
An umbrella held aloft guides a big group of vacationers via the primary squares of the historic middle on a route lasting a number of hours that culminates in voluntary cost by the members, relying on their ranges of satisfaction. This sample is often repeated in main European capitals. They have been dubbed “free excursions,” characterised by their lack of any set costs, and sometimes function vacationers’ first method of attending to know the cities they go to.
A research carried out by a analysis staff on the University of Cordoba (UCO) has produced a sociodemographic profile of the vacationers attracted by these fashionable routes, a form of robotic portrait depicting an informed, upper-middle-class girl in her 40s who’s keen to pay round 10 euros.
The analysis is published within the journal Tourism Recreation Research.
Specifically, in response to the outcomes of the work, carried out utilizing some 250 surveys, to which neural community {learning} programs had been utilized, three out of 4 members are college graduates or have a better diploma; 60% of the individuals surveyed earn greater than 1,500 euros web per thirty days; and one in 4 earns greater than 2,500. In relation to the willingness to pay for the service, half go for a determine starting from 6 to 10 euros, and virtually nobody pays greater than 20 euros.
As for the primary components motivating vacationers to go for this sort of {experience}, the work highlights the chance to develop into aware of historic neighborhoods, the tour itself, and the information’s friendliness.
“People, usually, not wish to study concerning the historical past of a metropolis via a plaque. They need somebody to speak to them about it. In this case, the guides play a key position, as they’re able to inform tales,” explains Tomás López, the researcher in command of the Tourism, Culture and Sports Economics group.
A satisfying {experience} transcending collaborative tourism
According to the outcomes of the review, the overwhelming majority of the individuals surveyed indicated that they might do it once more, and advocate this {experience} to different members of the family and associates, revealing that a majority of these routes generate excessive ranges of satisfaction, rising with the age of the consumer.
According to the group’s lead researcher, the outcomes recommend that a majority of these guided excursions have little or nothing to do with different tourism programs or the collaborative economic system, characterised by exchanges of products and providers between people via digital platforms.
In truth, in response to the conclusions of the review, there isn’t any direct hyperlink between participation in “free excursions” and using apps like Blablacar, Uber, Cabify or different collaborative economic system or tourism providers.
The study, briefly—as identified by one other of the authors who participated in it, Antonio Menor—might be helpful not just for firms that provide this sort of service, but additionally for public tourism promotion businesses.
These free excursions, he highlights, “have develop into instruments necessary to those locations’ advertising, picture and visibility.”
More info:
Miguel Ángel Solano-Sánchez et al, Free strolling tour vacationer profile willpower. Motivations, preferences and {experience} evaluation, Tourism Recreation Research (2025). DOI: 10.1080/02508281.2025.2481327
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University of Córdoba
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Upper-middle-class girls with faculty levels use ‘free excursions’ essentially the most, study finds ( 9)
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