Visitor fees, concessions and donations provide funds for restoration and

protection efforts.
Managing rapid tourism growth is a time-consuming process demanding clear
policies, ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, and constant monitoring. Tourism
activities require environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and procedures for
minimising impacts. At sites with limited budgets and staff, growing tourism can
stretch scarce resources and take managers away from protection efforts.
While tourism can contribute to protection and restoration efforts, the right
balance between economic gain and undesirable impacts can be elusive.
Managers know that a tourist attraction must be periodically renewed to remain
competitive. In the case of World Heritage sites, they are also aware that they
are under an international obligation to maintain or restore the sites original
values. This responsibility poses difficult questions regarding the degree of
change that should be permitted to accommodate tourism growth. Another
problem is ensuring that a portion of tourism revenue remains in the community
as a means of fostering local protection, conservation and restoration efforts.

The visitor attraction sector in Scotland plays a vital, if often overlooked,

role in the wider Scottish tourism industry. Yet the sector presently faces
a host of internal and external threats.
This chapter sets out the issues affecting the management of
the World Heritage Site a
The issues and objectives have been grouped under four key
themes which, due to the nature of the Site, are all interrelated
This paper presents
The survey explored
The paper concludes
to survive and prosper in the coming decade. This, in turn, means developing more
effective ways of managing visitor impacts.
Many Scottish visitor
attractions would best be classified as built heritage attractions and, as such, were not
constructed for the purposes of receiving visitors but as domestic residences, as places
or worship, for the purposes of defence, or as places of work. Often the sites were
originally selected because of their remoteness from centres of population or because of
their attractive natural setting. These characteristics make heritage-based visitor
attractions particularly vulnerable to adverse visitor impacts.
(the
largest, Edinburgh Castle, presently receives over one million visits per annum). The
relatively small number of visitors to many Scottish visitor attractions is significant in
that the received wisdom of site management tends to suggest that the level of difficulty
involved in visitor management will be positively related to the number of visitors

admitted to the site in question.

Overcrowding
The phenomenon of overcrowding is widely regarded as being highly dependent on the
capacity of the site to receive visitors. Generally speaking, a visitor attraction can be
considered to be experiencing overcrowding when it is receiving visitor numbers in
excess of its carrying capacity. The English Tourist Board (1991) highlights five adverse
impacts associated particularly with the overcrowding of heritage sites, but these would
seem to apply equally well to visitor attractions in general:
increased risk of damage to artifacts, exhibits and works of art
increased risk of accidents, fire and theft
creation of an inappropriate atmosphere in the setting
reduced opportunity for visitors to experience and appreciate the ambience of
site
a general reduction in the quality of the visitor experience.
Overcrowding can be either of the site as a whole or of specific parts of it. For example,
overcrowding could be restricted to a certain room, corridor, or location where a popular
exhibit is kept. It can also either be a year-round problem or, more usually, restricted to
the high season and to particular times of the day.
Pricing will become more important as a tool for managing demand: charging for
admission will be required if carrying capacities are not to be exceeded.

there is a very broad range of information providers,

from museums to bus tours to hotels to walking tours. This
requires coordination and agreement amongst providers.
There are a range of measures that are taken to assure the Sites
authenticity and integrity. These include development plan/
framework formation, inspection, maintenance and repair, and
protection of the historic environment to assure authenticity
and integrity.
Wear and tear
Many visitor attractions, particularly historic
houses, were never intended to accommodate large number of visitors. Consequently the
materials used in the construction and furnishing of such properties tend to be unsuitable
for the purpose to which they now are being put. Removing or covering the artifacts may
be an effective means of protecting them, but this generally has the effect of reducing the
authenticity of the property, which can in turn impair the quality of the visitor
experience.
Traffic-related problems
The vast majority of visitors arrive at UK visitor attractions by car or coach. Yet many
sites pre-date the automobile and were not designed to cope with the traffic generated by
visitors. Traffic-related problems include congestion, pollution from vehicle exhausts,
noise, the increased risk of accidents, damage to verges and lawns due to thoughtless
parking, and access being blocked to neighbouring properties by poorly parked vehicles.

Indeed, if these impacts are positively related to visitor numbers, then they can
be addressed by restricting the number of visitors who are permitted to visit the site at
any one time.
Visitor Impacts
. Occasional overcrowding of parts of the site was considered to be a very
important or extremely important problem by 62% of respondents; persistent
overcrowding of parts of the site was considered to be a very important or
extremely important problem by 48% of respondents.
. Almost all respondents reported some form of wear and tear due to visitors,
including trampling, handling, humidity, temperature, pilfering and grafti.
. Trafc congestion was deemed to be a relatively minor problem in comparison to
the above; nevertheless the majority of trafc related problems were considered to
be persistent rather than occasional.
. 82% of respondents reported the potential for management to compromise the
authenticity of the heritage property as either a very important concern or
extremely important concern.

Conservation The role of the heritage manager is to safeguard the heritage asset for
posterity; to ensure that the use of heritage assets by the present generation does not
compromise the ability of future generations to use and benet from those assets;
and to ensure that the present generation properly manages the heritage assets it
holds in trust for the nation as a whole.
Accessibility Heritage only has signicance to the extent that it benets people. If people
are prevented from experiencing a heritage asset, it can no longer be considered part
of their heritage. However, high levels of accessibility can lead to heritage assets
becoming damaged. At the same time, conservation requirements can prevent the
present generation from enjoying and beneting from the heritage assets to the
fullest extent.
Recreation Part of the mission of heritage attractions must be to entertain visitors and
provide a recreational opportunity. If they do not enjoy themselves then they will
be less likely to make return visits or to recommend the attraction to others.
Conservation requirements may limit the recreational potential of a heritage site.
Quality Heritage attractions must increasingly provide a high quality service to their
visitors if they are to compete in the ever more crowded tourism marketplace.
This includes providing a range of facilities, exibility, a high standard of
cleanliness, well-trained staff and adequate car parking. If a charge is made for
admission then the heritage attraction should aim to exceed visitors' expectations.

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