An Assessment of the Outcomes of a Chinese-Language Interpretive Tour Experience at a Heritage Tourism Attraction

Abstract

This study uses the first translated version of an established and validated instrument to assess the impacts of an interpretive tour experience on Chinese visitors to a heritage tourism attraction in Australia. The study makes a significant methodological contribution by way of testing the reliability of this instrument in a Chinese cultural context. In addition to its methodological contribution, the study represents the first known published research evaluating the impacts of Chinese-language interpretive tours on inbound visitors from China. Based on results from 285 self-completed surveys, the instrument reliably assessed that visitors' perceptions of their interpretive experience were average to very good on cognitive, affective, and behavioral constructs. Notwithstanding the fact that work still needs to continue in refining one of the ten indicators, the instrument provides practitioners and researchers with a reliable and valid tool for assessing the outcomes of heritage interpretation in two very different cultural contexts.