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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Assessing the Relationship between Promotional Tools and Tourists’ Intention to Visit the National Prison Museum in Melaka

Arni Abdul Gani, Aida Syafinaz Khairudin, Munirah Kadir, Syamil Farmy

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i13/8554

Open access

Assessing the intention of tourists to visit an attraction is crucial for marketers, and especially significant in turmoil conditions such as during and post pandemic. For a special niche attraction that promotes dark tourism like prison, promotional tools are important to set a desirable image for tourists. This paper investigates the relationship between promotional tools and tourists’ intention to visit the Malaysia Prison Museum, Melaka. The questionnaires were posted online on various platforms, and tourists who had not experienced visiting the attraction were selected as respondents. The results indicated that promotional tools were perceived important and were found positively related to their intention to visit. However, some issues concerning the applicability of different promotional tools surfaced. In today’s digital world, having a great webpage and continuous updates on social media is inevitably one of the key successes in marketing. Furthermore, the study also concluded that the lack of support from the government and management in promoting the museum is probably the main reason why this attraction has yet to receive tourists’ attention. This study provides good insights in tourists’ perception of promotional tools used in niche market; which is dark tourism, and how it can motivate them to visit. The outcome of the study can be used as a guideline for any prison museum management that promotes dark tourism to develop more efficient and updated promotional tools and strategies.