Branding and marketing heritage in tourism: A survey based on the Temple of the Tooth Relic

Abstract

Historical and cultural heritage sites are one of the most popular tourist attractions in Sri Lanka which contributes to the highest percentage of national income. However, this income is mainly accreted through direct exploitation of the money of tourists, rather through promotion of the historical and cultural value of these sites. This survey is based on the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. The objective of this survey is to identify the means of exploitation that is happening due to malfunctioning of the management systems of this heritage site, to examine the available strategies that can be adopted to reduce the direct exploitation and substitute the direct exploitation through the promotion of historical and cultural values to accomplish strategic and subtle augmentation of income. The primary data for this survey was on the average expenses of a tourist when visiting Temple of the Tooth Relic (including the entrance fee, fees for the bag counter, for museum, flowers and souvenirs etc.) was collected through a non-participant observation. Then the primary data were analyzed using the factor analysis method. When the primary data was analyzed it was identified that this site lacks a clear marketing strategy. The management system is primarily running on money-minded intentions rather than on promoting historical and cultural heritage value of the Temple of the Tooth Relic which instigates negative impressions in the tourists. Therefore, through this survey it has arrived at the recommendation that the historical and cultural value of this place should be properly ‘branded’ first, marketing the historical, cultural, archaeological and religious values with a careful marketing strategy and operational planning.