Professional Documents
Culture Documents
El N E M A N N
Tourism Management, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 361-365, 1995
Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights rcservcd
0261-5177(95)00039-9 0261-5177/95 $10.00 + ().(XJ
Ted Silberberg
LORD Cultural Resources Planning and Management Inc., 164 Davenport Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R
1J2, Canada
Cultural tourism represents an area of significant economic benefit to museums and heritage
sites. Challenging economic times in particular require cultural and heritage facilities to explore
ways and means to increase attendance and self-generated revenues and to control operating
expenses. Doing so requires them to look carefully at their operating policies and practices to
focus on issues such as customer service, partnerships and packaging opportunities and to be
open to entrepreneurial approaches while continuing to meet their heritage preservation and
education mandates.
The development of cultural tourism as a generator Cultural Resources for the Province of Ontario. The
of income and a recognized form of tourism has study is called Strategic Directions for Ontario's
emerged as an objective of both heritage institutions Cultural Tourism Product. The central strategies
and tourist operators across Canada and around the developed in that study will be applied to the notion
world. Challenging economic times have compelled that heritage organizations need to communicate to
museums and heritages sites to explore ways and existing and potential supporters their important
means to increase attendance levels and self- role in helping to meet not only the preservation and
generated revenues and to control operating ex- educational needs of a community, but also wider
penditures. Doing so has required them to look very community needs such as tourism, economic de-
carefully at their operating policies and practices and velopment and downtown revitalization.
to focus on issues such as customer service, part-
nerships and packaging opportunities. Museums and
heritage sites have had to meet the challenge of Definition of cultural tourism
being open to entrepreneurial approaches while Let us start with our definition of cultural tourism.
continuing to meet their heritage preservation and There are lots of different definitions but we define
educational mandates. cultural tourism as 'visits by persons from outside
Tough times have made tourism operators, like the host community motivated wholly or in part by
hotels, tour companies, amusement attractions, re- interest in the historical, artistic, scientific or
tailers and others, more receptive to new ideas and lifestyle/heritage offerings of a community, region,
approaches. Increasingly, they are taking notice of group or institution'.* A key point to remember
cultural attractions and events as worthy potential because it will come up again is the idea of motiva-
partners in packaging and other cooperative
arrangements. * Strategic Directions for Ontario's Cultural Tourism Product
This paper considers the opportunities for the Main Report, L O R D Cultural Resources Planning & Manage-
continued development of cultural tourism, with a ment Inc., T h e Economic Planning G r o u p of Canada and Eck
Talent Associates Ltd. (Toronto, 1993). This was conducted on
focus on museums and heritage sites in urban set- behalf of the Stratford Festival, the Ontario Ministry of Culture,
tings. It is based on the main findings of the cultural Tourism and Recreation, and the federal D e p a r t m e n t of Industry,
tourism strategy completed last year by LORD Science and Technology Canada.
361
Cultural tourism and business opportunities: T Silberberg
I~ IIIlllll~
Promotion increases consumer Packaging increases consumer
motivation to participate in exposure to cultural activities thereby
cultural activities. appealing to a larger market.
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Figure 1 Degree of consumer motivation for cultural tourism
tion for culture 'in part'. This is a key finding of the • convenience;
study, which differentiates it from other cultural • community support and involvement;
tourism studies that have been carried out. • m a n a g e m e n t c o m m i t m e n t and capability.
At the other end of the spectrum are cultural
Cultural tourism products products that are not currently attracting visitors
from out of province but have established this as a
By cultural tourism products we refer to institutions,
goal - we call these the 'willing'. In the middle are
lifestyle/heritage opportunities and events. These
those who are not only willing but 'ready' to make a
cultural products may be linked. It is therefore
c o m m i t m e n t to enhance their product and services.
possible and even likely to have cultural institutions
Many facility or event managers make the point
which are located in a heritage/themed district or
that a dollar is a dollar whether that dollar is from a
downtown become the focal point for community
resident or a tourist. However, if tourists from out of
festivals and special events.
the province or out of the country pay to attend a
We all know that the better the cultural product
museum or festival, the community is in essence
the greater the likelihood that residents will spend
m o n e y within a region, province or country. Even
exporting its products and earning currency for the
community and the province.
more important is the ability of cultural products to
A key element in our cultural tourism strategy is
attract or increase the length of stay of long-haul
therefore to move more cultural products, if they so
tourists because they bring in new money. In this
wish, in the right direction from being 'export-
regard, the reality is that not every cultural product,
willing' to 'export-ready' to 'export-able'.
and certainly not every museum or historic site, is
willing or capable of being a significant tourist
attraction, nor need they be. Cultural tourism markets
There is, rather, a continuum of cultural products.
