Marketing and management trends in tourist attractions

Abstract

The study of tourist attractions has not received the same prominence as other suppliers of tourist services such as accommodation and transport. Nevertheless, attractions play a vital role in regional and national tourism and deserve multidisciplinary research effort. One particular research need is to identify the marketing and management trends in the attractions sector. By combining a program of on‐site visits, Internet reviews, discussions with attraction operators, and by using the resources of the major international attractions association, twelve trends in tourist attractions were identified. The trends identified were discussed with illustrations from Italian sites, United States attractions and Australian settings. The trends noted were in the areas of visitor pricing, entry management, membership developments, roving interpretation, visual souvenirs, integration with festivals/events, supplementary activities, attraction partnerships, market niche developments, web marketing and sales and managing people pressure.