An investigation into the management strategies within historic tourism sites in Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders. Conservation versus Tourism Experience

Abstract

Conservation and visitor experience are extremely important for a historic tourism attractions sustainability. Conservation efforts must be made in order to maintain the buildings, in order to ensure that future generation will be able to enjoy them. From an economic perspective however, the attractions heavily rely on tourism as a source of funding. This therefore means it is essential to ensure that visitors have a good experience within the site. This causes many issues within the management strategies, as one aspect can be seen to directly impact another. The aim of the study stems from this complexity. "To investigate the management strategies needed within Historic Tourism sites to facilitate conservation practices and maintain visitor experience." The method of collecting data used within this study is qualitative research. Semi- structured interviews were carried out with managers from sites within the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh. This allowed the researcher to gain an in depth understanding of the problems faced by managers whilst trying to manage the site. The investigation has highlighted the difficulties faced by managers when trying to maintain conservation efforts, as well as providing a great experience for visitors. The research has established that it is extremely fine balance between both aspects, as both heavily rely on the other with regards to sustainability. It has been expressed that although tourism contributes to the damage of these buildings, the attractions rely on tourism as the primary source of funding for maintaining the building, as well as financing any conservation projects. The study has highlighted that visitor experience is affected by conservation efforts within these sites, however, when the visitors have gained an understanding of the importance of the conservation carried out, visitor satisfaction is less likely to be affected.