Benefit assessment of a local transport system within the cultural heritage tourism.

The need for an efficient Transport System (TS) is widely recognized as an important factor of a successful program of tourism development, but little work has been made to investigate the impact of TS on Cultural Heritage Tourism (CHT). This is one of the most recognized and investigated forms of tourism but, unfortunately, there is a fragmentation in the research field that does not allow a full comprehension of existing relationships between TS, CHT, and tourist experience. In this light, the work tries to evaluate the economic impact of the on-site vs. long-distance transports, in a scenario where tourism public policies are not adequately developed. The analysis is based on CHT access data and economic information on travel costs managed with the help of a large data set coming from the Cultural Observatory of Piedmont Region (Italy).