Event Tourism: An Analysis of the Sociodemographic Profile and Behaviour of the Tourism Expenditure on the Basis of the Nature of the Event

Abstract

Tourist events have now become a powerful tool at the service of destinations to complement the tourism offer of them. This fact has motivated, on the one hand, the proliferation of different tourist events in the destinations, and on the other hand, a greater interest to know the profile of attending public and the economic impact derived from the organization of these events. The present study aims to know the differences between the profiles of tourists attending tourist events depending on their nature. To this end, a series of events organized in different parts of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura have been selected, distinguishing between cultural, nature, sports and musical events. The use of multivariate statistical techniques identifies the differences between the sociodemographic profiles of attending tourists as well as the behavior of tourist spending according to the nature of the event analyzed. From the statistical information generated through a process of survey of two cultural events (Festival of Classical Theater of Mérida and Festival of Classical Theater of Alcántara), two ornithological events (International Fair of Ornithology and Festival of the Cranes), two Sporting events Spain Cycling Championship downhill of the Alagón river) and two musical events (Festival Contempopránea and Festival Badasom), all held in Extremadura, aims to analyze possible differences between them in issues such as the provenance of tourists , Their age, their level  of studies, their valuation of tourism services or their level of expenditure and the implications of these possible differences. The results obtained confirm that the theme of the event influences the attraction of a differentiated public profile, both in its sociodemographic characteristics, as well as in its degree of satisfaction and expenditure pattern made at the destination that must be taken into account in the design of events to achieve that they are effective and efficient with respect to the objectives set with their implementation.