MEASUREMENT OF CULTURAL TOURISM MOTIVATIONS IN WORLD HERITAGE CITIES: AN ANALYSIS USING FIMIX-PLS ALGORITHM

Cultural tourism has traditionally been approached from the perspective of scientific literature in terms of its appeal to visitors wishing to find out about or get involved in places or to extend their education, or simply to enjoy historical buildings and heritage managed for tourism. This is the form of tourism that has most encouraged activities to preserve the environment and historical/artistic heritage, getting away from mass tourist models, destination impact and seasonality. This paper undertakes a study of the motivations that prompt tourists to choose a particular destination, along with an empirical analysis centred on the town of Cuenca, declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1996. The results obtained using the partial least square (PLS) method allow us to confirm the proposed correlations and to validate a model that may serve as a guide for best practice in this segment of tourism.

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