Cultural Interactions as Components of the Overall Trip Experience

Despite its rapid expansion the existing knowledge about the phenomenon of cultural tourism is not yet very much elaborate. This study illustrates by the example of international travellers to New Zealand and Thailand the diversity of cultural interactions travellers seek to get exposed to. To achieve a better understanding of the shape of intended/realized cultural experiences measures of specific travel motivations, attitudes towards cultural contacts and cultural activities have been developed, pre-tested and applied. Different types of cultural tourists (along the typology proposed by McKercher and DuCros) emerge since motivation, involvement and behaviors are not linearly related to each other. Different cultural settings (here: destinations at country level) attract different types of cultural tourists. Only some types can be found in both countries; hence the share among the total international travel population differs. For destination marketing as well as suppliers in the cultural tourism market insights into the structure of the tourism demand can help to design product offerings in a more suitable way.