Liminality and contemporary engagement: Knockando Wool Mill – a cultural heritage case study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sites imbued with an intense sense of history and cultural heritage enable tourists to engage in transformative activities. A temporary mode of being occurs when tourists are immersed in their surroundings; sites become spaces enabling and facilitating transformative engagement. In theorising this impact, this theory testing case study is founded on the conceptualisation of liminality, combining it with contemporary theories of engagement. The theoretical contribution is delivered by exploring how liminal spaces deepen tourists’ engagement when visiting cultural heritage sites by testing and proving a ‘Conceptual Model of the Liminoid Space.’ Applying liminality to visitor engagement at cultural heritage sites enables two theoretical contributions. This is the first paper that applies liminality to a cultural heritage site and investigates the relationship between liminality and engagement by empirically testing and proving Taheri’s (2017) model. This research has practical and managerial implications; an increased understanding of how this liminal space deepens engagement enables business owners to make better site management decisions and secure long-term community employment and wealth generation for the area.