Understanding the impact of cultural tourism in Cornwall

1
Understanding the impact of cultural tourism in
Cornwall

• A report on a study undertaken for the Cornwall
  Arts Partnership in 2007

2
Overview

• Study objectives
• Study method
• Key findings
• Conclusions

3
Objectives

• To evaluate the value of cultural tourism to the
  local economy
• To identify the characteristics of cultural
  tourists

4
Defining cultural tourism

• There is no single view!
• Definitions range from being almost
  indistinguishable from mainstream tourism to
  participation in events with a strong artistic
  and cultural focus
• This study examined cultural ACTIVITY not
  cultural ATTRACTIONS
• (it is much easier to recognise value of and plan
  investment for building based cultural tourism)

5
Method
6
The survey

• Attended by 67,000 visitors in 2007

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Who is the cultural tourist?

• 43 from outside Cornwall (SE and SW the key
  markets)
• 7 of external market from overseas
• Nearly half aged 45-64 (65 over 45)
• 62 female (some events 75)
• Nearly 20 with an income of 60k plus
• Many attend multiple events

8
Other findings..

• 80 identified arts / cultural events a a key
  driver for visiting Cornwall
• More likely to visit in shoulder months / off
  season
• High number of repeat visits

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Assessing economic impact
10
Overall attendance
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Expenditure - gross to net.
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Elements of gross expenditure

• Accommodation 5.4 million
• Food and drink - 4.5 million
• Entrance fees - 1.5 million
• Shopping - 3.2 million
• Transport - 0.9 million
• Other - 1.1 million

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Using multipliers
14
Comparison with average tourism spend
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Conclusions..

• 62,000 people attended the six events with a net
  economic impact of 17 million
• 100 events took place across Cornwall in 2007
  the actual impact is likely to be many times
  higher
• No attempt to be definitive about the economic
  impact of all events

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Conclusions

• Strong evidence that cultural tourism is a growth
  market and that cultural tourists stay longer and
  spend more
• Cultural events make an important contribution to
  the image of Cornwall
• Events can act as a shop window encourage
  repeat visits, or inward investment

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Final thoughts..

• Cultural events are an important part of the
  Cornwall tourism offer
• What support is needed to maintain / increase
  this?
• Events that have been subject of research have
  been driven by different combinations of private,
  public and voluntary sector input and investment.
• If event driven cultural tourism is to bring
  maximum benefit to Cornwall
• its economic impact needs to be acknowledged and
  reflected in investment criteria
• there is no one size fits all solution - it
  requires a more sophisticated and flexible
  approach to investment

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Questions?

• adrian.dawson_at_ekosgen.co.uk