La visita de industria viva a Euskadi. Análisis y descripción del perfil actual de “turista de industria viva”

Abstract

Cultural tourism and its diverse thematic expressions increasingly arise as a way to live tourism experiences in our postmodern society. In this dynamic of searching new experiences, visits to living industries become an emerging tourist alternative. In this context, an empirical study on the demand for living industry visits in the Basque Country has been developed. It has been carried out with a sample of 406 tourists in this destination. This research studies how tourists in the Basque Country destination perceive industrial visits. To fulfill this objective the paper firstly analyses their perceived attitudes, motivations and barriers in the development of this activity. These criteria allow to extrapolate a group of visitors with a specific interest to know Basque companies on their holidays. They are named “Living Industry Tourists in the Basque Country” (LITBC). They represent one-third of the total of the surveyed sample. Secondly the research focuses in this LITBC group. On the one hand, it deepens on the reasons that motivate them; and, on the other, it applyes the cluster analysis method to find out if there are different groups of living industry visitors. Thirdly –and on the basis of the LITBC’s expectations– the paper deals with the definition of the ideal visit taking into account the organisational aspects of the visit. The knowledge of the demand is a key factor in the development or in the adaptation of the living industry visits accordingly to the interests and expectations of their potential public. The demand knowledge is needed because the main aim of the companies that open their doors is to produce goods or to deliver services, and not to receive visitors. This study reveals aspects that these companies should take into account when they open their doors to guarantee that their offer is in line with the demands of the tourist visitors.