Enhancing Cultural Tourism e-Services through Heritage Interpretation

Abstract

Cultural heritage is a main contributor to tourism development. These two activities heavily rely on the communication process for attracting visitors and to provide them with a satisfactory experience, which can be enhanced through effective heritage interpretation. This paper argues that there are opportunities for the application of e-Services in the delivery of heritage interpretation through the Internet – optimising results for the fulfilment of both marketing and interpretation purposes. This paper investigates visitor satisfaction with museums and explores the use of e-Services for both cultural attraction operators and destination managers over a two-stages empricical research. On one side, this study identifies the contribution of heritage interpretation practices to the overall visitor satisfaction in museums. On the other side, it evaluates the current integration of e-Services in cultural attractions and destination websites. The results are integrated and developed into practical industry implications both for cultural attractions and destination website developmet.