Online Synchronous Model of Interpretive Sustainable Guiding in Heritage Sites: The Avatar Tourist Visit

María José Viñals, Laura Gilabert-Sansalvador, Anna Sanasaryan, Maria-Dolores Teruel-Serrano and Marino Darés
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María José Viñals: Centro de Investigación en Arquitectura, Patrimonio y Gestión para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PEGASO), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Laura Gilabert-Sansalvador: Centro de Investigación en Arquitectura, Patrimonio y Gestión para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PEGASO), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Anna Sanasaryan: Centro de Investigación en Arquitectura, Patrimonio y Gestión para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PEGASO), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Maria-Dolores Teruel-Serrano: Centro de Investigación en Arquitectura, Patrimonio y Gestión para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PEGASO), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Marino Darés: Centro de Investigación en Arquitectura, Patrimonio y Gestión para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PEGASO), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: The health crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic created an unprecedented social situation. In the most critical moments, tourism activities were cancelled or reduced to their minimum operation, creating an extreme situation of separation of a country’s heritage from residents and tourists. The objective of this work is to propose new options and strategies to reconnect the public with heritage under any circumstance and, at the same time, offer tourism services in healthy, secure conditions. Thus, live-streaming experiences of online interpretative tourist guidance were developed in heritage spaces; those visits were led by real guide-interpreters in a real environment and transmitted for remote visitors. We have called this visiting model the “Avatar Tourist Visit”. It is based on tools associated with Heritage Interpretation, Interpersonal Communication, Filmmaking and Audio-Visual Language, and Information and Communication Technologies. The methodological development of this tool was based on Design Sciences Research as the creation of a new procedure was pursued. The result is a sustainable, immersive, interactive, inclusive, unique, and resilient tourism product designed not only for times of crisis but also to connect the public with heritage at all times and ensure universal access to it. In addition, this activity constitutes a marketable experience as a specialized and customizable tourist product.

Keywords: avatar visit; heritage interpretation; sustainable tourist guiding; live-streaming experiences; interpersonal communication; filmmaking; audio-visual language (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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