Understanding Cultural Heritage Visitor Behavior: The Case of Melaka as World Heritage City

Visitors’ interests traveling to Melaka have increased recently and expected to continue. Melaka recorded one of the highest tourist arrivals ever in 2012 at 13.7 million tourists. Despite this trend, very little is known about individuals who visit cultural heritage sites. Evidence suggests many types of tourists who progress from general travelers to specialized tourists. This study investigates visitor behavior to cultural heritage sites in Melaka. Melaka as World Heritage City inscribed by UNESCO in July 2008 forms the scope and location of this study. Methodology utilized survey on 505 local and foreign tourists. The survey was aided by enumerators using Responsible Heritage Tourism Scale translated into four languages. Findings acknowledged that tourists displayed responsible tourism behavior and cultural significance towards heritage buildings and local culture. Visitors exhibited environmental concerns at the tourist surroundings. Memorable tourist and cultural heritage experiences were sought by these tourists. Heritage visitors were classified into memorable tourism experience seeker, cultural significant, responsible, willingness to pay and green tourist. Findings had practical implications for destination marketing of heritage sites.