■ Accessible or Inaccessible Location

■ Touring, Clustered or Destination Attractions

■ Rural, Suburban or Urban
■ Local, Regional, National or International scale
■ Craft or Industrial Tourism
■ Slow or Rapid Growth
■ Small, Medium or Large Capacity
■ Event, Transitory, Seasonal or Permanent Attraction
■ Single or Multiple visitation

Tourist Attraction Perception

Studies of tourist perceptions and experiences of attractions comprise the third
major approach to the study of tourist attractions. Pearce defined a tourist place as
“any place that fosters the feeling of being a tourist” (1982: 98). One way this experi-
ence is felt is in the degree of outsideness and insideness that one feels when visiting a
destination. Some have argued that a major goal of the tourist is to penetrate into the
inside (or back region) of the attraction to experience its authenticity. For the tourist,
some risk is required to take this leap into authenticity.

TABLE 1.3
COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
Tourist Activities
Education/exercise or exploration
Place to contemplate or to talk
Guided tours or unguided touring
Passive or Active
Attraction Character
Touristy/contrived/staged or Authentic
Especially animated or Normal daily life
Evoked set (known attractions) or Inert set (knowable attractions) or Inept set (unknowable attractions)
Tourism oriented or Non-tourism oriented
Structured and organized or Unstructured
Front region or Back regions
Modern or Traditional/historic
Heard a lot about/important place or Absence of other tourists
Tourist Experiences
Expensive/luxury or Economy,/values or Inexpensive/cheap
Safe/sanitary or Different/getting away or Escapism/freedom
Pleasant/friendly or Companionship or Novelty
Leisurely/restful or Fun/swinging or Adventurous/exciting
Mass produced or Limited experience or Individual experience
Common/ordinary or Interesting or Unique
Recreational or Diversionary or Experiential or Experimental or Existential experience
No role transformation or Role transformation
Marker involvement or Sight involvements
Familiar or exotic
Easy to tour or Effort to tour

Source: Lew, A.A. (1987)

40 W O R L D G E O G R A P H Y O F T R AV E L A N D T O U R I S M