WTO and ETC Study looks at Future Challenges for City Tourism and Culture in Europe

‘City Tourism & Culture: The European Experience’, a new report commissioned jointly by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and European Travel Commission (ETC), provides new insights into the expansion of European cities as cultural tourism destinations.

As well as providing a conceptual framework for the analysis of city tourism with a cultural motivation, the study ‘City Tourism & Culture: The European Experience’ also aims to contribute to the marketing and product development of city tourism by throwing more light on the evolution of cultural tourism in Europe from ‘traditional’ to ‘innovative’. Based on the concepts of ‘heritage’, ‘cultural’ and ‘creative’ cities, the study clusters destinations according to their predominant cultural product, and analyses the recent performance and positioning of each cluster - as well as their opportunities for future growth.

Although only 20% of city tourists give culture as their prime motivator and, as a large number of city trippers do not see themselves as (city) cultural tourists, the fact is that a much larger number of tourists is actually involved in cultural activities. In terms of defining the concept of culture, cultural tourism is shown as an inner circle (representing the ‘cultural core’ - the more traditional or basic elements of culture) and an outer circle (representing the way of life or lifestyle of a place or region). In the light of the convergence of the inner circle of cultural tourism (heritage and arts tourism) and the outer circle (lifestyle and the creative industries), combined with the importance of young cultural tourists for cities, the main conclusions of the Report are that:

- Although city cultural tourism continues to be dominated by the established ‘Cultural Capitals’, there is evidence of a trend towards more trips to smaller destinations and new regions of Europe;

- ‘Traditional cultural cities’ are likely to lose market share to ‘new destinations’ with innovative cultural products and services; 

- Product development will thus become increasingly important for cities who want to offer a differential advantage and thereby stay ahead of the competition;

- The development of a ‘creative destination’ linking traditional cultural products, services and heritage with the creative industries (e.g. media and entertainment, design, architecture and fashion) will become progressively more important in terms of the competitive advantages of cities as cultural tourism destinations.

Data available on the performance of city tourism shows a steady rise in city bednights up to a peak in 2000, followed by a decline thereafter relating to the impact of the events of recent years on tourism, and in particular on long-haul travel from the Americas to Europe.

In the period between 1996 and 2003, domestic and European tourism performed better than other overseas arrivals.

In terms of European tourism, London and Paris have shown the most consistent growth over the last ten years up to 2000 compared with other larger cities. Smaller cities have, however, proven to be more stable, and have suffered less from the decreases which have occurred in recent years. In terms of outbound tourism, a few large countries - France, the UK and Germany - dominate, both in the generation and reception of city tourism in 2002.

Data on visitor profiles show that city visitors tend to be predominantly female, highly educated with professional or managerial occupations, and relatively high incomes. It is particularly interesting to note that cultural tourism in cities is an activity pursued by all age groups and that, although those over the age of 50 tend to visit more cultural attractions, the peak age group in terms of participation in cultural tourism in cities lies between 20 and 30 years old.

The Report ’City Tourism & Culture: the European Experience’ provides a complete set of data and information on the recent performance of city tourism, on consumers’ profiles, and on trends in terms of generating markets, destination countries, travel patterns and preferred activities undertaken in the destinations.

See other recent news from: World Tourism Organization