Impact of edutainment on heritage sites : a case study of Haw Par Villa (Singapore)

Abstract

Visitor attractions of the new age are gradually adopting edutainment modes to inject interaction and excitement together with learning. This explains the growing presence of heritage theme parks and interactive history museums. Even in Singapore, edutainment modes are widely adopted in visitor attractions such as the Singapore Science Centre as well as KidZania. These edutainment modes have proven to be successful and popular among children. However, the use of edutainment modes in Singapore’s heritage sites has not been explored yet. Therefore, this study aims to uncover the effectiveness of implementing edutainment modes in heritage sites to provide a meaningful experience for visitors. The heritage site chosen for edutainment modes to be studied in this report is Haw Par Villa (HPV). HPV is a visitor attraction that seeks to narrate Chinese mythological stories as well as Chinese cultural values. Its unique past as well as ambiguous future were the motivating factors for this study.

An in-depth interview with HPV’s managing agent, SMM Pte Ltd, as well as the implementation of self-administered questionnaire formed the main data collection method for this study. Results and feedback gathered suggested that appropriate edutainment modes could be implemented in HPV to better engage visitors intellectually, emotionally and critically. Also, results have shown that consumer-specific attributes were likely to affect visitors’ level of satisfaction with the information presented in HPV. As such, recommendations deemed appropriate to be implemented in HPV (and other heritage sites if possible) were suggested in this study. It is hoped that these recommendations will lead to the improvement of HPV and the sustainability of heritage sites as such.