Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse museums and theme parks as a tourist package and how the proximity of airports to the city and public transport influence the development of this tourist package to stimulate tourism demand in cities.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative and quantitative indicators have been applied in our methodology to measure the most visited European theme parks and museums from 2012 to 2022. Moreover, the localisation of airports has allowed us to address the importance of theme parks and museums in cities and their regional economies.
Findings
The results suggest that the location of the city, entertainment complementary activity, airport proximity, intermodal passenger transport, air and train accessibility, tourism demand and supply, and a high concentration of population in cities have a high influence on the development of a tourist package that includes museums and theme parks to stimulate the tourism demand in European urban cities. London and Paris are two of the most visited cities in the world, and these are the most attractive European cities for tourists in terms of efficiency because tourists can optimize much better their space and time to visit the city’s tourist attractions during their holidays. Another important finding is that the public transport service plays an important role in museums and theme parks’ visits and the optimization of space-time for tourists when they are visiting a city and its tourist attractions on holidays, especially subways, trains and buses. Although time-space measures of accessibility in public transport in cities must be improved to optimize the time of the native population and tourists.
Originality/value
This research shows the complementary role of museums and theme parks as an attractive tourist package and an entertainment, cultural and educational activity to improve the quality of tourism supply and redistribute tourist flows in European countries. Moreover, there are limited studies that tackle the theme of parks and museums in a tourism context.
Keywords
Citation
Florido-Benítez, L. (2024), "The close complementarity of museums and theme parks as a tourist package in European capital cities", European Journal of Management Studies , Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMS-07-2023-0050
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2024, Lázaro Florido-Benítez
License
Published in European Journal of Management Studies. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
1. Introduction
Museums, theme parks, public transport and accommodation services are part of the entertainment and tourism industries, and all of them must provide quality service and a good experience to tourists. Museums and theme parks never compete with each other because museums are focused on study, research and the preservation of cultural properties, especially in the 21st century through digital and technological innovation (see Taormina and Baraldi, 2022; Hossaini and Blankenberg, 2017). The Network of European Museum Organizations (NEMO) indicates that the four fundamental values guiding the activity of a museum are: social, collection, educational and economic (NEMO, 2015). Museums are inextricably linked to the future of cities and their urban development planning (Grewcock, 2006).
On the other hand, theme parks provide motivating experiences during their attractions, and they encourage tourists to visit theme parks and cities where these are localized (Wu et al., 2024). Theme parks and attractions provide leisure and recreation facilities for their local communities and international tourists (Milman et al., 2010). Carrasco-Santos et al. (2023) note that tourist attractions stimulate local economic growth through increased spending on dining, shopping and leisure activities. Ramaano (2021a) found that tourist attractions require a proper tourism strategy by destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to provide economic and social benefits to the locals (Ramaano, 2021b). Conversely, theme parks may create unexpected problems for both park owners and destinations in terms of development, management and investment (Kawamura and Hara, 2010), like overtourism, gentrification or the rise in commodity prices (Żemła, 2020).
Theme park and museum operators provide their own brands of education in their own ways. At present, these two tourist attractions have become important sponsors of cities as a joint tourist package and complementary for tourists (Macdonald and Alsford, 1995; Zbuchea, 2015). Museums and theme parks have a common denominator: visitors can enjoy their activities, innovative installations, attractions and painting and sculpture collections. The joining together of educational and cultural activities with the commerce and technology of the entertainment world is called “edutainment” by Hannigan (1998). As stated by Schwob et al. (2022) museums and theme parks are major actors in the cultural, creative and tourism industries, and they combine entertainment with education (Clavé et al., 2023a). As in the theme park, museum visitors become the actors of their own experiences (Soares, 2016), and cities use theme parks and museums to attract tourists and universalize the city’s brand image, especially national capitals. Capital cities display the nation's symbols to attract tourists thanks to tourism activities (Saidi, 2012). For instance, most national museums and theme parks are localized in European capital cities like Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, London, Rome, etc. Therborn (2002) notes that the urban space of capital cities is politicized and monumentalized by governments. Their iconography and monumentality are focused on promoting the city's brand image worldwide and stimulating domestic and international tourism demand.
Cities must provide a diversity of the tourist offer in terms of positioning and the quality of services. Furthermore, it is important to pay attention to every component of theme parks and museums' marketing communication to attract international visitors. Global crisis, international trends and visitor preferences have an influence on marketing communication and digital channels to make adequate investment decisions (Kupec et al., 2020). As stated by Van Aalst and Boogaarts (2002) museums and theme parks need to be supported by the proximity of hotels, restaurants, public transport, airports and a good tourism supply to be accessible to a wider audience. For instance, public transport services are linked to how cities redistribute the use of their urban spaces, and these services make cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin healthier and more sustainable (Gutiérrez et al., 2021; Elbert and Rentschler, 2021). Leisure and recreational activities like tourist-historic urban cores, museums and theme parks, amongst many others, are required in urban cities to satisfy the demand of national and international tourists (Morrison and Coca-Stefaniak, 2020).
Museums and theme parks in cities are attractive tourist attractions for domestic and international tourists, and yet few studies have considered them worthy of attention. Thus, there are a great many questions about the complementarity of museums and theme parks as a tourist package to attract tourists to cities. Bodolica et al. (2020) suggest that DMOs need to design innovative offerings related to theme parks and museums to increase tourism expenditure and project the city’s brand image across the globe because both attractions are considered the most popular entertainment attractions in cities.
Therefore, the commercial relationship between theme parks and museums as a tourist package needs to be tackled using a more comprehensive framework and global vision in the context of cities location, airports and public transport systems to improve tourism demand and supply in European cities. This study tries to fill this gap by analysing museums and theme parks as a tourist package, and how the proximity of airports to the city and public transport influence the development of this tourist package (museums and theme parks) to stimulate tourism demand in cities. More specifically, to examine the interrelationship between theme parks-museums as a tourist package in the city's location, as well as its tourism demand and supply. The methodology used in this study is a set of qualitative and quantitative indicators for measuring the most visited European theme parks and museums from 2012 to 2022 and where they are localized, which have allowed us to address the importance of theme parks and museums in cities and their regional and local economies.
2. Literature review
2.1 Museums are an integral part of the tourism industry in Europe
According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and NEMO reported that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 95% of museums around the world were forced to close in order to safeguard the well-being of staff and visitors in 2020 (ICOM, 2021; NEMO, 2020). Obviously, the coronavirus had a negative impact on European tourism and travel activities. Museums are an important economic asset for cultural tourism in Europe because they attract millions of international tourists each year (Kefi et al., 2024). Paris, London, Madrid, Amsterdam, or Rome capital cities are recognized and visited for their famous museums such as the Louvre, British Museum, El Prado, Van Gogh and Capitoline museums. These European museums are an important contributor to urban tourism and the symbolic identity of the cities where they are localised.
However, cities’ tourism demand and tourism attractiveness are estimated based on tourist visitation, travel distance and visitor flow network relationships (Zhang et al., 2022). Florido-Benítez (2023a) revealed that airports provide accessibility, connectivity and frequencies of flights through airlines, and they have a direct impact on the number of passengers’ arrivals at destinations and museums. Morrison and Maxim (2021) note that the availability of US airports and good access to markets in the Southeast USA through highways were the main reasons for Walt Disney selecting Orlando to build Walt Disney World. These authors note that the complementary nature of theme parks and museums adds value to urban cities.
For this reason, Hti and Desarkar (2018) recommend promoting personalized tourist packages by DMOs and online travel agencies (OTAs) based on multiple points of interest, like tourist attractions, to optimize the time of tourists in cities and their squeezed budgets while they are enjoying their holidays. In that time, we have seen a major economic downturn due to the pandemic crisis, high inflation, the spike in oil prices, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war, which have provoked that tourism demand is not so easily restored in cities. A study carried out by Alegre and Sard (2015) revealed that tourist packages are important holiday products for many destinations and tourists in time of crisis. During the financial crisis of 2008, 19% of European tourists opted for a package holiday. Package tours increase the number of tourists at cities (Liao and Chuang, 2020). For instance, 3 out of 10 tourists visited London for its museums, and one of them was the British Museum (Corbos and Popescu, 2011). Ramaano (2023a) notes that the impacts of tourism development in municipalities and cities provide new opportunities for entrepreneurs and improve local economies. Responsible tourism entails constructing better locations and more suitable establishments for people to visit and live in (Ramaano, 2023b).
