Assessing the Significance of City Tourism in Europe

Abstract

This chapter continues the focus on city tourism, by assessing the significance of city tourism in Europe compared to European tourism overall. In doing so, the focus is not only on the current situation but also on possible future developments, thus the chapter follows two distinct objectives. Firstly, to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role city tourism played in Europe in past and present, and secondly, to provide some outlook into the future development of European city tourism. In particular, the chapter attempts to provide an answer to the question: Based on past and present experience, how is the share of city tourism likely to develop in the years to come? For this purpose, a number of common forecasting methods are briefly introduced and their applicability to city tourism forecast is analysed. At the end of this chapter, the reader shall have a critical understanding of a) the challenges attached to European city tourism data, b) commonly applied forecasting methods and their appropriateness, and c) the role city tourism plays in Europe relative to overall tourism.