TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

SEM 801: VISITOR MANAGEMENT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

Topic overview 3

Introduction 3

Objectives 3

Learning Activities 3

Main Content 4

Classification of Visitors 4
Domestic Versus Foreign Tourists 4
Same-Day Versus Overnight Tourists 4
Organised Tours Versus Independent Travellers 4
Official Visitors 5
‘Under the Radar’ People 6

Types of Visitor Attractions 6

Natural attractions 6
Cultural attractions 6
Special types of attractions 7

Types of Visitor Use 7

Wrap Up 8

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 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

Topic overview
Introduction
In order to effectively manage destination visitors, it’s important to understand the types and classification of the visitors to a
destination. In this topic, we will examine the various types and classification of visitors to a touristic destination. We will also
examine visitor use in a tourism destination with a focus on protected areas

Objectives
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Classify various types of visitors to a destination

2. Describe various classification of visitor attractions
3. Identify various visitor use of destination or protected area tourist resources

Learning Activities
a) Activity 2.1: Download and study Topic Two Lecture Notes. In your own thinking, suggest various ways by which
visitors to various attraction sites and destinations in Kenya (or your country) make use of tourism resources. Would
you say they are using the resources efficiently? Post your reactions in the discussion forum.
b) Activity 2.2: Conduct an internet search on the various types of tourism and purpose of visit. Classify various visitors
to Kenya (or your country) based on purpose of visit or types of tourism. What are their characteristics? Post in the
discussion forum.

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 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

Main Content

Classification of Visitors
Visitors or tourists can be classified and categorised in various ways as described next.

Domestic Versus Foreign Tourists

 Domestic visitors or tourists are those tourists who travel and visit destinations and attractions within their own
country. A domestic tourist travels outside their normal residence to certain other areas within their country. As a
domestic visitor or tourist, your needs and requirements for travelling and accessing destination attractions, facilities
and services vary significantly from those of the foreign visitors or tourists
 Foreign visitors or tourists are those people who travel to destinations outside their countries. They will need visa,
passport and other documents are essential for the tourist. It comprises inbound tourism consisting of the activities of
a non-resident visitor within the country of reference.
 Internal tourism comprises domestic tourism plus inbound tourism, encompassing the activities of resident and non-
resident visitors within the country of reference as part of domestic or international tourism trips.
 Outbound tourism includes the activities of a resident visitor outside the country of reference, either as part of an
outbound tourism trip or as part of a domestic tourism trip.
 International tourism comprises inbound tourism plus outbound tourism, including the activities of resident visitors
outside the country of reference, as part of either domestic or outbound tourism trips and the activities of non-resident
visitors within the country of reference on inbound tourism trips.

Same-Day Versus Overnight Tourists

Overnight tourists and day visitors will engage in different types of activities in protected areas, depending on their time
availability and the facilities or products offered by the destination. Knowing how many visitors same-day are or overnight is
important to help assess the types of accommodation, infrastructure and services that should be provided outside protected
areas and for day destinations within parks and other touristic destinations.

Organised Tours Versus Independent Travellers

Tourists can be part of organised tours or independent travellers. Potential protected area visitors could purchase a tour package
from a local tour operator or travel agent, or through their hotel or all-inclusive resort or increasingly via the internet. Protected
areas offer tourism companies the opportunity of adding value to the excursions they offer, and for many specialist tour
operators, visits to high-quality sites with global recognition can be important for sales. Organised group tours will usually be led
by licensed tour operators who are often responsible for clearly conveying to travellers, information about their rights and
obligations when visiting a protected area.
Some visitors may be free independent travellers who have made arrangements based on word-of-mouth, online social network
recommendations or suggestions from a local hotel, guidebook, tourist information office and/or official websites. In some cases,
it can be harder to manage the actions of individual tourists than those on organised tours in protected areas.
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 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

Official Visitors

These are categories of visitors to a destination who travel no necessarily to enjoy the destinations attractions but to provide
special support services such as access, transport, utilities, security and special administration needs. Destination managers
need to respond to and accommodate the needs of official visitors to the protected area (Table 1.1). In addition to such ‘official
use’ by indigenous and local communities and protected area agencies responsible for protected area management (Table 1.1),
visitor use of protected areas, including tourism, helps managers to protect, conserve and appreciate the values for which a
protected area is established (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1. Official visitors and their purpose of visiting a tourism destination or protected area

Visitors Purpose of visit

Community members responsible for a All aspects of conservation management of a community conserved area and indigenous
destination lands

Local community members, indigenous Potential ancestral or traditional community or a private tourism venture with official and
peoples or private operators involved in approved sustainable use of natural resources from (respectively) an indigenous area or a
a tourism destination or protected area community conserved area or a private protected area. This may include reindeer herding,
fishing and hunting (with agreed levels of fish catch) or private hunting quotas

Protected area manager Planning, monitoring, research, response to threats, response to incidents, law enforcement,
visitor management

Protected area worker Work program implementation such as pest animal control including hunting, weed control,
fire control and soil erosion restoration

Protected area contractor Delegated work program implemented on behalf of a protected area organisation

Military personnel Delegated program to protect heritage conservation resources

Community service personnel Officials from organisations such as police, fire brigade or ambulance who have an official role
within the protected area

Lessee Person or company with the legal right to undertake certain use of a protected area such as
accommodation or guiding

Licensee Person or company with the legal right to provide services within a protected area such as
visitor transport or waste disposal

Very important persons Official guest(s) of a government, of the protected area organisation or of the protected area
administration
Source: Modified from Dudley (2008

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 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

‘Under the Radar’ People

These are authorised people who visit tourist destination and protected areas. They do not want to be detected while present in
the area because they engage in illegal and criminal activities. Such activities include the unauthorised harvesting of natural
resources from touristic areas (poaching, timber harvesting, farming), the cultivation of drug crops such as marijuana, and
unauthorised people using the area as somewhere to live.

