CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Introduction Industrial tourism involves visits by tourists to operational sites where the core activity of the site is non-tourism oriented. In recent years there has been some attention to some forms of industrial tourism, such as farm and winery tourism, but there has been little attention to industrial tourism as a major form of tourism, from an academic perspective, either conceptually or managerially. This thesis addresses this gap by conceptualising industrial tourism within the context of tourism attraction theory. It is proposed that as industrial tourism attractions have, at their core, a non-tourism activity, they can be viewed as being fundamentally different to other types of attractions. Therefore, the thesis tested empirically the extent to which individuals perceive industrial tourism attractions as being different to other types of attractions. From a managerial perspective it is useful to know the types of individuals who visit particular tourism attractions. Therefore, the thesis tested empirically tourism choice behaviour at attractions, to reveal the types of people who visit particular types of attractions. Tourists can be segmented by using a range of means such as demographics, psychographics, and personality. For this study the author chose personality, as determined by Holland’s (1985b) Self-Directed Search, demographics and past visitationto identify individual tourism choice behaviour at named tourism attractions, and, in particular, at industrial tourism attractions. Holland’s (1985a) theory of personality types is widely respected and well known. Holland, Powell and Fritzsche (1994) and Ross (1994) suggested that the application of Holland’s theory to areas other than occupational choice (its original purpose), is worthy of research. Holland, Powell and Fritzsche (1994) noted that an important area of study would be to determine if different personality types search, not only for characteristic occupational clusters, but also for characteristic recreational activities. With respect to tourism behaviour in particular (rather than general recreational activities), Ross (1994, p. 31) suggested that, as the study of personality is still evolving, there could be “no more appropriate or useful study than personality as it illuminates tourist behaviour”. Following a literature review, it would appear that, although earlier studies have considered Holland’s personality theory and leisure activities, no empirical study has specifically examined the relationship between tourism behaviour, per se, and Holland personality types. Therefore, Holland’s (1985a) theory of personality types was tested empirically to determine its usefulness in identifying the types of people who actually visit, are interested in visiting, and intend to visit named tourism attractions. The findings of this study may be of interest to a number of groups including: - academics researching tourism attractions. They may incorporate the definition of industrial tourism into the context of tourism attraction theory to create a morecomprehensive definition of attractions which includes non-tourism core attractions, that is, industrial tourism attractions; - regional tourism organisations. They may find that the confirmation of the number and range of industrial tourism attractions in their region extends their perception of regional tourism products; and - managers of tourism attractions. They may use the information on the types of people interested in visiting their properties in their promotional activities, for example, by using specialist magazines to promote their attraction. In summary, the study fulfils three main aims. Firstly, it provides a conceptualisation of industrial tourism, which, to the knowledge of the author, has not been attempted before. Secondly, it tests empirically some of the ways in which industrial tourism attractions are perceived as being different to other types of tourism attractions. Thirdly, it tests the applicability of Holland’s (1985a) theory of personality types in predicting tourism choice behaviour and compares its effectiveness with other means, such as demographics and past visitation. Organisation of the Thesis The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter One introduces the study and highlights the aims of the study. Chapter Two provides a review of the related literature by considering tourism attraction theory and, within this context, the concept of industrial