London Trip 2013
The Visitor Experience, Interpretation and Customer Service One of the most important elements of the visitor experience is to provide high quality interpretation (‘reveal the meaning and relationships’). Interpretation should enable visitors to understand what the most important attributes or themes are of, for example, a national park or an attraction and why they are important. Interpretation is also important for helping to educate the visitor about wider issues for example global warming or tourism impacts. Effective interpretation should also engage with the visitor as part of their experience. This exercise asks you to assess the quality of the interpretation at a given attraction, and decide if it is doing its job effectively.
Name of attraction:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Principles of Good Interpretation 1. It must be relevant to the audience. 2. Rather than provide information, it should reveal meanings. 3. It should be informative, entertaining and enlightening. 4. Rather than instruction, it should provoke inspiration and learning. 5. It should present a whole theme or idea. 6. It must accommodate the diverse interpretation needs of different age groups. 7. It should have appropriate quantity and quality of information. 1. According to Ham (1992), a good interpretation display should only have one main theme, which can then be developed into five or less ideas or sub-‐headings. Pick one of the interpretation displays and count how many different ideas or subheadings can you identify. Take photos to record your observations.
BAM112: Tourism and Leisure -‐ Regional Perspectives
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