The changing nature of the cultural tourist: motivations, profiles and experiences of cultural tourists in Budapest

The paper reflects on the changing nature of the cultural tourist, including motivations, profiles and experiences. The paper firstly reviews broadening definitions of cultural tourism, which now include more intangible, interactive and creative experiences. The research focuses on urban cultural tourism and the city of Budapest in Hungary. The primary data examines how motivated tourists are by different activities including culture; how far tourists are interested in heritage sites and museums compared to everyday culture and creative activities; it analyses variations in cultural activities according to age, gender and nationality; and the types of experiences that are desired the most by tourists.

Cultural tourists still appear to be highly educated, but educational experiences are less important than escapism or entertainment. Cultural contact is important, but creative experiences are not. There are only small variations between genders and nationalities, but larger ones according to age groups. Older tourists prefer heritage sites and museums, whereas younger ones prefer night-life, music events and festivals. Overall, the findings are important for urban capital cities that have concerns about overtourism and the night-time economy, as well as the desire to re-establish themselves as cultural tourism destinations.

The paper is avaible here:

Kay Smith, M., Pinke-Sziva, I., Berezvai, Z., & Buczkowska-Golabek, K. (2021). The changing nature of the cultural tourist: Motivations, profiles and experiences of cultural tourists in Budapest. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2021.1898626

Ivett Pinke-Sziva is an Associate Professor and the leader of the BA Program in Hospitality and Tourism at the Tourism Department of Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. Beside lecturing and researching, Ivett worked as a consultant in the tourism and destination management and marketing field and led several national and international development and research projects. Her research currently focuses on destination management, marketing and competitiveness, as well as health tourism, especially wellbeing and sustainability aspects.

Zombor Berezvai is an Assistant Lecturer at Corvinus University of Budapest and the Chief Economist at the Hungarian Competition Authority. He graduated as an economist at Eötvös Loránd University and started his career at Procter & Gamble. His main research interests includes retail innovation, transportation, and cultural tourism.