"Playing with Aesthetics in Art Museums" presents a strategy for using design thinking to mediate engrossing art experiences for adult museum visitors. Built upon a substantiated family resemblance between art and play experiences, the study synthesizes a typology of aesthetic theories, ten germane tenets of game design, and a psychographic portrait of the "archetypal" museum visitor to create a practical framework for delivering engrossing art experiences to adult visitors who typically enter museums with limited art historical knowledge. The interdisciplinary approach used is intended to replace the singular methodologies (whether art historical, pedagogical or aesthetic) that have informed museum practice in the United States since the late nineteenth century.

After the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the desegregation of public transportation and facilities and with the advancements that African Americans have gained in education, income, and employment, African Americans have greater access to travel opportunities. Today's African Americans travel in greater numbers than ever before and represent a dynamic and growing travel market segment that according to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) (2003) generated 75 million person trips in 2002. Although there have been several studies conducted on the differences between ethnic or racial groups with regard to their participation in outdoor recreation, research on differences between African American and White traveler behaviors in the urban tourism context is sparse. This study examined the differences between African American and White travelers who visited the city of New Orleans. Specifically, the study investigated demographic variables (income and gender) for their contribution to the differences between African American and White travelers in the modes of travel, activities participated in, sources of travel information, importance of destination activities, satisfaction with destination attributes, and spending patterns. Significant differences were found in modes of travel, activities participated in, sources of information, information of destination attributes findings (popular, African American Values, and sport and recreation), satisfaction with New Orleans on the destination attributes entertainment, African American Values, and spending. Although the findings of this study reflect the trip characteristics of travelers to New Orleans, future research should examine the applicability to other urban tourism destinations.

<p>Visitors’ expectations of museums in the modern world consist of both utilitarian and hedonic aspects. Given visitors’ diverse expectations and demands, traditional museums have taken actions to attract more visitors. Taking advantage of new technologies is the current action and trend in the museum industry. The emergence of digital museums is the reflection of this tendency, which use digital technologies such as projectors, surrounded sound, ambient lights, and multisensory cues to present a virtual environment. In the virtual environment, emotional state and sense of presence are considered to be useful to provide a more engaging experience. Therefore, this research empirically investigated digital museum visitor experience perceptions and the influence of emotional state and sense of presence on experience perceptions. The different impact of multisensory cues on experience and the relative mediation effect were also examined.</p> <p>Data were collected with a scenario-based online survey conducted through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). A split-sample approach with a total of 382 respondents was used for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to explore visitor experience perceptions of the digital museum. Structural equation modeling was used to discover the impact of emotional state and sense of presence. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the difference in impact of multisensory cues on overall visitor experience. This research also employed the PROCESS macro in SPSS for demonstrating the mediating effect of emotional state and sense of presence through the impact of multisensory cues on overall visitor experience. The findings of this study revealed three experience perceptions—respectively, joviality, personal escapism, and localness experiences—of digital museums. Also, this research presented the positive effect of emotional state on joviality experience and negative effect of emotional state on localness experience. In addition, a notable positive impact of sense of presence on joviality, personal escapism, and localness experience perceptions was found. No significant effect of emotional state on personal escapism was found in this research. Moreover, visual and auditory cues together were confirmed as the most powerful indicator for triggering the greatest experience level. The impact was found to be valid due to the mediating role of emotional state and sense of presence.</p> <p>This research contributed theoretically and practically to museum literature and experience research. Theoretical implications were discussed to indicate this research as the framework to measure digital museum visitor experience based on the proposed three-factor structure. Practical implications were provided for museum managers. Limitations and future research were discussed.</p>

