This research attempts to broaden understandings of salt
tourism by exploring various factors that contribute to the overall
attractiveness of the industrial site. More specifically, this paper
presents salt tourism in Taiwan as a case study in order to isolate
and examine the characteristics that contribute most to the
perceived attractiveness of salt heritage sites. Tourism is viewed as
a viable way to preserve the traditional practice of salt-making as a
commercial activity and enchance the market effects of the salt as a
natural and industrial heritage. Three key attributes of tourist sites,
e.g., themes, programs and designs, are identified as focal points of
study through the extant literature in industrial heritage tourism.
Researchers drew on this literature to devise a study measuring
which attributes contribute most to tourists' perceptions of the salt
fields of southwestern Taiwan as an attractive place to visit. Tourists
were asked to assess these attributes and to explain their perceptions of the destinations,