Quality issues in heritage visitor attractions
Siobhan Drummond and Ian Yeoman (Eds.);
Butterworth–Heinemann, Oxford, 2001, 273 pp.,
hardback, ISBN 0 7506 4675 6
This reader contributes to the growing number of
texts and journal articles focusing on heritage as a
specialist sector of the tourism industry. As the title of
this reader suggests, ‘‘Quality Issues in Heritage Visitor
Attractions’’ focuses on the issue of quality as ‘‘a major
factor associated with the competitiveness and develop-
ment of tourism as we move into the twenty-first
century’’ (p. 2). The term ‘quality’, as used throughout
the reader, relates to the way in which an organisation
and its systems are managed to achieve conformance to
requirements and customer satisfaction. As such, the
reader discusses issues of achieving quality improvement
through market analysis, product and service develop-
ment, quality management through human resources
and operations management, as well as methods for
quality assessment and evaluation. The fact that tourism
consumers have become more experienced, sophisticated
and discerning in their expectations and the increased
competition in the attraction sector are just two of the
reasons cited in the reader as to why quality improve-
ment has become ‘‘a matter of survival’’ for heritage
organisations (p. 3).
In view of the phenomenal growth of the heritage
attraction sector since the 1980s, this reader seeks to
illustrate methods and approaches to enable heritage
visitor attractions (HVAs) to improve their performance
for customers and achieve competitive advantage.
Although the specific goals of the reader are not
explicitly listed, essentially, it seeks to provide a ‘‘tool
kit’’ for quality improvement. The reader provides a mix
of theory and application, although the predominant
focus of many of the chapters is the application of
services management principles and theory to the
context of heritage attraction management. The aca-
demic focus on the application of theory is not
surprising given the background of its 11 contributing
authors. The theoretical focus of the reader is balanced
by the (albeit inconsistent) inclusion of case studies to
illustrate key points of discussion in some of the
chapters. Whilst the reader tries to provide international
perspectives of HVA quality management, most of the
case studies presented provide a focus on showcasing
heritage attractions in the UK. For example, case
studies of Leeds Castle and Canterbury city centre
(UK) are showcased in Part 2 of the reader, written by
Eric Laws, to analyse some of the key challenges in
managing historic assets for tourism. In general, the
reader is mainly aimed at students and practitioners in
the fields of heritage, visitor attractions and tourism. A
tutor’s guide is available to support the reader. While
the reader has its obvious benefits as a supporting text
for students, it is perhaps not as comprehensive in its
attention to the complex nature of visitor attraction
management as other texts, notably, Swarbrooke’s
(1995) text ‘‘The Development and Management of
Visitor Attractions’’. This is potentially a result of the
particular emphasis given to service quality management
theory and principles throughout most of the reader.
Greater inclusion of case studies, in particular, those
showcasing quality improvement techniques, for exam-
ple, would have made the text a more valuable ‘‘tool
kit’’ for practitioners.
The text is structured into six parts. Three of the four
introductory chapters in Part 1 of the reader are written
by one of the editors, Siobhan Drummond. Other
notable contributors include Eric Laws, Leo Jago, Nick
Johns, among others. The reader is structured so that
each section provides its own introduction, and within
each of those sections, each chapter also has its own
introduction presenting an overview of discussion and
brief summary at the end. Each part of the reader
presents a different perspective of quality issues. Part 1
of the reader, ‘Overview of Quality Issues’, incorporates
the study of definitions, history and contemporary
quality issues. Part 2, ‘Site Visits’, focuses on the quality
of service provision for visitors at HVAs and the
complexity and unique challenges faced by heritage
attraction managers in service quality management. Part
3, ‘Concept Development’, explores the specific issues
involved in developing a concept for a heritage
attraction. Part 4, ‘Operations Management’, contains
elements of services marketing theory to review the
definitions, measurement and evaluation of service
quality. Part 5, ‘Human Resources’, examines how best
to manage HVA employees through a focus on manage-
ment functions such as recruitment and selection of
staff, training and development, staff retention and the
important role of volunteers. Part 6, ‘The Future’,
considers future trends in quality HVAs, both in terms
of trends in visitor demand and how this can be
provided for. Overall, the reader does not follow any
particular sequence—thus, we are told, ‘‘allowing a
range of starting and finishing points’’ (p. xiii). Each
section therefore presents a different perspective of
quality to represent the individual contributing authors’
interests and experience. The reader therefore lacks
overall integration and as such, certain parts of the
reader are therefore likely to be of more interest than
others, dependent on the reader’s own interest and
requirements. Particularly useful is perhaps the discus-
sion of critical success factors for HVAs and the
suggestions of methods and techniques for quality
improvement outlined in Part 1 of the reader. Further-
more, the reader does suffer from inconsistency in
author writing style and repetition of discussion is also
occasionally evident. As such, the book is likely to best
Book reviews / Tourism Management 23 (2002) 563–570 565