Does the flamenco tourist exist? Motivation and segmentation

Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 Available online 28 February 2023 2405-8440/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Research article Does the flamenco tourist exist? Motivation and segmentation Guzm´ an A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez a , Jesús Heredia-Carroza b , Jesús Manuel de Sancha-Navarro c , Lucía García-García a , * a Department of Business Organization, University of C´ ordoba, Spain b Department of Economics and Economic History, University of Seville, Spain c C. U. San Isidoro (Economics and Business Section), University Pablo de Olavide of Seville, Spain ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Musical tourist Flamenco tourist Music motivation Segmentation Sentiment analysis Popular music ABSTRACT Flamenco is a popular art, symbol of the culture of southern Spain, has a growing number of fans both from this country and from the rest of the world. This paper tried to find out if flamenco can be a determinant motivational element when choosing a destination and if there is a specific flamenco tourist who tries to travel to symbolic flamenco places. The results show evidence of the existence of three motivational dimensions directly related to flamenco: flamenco experience, flamenco brand, flamenco pretext. Also, a so-called ‘musical dimension’ was observed, where the motivation to participate in musical experiences in general prevailed. Based on these motivational dimensions, three types of flamenco tourists were identified: flamenco lovers, friends of flamenco, and musical attraction. It was found that the group formed by ‘flamenco lovers’ has a very high sensitivity to all musical variables related to flamenco, being this one, the most numerous group. 1. Introduction Motivation is one of the most important explanatory factors of tourism activity [1], since tourists travel attracted by forces that are external to the destination [2]. Cultural expressions such as music are a determinant factor in the construction of tourism [3]. At the same time, the concept of cultural tourism is complemented by creative tourism, as an alternative model of tourism development [4], and experiential tourism, which makes the visitors interact and get them involved with the social environment of the area [5], looking for distinctive experiences and authenticity. Cultural development strategies are increasingly interchangeable and adding creativity to tourism is a powerful value creation and diversification strategy in the field of cultural tourism [6] since this value is closely linked to its place of origin. This is evident in experiences related to music tourism, where tourists use global frames of reference to consume local creativity [4]. It is about experiencing ‘popular culture’ and ‘everyday culture’ through intangible cultural expressions and lifestyles [7]. If culture is seen as a source of creative experiences, creative tourism can be seen as an extension of cultural tourism [8]. This new model is translated into a growing attention to intangible heritage, where traditions, popular music, such as flamenco, or gastronomy are presented as factors that confer a competitive advantage to tourist destinations, highlighting the historical places of the cities. The greatest growth of current cultural tourism is occurring in these new niches [9]. Therefore, its understanding is necessary to satisfy the specific needs of certain types of tourists (market segments), which allows improving the marketing of certain destinations [10]. In fact, the segmentation of tourists who visit a destination is a basic element for the development of a correct management of it, * Corresponding Author. E-mail address: [email protected] (L. García-García). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Heliyon journal homepage: www.cell.com/heliyon https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14134 Received 1 December 2022; Received in revised form 19 February 2023; Accepted 23 February 2023 Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 2 both by private companies and public managers [11]. Flamenco becomes a motivating element for the decision to travel to destinations where it is present. These flamenco cultural tourists want to participate and consume this art, even further beyond the simple shows. They may be attracted to practice ‘cante’ singing, dancing or an instrument such as the guitar. They may want to visit places related to its history or to prominent flamenco artists [12]. In short, a successful relationship of co-dependence has been created between the flamenco tourist and the industry of this complex art [13], which has fans both locally and in the rest of the world, especially in countries such as Japan, United States, France, United Kingdom, Italy or in regions such as North Africa and Latin America [14]. Data that demonstrates its internalization, with the increasing presence of foreigners in national flamenco festivals [15], and attendees at international festivals. Not to mention the numerous flamenco academies scattered around the world, especially in Japan [16]. In conclusion, flamenco is a ‘Powerful dynamizing factor of tourist activity, it is capable of attracting by itself more than six hundred thousand tourists every year, many of them international, who seek the authenticity and beauty of an art exclusively ours, which identifies and places us favourably in relation to other competing tourist destinations’ [17:4]. It is necessary to know the type of tourist who travels motivated by music [18] and participation in musical events [19] related to flamenco [13]. Tourists who appreciate the memorable and different traits [20]. The goal of this paper is to analyse flamenco as a determining motivating factor when deciding to visit destinations where flamenco is present and to classify the typology of this kind of tourists. The aim of this work is to contribute to the limited existing scientific literature on the flamenco tourist, defined as those who, among their motivations for travelling, are interested in visiting places where there are shows, experiences, courses, shopping, or places that are important in the history of flamenco. As a contribution to the literature, this research has found three motivational dimensions that encourage travelling, related to flamenco, which allows us to elaborate a segmentation model of potential flamenco tourists, both nationally and internationally. Finding three different typologies of tourists that have been called: tourists who love flamenco, tourists who are flamenco friendly and musical tourists. This work has been divided into seven sections. In addition to this introduction to the object of the study, the second section has exposed the scientific literature that exists on the musical motivation to travelling, and in particular, that one related to flamenco. Subsequently, the methodology of the field work used has been presented. In the fourth section, this work has continued with the discussion of the results obtained and the contribution to the literature made. Then, it has finished with the most relevant conclusions, their practical implications and the limitations of the research. Finally, the biographical references used have been presented. 2. Literature review 2.1. Musical motivation The cultural exploration in itself is an important motivation from a touristic point of view [21]. Regarding this aspect, the number of cultural tourists trying out music-related experiences is increasing [18], as well as those participating in musical events [19]. In the performing arts, the cultural identity of the region of origin travels through its musicians and its residents, which facilitates a global flow of culture [22]. As an example, events such as the Tamworth Country Music Festival have made Tamworth the capital of country music [23]. This tourist is attracted by musical offerings, musical routes, or music-related museums [24]. They need to connect with the physical place, the music, and their personal history [25]. Also, some ethnic groups are attracted to their traditional music, despite not living in their places of origin, because of the connection of their identity to the music [26,27]. Examples would be Cantonese opera, which attracts audiences because of its connection to the identity of the place [28], or traditional Istrian music [29]. But also, more contemporary music, which is already part of the cultural heritage of their places of origin and has a strong connection between the physical place of their roots and music, such as New Orleans and jazz, Argentina and tango, Cuba and rumba [30,31], or more recently, tourism of festivals which attracts fans from all over the world, contributing not only to the tourism industries, but also to the local and regional economic development [32]. Through music, each generation can define their identity, creating experiences and musical products that incorporate music and help to expand their musical identity [33]. Moreover, this musical tourist demands authenticity from the destination and seeks memorable experiences [34]. It is essential to create new products that make the visitor an active subject [35], who interacts and engages in the experience [5] physically, emotionally, or mentally [36]. Engaging in the experience by visiting symbolic cities of birth, life, or death of iconic artists or groups, such as Mozart’s Salzburg, Beethoven’s Bonn, or the Beatles’ Liverpool [37], or more specifically, places like Graceland in Memphis or the John Lennon Memorial in Central Park, allow them to relive the emotions associated with that particular music [38]. In this way, nostalgia, and remembrance merge with the musical heritage of the destinations making them an attraction to visit [39]. On the other hand, traditional performing arts in these places, provide experiential benefits, such as learning, authenticity, social interaction, cultural experience and entertainment [40,41], as would be the case of jazz and hip-hop in the United States [41,42], samba in Brazil [43] or fado in Portugal [44]. 2.2. Flamenco It is considered as a living art, a way of living, perceiving, and interpreting daily existence. Flamenco is a fusion of North African, Latin American, and Indian influences, plus the contribution of the gypsy community [45]. ‘Flamenco has become a classical art, a rich object of modern expressiveness internationally, as well as a formula of artistic elaboration, an applied art of popular nature’ [28,46]. This art is Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since November 16, 2010 [47]. G.A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez et al. Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 3 Flamenco ‘involves cante (song), baile (dance) and toque (the guitar)’ [15:32]. As a popular art, it has acquired a representative character of the region of Andalusia during the last 180 years, although it has an important presence and influence in other regions of Spain, like Murcia, Extremadura, Madrid, or Catalonia as a consequence of national migration [14]. It is a symbol of Spanish culture worldwide. This has resulted in the image of flamenco being considered as Brand Spain [14]. During the 1960’s, the slogan Spain is different was promoted using assets of Andalusian culture such as flamenco to generalize it to a distinctive ‘national’ culture for the whole nation [48]. From an approach of social sciences, flamenco has been basically analysed from a sociological perspective, as an indicator of class identity and socio-cultural identity [49–52], of local and national identity [53–58], gender identity [16,59–61], or gypsy identity [49, 62–65]. Nevertheless, there are still limited works that have analysed flamenco from an economic perspective [17,66,67] or as a dynamizing element of the tourist activity of a destination. In this sense [13], studied the dependency that exists between the cultural industry of flamenco and the foreign tourist, while other authors analysed the sensory tourism experiences [15] which contribute to the self-realization of those who practice it [68] and encourage them to visit those places. Recently, the motivational factors of the flamenco tourist have begun to be analysed [69], so it is necessary to deepen the following research questions: Is flamenco a determining motivational factor to visit the places where it is performed; Is there a specific flamenco tourist? 3. Methodology Motivation is one of the most important explanatory factors related to tourism activity [70]. The main objective of this study is to analyse whether the interest of certain individuals in flamenco can be considered a motivating factor for visiting destinations where flamenco and flamenco shows are present. The aim is to contrast the existence of a potential flamenco tourist who may travel motivated by flamenco. The target population of this study was specifically focused on people over the age of 18, who know and have enjoyed flamenco shows. Although the target universe cannot be determined numerically, according to the Spanish Society of Authors (SGAE), in 2019, the year prior to the COVID pandemic, 1.48 million spectators attended flamenco shows in Spain. Whereas internationally, according to the Flamenco Festival platform, the most important international platform for flamenco, 1.6 million, in 1,225 shows. The methodology used in this research is based on the analysis of primary data collected through a self-directed survey of adults through the online platform SurveyMonkey. The questionnaire was distributed through social networks, travellers’ forums, and associations of friends of flamenco, between September and November 2020, in two languages (Spanish and English). The study was conducted following ethical recommendations on the privacy and confidentiality of respondents’ personal information. Since it is not possible to know the probability with which respondents accessed the platform, convenience sampling was considered, which is commonly used in this type of research [71]. Respondents were both national and international. Prior to the final survey, a pretest was administered to 10 individuals to determine the effectiveness of the questionnaire. Of the 546 surveys initially answered, 416 were used and the rest were rejected for being outside the scope of this study. The variables analysed are related to music and flamenco as motivating elements to plan their trips, the interest in different musical genres, an assessment of aspects specifically related to flamenco, and the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents. The questionnaire was constructed based on previous research [12,72–74]. Nominal categorical choice questions and semi-quantitative opinion and/or rating questions were applied - in this case, a seven-point Likert scale was used (1 being not at all important and 7 being very important). The questionnaire is structured four blocks. The first block dealt with the importance of music in general in the respondent’s motivation to travel. Subsequently, it was asked whether they had attended a flamenco show or tablao, and if so, they accessed the second part of the questionnaire on flamenco as a motivating factor in travel and satisfaction towards the flamenco shows they had attended. In the third part, respondents rated different aspects of the art of flamenco as a tourist attraction. Finally, the fourth block analyses the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondent. The reliability index according to Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.940, an excellent index that reinforces the validity of the research work carried out [75]. 4. Results The selected sample (Table 1) is mainly composed of middle-aged people, 47.5% are between 30 and 49 years old, with a clear Table 1 Sociodemographic profile. Gender N (%) Educational Background N (%) Family income level available N (%) Male 168 (40.4%) Elementary/Primary school or less 16 (3.9%) Less than 700 € 26 (6.4%) Female 248 (59.6%) Vocational education/secondary school 88 (21.2%) From 700 to 1,000 € 32 (7.9%) Age University degree 174 (41.9%) From 1,001 to 1,500 € 97 (23.9%) < 30 years 123 (30.4%) Master’s degree or PhD 137 (33.0%) From 1,501 to 2,500 € 117 (28.8%) 30–39 years 106 (26.2%) Nationality From 2,501 to 3,500 € 77 (19.0%) 40–49 years 86 (21.3%) National 270 (65.1%) More than 3,500 € 57 (14.0%) 50–59 years 57 (14.1%) Foreigner 145 (34.9%) Over 60 years 32 (7.9%) G.A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez et al. Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 4 predominance of women. They are highly educated, more than 75% have a university degree or higher, and mostly nationals, although there is a significant number of non-national respondents (34.9%). In terms of income, most respondents reported an income between 1,501 and 2,500 euros (28.8%). 