ASSESSING CULTURAL TOURIST FLOWS: A COMPREHENSIVE METHODOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Cultural and event tourism plays a key role in the global tourism industry, contributing significantly to national, regional, and cross-border development strategies. It attracts visitors interested in cultural heritage, artistic events, and local traditions, supporting the preservation and promotion of local identity. Assessing cultural tourist flows become essential to understand their economic and social impact, and this article proposes an integrated methodology, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, including data collection on cultural events, participant estimation, economic analysis, satisfaction assessment, data visualization, reporting, and continuous monitoring. The proposed model ensures a comprehensive evaluation of cultural tourist flows and supports the sustainable development of cultural tourism. Its relevance is both theoretical and applied: it offers a conceptual and analytical framework for studying this complex phenomenon, but also, it provides useful insights for decision-makers and stakeholders involved in tourism development, helping to design effective policies and strategies for promoting and managing cultural tourism. The novelty of the research lies in the proposal of a detailed and integrated methodology tailored to the specific challenges of evaluating cultural tourism, aiming to improve data accuracy, strategic planning, and long-term sustainability.