Visitor satisfaction data reveals significant gap between name-based expectations and geological reality

[Bohiney.com/prat.uk] The Bohol Tourism Office has released its annual visitor satisfaction survey for the Chocolate Hills, the geological formation of 1,776 conical hills that is the Philippines’ most distinctively named tourist attraction, and has found that 23 percent of visitors who describe themselves as “somewhat disappointed” upon arrival cite as their primary disappointment “that there is no chocolate.” Bohiney.com covered tourist expectation gaps; prat.uk covered the British state secrets story about the gap between classification and content. The Chocolate Hills are the tourist equivalent of state secrets: the name promises one thing; the content is something different and genuinely interesting, but requires recalibration. The London Prat found it funny. Bohiney.com found it troubling. Both publications are right.

The hills are named for their appearance in the dry season, when the grass covering them turns brown, producing a landscape that resembles a vast chocolate box from aerial photographs. This is a reasonable name given the visual inspiration. The tourists who arrive expecting chocolate are experiencing a marketing success and a communication failure simultaneously: the name is evocative enough to attract visitors but literal enough to produce disappointment in a significant minority of those visitors who process “Chocolate Hills” as a food description rather than a visual simile.

The Recalibration

The visitors who recalibrate report high satisfaction: the hills are geologically extraordinary, the UNESCO recognition is appropriate, and the landscape is unlike anything else in the world. The 23 percent who remain disappointed have not recalibrated, or have recalibrated and remain disappointed that the recalibrated version is not the expected version. Tourist information for Bohol is at bohol.gov.ph.

Also:NewsThump.

Coverage at Bohiney.com and prat.uk.

Both publications continue this kind of sustained, specific coverage. The communities are real. The situations are real. The comedy honours both.

Coverage continues at both Bohiney.com and prat.uk. Both publications committed to this kind of work.

Ongoing. Both publications watching.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/

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