books
Poirier, R. A. (2001). A dynamic tourism develop-
ment model in Tunisia: Policies and prospects. In
Y. Aposotolopoulos, P. Loukissas, & L. Leontidou
(Eds.), Mediterranean tourism (pp. 197–210). Rou-
tledge.
Conference Proceedings
Price, G., & Murphy, P. (2000). The relationship be-
tween ecotourism and sustainable development: A
critical examination. In M. Ewen (Ed.), cauthe
2000: Peak performance in tourism and hospitality
research; Proceedings of the Tenth Australian Tou-
rism and Hospitality Research Conference (pp. 189–
202). La Trobe University.
Paper Presentation
Thomas, J. (1992, July). Tourism and the environment:
An exploration of the willingness to pay of the ave-
rage visitor [Paper presentation.] Tourism in Eu-
rope, Durham, England.
Theses andDissertations
Sedmak, G. (2006). Pomen avtentičnosti turističnega
proizvoda: primer destinacije Piran [Unpublished
doctoral dissertation]. University of Ljubljana.
Working Papers
Salamon, L. M., Sokolowski, S. W., Haddock, M. A., &
Tice, H. S. (2013). The state of global civil society vo-
lunteering: Latest findings from the implementation
of the un nonprofitt handbook (ComparativeNon-
profit Sector Working Paper No. 49). Johns Hop-
kins University.
Web Pages
Croatian Bureau of Statistics. (2001). Census of popu-
lation, households and dwellings. http://www.dzs
.hr/Eng/censuses/Census2001/census.htm
Manuscript Submission
The main manuscript document should be in Micro-
soft Word document format and the article should be
submitted to http://academica.turistica.si/index.php
/AT-TIJ/about/submissions
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 1, April 2023 | 147