Tourism seasonality in cultural destinations: Empirical evidence from Sicily

Abstract

Seasonality is one of the main phenomena affecting tourism. It depends on the characteristics of both tourism demand and tourism destinations in terms of location and services supplied. This paper focuses on a particular aspect of tourism supply: the cultural attractiveness of tourism destinations, and aims to evaluate the role of cultural tourism in tourism seasonality. We analyze the seasonality of tourist presence in different destinations in Sicily, selected according to their different degree of cultural attractiveness. The methodology adopted to measure seasonality is based on a regression analysis approach, using the Census-X12-Arima procedure. Results are discussed and some policy implications are derived.