Cultural offer and distance in a spatial interaction model for tourism

Abstract

Culture is more and more considered as an important driver of tourism. However, it is critical, for policymakers, to evaluate the potential returns from investments in culture and generally cultural offer, in particular in a multiregional setting with a potentially inefficient distribution of cultural offer. Our paper focuses on the role of distance (between the tourist's origin and destination regions) in mediating the tourism impact of cultural offer. This research question is investigated by means of a spatial interaction model, applied to the case of Italian domestic tourism. We find that distance indeed matters: a destination's endowment in culture appears to be more attractive for long-distance tourists, while an origin region's endowment seems to dinsincentivate long-distance trips to a greater extent.

Cultural Centre, Destination Cultural Offer and Visitor Satisfaction

“…Although it is not an intention of this paper to explore the reasons of this difference, it is probably associated with the cultural background and the traditional connection between Australia and origin countries. This supports the existing literature regarding the differences in perception on cultural offers [27].…”

“…There is no evidence available from this research to establish any direct connection between the complaints and possible cultural offers, but it seems reasonable to assume that more cultural knowledge and therefore more cultural association offered to visitors by tours and their tour guides would amplify visitors' experience and improve their satisfaction (as suggested by Patuelli et al [27] and Do Valle et al [35]). From sustainable destination management perspective, it is important and critical to cooperate with visitor management authorities and organizations to regulate the tour operation, help tour businesses to improve their services and to enrich social-cultural components in services.…”

“…Research suggests that the destination image, visitor satisfaction and destination loyalty positively correlate to and influence each other [7,9,25,26]. On one hand, visitor satisfaction is an important factor for the commercial success of the tourism industry [27,28]. On the other hand, maintaining "a high level of tourist satisfaction and ensure a meaningful experience to the tourists" is an important indicator of "sustainable tourism" [29] (p. 11).…”

“…Nowadays the cultural products distinguishing each destination are regarded as enhancing the value of core tourist products and services [34,35]. Evidence indicates that cultural offers influence visitors' willingness to travel, to revisit and to recommend destinations to friends [27,35,36]. Cultural and heritage attractions are sometimes claimed to be more important than other factors in influencing overall satisfaction [26].…”

“…Do Valle et al [35] suggest that the more satisfied the visitors are with the destination's cultural offer, the more they see the visitor experience as "cultural enrichment" expanding their knowledge and intellectual horizons. Patuelli, Mussoni and Candela [27] claim that a destination's culture endowment appears to be more attractive for long-distance visitors. Romao et al [36] find that there is distinction between the role of tangible and intangible cultural offers in contributing to visitors' satisfaction and their loyalty to the destination.…”