Keywords

1 Introduction

Culture is associated with tourism and with the intention of people to visit a monument or an archaeological site during a trip, in their effort to get to know the place better, and to enrich the trip with the intention of reducing it and developing it into an experience.

Cultural tourism is the evolution of this habit. Through this process, someone will organize a trip or an excursion with the main objective and, as a core, initially visit an archaeological site or a monument with cultural or cultural interest and content. Furthermore, to follow a cultural monument, it is necessary to be digitally transformed in order to introduce it as a product in the market to claim its share of the purchasing public and clientele. To achieve this, an organization must enter the digital world dynamically by following and using marketing strategies that will be displayed and promoted through digital marketing tools. This paper investigates people’s interest in culture and monuments in relation to their tendency to organize a trip to a cultural destination. Additionally, it is projected or even organized with the help and contribution of digital marketing and promotion through internet tools.

2 Cultural Tourism

Alternative tourism is based on the principle of sustainability, which always respects nature and the environment. The most common forms include agrotourism, culinary tourism, conference tourism, health tourism, spa tourism, sports tourism, social tourism, marine tourism, cultural tourism, and religious tourism [1, 2]. The relationship between tourism and culture highlights the course of a very importance of convergence [3].

In addition, tourism is increasingly acquiring a cultural character, mainly through the development of cultural tourism and the enormous importance of promoting and selecting specific tourist destinations. Tourism, therefore, has become a distinct form of culture [3]. Cultural tourism includes various destinations and cultural activities, such as visits to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, architectural sites, battlefields and cathedrals, trips to museums or ethnic neighborhoods, tours of historic cities, and travel in various villages, including monuments and visits to festivals and cultural performances [4, 5].

In addition, Mousavi et al. [6] emphasize that cultural tourism presupposes various cultural events on the part of tourists, while it is considered a reflection of the socio-cultural relationship that exists between people. Many international organizations aim to protect and promote cultural heritage. This is because of the need to preserve cultural monuments due to damage and to protect them through appropriate security measures, so that they can be exposed to the public. This fact also demonstrates the special nature of cultural tourism [7]. Thus, plays an important role in preserving and promoting cultural identity to improve tourism consumption [6]. Cultural tourism has various subcategories, such as heritage tourism, cultural thematic routes, traditions, cultural cities, religious tourism, creative tourism, and festivals [8, 9].

Cultural tourism can significantly improve many sectors of society. Its aim is not only to attract the interest of tourists, but also to help spread the cultural heritage of the regions [10]. Most of the benefits of cultural tourism are focused on the dissemination of cultural heritage and tourism development in regions [11]

3 Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage, as a concept throughout the world, can be characterized as complex and multifaceted, something that can be seen from its evolution over the years. The result includes a multitude of different dimensions and aspects [12]. The cultural heritage’s ultimate goal is to achieve a harmonious coupling between the protection of natural resources and the corresponding cultural and historical heritage to achieve social cohesion and economic development [13].

At the same time, the great value of culture is emphasized because it is one of the most important development resources worldwide, and at the same time, a framework through which new business actions and tasks can be promoted. Therefore, various measures have been put in place with the aim of protecting and promoting cultural heritage to ensure the highest benefits for society [14].

Cultural heritage can be categorized as tangible or intangible. More specifically, material cultural heritage includes every material object created by a man in the past. The first is mobile, which includes all material cultural goods that, as soon as they are created, can be moved. The second sector is immovable, which includes material cultural goods [15]. On behalf of UNESCO, knowledge, expressions, representations, or skills that belong to the cultural heritage of any people are considered intangible cultural heritage. It includes nonphysical spiritual wealth such as language, knowledge, traditions, beliefs, customs, and folklore [16, 17].

4 Digital Marketing in the Cultural Field

Recently, marketing in cultural organizations, whether digital or not, has mainly been implemented in the form of relationship marketing, which focuses on the relevance that exists between the museum and the public and serves the needs of the former and the goals of the second [18, 19]. A museum should develop a proper digital marketing strategy to ensure its strong online presence [20] and provide new experiences to its visitors with the use of new technologies [21, 22].

All of this, combined with the changes seen over the last few years in the speed and ease of these interactions, is completely changing digital communication [23]. Therefore, Social Media offers every museum the opportunity to redefine its relationship with its visitors. In addition, they offer the opportunity to utilize them as a new type of open exhibition space and storage [24, 25].

According to Sotiriadou and Papadakis et al. [26], social media must be an active system to create new relationships between the public and museums. Through Social Media, museums use various interactive tools to reach the public and transform them from passive observers to active participants et al. [27]. Social media’s utilization is the key to attracting a young audience. If cultural organizations adopt more social media, they will be able to claim greater visibility [28, 29].