Recuero-Virto et al. (2017) suggest that European museums should communicate their cultural and educational offering better to OTAs, DMOs, and digital channels to increase the number of visitors. Museums need marketing because they face substantial competition in leisure-time tourism (Kotler et al., 2008). Often, museum managers do not see the opportunity to shift their focus from “products and collections” to personalized services for visitors (Komarac et al., 2017). Indeed, the lovers of art, culture and history demand more customized services than the rest of visitors. Each museum should know what its public’s criteria are regarding a satisfying, high-quality visit. Museums could use some theme park techniques in order to determine whether their customers spend more during the visit (Zbuchea, 2015). Museum operators should design tourist packages focused on new acquisitions, specific collections and artists/painters with the main objective of attracting new visitors (Solà et al., 2023). When a museum’s brand is associated with a particular artist, the artist is a brand in themselves, bestowing the museum added value to diversify the number of visitors (Ferreiro-Rosende et al., 2023).
2.2 European theme parks suffered severely from the consequences of the coronavirus pathogen
Theme parks attract over 500 million visitors each year (TEA/AECOM, 2023). Disneyland Paris, Euro Park, De Efteling, Tivoli Gardens, Gardaland and Port Aventura parks have made great contributions to the tourism industry in terms of the number of tourists and tourism expenditure. Europe is the most popular tourist destination in the world, although the coronavirus crisis has had negative consequences for the European tourism industry and its theme parks due to quarantine, obligatory COVID-19 tests, general recommendations to limit traveling, and the lack of coordination between particular countries’ governments (Roman et al., 2022). Most European theme parks did not open until the spring of 2021, which limited the number of visitors, maintained distance, used masks for visitors and workers, and reduced opening hours (Mellinas et al., 2023). Lee et al. (2024) revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a total about 921 billion US dollars of China's tourism consumption loss in 2020, that is, 7% of GDP in 2019.
If to this, we add that the number of international tourist arrivals declined by 74% in 2020 over the previous year (UNWTO, 2021), due to airport and airline operators being practically inoperative as a result of COVID-19 (Florido-Benítez, 2021a), European cities, theme parks and museums have suffered acutely in the pandemic crisis. Surprisingly, according to UNWTO (2023) Europe recorded 585 million arrivals in 2022, reaching nearly 80% of pre-pandemic levels (−21% over 2019). Due to COVID-19, theme parks are diversifying toward multiple areas of amusement, leisure and consumption. For example, developing contingency plans can help the survival and recovery of tourism and hospitality activities during and after the pandemic (Li et al., 2023). Theme park operators should manage visitors' flows and queues inside parks after the COVID-19 pandemic to guarantee rides' security and hygiene (Pan et al., 2022).
Theme parks have drawn widespread academic interest in recent decades. Tan and Huang (2020) note that innovative scenarios and escape motivations influence European theme parks visit intentions in a positive manner. Each theme park has its own thematic identity, characters, products and services, marketing strategies, location, brand image, restaurants, hotels, slogan and digital channels to promote its movies and rides/facilities to attract future visitors. For example, Disney’s marketing strategies and brand image are totally different than those of Europa Park, De Efteling and Port Aventura parks. Universal and Disney theme parks tend to integrate rides, shows, games, shopping, dining, attractions, hotels and facilities both indoors and outdoors to form a multiday vacation package (Liang and Li, 2023). On the contrary, Song et al. (2009) found that the majority of tourists prefer the cheaper alternatives provided by tour operators that allow them to visit Hong Kong Disneyland and stay at other hotels. Thus, it is very important that DMOs, theme parks, tour operators and hotel establishments align their interests and marketing strategies to design a tourist package to achieve high profitability and tourism expenditure at cities, theme parks and hotels. Indeed, Clavé et al. (2023b) note that tourist packages have contributed to the growth of European theme parks. As theme parks and museums prosper as preferred entertainment, greater efforts are required in promotion campaigns through digital channels to increase their benefits and number of visitors. We would like to highlight in this paper that the great theme parks and museums of the world need the proximity of airports to be visited by millions of international visitors each year (Florido-Benítez, 2023b).
3. Methodology
This research uses a qualitative and quantitative methodology to analyse museums and theme parks as a tourist package and examine the interrelationship between theme parks-museums, the city's location and its tourism demand and supply. European museums and theme parks were selected because both tourist attractions help improve international and domestic tourism demand (Therborn, 2002; Taormina and Baraldi, 2022; Florido-Benítez, 2024). Theme parks and museums are the main motivators for tourism trips to many destinations and a key element in the conception of cities’ tourism supply (Raluca and Gina, 2008; Başarangil, 2018) because they attract millions of tourists to urban cities every year.
3.1 Data collection and location of research
This research project was focused on European theme parks, museums and cities where these are localised. Data were collected using five steps and eight indicators:
- (1)
European theme parks, museums and number of visitors data were collected from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA/AECOM, 2023). The number of visitors is an essential indicator of the success of museums and theme parks (Li et al., 2021). Secondary data on the top 20 European theme parks and museums by number of visitors is presented in Tables 1 and 2. Theme parks and museums data cover the 2012 to 2022 period. The number of visitors helps identify key factors such as why visitors choose that type of theme park or museum, or even which rides are most visited by children and adults (Park et al., 2020), as well as design promotion campaigns to attract potential international visitors (Luo et al., 2020). Moreover, we consider parks and museums as an entertainment complementary variable (understood as a tourist package) to attract quality tourism to the city. For instance, Alcalá (2018) suggests that Dinópolis park in the province of Teruel (Spain) and complementary tourist attractions and services like museums, hotels, restaurants and public transport, among many others, have revitalized Teruel’s economy and attracted millions of visitors to Dinópolis park and the city. Indeed, visitors to theme parks and museums look for an ideal place to disconnect from the pace of daily life (Zoltak, 2004). Both can be considered complementary entertainment variables because they provide an opportunity for entertainment free time (Milman, 1991; Bigné et al., 2008).
- (2)
The location of cities where museums and theme parks are localized is very important to OTAs, DMOs and accommodations to advertise all of them in a specific tourist package. Paül i Agustí (2013) indicates that museums are localised in the centres of cities to influence the tourist supply and attract more tourists to urban cities. Most cities are highly dependent on tourist attractions, airports and public transport to enhance the local and regional economies (Florido-Benítez, 2021a). Furthermore, one of the main reasons why Disneyland Paris was built in the city of Paris was due to Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports’ proximity and easy access by high-speed train (Matusitz, 2010). The city of Paris has a central location relative to a market of 600 million potential visitors (d'Hauteserre, 1999). Figures 1 and 2 display the top 20 European museums and theme parks from 2012 to 2022 and the cities where they are localized, highlighting the importance of these entertainment and educational activities as a tourist package in the tourism industry.
This research provides the most efficient means of transport, using Google Maps software (2022) to analyse the accessibility and time between the city centre and airport and its closeness to theme parks and museums on September 7, 2022. The city centre was selected because most accommodations and museums are localized in this area. In addition, this study marks a fixed-radius travel distance of 60 km (isodistances) and 60 min (isochrones) to analyse the accessibility between the centre of the city, theme parks, museums, airports, underground, train and bus. Iso4app software (2022) was used to map and establish isodistance and isochrone measures and illustrate the distance for all variables selected in this study. It is important to point out that isochrone and isodistance indicators and maps rely on the city centre, territory, public transport, airports and tourist attractions, among many others.
For instance, the European Commission contemplates an area of 100 km, and one hour by car as an acceptable airport’s hinterland. Although Florido-Benítez (2021b) considers that an airport’s hinterland should have an 80 km radius and 50 min of driving by car from the airport to the city centre. Measuring travel distance in tourism and travel activities is vital to designing cities' tourism supply and their tourist attractions (Zhang et al., 2022). For instance, intermodal public transport improves the accessibility of theme parks and museums, the movements of foreign and domestic flows, and reduces traffic congestion and CO2 emissions (Florido-Benítez, 2023a, 2024).