The MICE-industry is a relatively new phenomenon that is currently in a strong growth period, fairs are included in this industry. There is a great deal of interest and a variety of motives for people to visit fairs for various reasons. The exhibitors' and visitors' motives differ according to several studies, which shows the problems that exists about what the visitors' actual motives are. This study investigates why visitors in private, educational and business purposes choose to participate in fairs, and identifies what the influencing motive is behind the visitor's decision to participate in a fair. This is examined through a quantitative and qualitative research method. The result shows that there are similarities, but also significant differences between the three visitor purposes. / MICE-industrin är en relativt ung företeelse som är i en kraftig tillväxtperiod, i denna industri ingår bland annat mässor. Det finns ett stort intresse och en rad olika motiv för människor att i olika syften besöka mässor. Utställarnas och besökarnas motiv skiljer sig enligt flera studier åt, vilket visar på den problematik som finns kring vilka besökarnas egentliga motiv är. I denna studie undersöks varför besökare i privat, utbildnings- och företagssyfte väljer att delta i mässor, samt identifiera vad som är det påverkande motivet bakom besökares beslut att delta i en mässa. Detta studeras genom en kvantitativ och kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Resultatet visar på att det finns likheter, men också betydande skillnader mellan de olika besökssyftena.

abstract: Trails perform an essential function in protected lands by routing visitors along planned, sustainable surfaces. However, when visitors deviate from official trails in sufficient numbers, it can lead to the creation of social trails. These visitor-created pathways are not sustainably designed and can severely degrade both the stability and appearance of protected areas. A multitude of recreation motivations among visitors and a lack of resources among land management agencies have made the mitigation and closure of social trails a perennial concern. A sustainable, economical strategy that does not require the continual diversion of staff is needed to address social trails. In this study, two techniques that stand out in the research literature for their efficacy and practicality were tested on a social trail closure in South Mountain Park, a high-use, urban-proximate mountain park in Phoenix, AZ. A research design with additive treatments utilizing the site management technique known as trail mitigation, sometimes referred to as brushing in the literature, followed by theory-grounded signage incorporating injunctive-proscriptive wording, an attribution message, and a reasoning message targeting visitor behavioral beliefs, norms, and control was applied and assessed using unobtrusive observation. Both treatments reduced observed off-trail hiking from 75.4% to 0%, though traces of footsteps and attempts to re-open the trail revealed the existence of unobserved “entrenched” users. With entrenched users attempting to reopen the trail, trail mitigation represented an effective but vulnerable approach while the signage represented a long-lasting “hardened” approach that provides an educational message, management’s stance on the closure, and which might put social pressure on the entrenched user(s). / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2018

Visitors to parks and protected areas within the United States and worldwide often visit these areas with a particular destination in mind, such as seeing Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone National Park or standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park. These visitor use destinations, and the pathways leading to them, such as trails and roadways, see high levels of use, and as a result, impacts to soil, vegetation, air, water, soundscapes, and night skies that result from this use. The field of recreation ecology studies these impacts to park and protected area resources resulting from recreation use. Research conducted by recreation ecologists helps park and protected area managers prevent and minimize these impacts and preserve park resources for future generations. However, not all recreation use and impacts occur along designated pathways and at visitor destinations. The impacts that result outside of these designated areas often cause more damage to park resources such as vegetation and soil. The studies presented in this dissertation examine what factors are influencing visitor behavior outside of these destinations and pathways, such as when visitors travel off of designated trails. The results provide managers with a set of factors that may influence visitor behavior outside of visitors’ intended destinations. These factors will enable managers to better understand existing visitor spatial behavior patterns and associated resource impacts, and also predict where resource impacts may be likely to occur due to visitor recreation use, enabling prevention of future impacts from occurring.

