Travel purpose and expenditure patterns in city tourism: evidence from the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

Abstract

This study examines the expenditure patterns of urban tourists with different trip purposes including visiting cultural heritage. Expenditure categories include museums and theatres. We use a two-step approach, in which we first analyse the total daily amount of expenditure and then the budget shares of various categories. We make use of survey data collected for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, a large Western European city known for its rich cultural heritage and the semi-legalized use of cannabis. The econometric analysis shows that trip purposes are associated with substantial differences in total daily expenditure as well as on budget shares. However, the results also show that the activities undertaken by tourists are not limited to their (initial) trip purposes.