Attractiveness
While the Freud Museum may not be considered a hidden gem among London’s hidden cultural heritage sites, its significance primarily stems from its association with the renowned psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. However, there is often limited tourism marketing focusing on other aspects of Freud’s life, such as his Jewish background, his personal experiences while living in London, the notable contributions of his daughter Anna Freud to child psychology, or even his intriguing relationship with Salvador Dali.
Nevertheless, the museum remains a pilgrimage site for tourists with an interest in psychology or related fields. Visitors are drawn to the opportunity of witnessing Freud’s iconic couch, imagining the therapeutic experiences of his patients, and exploring the theories and practices of psychoanalysis. This indicates that even though a cultural heritage site may not be truly hidden, its historical significance and inherent value can still captivate and attract visitors, particularly those with a keen fascination for the subject matter.
Cultural Distance
One of the interesting findings was, domestic tourists showed a lower level of awareness regarding the museum’s location and its exhibitions compared to international tourists. We also found that the greater the distance travelled by tourists, the more intrigued they were by cultural heritage. This finding challenges the findings of Yang et al. (2019), who propose a negative and noteworthy impact of cultural distance on the flow of international tourists. The relationship between tourism supply and cultural distance, as well as cultural production and consumption, has not been thoroughly examined. Thus, there is an opportunity for future research to conduct a comparative study exploring different visitor segments in relation to the production and consumption of cultural heritage tourism.
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