Refining tourist's place experience through placemaking : a case study on Middle East tourists in Kuala Lumpur City Centre

Abstract

Tourist experience is one of the important aspects in tourism. Tourist experience is comprised of several aspects such as place experience, services, travel motivations, interactions among other tourists and locals, cultural backgrounds, and many more. Tourist experience will determine whether a visit is successful or not. Therefore, evaluation towards tourist experience is vital. This study aims to evaluate tourist experience that relates with place experience. In this study, evaluation of place experience is conducted on Middle East tourists that visit Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KL). Place characters that have significant roles in creating a quality experience are also identified. Model of Attitude Measurement (MAM) is used to assess the differences and gaps between expectations with actual experiences, in relation to the place characters evaluated. The study also analyses tourist routes in KL and the Middle East tourist segments and typologies. Results of this study suggest that KL possesses all of the criteria that can generate a positive place experience. The entire place characters tested is found to be important to the Middle East tourists, and these characters are indeed experienced by them during their visit to KL. Their overall tourist experiences are also positive. Therefore, from this positive place experience, existing place characters can be enhanced in order to produce a more refined tourist’s place experience in the future.