Visitors of Ancient Sacred Sites in Vidzeme Region from the Perspective of Tourist Information Centres

Abstract

Ancient sacred sites in the Baltic States are natural objects representing significant aspects of pre-Christian cultural heritage with a slight potential for tourism. Only recently in Latvia have these objects attracted increased research attention from the various disciplines via projects such as the “Ancient Cult Sites for Common Identity on the Baltic Sea Coast”, which inventoried ancient sacred sites. This paper integrates results of the above-mentioned project with the authors' current research to contribute to the broader discourse about the role of sacred site heritage in tourism development from the perspective of tourist information centres (TICs) in the Vidzeme Region, Latvia. The central question examines what kind of information about visitors to ancient sacred sites is available at TICs and to what extent does that information identify a profile of potential visitors to sacred sites. Data comprise interviews with representatives of TICs and an inventory of sacred sites. Results indicate which clients of TICs might be potential visitors to sacred sites and how TICs could balance proper information provision with attractive sales.

Key Words:

• ancient sacred sites
• motivation studies
• heritage
• pagan

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. This publication was made possible owing to the project “Cultural environment development, preservation of the nature diversity and urbanisation processes within the context of the balanced development of Latvia” coordinated within the State Research Programme “Economic transformation, smart growth, governance and legal framework for sustainable development of the state and society – a new approach to the creation of a sustainable learning community” (EKOSOC-LV, project number 5.2.8.).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Ilze Grinfelde http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2682-4844

Notes

1. We apply this term “ordinary visitors” to those visitor groups with implicit motivation to see scared objects.

2. In the framework of research, higher education is understood as a bachelor's or higher degree.