1. What would you consider to be your own best experience at a museum and why was this the case? Understanding the visitor experience at museums and at any other visitor destination is crucial to operations management activities that engage with these organizations. Most tourists have memories of being bored at museum visits at some time, and anecdotally often prefer to avoid them, while at the same time seeking to fulfil the need to engage with culture and gain status from a museum visit. It is also important to ensure that museum visits offer the visitor an experience that is perceived to be authentic. A good example of a museum that engages with audiences and offers a fully immersive visitor experience in an unexpected situation is the Titanic Museum at Pigeon Forge.

A museum with a maritime theme is not the most obvious thing to find in the desert in the USA, but the very successful Titanic Pigeon Forge museum, which has been open since April 2010, is based in Tennessee. The ship-like structure was custom engineered to look exactly like the famous 1912 vessel and cost in excess of US$25 million to build.

The half-scale replica of the Titanic houses a 30,000 square foot museum that proudly displays 20 galleries and hundreds of authentic Titanic artefacts. During busy periods, it gives visitors the opportunity to experience the Titanic’s history and tragedy. Guests are fully immersed into the story, and on arrival are issued a boarding pass with the name of a real Titanic passenger, which is checked at the end of the experience to see if you were one of the minority who survived. It should be noted, however, that all younger passengers are given the persona of a survivor to avoid any emotional distress. Those guests who wish to enhance their experience can hire an audio tour for a small extra cost, with special versions to engage younger visitors