Definitions of visitor attractions and selection criteria for relevance

¶ … Visitor Attractions

One definition of a visitor attraction, according to the Dictionary of Travel and Tourism Hospitality Terms is "a physical or cultural feature of a particular place that individual travelers or tourists perceive as capable of meeting one or more of their specific leisure-related needs. Such features may be ambient in nature (e.g. climate, culture, vegetation or scenery), or they may be specific to a location, such as a theatre performance, a museum or a waterfall" (Harris & Howard, 1996, cited by Western Australia Tourism Board).

For example, a tourist might travel to a Caribbean island to enjoy the warmth of a sunny climate, even if there are no historical places there of interest to the tourist. Another tourist might head to a rainy British village to see a famous house. Visitor attractions provide an 'attraction' for leisure-seekers that have value beyond their utility, unlike going to work. Some visitor attractions may possess a dual purpose, of course. A shopping center, for example, has a utilitarian function of providing goods and services for sale. However, many people enjoy shopping as part of their leisure time activities, so a shopping center could be said to be both useful and a 'visitor attraction.'

Another definition of a visitor attraction is "positive or favorable attributes of an area for a given activity or set of activities as desired by a given customer or market, including "climate, scenery, activities, culture," and "man made attractions" like "physical structures" as well as "physical phenomena deemed unusual and/or beautiful" (Metelka, 1990, cited by Western Australia Tourism Board). Integral to this definition is the fact that culture is a part of a 'visitor attraction.' For example, seasonal events or activities can make a place into a tourist attraction. Many shore-area towns are largely unpopulated during the winter, but draw flocks of tourists in the summer; the Olympics, famous horse races like the Kentucky Derby, and concerts all draw people to areas that otherwise might go unnoticed.

A more cynical definition of leisure-time or visitor activities, might be that leisure is what people 'pay' to do, in contrast with work, which is what people are paid for: an example for this might be found in recently popular volunteer vacations, where people pay to tour but also help out in underprivileged areas. "A Travelocity survey of 1,017 people in late 2007 found that 17.7% of respondents had previously taken a vacation with a volunteer or philanthropic component" (Ruiz 2007). People also go on vacation to experience what it is like to live and work on a farm, to be a meditating Buddhist monk or simply to engage in strenuous activities like riding horses on a ranch. For the visitor, because these unfamiliar activities are exotic, they are attractions, but for a resident they are merely work.

However, although 'voluntourism' has brought attention and revenue to many formerly hidden areas of the globe, there is also a great deal of criticism of this phenomenon. An individual's socioeconomic condition, the argument against voluntourism goes, should not be a tourist or visitor attraction. The idea of gawking at a poor area of the world, in return for a short period of 'feel good' volunteerism is deemed to be exploitative.