Volume: 14  Number: 5  Page: 473–488  doi:10.2167/jost 620.0

Assessing the Tourism Potential of Smaller Cultural and Heritage Attractions

Bob McKercher and Pamela S.Y. Ho School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

This paper reports on the development and application of a mechanism to assess the tourism potential of cultural and heritage assets. The assessment tool considers cultural, physical, product and experiential values. It was tested on a sample of 16 secondary museums, historic sites and temples in Hong Kong that are currently being promoted by the local destination management organisation. While their cultural and physical values were rated strongly, their tourism and experiential values were low. Indeed, a number of fatal flaws were identified that effectively precluded most of them from ever functioning as viable attractions. Remoteness, isolation from other attractions, small scale, a lack of uniqueness and poor setting exacerbated their weaknesses.

Keywords: attractions, cultural tourism, product, assessment

© 2006 B. McKercher and P.S.Y. Ho

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