Marketing heritage : developing a visitor-oriented approach for the interpretation and presentation of heritage sites through a marketing model : the case of the mills, Hong Kong

Abstract

The Mills is a landmark revitalization project in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, recently completed by Nan Fung Group. Originally utilized as a textile and cotton mill, the industrial complex has been adaptively used as a tech-style, cultural hub with experimental retail, a non-profit cultural institution and a business incubator. The Mills has a long history of manufacturing in the 1950s - 1960s. The conservation of The Mills industrial heritage provides a valuable link to the nearby new town of Tsuen Wan located in the Western New Territories. Today, visitors can explore the continuity of a textile and industrial theme woven into creativity, community, and learning experiences. As The Mills is a commercial adaptive reuse of a heritage industrial site, and has much practical scope and potential for marketing applications. Therefore, it is hoped that by proposing a new marketing model for its interpretation and presentation, the site’s history and the conservation process will be better understood. This dissertation topic is about interpretation of a heritage site. The focus will investigate if the interpretation and presentation of heritage sites can be more effectively implemented under a marketing approach, with the scope making use of The Mills as a case-study utilizing the dual theoretical framework of Tri-component Attitude Model and the Ename Charter. The research presented in this dissertation is presented through three sequential research questions: 1. What are the current methods of interpretation and presentation at The Mills, and what are the issues concerning its effectiveness for visitors? 2. What is a compatible visitor-oriented market model that can be adopted as the basis for improving the interpretation and presentation at The Mills? 3. How is the Tri-component Attitude Model, a marketing model, compatible with the Ename Charter, a charter specifically for more effective heritage interpretation and presentation?