The effect of authenticity on visitors’ expenditure at cultural events

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to analyse the influence of the perceived authenticity of cultural events and their products on shopping expenditure. The quantitative analysis is based on 1275 self-administered questionnaires collected among event attendees in three different Northern Italian Christmas Markets in 2008. In order to estimate separately the determinants of the propensity of respondents to shop and how much money they are willing to spend for each kind of purchase, we have adopted a double-hurdle model. The results show that tourists are more likely to spend and that they do spend more if they consider the event and the products sold to be authentic. This study also reveals that socio-demographic factors and visit motives are interrelated with authenticity perception and together affect the amount of personal expenditures during the event. Finally, some implications of the study are discussed.

Keywords:

• authenticity
• cultural event
• double-hurdle model
• shopping expenditures

Acknowledgements

Our research was supported by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (Research Funds 2009), project: “Le attrazioni culturali e naturali come motore dello sviluppo turistico. Un'analisi del loro impatto economico, sociale e culturale”.