The impact of a visitor attraction’s sustainable performance on visitor satisfaction in Edinburgh

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation was to find out how sustainable performance of Edinburgh’s visitor attractions affects the satisfaction of their visitors. To achieve this aim, a variety of objectives were set up, which touch upon what sustainable practices the visitor attractions undertake, how they communicate these efforts to their visitors, do the visitors notice them and whether it is beneficial for the visitor attraction to put forth the effort of communicating their sustainable efforts. First, a review of the available literature was carried out during which the researcher noted that there was a gap in literature when it comes to visitor attractions and how their sustainable practices affect the satisfaction of their visitors, with most of the literature focusing on the hospitality businesses such as hotels and restaurants. To fill this gap, the researcher carried out a semi-structured qualitative interview of six participants from major visitor attractions in Edinburgh. The aim of the research was met as all the participants did not notice an increase in visitor satisfaction through communicating their sustainable efforts, but they were interested in real life examples and literature which could show them how communicating their sustainable efforts would increase their visitor experience as they would take it for consideration if there was evidence out there. However, recommendations were made for further research into this topic, with a focus on visitor attractions as the subject of research, but it is also recommended for future researchers to take some factors into considerations with advice from participants such as the ethics behind communicating sustainable efforts such as charity work and the attitudes of visitors who expect these practices to already be in place.