Background / Rationale
Historic city centres face increasing pressures from concentrated visitor flows, and mismatches between access points and fragile urban fabrics. This study focuses on Corfu (UNESCO World Heritage Site) as a case study, which has been extensively researched and includes established cultural routes, which have primarily been approached as thematic products rather than as tools for managing visitor flows. This study examines how heritage interpretation (ΗΙ) can be strategically deployed to reconfigure spatial hierarchies of points of interest (POIs).
Specifically, it explores how the interpretive enhancement of secondary heritage locations—through narrative reframing and supporting interpretive infrastructure—can redistribute visitors more evenly across space, reducing pressure on a limited number of primary hotspots. Interpretation is thus positioned not only as an experiential layer but as an operational mechanism for redistributing demand within a regenerative visitor management framework.
Objectives / Research Questions
This study investigates:
Methods / Approach
The study employs an exploratory agent-based modelling (ABM) approach, implemented using the Mesa framework in Python, simulating visitor movements in a stylised representation of Corfu’s historic centre rather than reproducing real-time conditions.
The model includes three visitor types: organised guided tours, self-curated small groups, and loosely structured “drifter” visitors. POIs, pedestrian corridors, and entry points are spatially represented.
Interpretive interventions are modelled as changes in POI attractiveness, routing behaviour, and dwell time. Secondary and newly introduced interpretive nodes represent under-visited heritage locations or potential narrative points identified through heritage mapping. Entry policies differentiate access points by group size and vehicle type.
Agent behaviour follows probabilistic movement rules, reflecting heterogeneous visitor preferences and stochastic decision-making, thereby capturing non-deterministic aspects of visitor flows. The model compares baseline and intervention scenarios across multiple simulation runs. Outputs include corridor congestion, spatial dispersion, and pressure distribution across POIs.
Results / Expected Contributions
Simulation results indicate that enhancing secondary POIs, combined with segmented entry policies, can significantly reduce time above congestion thresholds in key corridors without reducing total visitation. The model also reveals trade-offs, including the displacement of pressure to other areas, highlighting the need for coordinated policy bundles.
Conclusions / Implications
The findings position HI as a strategic component of collaborative destination management supporting regenerative visitor flow strategies. Linking interpretive design with access policies can mitigate congestion, strengthen local identity, and enhance resilience in historic urban environments. Results should be interpreted as indicative of system dynamics rather than direct predictions, offering a transferable decision-support approach for local authorities and destination management organisations.
References (max. 3)
