Journal ArticleDOI
Examining visitors’ experience with Batu Cave, using the four realm experiential theory
Ghazali Musa,Shahrul Najmin,Thinaranjeney Thirumoorthi,Azni Zarina Taha +3 more
- Vol. 3, Iss: 2, pp 105-120
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors employed a qualitative research strategy to examine visitors' experiences at Batu Caves using the four realms of experience theory as coined by Pine and Gilmore (1998).Abstract:
Purpose
City has a continuous need to diversify its products and services to ensure longer tourists’ stays and a profitable tourism industry. Kuala Lumpur is one of the most popular cities in the world, and within its vicinity, Batu Caves are not only an important Hindu religious site, but also a popular tourist attraction. Guided by the four realms of experience dimensions (Pine and Gilmore, 1998), the purpose of this paper is to analyze 54 essays written by university students, to examine the experience of their visit to Batu Caves. The findings confirmed the application of all the four realm dimensions – entertainment, educational, esthetic and escapist – revealing both positive and negative aspects of the experience. Batu Caves may capitalize on the positive experiences as pointers to create an effective marketing communication, while negative experiences are opportunities to devise appropriate corrective measures, and perhaps further develop tourism products and services that would appeal to the visitors’ experience.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a qualitative research strategy to examine visitors’ experiences at Batu Caves using the four realms of experience theory as coined by Pine and Gilmore (1998). A total of 54 undergrads were asked to describe their visit to Batu Caves (Lucia-Palacios et al., 2016) providing a complete insight of their opinions, feelings and perceptions (Juttner et al., 2013) using the essay writing method.
Findings
The authors discovered firm evidence of the theory’s application, revealing the expected four experiential dimensions in explaining experience at a cultural religious site, extending the description to include its positive and negative aspects, all of which are useful for destination management. The study points out a lot of aspects that must be managed by the site, such as the poor esthetic experience (e.g. smell, rubbish, graffiti, etc.), controlling the animal aggression (i.e. monkeys) and perhaps develop new products and services which could enhance some experiences (e.g. cultural escapism through cultural performances in which visitors could participate).
Research limitations/implications
The main weakness of the research is perhaps the qualitative research work in which data were collected from essays written by the university students. Data of this nature prevent us from being able to generalize the findings and reflect on the experience to the general public.
Practical implications
Tourist stays in Kuala Lumpur could be enhanced by providing meaningful, deep and memorable experiences. Tourist attractions such as Batu Caves should continuously examine the experience that they provide to the visitors. Batu Caves’ management could continuously measure its tourists’ experience provisions, as tourists’ needs evolve over time. From the results they could revamp their products and services offering to ensure the sustainability of Batu Caves’ natural and cultural appeal among visitors and tourists alike.
Originality/value
The outcome provides a better understanding of the current tourism product and services at the destination that have an impact on a visitor’s experience. The findings will assist the Batu Caves’ management to revise and develop the products and service offerings to the visitors.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage: Bibliometric Overview
TL;DR: In this paper, a bibliometric study and citations of articles indexed in the multidisciplinary database Web of Science (WoS) was conducted to evaluate the academic literature related to religious tourism.
Journal ArticleDOI
Religious tourism – a review of the literature
TL;DR: A review of the literature around the area is presented in this paper, where all papers with the term "religious tourism" have been searched via Emerald Insight from January 2006 to December 2017.
Journal ArticleDOI
Do travel images affect international students’ on-site academic value? New evidence from the Malaysia’s ‘higher edutourism’ destination:
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focused on travel destination image with respect to influencing international students' decision-making for academic destinations (i.e. the pre-experience s...
Visitor’s experiential attributes and revisit intention to Islamic tourism attractions in Malaysia / Arni Abdul Gani, Mazlina Mahdzar and Nor Asmalina M. Anuar
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the visitors' experience of these places and assess their likelihood to make repeat visitation to the same place and find that escapism, entertainment, and aesthetic are the experiences that affect visitors' revisit intention.
References
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Book
Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook
TL;DR: This book presents a step-by-step guide to making the research results presented in reports, slideshows, posters, and data visualizations more interesting, and describes how coding initiates qualitative data analysis.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue for the recognition of important experiential aspects of consumption, such as the symbolic, hedonic, and esthetic nature of the experience of consumption.
Journal Article
Welcome to the Experience Economy
B J Pine nd,James H. Gilmore +1 more
TL;DR: The authors offer five design principles that drive the creation of memorable experiences that engage all five senses to heighten the experience and thus make it more memorable.
MonographDOI
Analyzing Qualitative Data
TL;DR: The Nature of Qualitative Analysis Data Preparation Writing Thematic Coding and Categorizing Analysing Biographies and Narratives Comparative Analysis Analytic Quality and Ethics Getting Started with Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Searching and Other Analytic Activities Using Software Putting it All Together.
Book
The experience economy : work is theatre & every business a stage
B. Joseph Pine,James H. Gilmore +1 more
TL;DR: Pine and Gilmore as discussed by the authors argue that the future economic growth lies in the value of experiences and transformations, and that good and services are no longer enough to transform what they produce.
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