199 Notepad

ma. anna cassandra l. galisim final exam - tour 199 2002-10627 october 13, 2006 purpose of domestic tourists in visiting vigan heritage village the philippines is known for its breathtaking destinations and wonders and most importantly, its multifarious culture. the country is proud of its history, culture and heritage for its forefathers underwent an arduous task of liberating the people from the hands of the spanish, american and japanese colonizers. the said colonizers left traces of what they had done to the country during their decades of stay. these evidences - artifacts, buildings, architecture, ways of living - are still present in various areas in the philippines and are used to attract tourists from all over the country and the rest of the world for them to experience, rediscover and reconnect with its history, culture and heritage. because of this, destinations having these kinds of sites are paying attention to cultural heritage tourism. cultural heritage tourism, also referred to as heritage tourism, is defined by the national trust for historic preservation (u.s.a.) as "traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present". it includes cultural, historic and natural resources.(http://www.nationaltrust.org/ heritage_ tourism/index.html). culture, heritage and the arts have always contributed to appeal of tourist destination. in the recent years, culture has been rediscovered as an important marketing tool to attract those travellers with special interests in heritage, history and arts. (http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/heritage_tourism) the philippines' department of tourism (dot) has been actively involved with the promotion of these heritage attractions. in 2005, the dot, together with smart communications, launched the "i love philippines, biyahe na!" campaign to boost domestic travel. aside from the natural attractions such as beaches, there was also intensive domestic promotion of the cultural heritage sites like old churches and ruins, tubbataha reef marine park, the banaue rice terraces and old heritage towns. (http://www.wowpinoy.net/press_release.php?id=4) the case in point of this study is vigan city, specifically vigan heritage village. vigan is a historic city with monuments, historical landmarks and inscriptions that remind the people of the uprising against the tyranny of the spaniards. at present, vigan was inscribed in the unesco world heritage list of sites and monuments last december 2, 1999 and one of the only five heritage sites found in the philippines. with its inclusion in said prestigious list of world heritage sites, vigan has become a source of pride, and a national symbol of the filipinos. the world heritage centre cites that vigan represents a unique fusion of asian building design and construction with european colonial architecture and planning itis an exceptionally intact and well preserved example of a european trading town in east and east asia. one of the most famous attractions in the city is vigan heritage village, which is known for its ancestral houses with ancient tile roofs, massive hardwood floorings, balustrades and azoteas in varying spanish-mexican-chinese architectural styles. other cultural attractions include padre burgos house, crisologo museum, magsingal museum and museo de san juan bautista (www.ilocossur.gov.ph) this research aims to determine the reason/s or purpose/s of domestic tourists in visiting heritage attractions like the vigan heritage village. the study focuses solely on vigan heritage village because it is found in one of the two heritage-historic towns in the philippines - the other one is found in tagaytay. (mr. bienvenido claravall, tourism 175 lecture). the latter is preferred than the former because the researcher has experienced visiting the site and wants to explore it further. also, her relatives in the said place can accommodate her in case she needs to stay there for more than a day to conduct the study. this research only covers domestic tourists visiting the said attraction. problem statement: what are the reason/s or purpose/s of domestic tourists in visiting and engaging in tourism activities (such as viewing, shopping, touring, etc.) in vigan heritage village?

research objectives � to determine the purpose/s of domestic tourists in visiting vigan heritage village; � to identify the tourism activities undertaken by the domestic tourists during their stay in the heritage site; � to describe the market of the domestic visitors of vigan heritage village, with particular reference to their purposes of visit and activities undertaken during their stay; � to determine whether or not the domestic tourists purpose/s of visit was/were satisfied or not and the reason/s of satisfaction or dissatisfaction significance of study this research can be a substantial reference to the vigan community, especially its tourism office, because the study defines the purposes and activities of the domestic tourism market in vigan heritage village. in addition to this, the study determines if the set of tourists surveyed have satisfied their purpose/s of visit or not and the reason/s behind the satisfaction or dissatisfaction. this information can help the local government of vigan and provincial government of ilocos sur, including the agencies concerned like vigan heritage village commission and department of tourism to further develop and improve the site to satisfy the needs of their market and aid them in fulfilling their purpose/s of visit while maintaining the authenticity of the tangible and intangible elements in this heritage site. definition of terms 1. cultural heritage (national heritage or heritage) is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. a heritage site contains possesses these attributes.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_heritage) 2. tourism involves "activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes" (world tourism organization: recommendations on tourism statistics, cited by cruz, 2000) 3. domestic travel is "travel within one's country of residence, including travel by resident aliens or foreigners working in the host country" (cruz, 2000) 4. domestic tourists are people engaging in domestic travel. more specifically, they are "persons residing in a country who travel within that country outside their usual environment for a period not exceeding 12 months and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited". (cruz, 2000) 5. satisfaction is the fulfillment of desires, expectations, needs and demands. dissatisfaction is the non-fulfillment of the things mentioned above. methodology the study will be conducted during the peak season of tourism (december to january) in the heritage site using the on-site and/or captive audience survey method. a self-administered questionnaire will be given out and ample time will be given to each respondent to answer the five questions. the questionnaire will be a combination of closed-ended (multiple choice) and open-ended questions to take into consideration the respondents' sacrificed time and effort for this study and at the same time achieve the objectives of the research. data will be collected in the first week of december and data analysis will be done on the month's second week. budget for the data collection will include transportation (from manila to vigan) and allowances and would amount to 3,500 pesos. accommodation and transfer to and fro the site is not a problem since the researcher's relatives live near the heritage village (7-minute walk). the sample will be taken from all domestic tourists performing tourism activities (viewing, shopping, touring, etc) in vigan heritage village, 15 years old and older. the questionnaire will be given out at areas were there is a large concentration of tourists and at a time the researcher deems to be convenient for

the domestic tourists to answer the questionnaire. after data is collected, the results will be tallied and analyzed to arrive at a conclusion on what are usually the sample's pupose/s of visiting vigan heritage village, the type of market that the site attracts, the activities they perform and whether or not their purpose/s of visit are satisfied or not. references: tourism 175 lecture cruz, r. g. (2000). principles of travel and tourism: focus on the philippines, ver. 2. quezon city: tourism research philippines. heritage tourism. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ heritage_tourism cultural heritage definition. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_heritage cultural attractions. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at http://www.ilocussur.gov.ph heritage tourism. retrieved on october 9, 2006 at http://www.nationaltrust.org/ heritage_tourism/index.html