Just as not every cultural product is willing, ready or
At one end are those we refer to as 'able' to attract
able to attract tourists, not every person is interested
tourists. The ability to do so has very much to do
in culture. H o w e v e r , a key finding of our study is
with the eight points listed below which serve as a
that there are different degrees of consumer motiva-
type of check-list to help cultural products to be
tion for cultural tourism that many tourism surveys
evaluated or to evaluate themselves:
have not taken into account. This p h e n o m e n o n is
• perceived quality of the product; explained by the concentric circles shown in Figure
• awareness; 1. At the centre, the smallest circle, are persons
• customer service attitude; 'greatly motivated' by culture. That would involve
• sustainability; the people who travel to a city specifically because of
• extent to which product is perceived to be unique its theatre opportunities, museums and cultural fes-
or special; tivals. We estimate this segment at about 5% of the
trips?'. In the 1980s cultural, historical or archaeolo- The bottom line for many cultural facilities and
gical treasures were important to 27% of frequent organizations is, first, to understand just how impor-
travellers compared with 50% in the 1990s. Under- tant cultural tourism is and, second, what they have
standing culture was important to 48% in the 1980s to offer as worthy partners with tourism operators in
compared with 88% in the 1990s. One conclusion is development of packaging opportunities and cultu-
that the economic realities of the 1990s caused a shift ral tourism destinations.
from what Harris termed escapism to enrichment.
This is reflected in data showing the dramatically
increased importance of culture as a travel motiva-
Types of packaging arrangements
tor. There are three types of partnership and packaging
But there are other forces at work - they have opportunities. The first and most common is among
been at work for some time - which we believe have cultural products of the same type. That is, theatres
led to a paradigm shift that will long outlast the packaging with theatres and museums with other
recession. For example: museums. One common example is a passport pack-
age among museums or historic sites. While some-
• higher levels of education, since all studies show times effective, there are significant limitations. For
that persons in higher education categories are example, areas in which eight museums get together
more likely to be culturally oriented; with a passport promotion so that visitors with
• the increasing numbers of women in our society in passports stamped at seven museums receive free
positions of power and authority, since women admission to the 8th find that these initiatives are not
tend to be more culturally oriented than men; really very successful. This is because the passport
• the ageing baby-boom generation; concept appeals to the small percentage of the
• less leisure time but a greater emphasis on quality population interested in visiting eight museums in
time experiences which cultural facilities and one area (the 'greatly motivated'). They account for
events offer; only about 5% of the resident market and 15% of
• even greater health and appearance conscious- the out-of-province tourist market. The reality is
ness, with concerns for the effects of ultraviolet that most people are seeking variety when they
rays causing travellers to seek out more indoor travel.
cultural opportunities. A second form of partnership and packaging
involves cultural products of different types. Illustra-
In the '80s, American travellers spent their money tions include festivals, which concentrate cultural
freely. Not so in the '90s. Comparisions show a products in a period of time, and arts districts, which
shift from escapism to enrichment. concentrate products in a particular place. The
What is very important when planning trips? advantage of these approaches is that they create a
wider level of appeal to more people, reducing
A luxmy resort competition among a larger number of cultural
7~/, --:!:!:!1980s products, increasing perceived value for time and
/ 1990s
Good night life money spent, and widening the market both geog-
raphically and in terms of market segments to those
Experiencing a com-
pletely different culture 37% who are motivated in part by cultural tourism,
adding another 20-30% to the potential market.
Going off the beaten track The third, and probably most important form of
partnering and packaging, is among cultural and
Cultural, historical o r
archaeological treasures non-cultural tourism products such as hotels, resorts,
Visiting a place I've retail areas, sports and outdoor recreation, bus
n e v e r been before tours, amusement attractions, etc. This form of
Location with Io packaging offers the variety of experiences that most
natural beauty ) people are seeking and greatly widens the market for
culture to the adjunct and accidental cultural tour-
Order expensive food
ists, or some 60% of the resident market and 85% of
Spend money freely 31% the tourist market.
Gain new
perspective on life Successful culture--tourism partnerships
Understand culture Successful partnerships will require a repositioning
88%
i
of the relationship of culture to other tourism oper-
0 20 40 60 80 1oo% ators to move beyond 'what can you do for me?' with
Figure 2 Changing trends sponsorships, memberships and donations, to also
Source: Lou Harris Poll for Travel & Leisure Magazine include 'what can I do for you?' given the profile and