Congress tourism and leisure tendencies with special focus on economic aspects

32 Tourism Review, Vol 62, No 3+4/2007

Refereed Section

1 Introduction

In the last few years events have gained impor￾tance for the tourism offer and can therefore

contribute to the economic development, im￾age and relevance of a region. The tourism in￾dustry benefits from congress events in vari￾ous areas, beside the event itself: the number

of overnight stays in the whole region increas￾es and interest in the destination, as well as in

the leisure activities offered by it, can be stim￾ulated and enhanced. Congress tourism is a

segment of business tourism and belongs to

the same category as individual business trav￾elling or holidays for visiting fairs and exhibi￾tions. However, it also interweaves with topics

of culture, leisure, labour, health and training

times and with their changes and trends. On

the one hand congress tourism benefits from

tourism infrastructure, on the other hand it

can also guarantee a tourism balance during

low season, when traditional tourism is stag￾nating or even decreasing. Traditional tourists

and also conference delegates bring prosperi￾ty, not only to service chain operators, but al￾so to the whole economic system of a destina￾tion. Usually it is assumed that congress

tourism has different objectives than leisure

tourism, but in fact it is deeply related to

leisure activities and the ensuing expenditures

in this field are quite relevant.

It is of great interest for a destination to

know how the expenditure behaviour

evolves, what the direct and indirect effects

are and how the induced tourism consump￾tion is subdivided. A study carried out in the

Autonomous Province of South Tyrol (Italy)

aims at revealing the economic role of con￾gress tourism in this area. Which leisure ac￾tivities did congress tourists ask for? And

what is the relation between congress expen￾diture and expenses made for leisure activi￾ties? The objective of the survey is to analyse

the expenditure of conference delegates not

only for board and lodging but also for

leisure activities, as well as for the purchase

Prof. Dr Harald Pechlaner

Foundation Professorship of Tourism

Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

Pater-Philipp-Jeningen-Platz 2

85071 Eichstätt, Germany

Phone: +49-8421-931185

Fax: +49-8421-932185

E-mail: [email protected]

Dott.ssa Alice Zeni

Institute for Regional Development

and Location Management

EURAC research

Viale Druso, 1

39100 Bolzano, Italy

Phone: +39-0471-055426

Fax: +39-0471-055429

E-mail: [email protected]

Dr Frieda Raich

Institute for Regional Development

and Location Management

EURAC research

Viale Druso, 1

39100 Bolzano, Italy

Phone: +39-0471-055421

Fax: +39-0471-055429

E-mail: [email protected]

1st submission: January 12, 2007

Accepted: August 28, 2007

Purpose – This paper aims to show the economic impact of congress tourism and the sectors involved.

In South Tyrol congress tourism may be considered niche tourism. It does not concern the South Ty￾rolean valleys, where tourist impact is high, but only the main towns.

Design/methodology/approach – The study consists of a quantitative analysis. A questionnaire has

been drawn up and handed over to conference attendees during the last day of their presence at the

event. The questionnaire is structured in three main parts: characteristics of the conference delegates

and their stay, expenses related to the conference, and other expenses. The second and third sections

aim at detailing expenditure and subdividing it into the following items: registration fees, transport, ac￾commodation, food and drink, goods and services, cultural activities, sports and entertainment.

Findings – In South Tyrol the average total expenditure of congress delegates per day is higher than

that of a traditional tourist. It must be considered that non-event-related expenses are very often in￾cluded in the registration fees under the item “social programme”. As a consequence the total expenses

are in fact higher. The question of registration fees actually plays a very important role, as it is a finan￾cially rather relevant item from which the destination normally benefits almost in full.

Originality/value – The survey succeeds in analysing the expenditure of conference delegates not only for

board and lodging but also for leisure activities, as well as for the purchase of other goods and services like

cultural, sports and entertainment activities during their conference stay in the region of South Tyrol.

Keywords: Tourism, Conferences, Expenditure, Leisure activities, Italy

Paper type: Case study

Congress Tourism and Leisure Tendencies with Special

Focus on Economic Aspects

HARALD PECHLANER, ALICE ZENI & FRIEDA RAICH

Abstract

Tourism Review 3+4/07 20.11.2007 10:57 Uhr Seite 32