The Role of Cultural Life in a Small Town in Eastern Bohemia, and Its Potential Development of Cultural Tourism

Abstract

The contribution of this paper is a discussion on the role of cultural life and the potential of cultural tourism in the small town of Choceň in Eastern Bohemia, which is not one of the first-class tourism localities in the Czech Republic. Despite this fact, there is a richness of natural and cultural attractiveness and the organization of varied cultural events. The goal of this research was to determine the assumptions of tourist attractiveness from the point of view of local actors, based on the hypothesis that the attractiveness of the city is closely linked to the attractiveness of tourism. Local actors are the ones who can recognize the genius loci of the place, which should have been considered in development planning. The literature review is mainly devoted to the role of culture, cultural tourism, and rural tourism. This research works with primary and secondary data, with the secondary data being based on location, selection, and implementation assumptions for tourism. The primary data were obtained using a quantitative questionnaire survey method for two target groups—local visitors and local entrepreneurs. This research shows that local actors are aware of their destination’s potential and support tourism development. However, cultural events are more likely intended to meet residents’ needs, not visitors. It is clear that small industrial towns are rather marginally devoted to the development of tourism. Yet, all local actors need to cooperate for further rural (and tourism) development.