Motivational analysis of tourists who visit a city with inscriptions World Heritage Site, Granada, Spain

Abstract

In recent times, it has been noticed that cultural tourism attracts millions of people. One interesting aspect is the analysis of WHS (World Heritage Site) destinations or cultural destinations that have an inscription WHS. This research has the goal of analysing the different groups of tourists who visit a cultural destination with an inscription WHS, specifically the city of Granada (Spain). For this, segmentation was performed, studying the socio-demographic profile of the tourists and their assessment of the attributes of this destination. For the tourist segmentation, two models have been followed. Four different groups of tourists were found: alternative, cultural, emotional and heritage. In this last one, the relationship between curiosity about the culture of the tourist destination and the heritage visited has a determining role. This study makes an important contribution to the literature regarding the links between the tourist and the historic and monumental heritage they visit and their tourist behaviour.