- (3)
Theme park planning is linked to cities’ tourism demand and supply, and this requires exhaustive attention and understanding between theme park operators and DMOs (Raluca and Gina, 2008; Başarangil, 2018). This study selected the number of accommodations in cities as a tourism supply variable or indicator. This indicator is widely used in tourism studies (De Jorge and Suárez, 2014; Perić et al., 2022). Tourist destinations are heavily contingent on their accommodation sector (Lin et al., 2022). DMOs, hotel operators, public transport, and other stakeholders need to coordinate their marketing strategies and promotion campaigns to stimulate tourism demand (Florido-Benítez, 2022a, b) because tourism demand is highly related to cities’ promotion campaigns (Chang and Chiang, 2022). In addition, this study included the complementary nature of tourism supply (e.g. theme parks, museums, hotels, restaurants, sports events and public transport) as a variable because this generates consumers’ interest and motivation to visit tourist destinations (Whalen and Dunlap, 2024). Products and services aligned with tourists' preferences and needs motivate them to visit cities looking for fresh experiences (Chi et al., 2024).
- (4)
Tourism demand is often measured by the number of visitors in terms of departures and arrivals (Zhang et al., 2022; Li et al., 2017). International tourist arrivals are an indicator that helps to analyse the quality or quantity of the tourism demand in a specific period, tourist attractions and hotels (Van der Borg et al., 1996; Noonan, 2022; Papastathopoulos et al., 2021) to develop personalised marketing strategies (Oklevik et al., 2019). This study used tourism demand as a variable to assess the potential of theme parks and museums as a tourist package. Indeed, quantifying tourism demand requires different indicators like accommodation at cities to evaluate domestic and international overnight travel (UNWTO, 2010; Song et al., 2010) and to analyse the accessibility of cities (space-time) by public transport and travel distance in origin-destination terms (Lin et al., 2022; Wang and Lu, 2022; Tennøy et al., 2022).
- (5)
From a native population point of view, these are an important segment for urban cities’ tourist attractions and number of visitors, such as London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Sidney and St. Petersburg, amongst many others, because the native population likes to visit museums, theme parks, historical monuments, national parks and restaurants. For instance, The Native population encourage tourism activities in urban cities; for this reason, DMOs need to promote domestic tourism to enhance the local economy (Camargo et al., 2022; Coca-Stefaniak, 2019). Native population was selected a variable because this influences in the numbers of visitors to theme parks and museums. For instance, US theme parks are highly dependent on domestic tourism (Pan et al., 2018). In the same vein, the most important theme parks across the globe are influenced by the transportation system, native population, foreign tourism and their geographical location (TEA/AECOM, 2014). Thus, theme parks and museums as a tourist package can be sold as on entertainment, cultural and educational activities to colleges and universities to improve local economies. Readers can imagine the great impact of the Chinese native population in Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland parks, Universal Beijing Park, Ocean Park Hong Kong, or Songcheng theme parks. Chen et al. (2022) revealed that Shanghai Disneyland Park has a great impact on the tourism industry of the city of Shanghai and its domestic tourism.
To finish this section, Figure 3 displays the high influence of eight variables (city’s location, entertainment complementary, airport proximity, intermodal passenger transport, air and train accessibility and connectivity, high tourism demand, good tourism supply and high concentration of population) in the development of a tourist package, which include museums and theme parks, to stimulate the tourism demand in European urban cities. Most these variables were used to analyse museums and theme parks in cities (Paül i Agustí, 2013; Park et al., 2020; Papastathopoulos et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022; Florido-Benítez, 2022a, 2024).
The purpose of the tourist package offered by DMOs and OTAs is to blend accommodations, means of transport and tourist attractions to increase tourists’ daily expenditures in cities. From the tourist’s point of view, they want to save costs, be more comfortable and optimize their holiday’s time. For instance, large cities have implemented intermodal transportation to enhance their sustainable mobility and travellers’ experiences and satisfaction (Meyer-Hollatz et al., 2024). Indeed, museums and theme parks must be supported by a quality tourism supply, such as hotels and resorts, efficient public transport and restaurants to satisfy the demands of visitors when they visit the city and tourist attractions. Cities like Madrid, Rome, Amsterdam, St. Peterburg, Berlin, Warsaw, Stockholm and Copenhagen provide a good tourism supply and a public transport system. For this reason, these urban cities are also the most visited capital cities in Europe. They have strategically managed and combined the eight variables shown in Figure 3, with the aim of attracting millions of visitors and improving the economy of the city.
4. Results of research
4.1 European museums and theme parks an added value to capital cities
Capital cities house the main tourist attractions of countries because they provide varied tourist options (e.g. museums, theme parks, theatres, castles and palaces, cathedrals, historic monuments, amongst many others) and a well-developed infrastructure in transportation and services terms such as hub airports, high-speed trains, intermodal transport, hotels, pensions, restaurants, cafes, shops, etc. Capital cities concentrate a varied of tourist attractions to attract different segments of tourists. Dumbrovská and Fialová (2014) indicate that all these facilities are intended for tourists and the native population. Conversely, capital cities are favoured by governments to signify their political aspirations (Smith, 2007). This study focusses on museums and theme parks as complementary entertainment activities to create a tourist package to stimulate tourism demand in cities.
Table 1 shows the importance of these two tourist attractions in visitors’ terms. For example, the Louvre Museum in Paris received around 85 million visitors from 2012 to 2022, which is almost the same number of international tourist arrivals that visited Spain in 2019 (UNWTO, 2019). In the period under consideration of this study, British and Vatican museums were visited by more than 56 million visitors each, followed by the National Gallery with 52 million, Tate Modern with 50 million and the National History museums in London with 48 million visitors, a substantial figure that has improved economically the cities where these museums are localized. As we can see in Table 1, 18 museums are localized in capital cities, except the Galleria Degli Uffizi in the city of Florence (Italy) and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Oswiecim (Poland). These results are in line with other studies like Maitland and Ritchie (2009) and Claval (2000) confirming that the large museums and collections of art are concentrated in European capital cities, and they are must-visits for tourists. It is noteworthy that the city of London houses the most visited museums (seven) in Europe, due to the importance of their art collections and free visits, followed by Paris with three museums, and their visits are provided upon payment, making the Louvre Museum the most visited in the world.
Figure 4 displays the evolution of the number of visitors in European museums, and most of them have experienced steady growth from 2012 to 2019, except in 2016 due to the rise in oil prices and the pound’s fall caused by the Brexit referendum. This situation immediately affected the tourism industry of the British Isles and the rest of European countries. Moreover, museums were severely affected by the pandemic crisis, subject to rigorous capacity limits and control measures. In 2020, the number of visits decreased by −75% on average in these 20 museums. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unexpected disruptions to the operation of many museums. Nevertheless, in 2021, the number of people visiting the top 100 museums worldwide grew by 31% (71 million visitors) in comparison with the previous year. Although overall numbers were still 69% lower than in 2019, when the top 100 museums had 230 million visitors (ICOM, 2022). Museums and theme parks are an added value to cities because they attract million of visitors and enhance the regional and local economies. In 2022, all museums (except the National Portrait Gallery) analysed in this research increased by an average of 175% compared previous years. Although this positive data from 2022 did not reach the pre-pandemic levels, the top 20 museums examined are by −30.7% below average in comparison with the year 2019.
Table 2 and Figure 5 present the number of visitors at the top 20 European theme parks and their evolution in the period established. Disneyland Paris is the most visited theme park in Europe, with almost 96 million visitors in the last eleven years, followed by Europa Park in the city of Rust (Germany) with 53 million visitors, and third, De Efteling park in the city of Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands, with almost 50 million visitors. A highly significant feautre of the top 20 European theme parks is that they were less visited (594 million visitors) than the top 20 European museums (702 million visitors) in the period analysed. Furthermore, most of the top 20 European theme parks are not localized in the capital cities, like European museums, theme parks are often localized on the outskirts of capital cities or another city. For example, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios are about 32 kilometres to the east of the centre of Paris, in the 4th sector of Marne-la-Vallee, and most visitors come to these two parks by train (Regional Express Network), and the journey takes about 40 min. According to Philips (1999) most theme parks and their hotels are localized outside the city and suburbs to realize a greater return because theme parks select locations based on their potential market and accessibility (; Clavé, 2007). Although Disney and Universal Studios companies are operating in the main cities around the world, such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Orlando, Osaka, Singapore and Beijing.
Another point that we would like to highlight is that Europa Park, De Efteling, Port Aventura, Gardaland, Liseberg, Alton Towers, Phantasialand, Heide Park and Legoland Billund theme parks are situated far from national capital cities, but this encourages tourists to visit other cities and stimulates the tourism demand of a region or country. For instance, Europa Park is located in the municipality of Rust in the district of Ortenau, south-western Germany, and this is the second most popular park and most visited in Europe, with 9% of the total theme parks. Europa Park has three different railway systems (Express Lane, the Monorail trains and the Panorammabahn). They provide high accessibility and connectivity to this theme park and the municipality of Rust. Nowadays, the municipality of Rust is known thanks to Europa Park, and its local economy is highly dependent on tourists that visit Europa Park.
In addition, as we can see in Figure 5, most theme parks have enjoyed growth from 2012 to 2019, not including Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios parks, possibly because of the rise in oil prices, and the pound’s fall as a result the Brexit referendum, as we mentioned previously. For example, in 2012, Disneyland Paris had 11.2 million visitors; since then, the number of visitors has not reached this figure yet. Reuters (2018) reported that these two theme parks racked up a net loss of 858 million euros in 2016 as visitor numbers fell 10%. Euro Disney faced deep financial troubles after making overly optimistic projections on visitor numbers and taking on too much debt. Figure 5 shows us that theme parks have not been immune to the effects of the pandemic crisis; in 2020, these 20 theme parks fell by −65% on average in the number of visitors. These data were devastating for these urban cities because they are highly dependent on tourism activities. During the pandemic crisis, most people relinquished their vacations, or they travelled within their own country and reduced the length of their stay.
Nevertheless, in 2021 theme parks increased attendance globally by an impressive 72% compared with the previous year. The most prestigious ranking of amusement and theme parks worldwide is based entirely on attendance (TEA/AECOM, 2023). Tourist attractions are based on the flow of tourists (Wang et al., 2021). Moreover, the top 20 parks analysed in this study (not including Grönalund) registered an average growth of 70.3% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Indeed, in 2022, some parks increased the number of visitors in comparison with the year 2019 like Disneyland Paris (1.9%), De Efteling (0.6%), Walt Disney Studios Paris (1.8%), Gardaland (1.1%), Alton Towers (8%), Puy Du Fou (1.5%), Parc Asterix (13.2%), Legoland Billund (15%), Phantasialand (2.5%) and Futuroscope (1.1%). The rest of the parks did not reach the pre-pandemic levels. These results reveal that half of theme parks have exceeded the figures for the year 2019, and they have managed the pandemic crisis better than museum operators examined in this research.
In the last 30 years, the large cities have built new museums (Guggenheim Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi, or the Museum of the Future in Dubai), theme parks (Universal Studios Beijing and Shanghai Disneyland), airports (Incheon airport in South Korea and Changi airport in Singapore), and infrastructures like Euro-Tunnel between UK and France or the world's fastest public train called Maglev in Shanghai, all of them have improved the accessibility of cities and their tourist supply. In general terms, museums and theme parks are very lucrative market segments for the local economy of the city. Thus, DMOs and OTAs should design these two entertainment activities as a complementary tourist package to attract more tourists to the city, boost tourism supply and deseasonalize the tourism activity of urban cities where museums and theme parks are localized.
4.2 Location of cities where museums and theme parks are localized as tourist attractions
As we have seen previously, most of the top 20 museums are concentrated in the national capital cities of Europe, but not in the case of theme parks where these are more geographically dispersed amongst other European cities. Table 3 presents the top 20 museums and theme parks by country. After that, we selected the European capital cities where museums are localized because capital cities provide the best tourism supply in number of accommodations (Evans, 2012), distance from hotel to city centre (Radojevic et al., 2014), and intermodal transport terms like airport, high-speed trains, buses and the rest of public transport (Florido-Benítez, 2021a, b; Matusitz, 2010). We also added the airport’s proximity and time for public transport from airport to the city centre variables because cities with effective accessibility and extensive public transport networks are potentially more attractive to tourists (Hall et al., 2017). Furthermore, in this study, the population of the city was implemented as a variable because capital cities have a high concentration of population, and the native population helps to improve the sustainability of the tourism industry and local economy in urban cities (Camargo et al., 2022).
The city of London provides the best air accessibility with four airports: London city, IATA code is LCY; Heathrow (IATA: LHR); Gatwick (IATA: LGW); and Luton (IATA: LTN), as we can see in Table 3. From a public transport airport-city centre point of view, London city has good connectivity by underground with time intervals of 35 min from London city, 45 min from Heathrow airport, 47 min from Gatwick airport, and 1 h and five minutes from Luton airport. This synergy favours that many tourists stay in accommodations near the city centre and tourist attractions to optimize their time while on holidays or business. London is the third city by number of accommodations, with 1,494 hotels (Statista, 2022). A hotel location in urban cities needs to be close to tourist attractions, airports, and public transport to be as accessible as possible for clients. All capital cities analysed in this research have hub airports and intermodal transport systems at the city centre and airport. Besides, these intermodal transport systems favour good connectivity to visit museums and theme parks in cities. We selected the most efficient means of transport using Google Maps.
In addition, the city of London is the second most populated among the capital cities examined, with 8.9 million people. Obviously, part of the population visits museums and theme parks, such as families, students and teachers, pensioners, retired people, older people and adolescents, amongst many others. Considering the importance of visits from national and international visitors from other countries. Sometimes the city’s theme parks and museums generate contact between residents and visitors, and this can be problematic in cities (e.g. Paris or Barcelona) where the traditional cultural pattern of the residents differs extremely from that of visitors to theme parks and museums.
The city of Paris is the most populated amongst capitals with 11.2 million people, and this provides the biggest number of accommodations with 1,611 hotels (Statista, 2022). Most visitors complete their visits at theme parks in 3–4 h without taking any accommodation. The average accommodation time of visitors is 2.4 days in Paris Disneyland, and the average accommodation time in global theme park hotels is 2.8 days (Başarangil, 2018). In terms of air accessibility, Paris is the second most important of the total capital cities considered, with its two airports, Orly (IATA: ORY) and Charles De Gaulle (IATA: CDG), supported by their train stations, which connect from the airport to the city centre of Paris or vice versa in 50 min and 51 min, respectively. In the digital and metaverse eras, cities, companies and users are totally immersed in a new commercial paradigm where tourism and transport industries, complement each other in finding viable solutions to resource efficiency and environmental actions to offer a customized tourist service and a better tourist’s experience. As stated by Freytag and Bauder (2018) the city of Paris is one of the leading urban tourism destinations in Europe, thanks to tourist attractions, accommodation, the subway, and Paris Charles de Gaulle and the Paris Orly airports.
Amsterdam, the national capital city of the Netherlands provides air connectivity through its main Amsterdam Schiphol (IATA: AMS) airport. This airport provides an excellent intermodal transport station, where passengers can travel by train from the airport to the city centre or vice versa in 24 min. Amsterdam offers a wide range of accommodations (533), like hotels, hostels, guesthouse, bed and breakfast, among others. The role of an accommodation provider is to offer a safe and secure place for a visitor to stay. In the capital cities, standards differ between different hotel operators and according to different budgets.
Amsterdam city is the least populated of the total capital cities, with 1.2 million people, but DMOs and museum operators motive their citizens to visit the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. For example, admission to the Rijksmuseum is free for everyone aged 18 and under. In 2019, the Rijksmuseum welcomed nearly half a million children, and more than 200,000 of them visited their school. In fact, 26% of total visits to the Rijksmuseum were from the native population in 2020 (Rijksmuseum, 2021). DMO, museum and theme park operators must promote the competitive advantages of the city as a marketing tool to stimulate tourism demand, especially through digital channels like social media, the city’s official website and app, national and international promotion campaigns, TV, digital newspapers, etc.
Regarding the city of Madrid, its main air connectivity is the Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas (IATA: MAD), and this airport homes an intermodal transport station, and the subway is the most frequently used means of public transport to move around the city, particularly from the airport to the city centre, which takes 35 min by subway. Madrid is the third most populated city, with 6.7 million people, and this provides 864 accommodations to visitors. Hotels are the most traditional and common types of accommodations in urban cities. Urtasun and Gutiérrez (2006) found that the spatial distribution of hotels in Madrid is focused on three major concentrations: the historic city, the central business district and the high-accessibility points. In fact, luxury hotels in the city centre are geographically close to national museums. The most important museums in Spain are Reina Sofia and Museo Nacional del Prado, and these two museums try to be as accessible as possible to reach out to diverse audiences and connect them (Madrid Destino, 2019). Both museums and Warner theme park are two of the main attractions in Madrid. Florido-Benítez (2023c) revealed that Spanish hotels can improve their occupancy levels and increase the number of overnight stays thanks to the proximity of the airports’ locations.
The rest of the cities like Berlin, Rome, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Stockholm and Copenhagen, are analysed in more detail in the following subsection, due to some of them do not combine museums and theme parks, or isodistance and isochrone measures from the city centre to tourist attractions and airports which are off limits set boundaries.
4.3 Isodistance and Isochrone measures for a sustainable future of public transport in cities
Most cities around the world try to improve the existing systems of public transport to make them more attractive to the native population and tourists and reduce CO2 emissions. Braniš et al. (2020) suggest that the quality of the public transport service is based on the number of links, their occupancy and the time and distance availability of stops and stations. This research considered the most efficient means of transport, like trains, subways and buses, from the city centre to tourist attractions and airports, and all of them were under 60 min, according to Google Maps. Time-space measures of accessibility in public transport in cities need to be improved with the aim of optimizing the time of the native population and tourists.
As we have already mentioned in the methodology section, this study considers an area of 60 km (Isodistances) and 60 min time (Isochrones) from the city centre to museums, theme parks, airports, accommodations and intermodal transport. Tourists need to optimize their space-time on holiday. Figure 6 displays ten maps of isodistance and isochrone measures at ten capital cities analysed in this research, using Google Maps (Destefanis et al., 2022) and Iso4app software to visualize them. These ten maps present the distance (orange colour) and time (green colour) of the proximity from city centre to museums, theme parks, airports and accommodations by public transport, allowing us to know how DMOs and OTAs can design an attractive tourist package to stimulate tourism demand in space-time terms at cities. In this research, we display the main tourist attractions. In the following figures, we take as reference Figure 6 to analyse each European capital city in terms of isodistance and isochrone measures.
In isodistance-isochrone measures and greater concentration of the top 20 museums and theme parks terms, the city of London is the most accessible and competitive city of all, with 7 museums and 3 theme parks within the boundaries established, isodistance (orange) and isochrone (green). This urban city has a competitive advantage in accessibility and concentration of tourist attractions, thanks to its public transport, especially in airports and subways. It is no coincidence that London was the second most visited city in the world with 20.5 million international visitors in 2018, ahead of Paris with 18 million international visitors. The most visited city was Bangkok in Thailand, with 22 million interactional visitors (Murray, 2018). Furthermore, as we can see in Panel A of Figure 6, Alton Towers theme park and the National Museum of Scotland are outside of London’s isodistance and isochrone boundaries. Although this can be seen as a good opportunity to develop tourist packages by DMOs and OTAs, where tourists can visit theme parks and museums localized in other cities. For example, DMOs could design a tourist package where tourists can start by visiting the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh (from the Edinburgh airport), Alton Towers, and the rest of the museums and theme parks in the city of London, or vice versa, tourists can start by visiting the museums of London (from London city airport), Alton Towers theme parks, and finally the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Museums in London are very well visited by the native population, and in 2021, the Natural History Museum was the most popular indoor attraction in the UK with 1.6 million visitors (National History Museum, 2022). From the point of view theme parks, these attract guests from outside cities to stay for several nights (Clavé, 2007), but theme parks typically cater to residents within a 1 h driving radius (Liang and Li, 2023).
Regarding the city of Paris, it is the second city where the greatest concentration of the top 20 museums and theme parks is within the boundaries established by this research, with 4 museums and 3 theme parks. This is a competitive advantage and added value to the design of a tourist package by DMOs and OTAs because tourists have the chance to visit many tourist attractions within a short period of time and inside other boundaries established in this research, thanks to public transport, the proximity of its two airports (Orly and Charles De Gaulle), and the number of accommodations. Paris and London are the most attractive cities for tourists in terms of efficiency because tourists can optimize much better space and time to visit the city’s tourist attractions during their holidays. According to Euromonitor International (2021) the city of Paris is the best in terms of tourism performance and second in tourism policy and infrastructure globally. Furthermore, this city was the second most visited worldwide, with 19.1 million visitors in 2019. If there is one thing Paris can boast of being “The city of Lights”, and its national monuments, museums, hotels, restaurants, gastronomy and cathedrals are its main tourist attractions to attract millions of tourists each year. Nevertheless, Puy Du Fou and Futuroscope theme parks are outside of isodistance and isochrone measures (see Panel B of Figure 6), but as we can previously see, this is a great opportunity to design new tourist packages, and tourists may be able to travel to other cities in France.
The city of Madrid is the best city where isodistance and isochrone boundaries are mixed, thanks to its public transport. Reina Sofía, Museo Nacional del Prado, and Warner theme park are within the boundaries established in this study. Simple overlapping of public transport maps is a commonly used approach for isodistance-isochrone measures to show the diversity of tourist activities which native population and tourists can enjoy. Madrid is the capital city of Spain, and this has an excellent and dynamic tourism supply from luxury hotels, national and private museums, intermodal public transport, Michelin’s restaurants, theatres, great musicals, the football team Real Madrid and its Santiago Bernabéu football stadium, etc. In 2019, this urban and cosmopolitan city received 10.4 million visitors, who generated 23 million overnight stays in hotels, a 78% occupancy rate per room (Madrid Destino, 2019). 47% of tourist attractions are situated in the city centre (Hidalgo-Giralt et al., 2021). A high tourism demand like this requires a good and quality tourism supply from the local government, hospitably and tourism industry, and public and private transport. Although, the sixth most visited Port Aventura theme park in the world, according to this research, it is outside of isodistance and isochrone limits. This theme park is localized in the city of Tarragona, Catalonia (Spain) a tremor 108 kilometres, or 1 h and 46 min, by public transport to Barcelona city, and 553 kilometres, or 5 h and 10 min by public transport to the city of Madrid (see Panel C of Figure 6). In both cases, Port Aventura Park is outside of Madrid, and Barcelona’s boundaries are marked on this study. The best option would be the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat (IATA: BCN) airport to visit Port Aventura and other museums of Barcelona, such as Museo Blau, Casa Museo Gaudí, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona, Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, amongst many others. These museums are not included in our study, but it is a recommendation to those tourists who are interested in visiting the Catalonia region and the city of Barcelona. In this study, we try to improve the tourism industry from the point of view of cities and tourists.
The Vatican Museums are localized in the Vatican City State and inside the city of Rome. The airport nearest to the Vatican Museums and the city of Rome is the airport of Rome-Fiumicino (IATA: FCO); both are within the isodistance and isochrone boundaries, but not the Galleria Degli Uffizi in Florence or Gardaland theme park (see Panel D of Figure 6). In this research, Rome is the second city by number of accommodations, with 1,600 hotels (Statista, 2022). This great offer of accommodations makes the city of Rome an ideal location for tourists to stay at hotels, and they can travel by high-speed train to nearby cities like Siena, Naples, Perugia and Florence, amongst many others. Italy is very attractive to lay tourist packages out because all cities are an open-air museums. As suggested by Baloglu and Mangaloglu (2001) tour operators and OTAs like to sell the Italy destination as a tourist package because tourists can visit a lot of historical monuments and museums in different cities in Italy. The easiest way to travel around Italy is by train, and it is one of the least expensive in Europe (Belford et al., 2003). Tourists like to stay at hotels near the points of interest of cities, such as transport networks, museums, monuments and theme parks, amongst many others (Baum and Haveman, 1997; Destefanis et al., 2022). It is no surprise that the city of Rome is one of the most visited cities in Europe, and this city received 10.3 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021). Tourists can design their own tourist package through OTAs, DMOs, museums and theme parks’ official websites. For instance, tourists can book a hotel room (for three days) in Rome, another two days in Florence, and one day in Verona, or vice versa. In this study, we recommend that tourists fly to Verona Villafranca (VRN) airport to visit the city of Verona and Gardaland theme park.
On the other hand, Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands received 8.8 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021). The Rijksmuseum and Van Goh Museum are the main tourist attractions in Amsterdam, and they are within the isodistance and isochrone measures (see Panel E of Figure 6). Nevertheless, De Efteling theme park is outside of established boundaries, and this park is about 108 km away from Amsterdam and 2 h and 3 min by train from Amsterdam to the city of Kaatsheuvel. As we mentioned previously, De Efteling is the third most visited theme park in Europe, with 44 million visitors. This park stages elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables and folklore of the Netherlands. Rawding (2000) suggests that the high tourism demand in Amsterdam and its number of international visitors are certainly out of proportion to its size. Amsterdam’s DMO needs to reduce tourist pressure in the historical core to pave the way for more sustainable tourism in this city (Karayazi et al., 2021). In this study, we recommend developing new tourist packages by DMOs and OTAs focused on tourist attractions from different cities in the Netherlands to reduce tourist pressure in the city of Amsterdam and to spur urban cities that promote the flower industry, Texel National Park, Gouda cheese, Dutch wines, canals, windmills, or even cycling culture to reduce CO2 emissions in other urban cities.
City of St. Petersburg (Russia) is localized the State Hermitage Museum, one of the most famous art galleries and museums in the world, occupied 10th place among the top 20 worldwide in 2021 (TEA/AECOM, 2021) and seventh place in Europe, according to our study. The city of St. Petersburg received 8.8 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021). This museum is in the heart of the city and inside of the isodistance and isochrone measures established in this study. As we can see in Panel F of Figure 6, the city of St. Petersburg displays a high level of accessibility by public transport. The system of global coastal cities in the Baltic region is one of the most spectacular cities in Europe, in view of its transport, logistics, demographic potential and advantageous geoeconomic situation. Indeed, the Pulkovo (IATA: LED) airport constitutes the main entrance for visitors to the city and a symbol of the growing city thanks to the air accessibility that provides this airport. The peculiarity of this city is that it is only represented by the State Hermitage Museum, according to our study, because this urban city is an influential cultural centre, where business and culture interact (Gordin and Matetskaya, 2012). In tour operators and OTAs’ catalogues St. Petersburg has always been sold to consumers as a tourist package, and it is highly demanded by tourists (Van der Borg, 1994).
Berlin is the capital of Germany, and this is not represented by Europa Park, Phantasialand and Heide parks according to the top 20 European theme parks. None of these three theme parks are within the limits set boundaries of Berlin city; they are geographically dispersed in the throughout country. On top of this, none of its museums are among the top 20 European museums. This characteristic is also shown in the cities of Warsaw, Stockholm and Copenhagen, and for this reason, we decided to add the most important museums of these four capital cities to improve tourism demand and museums’ visits by tourists (see Panel G of Figure 6), in order to combine theme parks and museums recommended by this study to design future tourist packages. The city of Berlin received 6.3 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021). The tourism industry is of great economic importance in this city; between 2001 and 2013, the number of accommodation establishments in Berlin grew from 543 to 786 (Tourism Review News, 2018). Given the geographic dispersion of theme parks in Germany, the most advisable would be to combine theme parks and museums in Berlin as a tourist package. For example, DMOs and OTAs should promote a tourist package where tourists can enjoy 3 days to visit the most important museums in Berlin, 2 days in Heide Pars, 2 days in Phantasialand, and another 2 days in Europa Park. This tourist package encourages tourism activity throughout the German territory, supported by a good network of public transportation and airports such as Berlin Brandenburg, Hannover and Cologne Bonn, or even the Zurich airport if tourists want to visit Europa Park.
The city of Warsaw received 2.8 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021), and this is not represented by the top 20 theme parks and museums. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum is a museum on the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in the province of Oświęcim (southern Poland). This is shown in Panel H of Figure 6, and it is a relevant tourist destination in Europe. Nevertheless, there are a lot of critiques of Holocaust tourism and the motivations of visitors by researchers and academics. Griffiths (2019) indicates that guided group tours, as part of a redevelopment program and as a means of education for travellers can help visitors respect their fellow citizens more. In this study, we identify very much with our colleagues’ researchers and academics. For this reason, we utterly refuse to promote the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum as a tourist package and to increase the tourism demand in the province of Oświęcim. We also encourage tourists to visit the most important museums in the city of Warsaw, such as the Museum of Warsaw, the Wilanow Palace Museum, the Neon Museum, the Vodka Museum, the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Museum, and the Chopin Museum, amongst many others, and to enjoy the hotels, restaurants, theatres, historical monuments provided by the Warsaw capital and the rest of the cities of Poland. Rozbicka and Rozbicki (2021) note that the city of Warsaw is one of the most attractive cities in Poland, thanks to its cultural, business, urban tourism and Chopin International (IATA: WAW) airport. These results show that not everything is worth it in the tourism industry, and we all must respect the pain and suffering of families. Most of the time, the tourist activity is very invasive, and the economic activity is above the tradition and culture of the native population.
Liseberg and Grönalund theme parks are very well known in Sweden, particularly Liseberg, which is the eighth most visited park in Europe and Scandinavia with 28 million visitors, but this is outside of the established boundaries in this research and is situated in Gothenburg (west coast of Sweden). Nonetheless, Grönalund theme park occupies 20th place among the top 20 European theme parks, and it is situated in the city of Stockholm, exactly on the seaward side of Djurgården Island. This park is within the limits set in this study, as we can see in Panel I of Figure 6. Stockholm is not represented by the top 20 European museums. Although we decided to implement the most important museums in Stockholm, like ABBA Museum, the Vasa Museum, Fotografiska, the Swedish History Museum, the Sprit Museum and the Skansen Open Air Museum, amongst many others, with the aim of building an attractive tourist package that includes theme parks and museums for education and entertainment purposes and increasing tourism demand in Stockholm and the rest of Sweden. Stockholm received 2.7 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021). On the contrary, there is a lack of accessibility and means of transport when tourists want to visit the Skansen Open Air Museum (Abbasian et al., 2021).
To close this sub-section, Panel J of Figure 6 displays Copenhagen as an accessible and attractive city to be visited by tourists. For example, the Copenhagen-Kastrup (CPH) airport and Tivoli Gardens are within the limits set in this study. The Copenhagen airport represents the gateway of international tourists to the city, and Tivoli Gardens is an entertainment activity that received 44 million visitors from 2012 to 2022. Copenhagen was visited by 3.2 million visitors in 2019 (Euromonitor International, 2021). 66% of tourist attractions are located in its historic centre (Hidalgo-Giralt et al., 2021), and this is one of the world’s most liveable and sustainable cities (Fogelman and Christensen, 2022). Like Stockholm, Warsaw and Berlin, the city of Copenhagen has no representation in the top 20 European museums, and we recommend visiting the most important museums of this city, such as the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Ny Carl berg Glyptoteck, Nationalmuseet, Statens Museum for Kunst, Thorvaldsens Museum, Ordrupgaard and Medical Museion, amongst many others, to develop a tourist package that could bring together all types of tourism available in the city, supported by accommodations, restaurants, theme parks, airports and public transport. Nevertheless, Legoland Billund park is situated in the municipality of Billund (southern Denmark), and the nearest airport is Billund (IATA: BLL) to visit the Legoland theme park, as we can see in Panel J of Figure 6. For instance, Ryanair and Vueling offer direct flights from Malaga airport in Spain to Billund airport to visit Legoland park. In all cities analysed in this research, the native population lives in areas with high accessibility levels by public transport and car. A native population that helps to improve the local economy when they visit museums, theme parks, theatres, or historical monuments. The city’s public transportation commuters live in the largest metropolitan areas. For instance, more than 50 cities and towns in Europe have introduced free public transport to combat climate change and social equality as their primary objectives (Euronews, 2022). Initiatives such as this are necessary for the progress and improvement of European cities and their citizens.
5. Discussion and conclusion
This research provides a new contribution to the tourism and entertainment industries, reflecting the value of museums and theme parks for tourism demand and supply. The purpose of this study was to analyse museums and theme parks as a tourist package to stimulate tourism demand in cities and understand the interrelationship between theme parks and museums as an added value in the city's location. Findings reveal that museums, theme parks, public transport, the number of accommodations, airports and the native population are crucial for the success of ten European capital cities and other urban cities examined in terms of tourism demand and supply. Indeed, Louvre, Museo del Prado, Rijksmuseum, or British museums, and Disneyland Paris, Europa Park, Tivoli Gardens, De Efteling, or Port Aventura theme parks have become important sponsors of urban cities as a joint tourist package and complementary for visitors. Wang et al. (2021) claim that the spatial connection between tourism destinations and transportation networks. These two complementary entertainments – educational and cultural activities – have a genuine claim to attract millions of visitors to cities and universalize the city’s brand image. For instance, customized tourist packages based on multiple tourist attractions, hotels and means of transport by OTAs, DMOs, or their own customers help to optimize the space-time of tourists in cities while they are enjoying their holidays, particularly in this time of economic crisis (Florido-Benítez, 2024).
Results show that the top 20 European museums are localised in the main European capitals, but not in the case of theme parks, which are often located outside of capital cities and other urban cities. In fact, theme parks show a higher geographic dispersion if they are compared with museums. These two tourist attractions need to be supported by the proximity of airports, accommodations, public transport services and a good tourism supply in order to be accessible to different market segments of tourism. Urban cities like London, Paris, Madrid, St. Petersburg, Rome, or Berlin have a high population, and this is concentrated in the centre and metropolitan area of the city. This juncture favours the use of public transport and the planning of visits to museums and theme parks on weekends and holidays by the native population. Theme parks and museums are frequently visited as a tourist package by colleges and universities as an entertainment, cultural and educational activity (Zbuchea, 2015). Cities and their tourist attractions and public transport are intended for the enjoyment of native population and tourists.
In addition, our results show that the city of Paris houses the most important tourist attractions in Europe, and possibly in the world; these are the Louvre Museum and Disneyland Paris theme park. Only these two attractions received around 181 million visitors from 2012 to 2022, a substantial figure to revitalize the Parisian economy and tourism industry. Nevertheless, the city of London is the most accessible and competitive of all cities analysed in this research, with 7 museums and 3 theme parks within the boundaries established (isodistance-isochrone measures), thanks to a good public transport system, the proximity of its four airports, the number of accommodations, and a high concentration of tourist attractions in the city centre. London and Paris are two of the most visited cities in the world, and these are the most attractive European cities for tourists in terms of efficiency because tourists can optimize much better their space and time to visit the city’s tourist attractions during their holidays.
Nevertheless, sometimes the location of theme parks and museums in capital cities would not necessarily guarantee success. For example, this study shows that Europa Park, De Efteling, Port Adventure, Gardaland, Liseberg, Alton Towers, Puy Du Fou, Futuroscope, Legoland Billund, Phantasialand, Heide parks, Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Galleria Degli Uffizi and the National Museum of Scotland are not situated in capital cities, and all of them are among the most visited attractions in Europe. From a marketing and tourism point of view, DMOs and OTAs should promote this geographic dispersion of theme parks as a great opportunity to design customized tourist packages and motivate the maximum number of tourists to visit other cities in the country, especially in digital channels like social media, TV, digital newspapers, mobile marketing and DMO’s official websites. It is noteworthy that European museums and theme parks examined in this research experienced steady growth from 2012 to 2022, except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both entertainment activities were severely affected by rigorous capacity limits, and safety and hygiene control measures.
In this research, not everything are advantages and opportunities; on many occasions’ tourist packages are based on mass tourism, and these have potentially negative impacts like overtourism in the centre of cities such as Amsterdam, London, Madrid and Copenhagen, which needs to reduce tourist pressure to improve the everyday lives of their citizens (see Capocchi et al., 2020; Karayazi et al., 2021; Hidalgo-Giralt et al., 2021). This is the main reason why we recommend laying new tourist packages out by DMOs and OTAs focused on tourist attractions from different cities of the country to stimulate tourist demand in other cities. We all must create new opportunities from our own weaknesses. Another important finding is that the public transport service plays an important role in museums and theme parks’ visits and the optimization of space-time for tourists when they are visiting a city and its tourist attractions on holidays, especially subways, trains and buses. Although time-space measures of accessibility in public transport in cities must be improved to optimize the time of the native population and tourists.
Finally, we would like to highlight the contribution made by this research in the tourism and entertainment sectors. First, this study encourages developing DMOs and OTAs to promote personalized tourist packages that include cultural and entertainment activities like museums, theme parks, theatres, historical monuments, cathedrals and great musicals to attract visitors to the culture, the arts, architecture and gastronomy because they have a high purchasing power and provide quality to the tourism industry of the city. Second, this research emphasises the quality of personalized tourist packages as a cultural and educational activity. We totally disagree and have no intention of promoting mass tourism in cities where the native population is the first and main victim. And third and last, this paper contributes improving visitors’ experience and satisfaction at museums, theme parks and cities where these two tourist attractions are located.
5.1 Theoretical implications
Several theoretical and practical implications emerged from the findings of this research. This study shows two important theoretical contributions. First, this research shows the complementary role of museums and theme parks as an attractive tourist package and an entertainment, cultural and educational activity to improve the quality of tourism supply and redistribute tourist flows in European countries. Indeed, Morrison and Maxim (2021) argue that theme parks and museums add value to urban cities and attract tourists every year. A tourist package is always focused on quality tourism and not as a tourist product to attract mass tourism in cities. In addition, DMOs and OTAs need to develop marketing strategies focused on new tourist packages that support cities’ local economies and enhance the welfare of the local community. Nevertheless, the success of marketing strategies and tourist packages related to theme parks and museums should be monitored and measured by DMOs, OTAs and museum and park operators through increased visits and positive visitor feedback on social media.
And second, our study highlights the advantages and opportunities that museums and theme parks have as a tourist package, as well as some negative impacts like overtourism or gentrification in the centre of cities. To avoid crowded cities, Wang et al. (2021) suggest that DMOs should design long-stay destinations, cultural activities for cultural visitor profiles, and also improve the knowledge of characteristics’ capital cities that favour cultural and entertainment travel. This research notes that cultural tourism is a product that should be promoted through digital channels all year round, and this type of tourism helps to reduce the seasonality in urban cities. As stated by Noonan (2022) greater promotion of the cultural supply in urban cities by DMOs might be a lucrative means of increasing tourism demand and improving the local economy.
5.2 Managerial implications
Practical implications are considered in this study. Results suggest that the package holidays offered by DMOs and OTAs can provide flexibility to users, allowing them to choose the one that best fits their preferences. DMOs and OTAs must offer tour packages (museums and theme parks) based on tourists’ benefits, a fair market price, travel time estimates, the characteristics of tour packages or customized tourist packages, and the nearest airport to the city they will visit. Moreover, they need to sell travel insurance to cover any possible incidents by air companies, hotels, border closures and travel restrictions by governments to guarantee a refund the money paid. Thereby, DMOs should create new opportunities for tourists to seek information about theme parks, museums, public transport and hotels, and they can book and enjoy their travel experiences through a customized tourist package (so-called prosumers), which they created previously in DMOs or OTA’s official websites. Museums and theme parks are included as part of marketing and promotion campaigns in cities’ tourism supply, such as Orlando, Tokyo, Paris and Shanghai, amongst many others (Clavé et al., 2023a). A study carried out by Liao and Chuang (2020) revealed that the most important attributes that Taiwanese tourists considered when choosing a tourist package in Japan were: attraction, accommodation, length of stay, price, cuisine, transport and season. Hwang and Lee (2019) found that a tour package has a positive influence on visitors’ perceptions, and the brand image of the city. Sepe (2014) suggest that high-quality recreational spaces are required for the comfort of the native population and to attract international tourists to urban cities.
5.3 Research limitations and future studies
This study has limitations that can be addressed in future research. First, the results of research cannot be extrapolated to other urban cities because every city around the world has a specific result in terms of isodistance and isochrone measures, accessibility, public transport system, airport, number of accommodations and tourist attractions. Therefore, it would be good to replicate the study in the future in the United States and Latin America regions, or Asia and Pacific regions, to compare with our findings. And second, theme park and museum operators do not show information related to the number of visitors (e.g. nationality, gender, age, etc.) on their official websites. There is a lack of official, comprehensive statistics by museums and theme parks about the means of transport used by visitors to visit theme parks or museums. This specific information will help researchers, DMOs, and operators measure the number of international and national visitors, and they can design specific tourist packages for international visitors.
Future research should shed light on the main motivations, emotions and experiences of visitors at theme parks and museums and why they visit these tourist attractions as a complementary entertainment activity. Florido-Benítez (2023d) revealed that film-induced tourism can be the perfect marketing tool to attract more tourists to theme parks and cities through movies. Customized tourist packages can encourage the tourist supply of cities and their tourist attractions to increase the number of tourists. Moreover, future studies should pay attention to measuring and analysing what level of accessibility museums and theme parks provide in price terms. Possibly many families cannot afford to visit them due to high prices. Thus, future research could also analyse travellers’ income and theme park and museum prices in terms of the number of visitors, or even incorporate additional variables and examine more complex interactions that influence visitors flows to visit these two tourist attractions. We must be aware that not everyone has the same economic and possibility possibilities to visit a theme park such as Disney, Universal, Legoland, Everland or Lotte World Park.
