URBAN TOURISM BETW EEN CONTENT AND ASPIRATION FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT PhD. Student Roxana Valentina GÂRBEA Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania… [623897]

URBAN TOURISM BETW EEN CONTENT AND
ASPIRATION FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT

PhD. Student: [anonimizat], Romania
Email: [anonimizat]

Abstract:
With excessive urbanization that the soci ety knows today, the city became the
place of origin and at the same time a destination for an increasingly number of tourists. Cities have a higher fitting territory, diversity and quality of tourism
products coming to fill a reach touristic ground, especially anthropogenic.
Urban tourism has seen a significant, but uneven increase, whit the big
European cities detaching themselves through cultural richness and tourist
valorization of urban space and may be role models for other cities. The article proposes the approach on the concept of urban tourism and how this form of
tourism is in full process of affirmation, given that, in recent years many cities
search to find a new identity for themselves, to gain international recognition through tourism.

Keywords: urban tourism, European touris t cities, tourism potential, touristic
offer.

1. Introduction
In the increasing global tourism
phenomenon, cities become more
attractive but also face a double challenge. On one hand the cities must
be able to meet the expectations and
needs of a growing number of tourists, attracted by the richness and variety of
cultural objectives, sports, business, and
so on, and must continuously renew and improve such facilities, so that they
maintain on the tourist market. On the
other hand, they must ensure that tourism is developed and managed in
such a manner that will benefit the
resident population and do not contribute to the deterioration of the urban
environment.
For a city to act as a key tourist
attraction in first place it should have a
heritage value to be accompanied by a complex infrastructure to meet the
wishes of tourists. Thus, concerns that
aim to develop specific infrastructure, services, preservation of historical
centers, lies increasingly in attention of
municipalities, which contributes on the one hand to the affirmation of cities as
travel destinations, but also to outline the
need to ensure a balance between these
concerns and the domestic needs to achieve a suitable living environment.
The extent to which tourism is properly
planned, developed and managed will help create a positive image that will
summarize the characteristics of a
particular space and will produce a
considerable influence on the tourists.
Statistics show that urban
environment draws visitors mainly with
urban origin, generally from similar sized
cities with those visited, wishing to compare the new visited places with
their residence (Simon, T ătaru et al,
2009). High interest of tourists for a city is caused by information and publicity of
tourism that allows visitors to know and
integrate into its surroundings. Although difficult to estimate, international tourist
flows destined for city are massive, only
at European Union level being estimated at about 75-80 million tourists, according
to more than 550 million overnight stays
(Muntele and Ia țu, 2006).

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Urban tourism addresses
visitors from everywhere and towns that
aim to develop tourism function can be
metropolitan centers or historic, small, cultural towns, although in the opinion of
specialists (Cazes and Potier, 1996)
urban tourism takes place in cities or urban agglomerations of at least 20,000
inhabitants.
The article proposes a brief
conceptual analysis of urban tourism,
focusing on the evolution of
development stage research of this form of tourism, of the elements that make up
the touristic offer, in order to identify the
cities that are representative and may
serve as true role models for other urban
centers. In many cases, the lack of research on urban tourism can also
generate a lack of perception that block
development and expansion of this activity. Therefore, investigation of this
aspect becomes a fundamental issue.
The methodology used includes
bibliographic documentation for
deepening the concept of urban tourism,
and of the way it developed in urban centers internationally recognized for
their performances. The information
presented mainly come from international literature, especially the
French and English.

2. Genesis and evolution of
urban tourism research stage
Although the term is relatively new,
in terms of historical evolution, urban
tourism has its origins since ancient
times, when we record numerous trips between the Greek cities on the shores
of the Mediterranean Sea (P ădurean,
2006). Later, during the Middle Ages, there are recorded long journeys made
by young aristocrats, in which they
visited several European cities. Major interest was triggered almost exclusively
by cultural objectives that were to be
found mainly in cities.
Until the development of mass
tourism in the second half of the
nineteenth century, cities distinguished themselves as special travel
destinations. Difficult economic
conditions after 1970 helped develop
tourist function within cities. The economic decline of the industrial cities
of northern England emphasized the role
of tourism as a catalyst for increasing urban economy.
While other forms of tourism have
increased spectacularly in the 60s – 70s of the last century, during which tourism
was associated with residents moving
from urban areas to rural areas and tourist resorts, urban tourism emerges
during the 80s, when it became clear
that many cities have turned into major
tourist destinations.
The study of tourism in cities did
not resulted in an abundant literary
production even if the subject is
undeniably fashionable. Unlike other destinations where tourism is easier to
see, within the urban system,
identification of tourism functions is more complicated. Because a city brings
together several functions (commercial,
administrative, industrial, etc.), in this context tourism analysis is more
complex compared to other destinations
that have an economic structure based on tourism (Pearce, 1993). Thus, the
more studies are made on urban
tourism, it is found how complex this phenomenon really is and the
implications it has in society, culture,
economy and environment. Completion
of a study complicates researchers work
because they have to study areas outside their training.
Internationally, there are many
published studies and prestigious magazines which publish a significant
number of articles in this domain. The
French and British School are leading in terms of debates on this issue by
producing a large number of studies
published in journals such as Revue-
Espaces, Cahier Espaces, Science
Direct. Anglophone vision on urban
tourism is dominated by the economic impact of this activity (Jan van der Borg
et al 1991; Law, 2002) while the French

