engleski

Understanding tourist spending on culture and entertainment

The aim of this study is to find out what are the determinants of tourist expenditure on culture and entertainment in two urban destinations (Rijeka and Opatija, Croatia). Tourists in these destinations spent most of their budget on accommodation (47%) and on food and beverages (21%). However, due to the fact that expenditure on culture and entertainment accounts for only 10% of their total daily tourist expenditure per person, it was deemed important to find ways to enhance that level of spending. Considering that both towns, despite being urban destinations, have strong seasonality issues, it is necessary to make some changes in their tourism offerings in terms of innovations and attractiveness. As a result, tourists would not be motivated to travel there just for the sun and sea, but also for a wide range of cultural and entertainment opportunities. If the latter elements are enhanced and better presented, tourists would be more satisfied and, consequently, would spend more on these attributes of the offering. To achieve the main objective of this study, a tourist on-site survey was conducted from January to December 2016. The assessment was carried out on a sample of 824 tourists who visited and spent at least one night in these towns. The methodology included descriptive statistics, paired sample t-test, principal components analysis (PCA) and regression analysis. To obtain the frequencies, descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the socioeconomic, demographic and travel-related variables. The t- test was performed to find out whether there are any significant differences between importance and satisfaction levels on attributes referring to culture and entertainment. The PCA was applied to identify the dimensions of tourist satisfaction and a regression analysis was carried out for the purpose of identifying the factors that influence expenditure on culture and entertainment. T-test results confirmed that all attributes of the destination offering referring to culture and entertainment have statistically significant negative gap scores, indicating that satisfaction with those attributes is less than their importance to the respondents. The PCA resulted in a clear structure of five satisfaction components, which were labelled as follows: first component – ‘traffic and information availability’ ; second component - ‘environment’ ; third component - ’activity opportunities’ ; fourth component - ‘facilities quality’ and fifth component – ‘hospitality’. The third and fourth components encompassed elements that are related to cultural and entertainment opportunities. Nevertheless, all five components were used in the regression analysis. The findings indicate that age, length of stay, educational level, type of accommodation, transportation means, daily expenditure, and satisfaction with traffic and information availability significantly influence the expenditure on culture and entertainment in these urban destinations. This study has practical implications since destination management can base their future decisions on its results. Results clearly indicate that the diversity of cultural events and the presentation of cultural and historic heritage as well as entertainment opportunities fail to meet the tourists’ expectations. Hence, further improvements are necessary to increase the tourists’ satisfaction and their expenditure level.

culture ; entertainment ; tourist expenditure ; tourist satisfaction ; tourist spending

nije evidentirano