PHILGEO 3

Ownership

Attractions are owned and managed by organizations, trusts and individuals working in the public, private and not-for-profit-sectors. State involvement in attractions funding is shown in Europe, Canada, and Singapore.

Size and Capacity

Attractions differ in land coverage. Some are housed in small buildings while others occupy several hectares. Attractions designed for mass tourists are able to receive a large number of visitors. Moreover, such attractions may incorporate services and facilities that enable visitors to prolong their stay. Understanding the capacity of sites is important in terms of management and marketing.

Appeal

Attractions may ______ to a local market, regionally, nationally, or internationally. Domestic tourists usually dominate a market for tourists attractions. However, there are different types of attraction that appeal to different types of tourists.

Physical Environment

Attractions may be located in the: 1. Natural environments such as forests, mountains, and national parks; 2. Built environments which are not originally designed for visitors but are adapted as attractions due to its increasing popularity among people, such as historic houses, workplaces, steam railways, and castles; and 3. Built environment and designed for visitor purposes such as visitor centers and leisure parks. In addition, attractions may be located in indoor or outdoor environments.

Degree of Performance

Built tourist attractions are usually designed with a high degree of performance. Events and festivals have a short duration. Hence, temporary sites and mobile Infrastructure are often used.

Events/Festivals

Event tourism is both a field of study and a globally significant sector of the economy. It can be defined and studied by reference to its supply side (Getz 2012, 2013). Event tourism at a destination level is the development and marketing of planned events as tourist attractions, catalysts, animators, image makers, and place marketers. This process includes bidding on, facilitating and creating events, and the management of portfolios of events as destination assets.

Amusement Parks and Theme Parks

Group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a specific location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city, park or playground because it provides attractions to people of all ages.

Composition

Many attractions are located in or around a specific point such as capital city. Some follows line or route. Events may also be found in one venue or may occur in a variety of locations as part of the festival.

Admission Policy

Some attractions charge admission fees while others are free to the public. Attractions operated by membership subscription organizations allow members free entry. Voluntary donations are requested in other attractions such as churches and cathedrals.

Number of Visitors

Tourist attractions receive varying visitor numbers. Some attractions regularly record approximately more that 500,000 visitors while others attract smaller number of travelers.