ma. anna cassandra l.

galisim final exam - tour 199

2002-10627 october 13, 2006
purpose of domestic tourists in visiting vigan heritage village
the philippines is known for its breathtaking destinations and wonders and most
importantly, its multifarious culture. the country is proud of its history,
culture and heritage for its forefathers underwent an arduous task of liberating
the people from the hands of the spanish, american and japanese colonizers. the
said colonizers left traces of what they had done to the country during their
decades of stay. these evidences - artifacts, buildings, architecture, ways of
living - are still present in various areas in the philippines and are used to
attract tourists from all over the country and the rest of the world for them to
experience, rediscover and reconnect with its history, culture and heritage.
because of this, destinations having these kinds of sites are paying attention to
cultural heritage tourism.
cultural heritage tourism, also referred to as heritage tourism, is defined by the
national trust for historic preservation (u.s.a.) as "traveling to experience the
places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and
people of the past and present". it includes cultural, historic and natural
resources.(http://www.nationaltrust.org/ heritage_ tourism/index.html). culture,
heritage and the arts have always contributed to appeal of tourist destination. in
the recent years, culture has been rediscovered as an important marketing tool to
attract those travellers with special interests in heritage, history and arts.
(http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/heritage_tourism)
the philippines' department of tourism (dot) has been actively involved with the
promotion of these heritage attractions. in 2005, the dot, together with smart
communications, launched the "i love philippines, biyahe na!" campaign to boost
domestic travel. aside from the natural attractions such as beaches, there was
also intensive domestic promotion of the cultural heritage sites like old churches
and ruins, tubbataha reef marine park, the banaue rice terraces and old heritage
towns. (http://www.wowpinoy.net/press_release.php?id=4)
the case in point of this study is vigan city, specifically vigan heritage
village. vigan is a historic city with monuments, historical landmarks and
inscriptions that remind the people of the uprising against the tyranny of the
spaniards. at present, vigan was inscribed in the unesco world heritage list of
sites and monuments last december 2, 1999 and one of the only five heritage sites
found in the philippines. with its inclusion in said prestigious list of world
heritage sites, vigan has become a source of pride, and a national symbol of the
filipinos. the world heritage centre cites that vigan represents a unique fusion
of asian building design and construction with european colonial architecture and
planning itis an exceptionally intact and well preserved example of a european
trading town in east and east asia. one of the most famous attractions in the city
is vigan heritage village, which is known for its ancestral houses with ancient
tile roofs, massive hardwood floorings, balustrades and azoteas in varying
spanish-mexican-chinese architectural styles. other cultural attractions include
padre burgos house, crisologo museum, magsingal museum and museo de san juan
bautista (www.ilocossur.gov.ph)
this research aims to determine the reason/s or purpose/s of domestic
tourists in visiting heritage attractions like the vigan heritage village. the
study focuses solely on vigan heritage village because it is found in one of the
two heritage-historic towns in the philippines - the other one is found in
tagaytay. (mr. bienvenido claravall, tourism 175 lecture). the latter is
preferred than the former because the researcher has experienced visiting the site
and wants to explore it further. also, her relatives in the said place can
accommodate her in case she needs to stay there for more than a day to conduct the
study. this research only covers domestic tourists visiting the said attraction.
problem statement: what are the reason/s or purpose/s of domestic tourists in
visiting and engaging in tourism activities (such as viewing, shopping, touring,
etc.) in vigan heritage village?
research objectives
� to determine the purpose/s of domestic tourists in visiting vigan heritage
village;
� to identify the tourism activities undertaken by the domestic tourists during
their stay in the heritage site;
� to describe the market of the domestic visitors of vigan heritage village, with
particular reference to their purposes of visit and activities undertaken during
their stay;
� to determine whether or not the domestic tourists purpose/s of visit was/were
satisfied or not and the reason/s of satisfaction or dissatisfaction
significance of study
this research can be a substantial reference to the vigan community, especially
its tourism office, because the study defines the purposes and activities of the
domestic tourism market in vigan heritage village. in addition to this, the study
determines if the set of tourists surveyed have satisfied their purpose/s of visit
or not and the reason/s behind the satisfaction or dissatisfaction. this
information can help the local government of vigan and provincial government of
ilocos sur, including the agencies concerned like vigan heritage village
commission and department of tourism to further develop and improve the site to
satisfy the needs of their market and aid them in fulfilling their purpose/s of
visit while maintaining the authenticity of the tangible and intangible elements
in this heritage site.
definition of terms
1. cultural heritage (national heritage or heritage) is the legacy of physical
artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from
past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future
generations. a heritage site contains possesses these
attributes.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_heritage)
2. tourism involves "activities of persons traveling to and staying in places
outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for
leisure, business and other purposes" (world tourism organization: recommendations
on tourism statistics, cited by cruz, 2000)
3. domestic travel is "travel within one's country of residence, including travel
by resident aliens or foreigners working in the host country" (cruz, 2000)
4. domestic tourists are people engaging in domestic travel. more specifically,
they are "persons residing in a country who travel within that country outside
their usual environment for a period not exceeding 12 months and whose main
purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within
the place visited". (cruz, 2000)
5. satisfaction is the fulfillment of desires, expectations, needs and demands.
dissatisfaction is the non-fulfillment of the things mentioned above.
methodology
the study will be conducted during the peak season of tourism (december to
january) in the heritage site using the on-site and/or captive audience survey
method. a self-administered questionnaire will be given out and ample time will be
given to each respondent to answer the five questions. the questionnaire will be a
combination of closed-ended (multiple choice) and open-ended questions to take
into consideration the respondents' sacrificed time and effort for this study and
at the same time achieve the objectives of the research. data will be collected
in the first week of december and data analysis will be done on the month's second
week. budget for the data collection will include transportation (from manila to
vigan) and allowances and would amount to 3,500 pesos. accommodation and transfer
to and fro the site is not a problem since the researcher's relatives live near
the heritage village (7-minute walk).
the sample will be taken from all domestic tourists performing tourism activities
(viewing, shopping, touring, etc) in vigan heritage village, 15 years old and
older. the questionnaire will be given out at areas were there is a large
concentration of tourists and at a time the researcher deems to be convenient for
the domestic tourists to answer the questionnaire. after data is collected, the
results will be tallied and analyzed to arrive at a conclusion on what are usually
the sample's pupose/s of visiting vigan heritage village, the type of market that
the site attracts, the activities they perform and whether or not their purpose/s
of visit are satisfied or not.

references:
tourism 175 lecture
cruz, r. g. (2000). principles of travel and tourism: focus on the philippines,
ver. 2. quezon city: tourism research philippines.

heritage tourism. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

heritage_tourism

cultural heritage definition. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_heritage

cultural attractions. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at

http://www.ilocussur.gov.ph

heritage tourism. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at http://www.nationaltrust.org/

heritage_tourism/index.html