Management&Marketing, volume XI, issue 1/2013 195
side remains faithful on tourist planning
problems in urban areas, its contribution
to urban regeneration (Cazes and Potier,
1996). Journal Cahier Espaces dedicates the first number from 1994 to
urban tourism, thus answering to a gap
in French literature on the subject.
At national level urban tourism
theme is far from being met, although,
quite shy in recent years started to find its place in specialized literature from
Romania. Initially urban tourism was
given a small space within some papers about geography of tourism (Muntele
and Iațu, 2006), tourism economy
(Minciu, 2005) or tourist planning (Erdeli
and Gheorghila ș, 2006). Among the
authors who have paid special attention to urban tourism bringing important
contributions in this field stands out:
Gabriela St ănciulescu (2009), Aurel
Gheorghila ș (2004) and Gabriela Ilie ș
(2008).

3. What is urban tourism?
What is urban tourism? Although at
first glance may seem like a simple
question, defining urban tourism is
something extremely complex. In the same way we might ask: is there really
urban tourism or this is just an
accumulation of other forms of tourism
that coincide in a given context? Is urban
tourism a new form of tourism? These questions, among others, have been
cataloged by Cazes (1996) as
disturbing.
Urban tourism is an ambiguous
concept, blending various activities
vaguely formulated. Defining urban tourism is essential to any attempt to
deepen the mechanisms governing this
activity. Adding the adjective urban to the notion of tourism we localized a
activity in space but this does not define
the context and limit the activity itself.
G. Ashwoth (1989), one of the first
researchers in the field of urban tourism,
said that this is not only the amount of tourist activities in cities, but is a particular case of tourism that is part
of the specific urban life.
According to the National
Conference on Urban Tourism (Rennes, 1988), urban tourism is a set of
resources or activities located in the city
and made available to visitors outside having the purpose of entertainment,
business or other reasons.
If at first urban tourism was
considered a result of population
mobility, for which the city was only a
short break, now because of the transformations and behavioral changes
that took part, the city became a cultural
center, a place of relaxation, where
people are shopping, meet with friends
and spend their free time. Therefore we can say that urban tourism is not just a
form of tourism, but also an integral,
traditional and characteristic part of urban life (Howie, 2003).
Other authors, when defining urban
tourism, are considering a clear demarcation of characteristic urban
tourism activities. Thus Minciu Rodica
(2005) characterizes urban tourism from the perspective of an extremely wide
coverage – leisure time (vacations) in
cities, visiting them and to conduct a variety of activities, such as visiting
relatives, meetings with friends,
watching shows, exhibitions, shopping etc.
Law (1996) insists on the
complexity of urban tourism which can’t
be reduced to a definition because the
cities are too different in terms of size and existing features to meet a similar
pattern of interpretation. Ashworth
(2011) believes that urban tourism is defined in a vague and inaccurate
manner without a systematic structure
for understanding the phenomenon. Potier (1996) considers that the
difficulties in identifying urban tourism is
due to disparity practices and motivations, tourist flows complexity and
insufficient statistical data. Urban
tourism is the result of changes in the behavior of people who managed to
transform cities into cultural centers,

Management&Marketing, volume XI, issue 1/2013 196 
places of relaxation, where you can
go shopping or to participate in various
events.
Combining the definitions
presented, we can conclude that urban
tourism represents all attractive tourist
resources of a city aimed for attracting visitors and residents, in which various
types of tourism are interfering and
contributes to the development and regeneration of urban areas.

