University of the Aegean The IRIS Research Laboratory Paper presented at the Eurochrie International Conference “In search for excellence for tomorrow’s tourism travel and hospitality” Thessaloniki, Greece, 25-28 October 2006 COGNITIVE PROCESSING OF INFORMATION WITH TOURISM VALUE: MANAGING LEISURE TIME FOR NON-CAPTIVE AUDIENCES AT WORLD HERITAGE SITE NEA MONI OF CHIOS Dorothea Papathanassiou-Zuhrt The IRIS Research Laboratory, University of the Aegean Odyssseas Sakellaridis Department of Business Administration, University of the Aegean Abstract Acknowledging that visitors’ satisfaction is crucial for the resources’ success as tourism attractors in 2005 a multidisciplinary team at the Iris Research Laboratory / University of the Aegean produced an interpretive guide for the Unesco enlisted World Heritage Site of Nea Moni at Chios. The main aim is to provide for a high level edutainment by interpreting cultural heritage of global value to heterogeneous, multi-generational groups of leisure visitors. The guide addresses non-captive audiences in recreational learning environments following the Code of Conduct of the Icomos Ename Charter for the Interpretation of Cultural Heritage Sites, the Icomos International Cultural Tourism Charter and the Unesco Guidelines for the Protection and Management of World Heritage Sites. This paper describes the planning principles and the projects steps taken to produce the interpretive guide. More specifically the paper follows a set of hierarchical sequences which include information management based on a significance assessment process, cognitive processing of information with tourism value in accordance with human cognitive architecture and leisure time management for non-captive audiences at a Word Heritage Site. Key words: Heritage Interpretation, Non-captive Audiences, Significance Assessment Process (SIP), Recreational Learning, Visitor Experience, Cognitive Processing INTRODUCTION World Heritage Sites are the agents to testimony for mankind’s actions. But even so tangible heritage objects almost never speak for themselves; they need an interpreter to create the cognitive and emotional links with diverse audiences. To facilitate experiential products on a visitor experience basis curators need to provide for experiences able to attract visitors’ attention and meet their expectations. World Heritage Sites may then become cultural windows, enabling their audiences to explore the self and the other, by confronting with familiarity and novelty. The present paper presents an interpretive Guide with the aim to inform visitors about global heritage values of Nea Moni by introducing the main features of the Byzantine Culture, while making visitors a part of the experience. The Guide is dedicated to on-site Interpretation of the Catholicon of Nea Moni and its interior mosaic decoration, the main reasons for enlisting the architectural ensemble to World Heritage List in 1981. Designed to manage information with tourism value in a visitor-centric manner the Guide regards in situ orientation, information and cultural heritage education. The Guides presents non-captive audiences the unique features, the Catholicon and the iconographic cycle of the Catholicon’s interior on the basis of a Heritage Trail with 4 thematic sections and 18 sub-stops. Key issues in the interpretive planning process are profound and multidisciplinary subject matter knowledge, a significance assessment process and the specific conditions of learning in recreational environments. Recreational Learning urges planners to layer information in accordance to human cognitive architecture using an interpretive writing style with story plots embedded in personalized narrative structures. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK The present paper consists of three main research fields. “Leisure time management in recreational setting for non- captive audiences” explores the specific conditions required to creating quality visitor experiences and promoting informal education in leisure settings with high density heritage values. “Cognitive processing of information with tourism value” examines prerequisites and conditions under which successful encoding of relevant messages take place. It explores the dynamics of the human memory processor and the relationships between working and long term memory defining the implications for managing cognitive loads in recreational learning environments. “Information Management” applies all above discussed principles using the interpretive Guide of Nea Moni to provide the information architecture required for non-captive audiences at World Heritage Sites. An interpretive