Visitors can also be classified based on the purpose of visit or types of tourism.

Types of Visitor Attractions

It is important that destination managers understand the various attractions with respect to planning, marketing and visitor use
of attractions and resources. Visitors may be interested in a number of attractions in a given destination. A common system of
classifying these attractions includes:
 Natural attractions that are based on features of the natural environment
 Cultural attractions that are based on man’s activities
 Special types of attractions that are artificially created

Natural attractions

a) Climate: a warm, sunny, dry climate is typically considered desirable by most tourists, especially those from cold winter
areas
b) Scenic Beauty: these include agricultural landscapes, terraced rice fields, pleasure driving with stops at scenic
viewpoints, hiking, picnicking, camping and wildlife viewing.
c) Beaches and Marine Areas: sunbathing, swimming, boating, wind and board surfing, water skiing, parasailing,
snorkeling and scuba diving, sport fishing, and other water recreation activities. Developed in the Caribbean,
Mediterranean, Pacific Islands and the Indian Ocean Islands.
d) Flora and Fauna: outstanding places include game parks in East Africa and South Asia, red wood parks of California.
Zoos, aquariums, and botanic Gardens are other examples.
e) Special Environmental Features: high mountains, unusual geological formations, caves, geysers, hot springs, and
mild forms of volcanic activity.
f) Parks and Conservation Areas: The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)
has specified categories and criteria for establishment of parks and conservation areas.
g) Health Tourism: these include spa resorts and diet resorts.

Cultural attractions

a) Archaeological, Historical and Cultural Sites: including cultural and national monuments, historic buildings, districts,
and towns, important religious buildings such as churches, synagogues, temples, mosques and monasteries and
battlefields.

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 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

b) Distinctive Cultural Patterns: these include customs, dress, ceremonies, lifestyles and religious beliefs and practices.
c) Arts and Handicrafts: the performing art forms, including dance, music and drama and the fine arts of painting and
sculpting.
d) Interesting Economic Activities: operation of tea and rubber plantations and processing plants, use of working
elephants in a tropical forest, traditional fishing and agricultural techniques in many areas, traditional market.
e) Interesting Urban Areas: varied architectural styles, historic buildings and districts, civic centers, shopping facilities,
restaurants, parks and street life, theater performances, including plays, operas, concerts and dance presentations.
f) Museums and other Cultural Facilities: museums on themes as archaeology, history, ethnology, natural history, arts
and crafts, science, technology and industry. Other cultural facilities such as cultural centers, art galleries and antique
shops.
g) Cultural Festivals: Donkey Race festival in Lamu, Kenya, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and
the Pera Hera in Sri Lanka, Aloha Week festival in Hawaii, Arts festival in Bali, Indonesia.
h) Friendliness of Residents: friendly, hospitable character, honesty and reliability of residents.

Special types of attractions

a) Theme Parks, Amusement Parks and Circuses: oriented through themes such as history, adventure, unusual
geographic places, fantasy and futurism. Amusement parks in Europe, such as Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen and
the Prater in Vienna. Travelling circuses such as Russian circus in Moscow and Leningrad and acrobatic circuses in
China and Korea
b) Shopping: Japanese/Chinese tourist market, Huge shopping malls in Kenya
c) Meetings, Conferences and Conventions
d) Special Events: sports contests, fairs and expositions, Olympics, Commonwealth games
e) Gambling Casinos
f) Entertainment
g) Recreation and Sports

Types of Visitor Use

Table 1.2 shows a summary of indicative visitor use of protected areas.

Table 1.2 Indicative visitor use of protected areas

Type of visitor Type of visitor use

Volunteers (officially recognised and  Firefighters and search and rescue personnel
supported)  Historic site maintenance and restoration
 Walking track maintenance
 Introduced plant removal
 Fauna protection such as seasonal bird nesting site protection surveillance
 Visitor service support such as volunteer campground wardens or guides
 Researchers—such as those conducting a biodiversity assessment

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 TOPIC 2: VISITOR AND ATTRACTION TYPES

Researchers (officially permitted)  All aspects of natural heritage research including baseline condition measurement,
trends in condition and ecosystem processes and social and cultural heritage
research
Commercial users (officially permitted)  Nature-based filmmakers
 Visitor access services including pack animals, bicycle, taxi, bus, aircraft, motor
launch, snowmobile and others
Tourists and recreationists (sustainable  Education-focused visitors
use)  Car-based sightseers, cycling, photography, painting
 Picnicking, walking, bushwalking, camping
 Nature study and cultural awareness
 Orienteering, cross-country running
 Use of official horse-riding, mountain biking, 4WD and motorcycle routes
 Sustainable use (such as management-approved hunting in private protected
areas and fishing)
 Approved non-powered flight, hang-gliding, paragliding, hot-air ballooning
 Water-based activities, fishing, swimming, sunbaking, canoeing, boating, sailing,
white-water rafting
 Snow and ice-based skiers, snowboarders, ice climbers
Spiritual and cultural users (officially  Formal access to protected areas for spiritual, ceremonial and cultural reasons
endorsed and supported) such as traditional access routes
Commemorative users (officially  Access to protected areas for commemorative purposes such as visitors returning
endorsed and supported) to sites of cultural significance within a protected area
Source: Modified from Dudley (2008)

Wrap Up
It is important that destination managers understand the various classification of visitors and attractions with respect to planning,
marketing and visitor use since they may be required to develop strategies according to their destination’s level of development.
Perhaps of greatest importance to the destination manager is the recognition that the resources on which a destination depends
are frequently finite and often unrenewable.

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