Level of tourists’ expectation and experience to the heritage sites of Ilocos Sur

Abstract

The study's main goal was to evaluate and explore the level of tourists' expectation and experience of historical sites as a basis for management plan in Ilocos Sur. It presented the profile of the respondents, assessed the tourist expectation in terms of environment, range of attractions, tourism services and transportation, and determine the levels of experience to heritage sites related to learning experience, emotional experience, meaningful experience and enjoyment. Descriptive research and modified questionnaire was utilized to collect data from 416 tourists who visited Ilocos Sur's heritage sites at least once. Frequency and percentage distribution, weighted mean and ranking, and Analysis of Variance were utilized as statistical tools. Based on the result, majority of the respondents belong to generation Z, female, students, visited more than three times, local tourist and travelled with family. Respondents met their expectations as most of the respondents highly experienced in terms of learning experience, emotional experience, meaningful experience, and enjoyment. Respondents achieved greater experience relating to enjoyment. Moreover, there is a considerable disparity in experience levels to heritage sites in terms of enjoyment when grouped to sex and number of times visited. A Management Plan to the Heritage Sites in Ilocos Sur was hereby proposed by the researcher to be used as a guide for future project planning and give tourism stakeholders and Ilocos Sur Provincial Tourism Office insights on how to continuously improve tourism services and promoting the heritage sites.