Figures
Top 20 European museums by number of visitors from 2012 to 2022
| Rank | Museum | Location | Free/Paid | Total visitors (2012–2022) | % Museum (2012–2022) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louvre Museum | Paris, France | P | 85,605,000 | 12.19 |
| 2 | British Museum | London, UK | F | 56,896,000 | 8.10 |
| 3 | Vatican Museums | Vatican, Vatican | P | 56,830,999 | 8.09 |
| 4 | National Gallery | London, UK | F | 52,412,000 | 7.46 |
| 5 | Tate Modern | London, UK | F | 50,596,000 | 7.21 |
| 6 | Natural History Museum | London, UK | F | 47,983,000 | 6.83 |
| 7 | State Hermitage | St Petersburg, Russia | P | 35,839,000 | 5.10 |
| 8 | Reina Sofia | Madrid, Spain | P | 33,403,000 | 4.76 |
| 9 | Centre Pompidou | Paris, France | P | 33,017,000 | 4.70 |
| 10 | Musee D'Orsay | Paris, France | P | 32,187,000 | 4.58 |
| 11 | Victoria and Albert Museum | London, UK | F | 31,935,000 | 4.55 |
| 12 | Science Museum South Kensington | London, UK | F | 29,899,000 | 4.26 |
| 13 | Museo Nacional del Prado | Madrid, España | P | 26,809,000 | 3.82 |
| 14 | Cite Des Sciences Et De L'Industrie | Paris, France | P | 22,999,000 | 3.28 |
| 15 | Galleria Degli Uffizi | Florence, Italy | P | 20,347,000 | 2.90 |
| 16 | Rijksmuseum | Amsterdam, Netherlands | F | 20,320,058 | 2.89 |
| 17 | National Museum of Scotland | Edinburgh, UK | F | 18,395,000 | 2.62 |
| 18 | Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum | Oswiecim, Poland | P | 16,864,000 | 2.40 |
| 19 | National Portrait Gallery | London, UK | F | 15,390,000 | 2.19 |
| 20 | Van Gogh Museum | Amsterdam, Netherlands | P | 14,383,000 | 2.05 |
| Total visitors | 702,110,057 | 100.00 |
Source(s): Own elaboration from TEA/AECOM (2023)
Top 20 European theme parks by number of visitors from 2012 to 2022
| Rank | Theme park | Location | Total visitors (2012–2022) | % park (2012–2022) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disneyland Paris Park | Mame-La-Valle, Paris, France | 95,628,000 | 16.1 |
| 2 | Europa Park | Rust, Germany | 53,670,000 | 9.0 |
| 3 | De Efteling | Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands | 49,804,000 | 8.4 |
| 4 | Walt Disney Studios Paris | Mame-La-Valle, Paris, France | 47,317,000 | 8.0 |
| 5 | Tivoli Gardens | Copenhagen, Denmark | 44,044,000 | 7.4 |
| 6 | Port Aventura | Salou, Spain | 35,500,000 | 6.0 |
| 7 | Gardaland | Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy | 28,800,000 | 4.8 |
| 8 | Liseberg | Gothenburg, Sweden | 27,943,000 | 4.7 |
| 9 | Alton Towers | Staffordshire, England | 22,380,000 | 3.8 |
| 10 | Legoland Windsor | Windsor, England | 21,978,000 | 3.7 |
| 11 | Puy Du Fou | Les Epesses, France | 21,478,000 | 3.6 |
| 12 | Parc Asterix | Plailly, France | 20,438,000 | 3.4 |
| 13 | Legoland Billund | Billund, Denmark | 19,878,000 | 3.3 |
| 14 | Phantasialand | Brühl, Germany | 19,565,000 | 3.3 |
| 15 | Thorpe | Surrey, England | 19,030,000 | 3.2 |
| 16 | Futuroscope | Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, France | 18,199,000 | 3.1 |
| 17 | Parque de Atracciones (Warner) | Madrid, Spain | 16,978,000 | 2.9 |
| 18 | Chessington World of Adventures | Chessington, England | 16,050,000 | 2.7 |
| 19 | Heide | Soltau, Germany | 15,936,000 | 2.7 |
| 20 | Grönalund | Stockholm, Sweden | 13,237,623 | 2.2 |
| Total visitors | 594,616,000 | 100.0 |
Source(s): Own elaboration from TEA/AECOM (2023)
Museums, theme parks, cities, airports and public transport analysed
| Country | Museum/Theme park | Nº accommodations at city | Airport near to city centre | Time public transport airport-city centre | Population of city |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | Louvre Museum | Paris | Orly (IATA code is ORY) | Train (50 min) | 11.2 million people |
| Centre Pompidou | 1.611 thousand | Charles De Gaulle (CDG) | Train (51 min) | ||
| Musee D'Orsay | |||||
| Cite Des Sciences Et De L'Industrie | |||||
| Disneyland Paris Park | |||||
| Walt Disney Studios Paris | |||||
| Parc Asterix Park | |||||
| Puy Du Fou Park | |||||
| Futuroscope Park | |||||
| UK | British Museum | London | London city (LCY) | Underground (35 min) | 8.9 million people |
| National Gallery | 1.494 thousand | Heathrow (LHR) | Underground (45 min) | ||
| Tate Modern | Gatwick (LGW) | Underground (47 min) | |||
| Natural History Museum | Luton (LTN) | Underground (65 min) | |||
| Victoria and Albert Museum | |||||
| Science Museum South Kensington | |||||
| National Portrait Gallery | |||||
| National Museum of Scotland | |||||
| Alton Towers Park | |||||
| Legoland Windsor Park | |||||
| Thorpe Park | |||||
| Chessington World of Adventures | |||||
| Spain | Reina Sofia | Madrid | Barajas (MAD) | Underground (35 min) | 6.7 million people |
| Museo Nacional del Prado | 864 hundred | ||||
| Parque de Atracciones (Warner) | |||||
| Port Aventura Park | |||||
| Netherlands | Rijksmuseum | Amsterdam | Schiphol (AMS) | Train (24 min) | 1.2 million people |
| Van Gogh Museum | 533 hundred | ||||
| De Efteling Park | |||||
| Germany | Europa Park | Berlin | Berlin–Brandenburg (BER) | Train (40 min) | 3.6 million people |
| Phantasialand Park | 704 hundred | ||||
| Heide Park | |||||
| Vatican | Vatican Museums | Rome | Rome–Fiumicino (FCO) | Train (50 min) | 4.3 million people |
| Italy | Galleria Degli Uffizi | 1.600 thousand | |||
| Gardaland Park | |||||
| Russia | State Hermitage Museum | St Petersburg 650 hundred | Pulkovo (LED) | Bus (45 min) | 5.4 million people |
| Poland | Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum | Warsaw 100 hundred | Warsaw Chopin (WAW) | Train (27 min) | 1.8 million people |
| Sweden | Liseberg Park | Stockholm | Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) | Train (23 min) | 1.7 million people |
| Grönalund Park | 351 hundred | ||||
| Denmark | Tivoli Gardens Park | Copenhagen | Copenhagen-Kastrup (CPH) | Train (20 min) | 1.4 million people |
| Legoland Billund Park | 109 hundred |
Source(s): Own elaboration
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Further reading
Henderson, J. (2017), “Global cities, Tokyo, urban tourism”, International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 143-157, doi: 10.1108/IJTC-01-2017-0006.
Ram, Y., Gal-Tzur, A. and Rechavi, A. (2021), “Identifying attributes of public transport services for urban tourists: a data-mining method”, Journal of Transport Geography, Vol. 93, 103069, doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103069.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank anonymous reviewers and editors for providing valuable suggestions and comments.
Funding: This research received not external funding.
Corresponding author
About the author
Lázaro Florido-Benítez holds a PhD in tourism and marketing from the University of Malaga, Spain, and a master’s in management of airports–aeronautics from the European Business School. He is a lecturer and researcher in the economics and business administration department. Lázaro is a reviewer for a number of international academic journals, such as Tourism Management Perspectives, Tourism Review, Journal of Air Transport Management and Sustainability, amongst many others. His main research interests include tourism, digital marketing, airport marketing and air transport connectivity. In the area of tourism, he has investigated the promotion of tourist destinations, how airports and destinations promote marketing strategies through digital marketing, mobile marketing, the impact of mobile marketing at airports and the impact of airports and airlines on the tourist destination, amongst many others. He has published in many peer-reviewed journals on topics such as tourism, airports, marketing and cybersecurity. https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57192942823. https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=hc0GPC0AAAAJ&hl=es. https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/ACZ-5900-2022. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lazaro-Florido-Benitez. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lázaro-florido-benìtez/.