Factors Affecting Time Spent Visiting Heritage City Areas

Esther Martinez-Garcia,Josep Raya-Vilchez,Nuria Galí

doi:10.3390/su10061824

Abstract

Urban tourism is growing fast, and in many cities visitor influx tends to concentrate in historic urban centers. When there are large numbers of visitors, deepening the knowledge on visitor time consumption is critical to better managing their impact on the city, and creating a sustainable city tourism destination. This has generated an increasing interest in the micro-spatial and temporal dimensions of tourist behavior in city tourism research and planning. This article focuses on modelling the factors affecting the duration of visits to each heritage attraction, and to the whole visit to the heritage city. This study adds to previous research in several ways: it uses survival models; distinguishes between attractions with and without an entrance fee; and tests how visitor type affects time behavior, for example, day visitor versus tourists, peak season versus off-peak season, informed visitors versus non-informed visitors, highly motivated visitors versus visitors with low motivation. Results show that there is significant heterogeneity in time consumption. This is generated by factors such as traveling with children, cultural proximity, rating of the attraction, and price and time constraints. Some evidence is also found, which suggests first-time visitor and informed visitors have an impact on time consumption.

Highlights

Tourism is becoming a main source of economic activity in many cities worldwide
We have identified the primary and the secondary attractions, and some key determinants for the likelihood of visiting and the length of time spent at a specific attraction
Previous knowledge of the site has emerged as an important element of time consumption behavior

Summary

Introduction

Tourism is becoming a main source of economic activity in many cities worldwide. Regional growth is positively affected by domestic and international tourism [1]. Urban tourism is a fast-growing area, and in many cities visitor influx tends to be concentrated in the historic city centers [2]. Large numbers of visitors may exceed the carrying capacity of historic centers and generate sustainability issues that need strategies and actions to manage visitor congestion [3]. Large numbers of visitors may influence residents’ attitudes to tourism development [4], and tourists need to have a satisfactory experience. Both visitors and the residents can gain from managing visitor flows and visitor attractions, and are key to sustainable destinations [5,6]. There is, a need for gaining knowledge of tourists’ time consumption

Methods

Results

Conclusion