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.