Visitors' Expenditure Behaviour at Cultural Events: The Case of Christmas Markets

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of visitors' expenditure behaviour at cultural events. The authors analyse visitors' expenditure at the micro-level, dividing it into expenditure on accommodation and expenditure on food and beverages. The explicative variables taken into account are socio-demographic, economic, psychological and trip-related attributes. An ad hoc survey was conducted on the three most famous Christmas markets in the north of Italy in December 2008 and 2009. To achieve their aims, the authors use the robust double-hurdle model. The results indicate that travel purpose, region of origin, perception of the event, length of stay and age are significant factors influencing both the propensity to spend and the amount of money actually spent during visits. The findings will provide destination managers and tourism businesses with practical knowledge useful for destination marketing, event development and customer service.

Trip Cultural Activities and Tourism Expenditure in Emerging Urban‐cultural Destinations

“…Obviously, the idea that expenditure by tourists is determined by their cultural visits as well as by their attendance at different events is justified by the fact that the attendance and participation in these activities involve, in most cases, tourists spending a considerable amount of money (Chang, ; Brida et al ., ).…”

Economic effects of tourism and its influencing factors

“…Abbruzzo et al (2014) show that visitors at famous destinations in Uruguay spent significantly more than tourists who stayed in other places. Brida et al (2013) demonstrated that different spending levels of visitors for food and beverages were related to different Christmas markets in Northern Italy. Territorial effects of tourist spending were also found by Svensson et al (2011) for Andalusia: visitors in cities caused larger turnover than those in rural areas and both types spent more than tourists at coastal destinations.…”

“…Further studies do not use a single expenditure variable but differentiate spending in categories such as accommodation or food and beverages (e.g. Marcussen 2011, Brida et al 2013. If these studies include a total expenditure indicator only this variable is analyzed, if not, the variables considered are indicated.…”

Christmas markets – marketplace icon

“…Some European and Nordic cities and countries first hosted Christmas fairs well before this period: Spanish Christmas markets date back to the eighteenth century, while French and Swedish Christmas markets have been in existence since the Middle Ages. But other European countriessuch as Belgium (Jansen-Verbeke 1998) or Italy (Brida, Disegna, and Osti 2013), for exampledid not have an established Christmas market tradition pre-dating the late twentieth century. Beginning sometime in the late twentieth century, many European cities looked at the success of Christmas markets in German cities and began hosting their own (Jansen-Verbeke 1998).…”