Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
through for instance audience management
and cultural quality monitoring.
Concerning the sample, it was divided into real
tourists (i.e. tourists visiting the city), potential
tourists (i.e. any person interviewed in a big city
different from the destination city) and residents
(including local authorities and stakeholders). The
issues studied were: (i) previous knowledge of the
city (addressed to potential and real tourists); (ii)
mental representations of the city (potential tour-
ists); (iii) prototypicity of the offerings (real tour-
ists); (iv) subjective perception of the offering's
quality (real tourists); (v) integration of the spe-
cifi c offerings in the whole culture of the city (real
tourists); (vi) cultural identity (residents); and (vii)
correspondence heritage-identity (residents).
Methodology Used
The results presented in the course of this chap-
ter result from two different sources. On the one
hand, the fi rst group of tasks was developed by
the University of Liège and Queen's University
Belfast for monitoring of a resident's quality of
life. These tasks used different methodologies,
both qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative
terms there was:
Participative observation, meaning a fre-
1.
quent presence in the area and a high participa-
tion in the local activities and interactions with
locals.
Semi-directive interviews with different cat-
Findings/Analysis/Discussion
Mons offers us a good example of image con-
struction. It is a medium-sized town of about
93,000 inhabitants located in the eastern cor-
ner of Belgium, close to the French border and
Dutch-speaking Belgium. It also hosts about
15,000 students in its numerous universities
and higher education facilities, as well as about
10,000 people residing in the Supreme Head-
quarters of Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE).
In the 7th century, a pious woman and good
wife named Waudru founded a monastery on a
hill that had been called Montes by the Romans;
with time, this place of cult becomes a powerful
institution. She was soon joined by the counts of
Hainaut (still the name of the region), who forti-
fi ed the town and turned it into their capital. The
town prospered in the Middle Ages and became
very rich under Charles the Great thanks to sheet
manufacturing. Prosperity continued when the
town became part of the empire of Burgundy or
Austria, but religious wars and bombings ordered
by Louis XIV in 1691 had a strong negative
impact. The town was won by France a couple of
times between then and the independence of
Belgium (1830), when it was reclaimed and
turned into a commercial and mining centre for
the whole region called 'Borinage'.
After grandeur comes decadence, as recon-
version from the industrial and mining era
proved diffi cult in Mons and its surroundings.
The town suffered economically, as well as in
terms of image. Mons is the capital of the province
of Hainault, the poorest province in Belgium and
one that benefi ted from large investments from
2.
egories of person living in the area (long term
residents of different ages, shop owners, people
holding hotels or bed & breakfast, local associa-
tions, etc.).
Interviews with local politicians, adminis-
3.
trative offi cers, urban planners.
Rapid appraisal of the perception of the
4.
tourists in the area, meaning observation and
occasional fast and 'dirty' interviews with tour-
ists visiting the district.
Focus groups with local residents after the
5.
participant observation and the individual
interviews.
Visual ethnography, meaning documenta-
6.
tion and analysis by pictures and small video
clips of what is going on in the area.
Analysis of the tourist offerings and decon-
7.
struction of the content of tourist brochures. In
quantitative terms, a questionnaire was used that
allowed an examination of residents' views on a
city-wide basis, and was designed in order to be
easily adapted by Local Authorities.
On the other hand, we have a second group of
tasks that are parts of a tool developed by the
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid to monitor
the cultural offering of a small/medium town.
These tasks were carried out using the following
techniques:
Self-administrated questionnaires.
1.
2.
Semi-structured in-depth interviews.
3.
Focus groups.
4.
Meaning maps.
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