With visitation to natural areas increasing, the appropriate management of these areas is important. There are a number of management tools available which endeavour to minimise environmental impacts of visitors. One such management tool is interpretation. Interpretation is widely used as a management tool because: it is perceived to be the most cost effective method; it is a light-handed approach and allows visitors the freedom of choice; and it enhances visitor experiences and satisfaction. However, the ability of interpretation to bring about a reduction in the impacts of visitors to natural areas, has rarely been quantified. This study was designed to determine the extent to which an interpretive program reduced the environmental impacts of visitors to national parks. Fieldwork was undertaken in Lamington National Park, where 41 guided walks were examined. To measure the actual behaviour or resulting impacts of visitors in a national park, three appropriate environmental indicators were chosen: shortcutting of corners, picking up litter already on the track, and noise levels. Five interpretive programs were created, each with a different combination of environmental interpretation, role modelling and verbal appeals. For the shortcutting results, the interpretive program with the combination of environmental interpretation, role modelling by the guide and verbal appeals from the guide, was always the most effective in reducing shortcutting. Visitors in this interpretive program were always, statistically, less likely to shortcut than visitors on all the other interpretive programs. The programs with only environmental interpretation or no environmental interpretation, were always least effective in reducing shortcutting. The interpretive programs with environment interpretation plus role modelling, or verbal appeals, were always in the middle of these extremes. They were more effective than having neither role modelling or verbal appeals, but less effective than having both. Results for the amount of litter picked up found that the inclusion of verbal appeals in an interpretive program was the only factor that influenced whether visitors picked up litter. In addition, there was no difference in the amount of litter picked up, by the interpretive program with environmental interpretation only, and the program with no environmental interpretation. Results for the noise levels of visitors, found that no interpretive program reduced the amount of shouting and talking loudly of visitors. Although not statistically significant, it did appear that there were lower proportions of shouting and talking loudly, following a verbal appeal and/or role modelling. Additionally, there was no influence of the interpretive program on the proportion of time visitors were talking, or quiet, during their walk. Overall, this research found that interpretation can be an effective management tool in reducing visitor impacts. Interpretation is most effective in reducing impacts when those impacts are specifically addressed through verbal appeals, combined with positive role modelling of appropriate behaviours. However, interpretation did not reduce all the impacts studied and therefore is not the solution to all problems. Implications of this study are that those using interpretation as a means of reducing visitor impacts, must ensure that they have a high standard of interpretation, which specifically addresses the impacts that need to be reduced. It also highlights the importance of the role of the guide, and that those employed should be well trained and competent in their position.

Houses and the objects within them stand as tangible symbols of human memory. Some memories are created unconsciously in day-to-day living; others are consciously attached to objects that are cherished as symbols of other places, relatives and friends. Memories may seem to be lost until they are rediscovered in moment of involuntary recall, triggered by an object, a smell or taste. The purpose of this research project is to investigate the memory experiences of visitors to a house museum; what they do with those experiences and how important they are to them. Forty adult visitors to Calthorpes' House in the ACT were interviewed using the focused interview technique with a framework of questions that allowed for a conversational style and additional questions. The interviews were recorded and later transcribed. The results showed that all visitors reported experiencing memories during their visit to Calthorpes' House. Many people found those experiences enjoyable and wanted to share them with others. These findings are important because they can inform the set-up, interpretation and publicity of house museums in ways which will attract new visitors and help to engage with visitors' interests when they visit house museums.

Many of the places that people value are the places they wish to visit and experience for themselves. However, each person that visits one of these places can cause impacts that reduce its value. A fimdamental aim of visitor management therefore is to ensure that each visitor's experience is a high quality one, and is sustainable. Various models have been designed to assist with this aim by linking visitor management planning, monitoring and decision making. However, there is a lack of published examples of how visitor management models have been implemented, what results they have yielded, and how well they have performed. There is also a lack of evidence of widespread application of such models. Without information and insight, there is only a theoretical case to argue for the greater use of visitor management models. The aim of this study was therefore to describe, analyse and explain the formulation and implementation of the most widely published visitor management models, with reference to case studies of Jenolan Caves (New South Wales) and Kangaroo Island (South Australia). The study involved: a literature review; personal observations by the author; in-depth interviews with those involved in developing and implementing the two case studies; and an objective analysis using a Goals Achievement Matrix. The thesis critically examined seven visitor management models with respect to their: evolution and definition; dimensions and planning and development approaches; documented applications in Australia and overseas; and limitations. This would appear to be the first time that these models have been critically examined in this way so that comparisons can be easily made between them. This would also appear to be the most comprehensive identification of examples of implemented visitor management models in Australia. The study identified five critical issues relating to development and implementation of visitor management models: 1. Poor planning hmeworks and poorly defined organisational culture, particularly in visitor and tourism management. 2. Lack of, or inconsistent human and financial resources. 3. Resistance to involving stakeholders in fimdamental decision-making. 4. Difficulty in choosing the right model for the situation. 5. Lack of strategic emphasis and technical ability. The study suggested that more effort needed to be made in the pre-development and implementation phases. Critical to such efforts is the development of an implementation plan, written as part of the development process. The implementation plan requires an individual(s) to take on a strategic coordination role that addresses marketing, staff development, budgeting, evaluation and areas for improvement. The study suggested that the conventional emphasis on technical expertise needs to be re-balanced with political skills to lobby for and protect the human and financial resources needed to implement a model long enough for it to prove its value. In the event where resourcing is too limited to fully operationalise an entire model at once, it was recommended to conservatively develop a portion of the chosen model all the way to the stage in which it delivers results that can be marketed to stakeholders. Finally, the study proposed a tool to assist visitor managers to clarify their need for a model, as well as their capability to develop and implement one. In the absence of sufficient information about the implementation of models, the tool empowers managers to consider the - merits of using a visitor management model further, and to select a model that best meets their needs.

