CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AUDIENCE FOR EVENTS AT A HERITAGE SITE

This paper reports a case study of the characteristics of visitors to special 'events' (in this case historical re-enactments) at a heritage site (Caerphilly Castle) in South Wales, By comparing the characteris tics of visitors on event and non-event days it was apparent that the events had particular appeal to local people and were successful at en couraging repeat visits, However, in terms of sociodemographic charact eristics, visitors on event days were similar to those on non-event da ys, and there was no evidence that events at the castle were broadenin g the market and attracting those groups (particularly manual workers and young people) who were under-represented at such sites, Neither di d the events have any particular appeal to families, Visitors to event s enjoyed their visit, stayed longer than average and showed greater s upport for costumed interpreters than those on non-event days, Moreove r, despite claims that reenactments have little educational value, a l arge proportion of event days visitors considered that they had learne d something from their visit. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd