Cultural Events: Case Study of a Theatre Festival as an Element of Tourist Attraction

Abstract

Events have increasingly become more relevant in scientific literature. Festivals are considered a part of event tourism, and they are emerging as a subfield largely because they occupy a special place in each culture. There are few profound studies regarding cultural festivals and, particularly, theatre. The main aim of this research is to contribute to the current scientific literature related to festivals as an instrument for cultural and tourist development. The findings of the study show the most relevant characteristics of the tourist who attends an event with more than forty editions such as the International Classical Theatre Festival of Almagro (Ciudad Real, Spain). Not only does it analyze its sociodemographic characteristics (gender, profession, level of studies and income level) but also interesting aspects such as the characteristics of the trip, which allow to determine the fundamentals of the event as a cultural space and an element of tourist attraction.