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Motives and expectations of rural tourism visitors are spread very widely, with the only common strong element of setting and landscape. However, this should be understood in wider context that refers not only to the physical, but also human and cultural “setting” of the services, especially where they guard relation with (perceived or real) former and actual “rural life and authenticity”. This includes any structured exposition or interpretation of customs, traditions, crafts, or local culture: the core elements of Ethnography. It should be clear, however, that this topic is expected as part of the “minimum” criteria that the holiday product should fulfil. Visitors will not choose their booking due to this kind of offer, but they will be unsatisfied if, once in the destination, they do not find it covered: in terms of motivation psychology, ethnography is a “hygiene factor” for rural tourism. This may be less relevant for domestic visitors, but achieves a very high level of importance for international visitors. Matter apart are, of course, cultural or heritage sites of national or international value which are an attraction as such.
Ethnography in this context can be present as a native part of the surrounding in rural tourism, for example, through traditional architecture of the village or accommodation, a social and cultural environment that still maintains traditional habits (frequently, about to disappear in short), or the individual attention given by the hosts to their clients. However important, this “spontaneous” ethnography product is difficult to control and – even more important – it can be subject to sudden change through external influence.
For the major part of the market, the choice of leisure options comes second in importance after the surrounding and setting. This gives a hint that more structured services related with ethnography are convenient, because they can be visited as part of a daily schedule: museums, events, presentation, exhibitions, etc. However simple in layout and content, in the view of the visitor they are no longer part of the general setting, but as specific product or asset with a higher degree of organization and perceived quality. Where such structured public offers exist, care must be taken about their “visitability”: a local museum of naive icon paintings, local habits, or traditional architecture must be open to the public to a reasonable extent and with reliable opening schedule. Depending on the specific case, this does not even require that continuous staff is present all the time – for example, in small villages, a note at the door indicating that the key is available during office hours at the Town Hall which is just 30 meters away, can be sufficient.
Regarding
the design of exhibitions, explanations, or interpretation: be as visual and self-explaining
(through context, or with graphic support) as possible. Descriptive texts, where
applied, should be in local language and in English (this also applies to audio-visual
content, subtitles will be sufficient in most cases). Strange enough, such simple
rules of common sense are yet mostly not observed in many installations which –
on the other side – show an excessive investment in technology.
Ethnography deals with human behaviour and action: people like stories around facts (and in fact, many phenomena related with ethnography are based on events or other tangible material reality). However well prepared the technical side of ethnographic products may be, they really “touch” the visitor only through human and/or emotional interpretation. Language is, of course, a problem – but not necessarily a constraint, especially where the interpreting guide (which very easily can be the host or his grandparents) is able to transmit and show “in action” how the exposed items were used.
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Section 3.2: From The Resource To The Final Product | Section 3.4: How To Do The Marketing? |
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