5 Methodology

5.1 Data Collection and Analysis

The research was an online survey using an online questionnaire with 412 Greek respondents. In particular, 131 men, 277 women, and four other gender identity people of various ages from 18 years and above. The study involved an online survey that took place with Google Forms from 10th of June 2023 until 30 h of June 2023. The responses were anonymous.

The sample is satisfactory and has been collected by objective methods and random sampling techniques. It is also able to generalize and provide predictions for the rest of the similar population [30].

The questionnaire contained different scales to measure the variables, which were adapted from the works of several authors. All items were measured using a five-point Likert scale, where 1 indicated ‘never’ and 5 indicated ‘always.’ SPSS was used to answer the research questions guiding this study. An exploratory factor analysis was run on the frequency of mentioning cultural tourism and updating cultural events on social media to identify underlying factors.

The characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 1. Female respondents consisted for 67.2% of the sample. Most respondents (34.5%) were age category 35–44 years old. More than half of the respondents (63.3%) had an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. In addition, 51.7% were residents of Kozani. It is worth noting that 47.6% (n = 412) of the respondents stated that they used social media to organize a leisure trip. Furthermore, 38.1% chose to use social media to organize a trip to a cultural destination (Table 2).

Table 1 Participant’s demographics
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Table 2 Cultural heritage—cultural tourism and social media
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5.2 Factor Analysis

A total of 58 variables were correlated with Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.872, which was shown to be appropriate for factor analysis. The Kaiser– Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy had a very high value of 0,856, using the Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. The final nine correlated variables had a Cronbach’s alpha of.904. The final two-factor solution was very clean and explained 70.77% of the total variance. The results revealed two factors that present the influence of digital media on the promotion of culture and development of cultural tourism.

  • Social media and promotion of cultural heritage (variance 57.97%) and

  • Digital communication and cultural events (variance 12.79%).

The first factor, Social Media and promotion of cultural heritage, symbolizes the frequency mentioned in social media for cultural tourism, describes 57.97% with a = 0.899. According to our results, an overwhelming majority of Greek visitors believe that social media contributes to the promotion of cultural heritage. Furthermore, they choose to use social media to organize leisure trips or trips to cultural destinations.

The second factor, digital communication and cultural events, includes the frequency of updating cultural events from social media, describes 12.79% with a = 0.795. According to our results, Greek visitors use social media to inform themselves of cultural events. Although they are not as familiar with visiting websites of cultural monuments and using tourist applications.

5.3 Independence Test

One of the most frequently used (and misused) nonparametric procedures in psychology, and the social sciences in general, is the chi-square analysis of contingency tables/as early as 1949, Lewis and Burke [31] cited no less than nine common errors made by practicing researchers who employed the chi-square test, which offers an updated review of potential pitfalls when applying the chi-square test and examines supplementary and alternative approaches.

The first test examined whether age is related to the use of social media to visit a cultural monument. The null hypothesis was that the two variables were independent.

H0: Age does not affect the use of social media to visit cultural monuments.

An alternative hypothesis was that these two variables are independent. Η1: Age affects the use of social media to visit a cultural monument.

There is a correlation between age and the use of social media to visit a cultural monument, with a moderately strong and statistically significant relationship with prices, (Χ2 = 32.89, p < 0.001, V = 0.2).

Secondly, the review examines the relationship between place of residence and the use of social media to organize a trip to a cultural destination. The null hypothesis was that the two variables were independent.

H0: The place of residence does not influence the use of social media to organize a trip to a cultural destination.

An alternative hypothesis was that these two variables are independent. Η1: Place of residence influences the use of social media in organizing a trip to a cultural destination.

There was a correlation between the place of residence and the use of social media to organize a trip to a cultural destination, with a relationship of moderate intensity and statistical significance with values (X2 = 36.911, p < 0.002, V = 0.150).

Finally, the public’s assessment of the contribution of social media to the promotion of a region’s cultural heritage was studied. The null hypothesis was that the two variables were independent.

H0: Education level is independent of the contribution of social media to the promotion of cultural heritage.

An alternative hypothesis was that these two variables are independent. Η1: Educational level is not independent of the contribution of social media to the promotion of cultural heritage.

There was a correlation between educational level and the contribution of social media to the promotion of cultural heritage, with a low intensity and statistically significant relationship with values (X2 = 22.756, p < 0.004, V = 0.166).

6 Discussion and Conclusion

Several findings emerged from this study for future theoretical development efforts in cultural heritage literature. The effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool determines the attractiveness of tourist destinations. Research has examined the real value of social media in promoting cultural monuments. The aim of the study was to draw generalized conclusions that present the behavior of the inhabitants of the region of Western Macedonia in terms of cultural tourism. An overwhelming majority of Greek visitors believe that social media contributes to the promotion of cultural heritage. Additionally, they chose to use social media to organize a trip to a cultural destination. In particular, we propose to analyze a larger audience, coming from different prefectures of Greece, with the aim of drawing generalized conclusions that will reflect the cultural tourism behavior of the inhabitants of the country.