Visitors Voice in Historic Sites Interpretation Centres in Bahrain

Abstract

Throughout the past decade, a number of site interpretation centres, such as site museums, visitor centres, site exhibits, have grown in Bahrain, a country that is seeking international recognition through culture. This specific typology of museums intends to explain the nearby historical site through the use of multiple interpretation strategies. Understanding the visitors’ expectations is an important component in the success of cultural institutions. Exploring the components of a visitor experience and expectations within site interpretation centres has, so far, received limited attention. Hence, this research intends to analyse the visitors’ experience and expectations in a specific site interpretation centre in Bahrain: Qalat al Bahrain Site Museum. The visitor’s experience and expectations were assessed through two streams of feedbacks. First, an analysis of the comments recorded on the visitors’ book. These comments addressed the visitors’ reflections, expectations, experiences, and the type of activities undertaken within the premises. Second, the online TripAdvisor from 169 valid returns, 200 TripAdvisor comments and an overview of the visitors’ written comments, different types of emotional and spiritual experience expectations were extracted for further analysis… In parallel, this research analysed visitors’ behaviour through observation inclusive of different timings during the day and during the year to understand the impact of climatic condition on the visitors’ experience and expectations for validation purposes. Finally, some related scholarship discussions and suggestions were proposed based on visitors voice and reflection underlining the reasons why people choose to visit site interpretation centres with reference to personal and social demands.