Visitors: their choice of activities and the importance of on-site interpretation in enhancing their overall experience at a World Heritage Site, the Jurassic Coast, UK.

Abstract

Interpretation has been adopted at both natural and cultural sites as a soft visitor management tool where typically it might aim to develop an understanding and appreciation of the site as well as encouraging the appropriate on-site behaviour from the visitors. This study is primarily concerned with the on-site experience of the visitor through which interpretation in its many forms can play such a critical component. The study has explored the visitors’ choice of on-site activities as well as the overall range of on-site interpretive experiences available at two locations on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site in Dorset and in so doing, has specifically explored the visitors’ interest in and attitude towards guided walks. A principle outcome of this study therefore has been the development of a framework for the potential design of guided walks which could be used to support the successful enhancement of the visitor experience on any natural site. The primary research undertaken in this study included a visitor survey which was conducted during 2007 and yielded a total of 600 groups of respondents. In undertaking the analysis of the data, three variables were identified as being worthy of greater exploration. Two of these ‘outcome’ variables had two states namely for; ‘residency’ (local resident or tourist) and ‘visitation’ (first or repeat visitor) whilst the third ‘outcome’ variable which was ‘social grouping’ had three potential states namely ‘alone’, ‘with partner’ and ‘with family / friends’. The analysis which included logistic regression modelling was applied to the data in order to explore the principle differences in the way in which the visitors within each of these three grouping variables responded to the questionnaire. Factor analysis techniques were also applied to identify whether any other associations existed within the overall data set. As a result of the analysis, the broad characteristics of the visitor population within each of the three grouping variables was revealed including their choice of on-site activities as well as their interest in on-site interpretive media and their attitudes towards guided walks.