Section 3.3: Identifying Your Public


	I. General Concepts 3. Interpretation and Communication

Section 3.3: Identifying Your Public

Identifying your public means identifying the characteristics of the visitors you want to address. This will determine the characteristics of the information provided and the interpretation techniques you will want to use. A useful categorization is that of Bywater who distinguishes between visitors who are culturally interested, culturally motivated or culturally inspired:

culturally motivated (those who choose a destination based on its cultural offerings)
culturally inspired (those who visit well-known cultural icons)
culturally attracted (those who include cultural events and attractions as part of their trips).

Bywater, The Market for Cultural Tourism in Europe, 1993

Apart from the visitor motivations, regular demographic categories such as age, social status, educational and cultural background will help you classifying your customers into segments and tailor the interpretative message accordingly.

If this is your first experience as a cultural interpreter you will have to rely on information provided from tourism statistics and fellow guides or professional associations. If the segmentation of the visitors is not clear at first you may want to start by dividing the potential visitors into binary categories (local/foreign, adults/children, culturally motivated/culturally attracted, etc.). Once you have access to the actual nature of the group you will be serving, you will be able to combine the different categories to deliver a meaningful, focused message.

However, nothing will give you as much information about your public as the public itself. Learning from your audience feedback will provide accurate and up-to-date knowledge of audience perceptions, the meanings they bring to cultural resources, the way they make personal connections, and how interpretive experiences affect them over time.

In the village of Jaraba, at least 70% of the visitors are senior Spanish citizens who attend any of the three spas located in the village for health reasons. A large part of the remaining visitors are adults and couples who are also customers to the spas and there is a small percentage of families and groups who practice ecotourism and stay in the village’s rural houses.

Section 3.2: Gathering of Information (Documentation)

Section 3.4: Selecting the Information. Choosing a Theme