Eliciting Users' Preferences for Cultural Heritage and Tourism-Related E-Services: A Tale of Three European Cities

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to show how surveys are used to elicit users' preferences and willingness to pay for novel packages of e-services used in commercial tourism. The authors analyse data gathered from 5,100 questionnaire survey responses by residents, visitors and service providers in three European cities – Amsterdam, Genoa and Leipzig. The results show that people are willing to pay for some of the proposed e-services, while other services clearly represent a cost. The findings are important for the improvement of decisions in the tourism industry, which often uses various combinations of e-services to promote cultural heritage, enhancing visitors' experiences. In addition, the results may help to identify eventual prices that could be charged for the use of e-services in cultural heritage.