A Visitor Understanding of the Managed Visitor Attraction Site Product; Does the MVA Site Product Capture the Visitor Experience?

Abstract

One of the mainstays of tourist activities are visitor attractions and there would not be much to visit for tourist without these visitor attractions. Many researchers have acknowledged the importance of visitor attractions for tourism destinations (Prideaux, 2002; Sharpley, 2007; Swarbrooke & Page, 2002; Wilson et al., 2001). However, little research has been conducted on how visitor attractions need to be managed to extract a site’s intrinsic value for the creation of visitor experiences (Jensen, 2020). This current study focused on a newly developed Managed Visitor Attraction site product by Jensen (2020, still in progress) and examines how the MVA site product captures the essential aspects of the visitor’s experience of the site product. The MVA site product has been developed from a managerial perspective. This study is focused on the other perspective of the MVA site product; the visitor perspective. The findings of the interviews of 15 participants who visited the Anne Frank House in the Netherlands, the single-case study, show that at this specific attraction site the MVA site product captures all the essential elements of the visitor’s experience. It demonstrated several connections between the pre-defined differentiation criteria set up by the management and the visitors' experience at the site. The results also show some similarities with other research conducted on visitor experience. Some implications and future suggestions are also presented in this study.