The Semiotics of Heritage Tourism by Emma Waterton & Steve Watson

Author:Emma Waterton & Steve Watson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Channel View Publications

Figure 4.3 Bodies under control at Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland (Source: Steve Watson)

To some extent there is nothing new in this; it could be seen as an extension of the experiential dimensions long since prevalent in services marketing. This is expressed in ‘retail theatre’, includes the various tactics employed by supermarkets and stores, from routing shoppers around the space, to accosting them with a variety of aromas and sounds (Arnould & Price, 1993; Baron et al., 2001; Krishna, 2010). The signs and signifiers of movement around space, and the definition of that space as heritage-touristic with visual and other sensory signifiers, is clearly a key part of the product development aspects of marketing in this sphere, to the extent that at least some of these elements come to be expected to be in situ at any heritage site worth its salt. Interpretation or other information is missed when it is not provided, and becomes grounds for dissatisfaction and complaint, the standards having been set by the most innovative and interactive heritage attractions. Sites must be prepared, therefore, and must contain the appropriate elements to accommodate the bodies of visitors, the motivations and interests of whom are varied. What is significant here is that the more-than-representational aspects of the heritage experience become, through their embodied semiotics, representational and the embodied experience of heritage becomes representational of what a heritage attraction should be as a marketable product. In turn, the heritage attraction becomes experientially representational of what heritage is (and is not).

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