Heritage tourism visitor feedback in Gaasbeek Castle
Context and background
This case study covers heritage tourism visitor feedback. After a successful first project in Diest during the RELICT cultural festival, we collaborated for a second time with Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences (KdG). This time about the Gaasbeek Castle located in the municipality of Lennik (Belgium, Flemish-Brabant).
The KdG research centre Public Impact set up the survey in their Interreg Vlaanderen-Nederland project on the castles in the historic region of Brabant.
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What were the objectives of this project on heritage tourism visitor feedback?
The deployment of the Citizen Dialog Kit (CDK) had the goals to:
- Better understand the visitor experience and the main factors that attract people to the site.
- In addition, gain more insight into repeat-visit intention and whether people recommend the castle to friends and family (i.e., “net promotor score” or NPS).
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How was the visitor experience survey carried out?
To do this, the team installed four CDK devices for a period of 3 weeks (from oktober to november) at various locations on the castle grounds. This included the tree-flanked drove towards the domain, near the museum cafe and inside of the castle.
The questions were presented in three languages (Dutch, French and English) to accommodate the diversity of visitors.
Continues below the chart of engagements per day.
Engagement overview
As the engagement chart above clearly shows, there is a rhythm in the participation, with peaks around weekends. Notably, when we look over the full deployment period, there is no real decline. As a result, the typical pattern we see in mobility or urban planning cases, where engagement starts with a peaks at the launch and a slowly declines as saturation is reached is absent here.
In total, visitors started 1062 surveys and 660 were completed in only about 3 weeks with four devices. This means that 63% of participants completed the full survey. This is notable also because the survey was longer than average with between 17 and 18 questions for a complete submission, depending on the branching logic path.
In line with our experience, participants answered an average of 12 questions each. Most of the participants started the survey in Dutch (60%), followed by French at 29%.
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What were the insights from the deployment?
The survey revealed many useful insights into the visitor experience, what attracts people and potential areas for improvement.
Who visits?
To start, the results show that Gaasbeek Castle reaches a broad audience, combining a strong local base with a clear above-local appeal as well. Four out of ten visitors live in the local municipality of Lennik or the immediate surroundings, while 25% comes from within a 20km radius. Notably, 37% of visitors live more than 20km away, indicating that the location attracts people well beyond the municipality too.
Participants mostly in answered in Dutch (60%), followed by French (29%) and English (12%). This is somewhat notable, as the site is located not far from Brussels (about a 15 minute drive) and the Walloon region (20 minute drive), both with a predominantly French-speaking population.
What attracts visitors?
The main motivations for visiting the castle are visits to explore the park , gardens, and nature (30%), while 23% come to learn more about the site’s history.
Next, when asked what attracts them most, 40% point to the park and 36% to the castle itself. Nature and history therefore emerge as the site’s key assets.
Interestingly, the results shows a clear distance effect: the further visitors live from Lennik, the more strongly they are attracted by the castle, indicating that the castle is a destination people are willing to travel for.
Continues below the charts of gathered responses.
How is the experience and does it translate to a good NPS?
The survey results point to three main experiential dimensions. First, the highest score is for “care” or “stewardship”, with 93% agreeing with the statement “I feel connected to this place and want it to be preserved,” reflecting a classic heritage experience oriented towards conservation and protection.
The close second is aesthetics, with 92% saying they enjoy the beauty of the surroundings and the location. Relaxation follows in the third place (87%), with visitors indicating that the site helps them unwind.
These qualities are also closely linked to future behavior. An overwhelming 87% of respondents say they intend to return to the castle, with only 4% indicating they would not. A similar pattern appears when looking at recommendations. A stellar 91% of participants would recommend the castle to friends or family, while just 4% would not.
Notably relaxation is the strongest predictor of positive recommendation. This highlights the importance of the site as a place to unwind. Relaxation is followed by “care or stewardship”, and third by “cognitive engagement”, i.e., learning something new and gaining knowledge.
Reflections on tourism and heritage surveys
In summary, using CDK at the castle allowed the team to capture visitor perspectives in-situ, at the exact moment and place where visitors form their experiences, rather than relying on recall-based surveys conducted later. The tangible, low-threshold interaction also proved effective in a heritage context by engaging a broad range of visitors, including some who might not opt into digital or interview-based methods otherwise.
Partners
- Karel de Grote Hogeschool – Research Centre Public Impact
- Brabantse Kastelen (Interreg Vlaanderen-Nederland)
