Using visitor-employed photography to study the visitor experience on a pilgrimage route – A case study of the Nakahechi Route on the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage network in Japan

Abstract

The heritage sector represents a highly significant component of tourism in many developed economies. Of these, many have actively incorporated pilgrimage and cultural routes and granted them pivotal roles in tourism development. Therefore, understanding what visitors actually perceive and experience while walking these routes has become essential for heritage management by providing valuable information on how to bridge conservation with tourism goals. The Nakahechi Route in the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage network provides a good example, as the first UNESCO World Heritage route designated under the category of "cultural landscape" in Japan. The linear area of the route corridor and its diverse surrounding locality necessitate adopting a landscape approach to examine the on-site experiences of its visitors, through data collected using the visitor-employed photograph (VEP) technique, supplemented with interviews. The results illustrate how attributes of landscape elements and spatial configurations contribute to the experience of visitors. The analyses identified a variety of natural and cultural landscape elements in visitors' photographs, and how the contextual meaning of an ordinary landscape contributes to their overall experience. The scenic views captured in visitors' photographs were distributed in patterns that were highly restricted to the surrounding land use types and topography of the route. Finally, the credibility of VEP as a measuring tool was verified using a control group of respondents who were not exposed to the research until they had completed their walk. This study contributes to route management by offering valuable perspectives on the current conditions of the landscape. Our results suggest that planners and managers should aim to enhance the quality of open views. Moreover, they should address the contextual meanings of landscape attributes and create more interactive opportunities for visitors to explore and engage with local cultures.