The Role of Heritage and Cultural Elements in Coastal Tourism Destination Preferences: A Choice Modeling-Based Analysis

Despite the shifting demands of coastal tourists, little information exists on the consumer demand for cultural or heritage elements in coastal destinations.This study examines tourists' demand for regional character when vacationing on the South Carolina coast. Preferences for authentic trip elements such as the destination's local character and the local ownership of restaurants were measured using stated preference choice modeling. This method forces individuals to make choices between hypothetical trips based on tradeoffs of attributes such as number of activities, amount of locally owned restaurants, degree of local character, and trip cost. The results of a survey with South Carolina Coastal Tourists (N = 697) indicate significant preferences for local character and local restaurant ownership, suggesting that tourists likely have a considerable desire for regional character in their vacations. However this desire was lower than the desire for other attributes that did not involve cultural or heritage elements.