Awareness, User Experience, and Needs for Visitor Centers, as Seen via Online Surveys

This study aimed to identify awareness, user experience and needs for visitor centers. The survey was conducted using Surveroid, an online research tool provided by Marketing Applications, Inc. A stratified sampling method was used to select respondents, with the number of responses allocated in a way that corresponded to the population by sex and age group in the Japanese census. Responses were obtained from 475 respondents, from which 343 were valid responses. The results are as follows: 1) Awareness of ‘visitor centers’ was 44%, with only 14% of respondents able to give examples of specific visitor center facilities, and 48% of respondents had never heard of them or did not know of them; 2) Only 24% of the respondents had used the facilities and 76% of the respondents hadn’t used them; 3) Both in the “having awareness” and “having used” categories, the need for historical and cultural exhibits, botanical exhibits, highlights exhibits, and topographic and geological exhibits was relatively reinforced.