Economics of cultural tourism

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the "Economics of Cultural Tourism". The cultural industries are closely intertwined with the tourism sector, where there are important consumers. Cross-country data indicate that culture is seldom the main motivation for tourism, although this interest is more common among women and increases by age and education. Available research is mainly based on data from traditional sources such as statistical offices, international organisations or stand-alone surveys where the motivations behind trips and characteristics of the traveller is one common feature. Other aspects are evaluation of economic impacts of the cultural tourism including possible benefits or costs, but these aspects are rather treated separately instead of being directly contradicted. A new strand of literature bases the analysis on big data originating from, for instance, Facebook or Instagram, something that opens new avenues of research where the digital footprints of tourists can be traced. Still, there is a lack of research using micro data for estimations that can give information about causalities rather than correlations.