Tourism as experience - The case of heritage parks

The need to consider the experiences and benefits gained by visitors to tourism attractions is addressed, with specific reference to an industrial heritage park. The differing dimensions of experience and the various benefits are examined, as well as factors having influence on them. The consumer groups defined in terms of experiences and benefits derived are described in terms of their motivations for visiting and socioeconomic profile. The study raises questions concerning the usefulness of past emphases on sociodemographic analyses at heritage attractions, as experiential and benefit segmentations appear to be somewhat independent of sociodemographic attributes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.