4. Elements and components
of urban tourism
In a city one can distinguish a
series of primary and secondary
elements which plays an important role
in increasing tourism attractiveness,
increasing the curiosity of tourists to visit cities.
Primary elements belong mainly to
the public domain and consist from a mixture of attraction considered unique,
the underlying motivation of tourists
travel in urban areas. In this regard can be mentioned cultural and artistic
facilities, sports facilit ies, cultural events
intended for entertainment and leisure.
Secondary elements include a
range of urban facilit ies that support and
complement the tourist experience (for example: hotels, restaurants, transport
facilities, and so on).This elements are
absolutely necessary and contribute to the smooth running of the entire tourism
product.
The relationship between tourism
and urban areas has been analyzed by
many authors who distinguish several elements of city resources. The best
known classification expressing the relationship between tourism and urban
space belongs to Christopher Law
(Figure 1). He makes a distinction
between primary, secondary and additional elements of urban tourism.
Primary elements such as cultural and
historical facilities, places of amusement, physical, social and cultural
characteristics, are the main reasons for
visiting tourists. Secondary elements are considering comfort related tourism
accommodation services, restaurants,
shops, and so on. The last group is represented by additional elements that
are designed to facilitate access to
primary and secondary elements
through accessibility, arranging parking
places, existence of tourist information offices, leaflets, maps, etc.
A wide variety of key elements
situated on a relatively small area, plus a wide range of accommodation, food,
transport and tourist in formation support
the development of tourism experience in the urban space. These components
give tourism offer a complex and
heterogeneous character.
Depending on the variety of
existing tourism resources in urban
centers and tourist options, may be distinguished more attractive areas: the
cultural area, business area, shopping
area, entertainment area, and so on. Differentiation of many attractive areas
provides the guarantee of a city to attract
many tourists who have various goals
and motivations. Tourists are seeking
diversity in a wide rand of opportunities likely to be merged during the stay of a
few days.

Management&Marketing, volume XI, issue 1/2013 197

PRIMARY ELEMENTS
Facilities for activities Factors of leisure and relaxation
Cultural facilities
– Theatres
– Concert halls
– Museums and art galleries
– Exhibitions
– Cinemas
Sports facilities
– Stadiums
– Multipurpose halls Physical characteristics
– Historic streets
– Structures of interest
– Religious buildings
– Parks and green areas
– Rivers, channels
– Ports
Leisure facilities:
– Casinos
– Night clubs – Organized parties Socio-cultural characteristics
– Language
– Customs and traditions – Security

SECONDARY ELEMENTS
– Hotels and restaurants
– Commercial facilities
– Markets

ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS
– Accessibility and parking facilities – Presence of facilities created for tourism purposes
– Information offices, tourist guides, etc.
Figure 1. Elements of urban tourism
Adapted from Law, 2002, 43 p

Development of competitive urban
tourism product should consider the
continuous improvement of its elements
that must work together in an efficient manner. During the last period the
increasing competitiveness between
cities to earn a place on the tourist market has led to the differentiation of
original tourism products with impact
among both tourists and residents.

5. European experience in
urban tourism
Cultural importance and experience
in tourist capitalization of urban
environment have made from major
European cities examples worthy to appreciate and follow. Under these
conditions urban tourism managed to
establish itself as a sector with an important role in supporting economy,
society and culture, constituting itself as
one of the most dynamic forms of
tourism.
In the global tourist flows, the
European continent stands out through
10 cities from Top tourist destinations in the world. Cities of London and Paris
represent one of the most spectacular
illustrations of urban tourism, being destinations with the highest tourism
density worldwide.
London is a thriving business
center, European Capital of theatre, a
fantastic shopping center, an
architectural spectacle, an open history book and home to millio ns of people who
love cultural richness( Țigu, G., 2005,
pag.151).

Management&Marketing, volume XI, issue 1/2013 198 
In case of Paris, trumps which
confer the status of the second most
visited urban center in the world are
related to a rich cultural heritage which overlaps an exceptional tourist
infrastructure, wide and impressive in
size. Both cities offer a typical polynuclear and multipolar organization
bringing together the suburban tourist
poles (Versailles, Fontainebleau, Buckingham, Soho) or outermost
(Beauvais, Reims, Oxford, Cambridge).
For a city to act as a key tourist attraction must have primarily a valuable
cultural potential to be accompanied by
a complex infrastructure to meet the
wishes of tourists. If the first component
can be regarded as fixed, the second has a dynamic character in terms of an
evolution or involution depending on
applied tourism policies and strategies.
For this purpose we used the
establishment of a logical diagram to
highlight the positions that most important tourist cities in Europe hold
according to the main components that
can ensure the success of an urban destination: high cultural potential and /
or the presence of complementary
offerings which ensures positioning in innovation, modernity and creativity
(Figure 2). To get a more complete
imagine we used dates from MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2011 to
see tourist flows corresponding to these
urban centers.
Many of Europe's major urban
centers are distinguished by important architectural or cultural-artistic values,
drawing millions of tourists annually. In
this aspect cities like Paris, Rome, Istanbul distinguish themselves
managing to attract millions of tourists
every year thanks to exceptional heritage which overlaps a complex
tourism infrastructure. Economic cities,
to boost their tourist attraction, conducted actions of extensive
rehabilitation and valuing their cultural
heritage. Some historic buildings, religious or modern buildings led to
strengthening the image of the city,
managing to impose themselves as
symbol buildings, true emblems of big cities. It is enough to see a picture of the
Eiffel Tower and the mind almost
immediately makes us think of Paris. As a result of overloading major cities
recognized for outstanding heritage, it
had been supported the idea of sustaining small cultural towns to reduce
the tourist flow from big cities.
Cities such as London, Madrid,
Barcelona are known for their cultural
heritage but the picture is more labeled
by major investments and modernity.
These are important business centers
that have developed structures of with high comfort, conference centers and so
on. Centers for conventions and
business meetings are often seen as the main motivations of urban tourism.
Increasing tourist flows in this sector is
due to the fact that these events can be
organized and supported throughout the
year, with no seasonality.
An important category is
represented by smaller tourist towns
which are recognized for their valuable
historical heritage: Florence, Venice. The tourism phenomenon is related whit
visiting touristic objectives which are
near the center of the city where accommodation units are located, thus
tourism area being clearly delimited. In
many cases this space is also the main
shopping area of the city, thus
enhancing tourism attractiveness. These cities are otherwise known as the
museum-cities, as their tourism offer is
based mainly on existing heritage without developing other complementary
offerings.
Almost all European cities possess
a heritage that could be exploited in
terms of tourism. For example,
European capitals such as Bucharest, Sofia are experiencing modest tourist
attendance compared to their true
potential and complementary offerings.

Management&Marketing, volume XI, issue 1/2013 199

Figure 2. Categories of cities depending on cultural potential and innovation in
tourism offer
Source: Personal approach

Although statistically speaking for
urban environment we observe significant increases in key tourism
indicators, basically we can say that the
existing urban tourism is still at an early stage if we refer to the most visited cities
in Europe.
Other major cities such as
Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam, although
they are not world famous attractions, developed travel packages centered on
animation, entertainment, nightlife, etc.
The quality and diversity of these offerings determines the size, strength
and diversity of tourist trips.
Variety of cultural resources,
groups of buildings, historical load,
animation and modern elements of
attractiveness represents real challenges for urban tourists. Thus,
depending on the nature of the journey reasons varies, tourists are attracted to
cities because there is a large concentration of facilities and attractions,
in many cases diversity is directly
proportional to city size, the effectiveness of tourism policies and
strategies.
Urban areas are heterogeneous,
different in size, functions, image,
cultural heritage, but having the common feature of the possibility of developing
tourist function. Over time appeared and
developed specialized tourist areas, where tourism is the main economic
activity, but also versatile tourist areas,
where tourism activities are carried out at the same time with other activities
between which there is complementary.

Management&Marketing, volume XI, issue 1/2013 200 
Conclusions
In recent years many European
cities seek to find themselves a new
identity, to assert through originality, to
gain national and international
recognition in the field of tourism. Any
urban destination that wants to develop tourism as the main branch of the
economy, should carefully evaluate their
development potential, and after this assessment should establish how best
to capitalize it. Given the many
advantages that tourism development can bring to a city, competition to attract
tourists has become increasingly fierce.
Therefore, if the city will offer a
greater variety of attractions and
complementary capab ilities, it will be
able to become more competitive in this dynamic market.
Following the dynamism that urban
tourism registered, major European cities, benefiting from an exceptional
cultural potential and a complex complementary offer, turned into major
tourism destinations representing real
models for other cities that are in full
development.
Future urban tourism will benefit
from a favorable context due to
advances in the transport sector (which will lead to lower prices and lower
schedules distances), improving living
standards and integration of new destinations on the international circuit.
European Union enlargement and the
functioning of the euro area will be a space of security and freedom of
movement with positive impact on the
tourism market as a whole. The most
dynamic will be short term flows aimed
for visiting one or more urban centers. For urban tourism development, it is
necessary to identify weak points and
draw some strategic directions in order to compete effectively with traditional
European market.

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