Factors influencing domestic tourist attendance at cultural attractions in Andalusia, Spain

The recent economic downturn has forced the tourism industry to focus their attention on attracting domestic tourists to cultural attractions, which are considered to be one of the most prominent attributes of tourist destinations. This paper studies 10 different types of cultural tourist attraction based on a survey of 4223 residents of Andalusia, Spain. Through cluster analysis, these 10 types of tourist attraction are grouped into three clusters. It is intended that this will contribute to better-informed decision making by the industry. This study thus offers new insight into socio-demographic variables (such as gender, age, marital status, education, and monthly income), psychographic variables (self-identified political ideology, government support and funding preference), and geographic variables (city size) that may be used as effective predictors of attendances at cultural attractions. Managers of tourist attractions should focus their efforts on one or more facets of these visitor profiles in order to attract more tourists to their specific location.