Nature-based tourism and recreation is a growing phenomenon around the world. In Australia, nature-based tourism represents an important part of the tourism sector and is to a large extent dependent on protected areas such as World Heritage areas, marine parks and national parks. While tourism and recreation can benefit protected areas, some are under pressure from visitation and marketing should play a role in managing visitor demand. To this end, a number of authors have suggested demarketing as a management tool to address situations of excess visitor demand, however, research on demarketing in protected areas is limited. To address this research gap, this thesis examines the use of demarketing in Australian national parks that face excess visitor demand using a case study on the Blue Mountains National Park. The thesis investigates factors that contribute to high visitor demand for the park, the use of demarketing to manage demand and factors that influence when and how demarketing is applied. Demarketing is that aspect of marketing that deals with discouraging customers in general or a certain class of customers in particular on either a temporary or permanent basis. In protected areas specifically, demarketing is concerned with reducing visitor numbers in total or selectively and redistributing demand spatially or temporarily. Six factors that contribute to high visitor demand for the national park were identified including the attractiveness of the park, its proximity to Sydney and the fact that the park is a renowned destination with icon sites. It was established that no holistic demarketing strategy is currently employed in the park and that the demarketing measures that are applied are not consciously used as demarketing. The measures used in the Blue Mountains National Park were discussed according to their association with the marketing mix components (4 Ps). Demarketing measures related to �product� include limiting recreational activities by defining specific areas where they can be conducted, limiting the duration of activities and closures of sites or features in the park. The measures related to �place� are the use of a booking system, limiting visitor numbers and group sizes, commercial licensing and limiting signage. Measures related to �price� are not extensively used in the park. The promotional demarketing measures applied include stressing restrictions and appropriate environmental behaviour in promotional material and nonpromotion of certain areas or experiences in the park. Importantly, these demarketing measures are not employed across the whole park or for all user groups, but are used for certain experiences in specific contexts and circumstances. Three types of factors influence the use of demarketing in the Blue Mountains National Park: pragmatic considerations, resource considerations and stakeholder interests. Pragmatic considerations include the feasibility and effectiveness of certain demarketing measures, which are influenced by the specific context of the national park. Resource considerations relate to financial, human and temporal resources and the findings suggest that a lack of resources influences and at times inhibits the use of demarketing measures. It was also found that various stakeholders have a profound influence on the use of demarketing measures. The stakeholder groups have diverse interests and therefore influence the use of demarketing in different ways by supporting or impeding certain measures. Based on the findings and limitations of this study, recommendations for government and future research are made. These emphasise among others the need for more consistent and comprehensive collection of visitor information to tailor management actions more effectively. It is also suggested that a more conscious and holistic application of demarketing measures may help to manage visitor demand to parks proactively to ensure that the resource remains for future generations.