Tourist Attraction Development in Denmark and Its Impact on Regions

Presentation at the 6th World Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure: 1126 -1145, 24-29 April 2012, Fethiye, Turkey.

The research aim of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to discuss and highlight the development of cultural and tourist attractions both at national and regional level; secondly to show that tourist attractions play important roles both in destination marketing and the economic contribution to the Danish regions. The paper presents an investigation on the definitions of different concepts within the cultural, tourism and creative industries, and experienced economy. The statistical approach is used in this analysis, both relating to the data presentation and the application of the Danish regional model for the economic assessment of tourist attraction. The paper describes the trends of cultural and tourist attractions in Denmark both in the economic terms and in terms of numbers of visitors at attractions. Tourist attractions have an influence on tourists’ choice of their destination. The last part of the paper focuses on the case studies within which the economic impacts of tourist attraction on the regions are presented. The Danish inter-regional model is applied for analyzing the economic and employment effects of these tourist attractions. The conclusion is drawn in the last section.