5. Flamenco’s motivations Twenty-two valuation variables were analysed on questions related to the importance of music, musical culture, and flamenco in the motivation to travel. The reliability index, according to Cronbach’s Alpha, was 0.958, an excellent value that reinforces the validity of the research work carried out. Furthermore, the critical level associated with the F statistic (73.337; <0.001) of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) supports the hypothesis that the averages of the items are not equal. The large number of variables presents a problem of shared variance, causing collinearity, in addition to not being allowed to apply the principle of parsimony. Therefore, we resorted to a factorial analysis, using the orthogonal Varimax rotation method. Of the 22 variables initially evaluated, 4 non-significant variables were eliminated, not affecting the level of consistency of the survey (Cronbach’s alpha +0.952; F =84.211 <0.001). The remaining 18 variables were simplified into four factors (Table 2), which show the four dimensions of tourist motivation regarding flamenco. In a factor analysis it is important to know the factor scores obtained, as a measure of the strength of each of these motivational factors, and to characterize the dimensions extracted. The first factor found explains more than 29% of the total variance matrix of motivations, with important weightings in aspects related to the development of flamenco shows, their tradition and history. In other words, visiting places where there are flamenco shows can be considered as potential pull factors, since they can induce these tourists to travel to those places. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.943) of the seven items that are part of this dimension show a high reliability of this subscale. This factor has been called the ‘flamenco dimension’. The second dimension would be formed by the variables related to musical experiences in general, as a push motivating factor for travelling, being flamenco one of these experiences. The value of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.883) of these four variables also constitutes a reliable subscale. This second dimension explains about 18% of the motivations of the total variance matrix. This factor has been referred to as the ‘musical dimension’. The third factor extracted encompasses the items that consider flamenco a lure that contributes to the branding of the region or country of origin of flamenco. This dimension explains more than 15% of the motivations of the total variance matrix, constituting a reliable subscale: Cronbach’s alpha (0.833). This factor has been named ‘flamenco branding’. The last dimension found is composed of those variables that consider flamenco as a specific push factor when travelling to certain destinations. It explains more than 13% of the total variance, being a reliable subscale (Cronbach’s alpha =0.873). This factor has been named ‘flamenco pretext’. With the factors obtained, the existence of a possible clustering trend in this typology of tourists was analysed. For this purpose, a cluster analysis was applied to determine if there are defining traits that define flamenco tourists. The results of the dendrogram and the icicle plot [76] suggested a recommended solution of three clusters. To verify the significance of cluster belongingness, the MANOVA test was applied [77]. Although, since this test does not determine where significant mean differences are found, a post hoc or Tukey’s honestly significant difference test was applied. The ANOVA F statistic contrasted the means differences of the variables. Table 2 Factor analysis. Rotated component matrix: Flamenco variables. Component 1 2 3 4 Learning about flamenco and enjoying it in its environment .842 Attending flamenco shows .835 Living and experiencing this art live .808 I am interested in the history and origins of flamenco .769 The feeling I get from flamenco .762 Visiting a flamenco ‘tablao’ at the destination .736 Interacting with people related to flamenco: singers, dancers, etc. .718 Music is important when it comes to travel motivation .842 The seeking of music-related experiences is important in the choice of a destination .839 A music-related experience is important for travel satisfaction .839 The existence of a certain type of local music is important when choosing a travel destination .702 Flamenco attracts more tourists to a particular destination .824 Flamenco increases the attractiveness of certain destinations .810 Flamenco is an unmissable tourist attraction .786 Flamenco allows me to get to know how the flamenco shows really are .703 Flamenco increases my willingness to visit certain destinations .657 Flamenco allows me to discover other cultural elements of Spain .623 It is a scheduled visit in my programmed tourist itinerary .597 Eigenvalues 9.459 1.914 1.544 0.798 % Variance 29.553 17.958 15.606 13.084 % Cumulative variance 29.553 47.510 63.116 76.200 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (KMO) =0.944 Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity =4856.335; Sig.: 0.000 Extraction method: principal component analysis. Rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization a a. Rotation has converged in 6 iterations. G.A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez et al. Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 5 The results are presented in Table 3. The significance level of Levene’s test was less than 0.05 for all the variables analysed, so equality of variances was rejected. The literature has repeatedly used ANOVA F parametric tests when working with Likert scales [78], as in this research. Although, by not accomplishing the normality and homoscedasticity assumptions, there may be mistrust when assuming equality of population variations. To avoid doubts, we have also applied the Welch & Brown-Forsythe tests, as a reinforcement and an alternative to the ANOVA F test. This analysis confirms that the hypothesis of equality of means can be rejected, and it can be stated that the means of the motivational variables of the three resulting clusters are not equal (Table 4). The first cluster is composed of 60.7% of the respondents (Table 3), with the highest ratings in all variables. It can be affirmed that this type of tourist identifies with all musical experiences, so flamenco would be an important motivation to travel. Attending symbolic flamenco venues that allow them to relive associated emotions and enjoy live performances or learning can be a both pull and push element to choose their destination. This group of respondents has been called ‘flamenco lovers’. The second cluster identified, representing 20.8% of the respondents, has good scores on all the items, except for those related to musical motivations in general. This is a type of tourist who despite liking flamenco, this would not be a decisive element but a motivating factor when travelling. This type of tourist has been called ‘friends of flamenco’. The third group, comprising 18.6% of the respondents, has lower scores in all the items regarding to attending events related to flamenco or flamenco as a motivating element for choosing a destination, but has high scores in the items related to the dimension of enjoying musical experiences in general. This is a tourist who likes music and music-related experiences in general, but flamenco is not the most prominent element. This type of tourist has been called ‘musical tourist’. Respondents’ opinion of flamenco and related aspects is very positive (Table 5). Respondents’ fondness for flamenco is very high. The measurement of these values, which present a good Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (0.902), with a critical level associated with the F statistic (41.892) ANOVA, below 0.001, confirms the non-existence of inequality in the mean of the items for the clusters found. These results show that 80.8% of the respondents enjoy live flamenco very much, with ratings equal to or higher than 6 points, for the sound of the guitar (87%), and for the musical art it evokes (83.2%). The existence of a cluster formed by ‘flamenco lovers’ is ratified, with ratings very close to the maximum in all aspects of this artistic expression which is an important motivation when it comes to travel. As well as the existence of a second group ‘friends of flamenco’ with a strong liking for this artistic expression. It has been demonstrated that there are no significant differences between national and foreign respondents concerning their evaluation of the different aspects of flamenco, although non-national respondents have slightly higher evaluations than national respondents. This corroborates the existence of a typology of tourists, both national and international, whose motivations include attending flamenco shows and experiencing emotions related to flamenco. The group of ‘flamenco lovers’, the most numerous, is the one that best values all aspects of flamenco. The evaluation of the cluster formed by ‘friends of flamenco’ is also noteworthy, being very high, with slightly higher scores for non-nationals than for nationals. In order to check which motivational factors influence the desire to attend flamenco shows, it was evaluated if the four dimensions of motivation are related to the perception variable ‘live flamenco’, and they are significantly different. The correlation coefficients confirms the existence of a positive relationship between the desire to attend live performances and the motivational dimensions analysed, especially with reference to the first factor ‘flamenco dimension’, and they are also significantly different from one dimension to another (Table 6). In the purpose of characterizing the musical tastes of the respondents, they were asked to evaluate their musical tastes in different Table 3 Characterization of the clusters from the average of the motivation variable. Clusters ANOVA Motivational variables 1 2 3 F Sig. Average Average Average Learning about flamenco and enjoying it in its environment 6.45** 5.49** 3.61** 152.702 <.001 Attending flamenco shows 6.30** 5.11** 3.50** 130.252 <.001 Living and experiencing this art live 6.48** 5.67** 3.59** 157.093 <.001 I am interested in the history and origins of flamenco 6.11** 4.71** 3.36** 108.810 <.001 The feeling I get from flamenco 6.54** 5.75** 4.02** 129.982 <.001 Visiting a flamenco ‘tablao’ at the destination 6.03** 4.47** 2.91** 110.611 <.001 Interacting with people related to flamenco: singers, dancers, etc. 6.13** 4.53** 3.46** 98.916 <.001 Music is important when it comes to travel motivation 5.86** 3.38** 4.90** 77.093 <.001 The seeking of music-related experiences is important in the choice of a destination 5.41** 2.94** 4.12** 86.670 <.001 A music-related experience is important for travel satisfaction 5.85** 3.55** 4.56** 78.977 <.001 The existence of a certain type of local music is important when choosing a travel destination 5.21** 2.44** 3.74** 81.732 <.001 Flamenco attracts more tourists to a particular destination 6.56** 6.23** 5.59** 22.074 <.001 Flamenco increases the attractiveness of certain destinations 6.54** 5.82* 5.49* 28.552 <.001 Flamenco is an unmissable tourist attraction 6.60** 6.09** 5.22** 32.412 <.001 Flamenco allows me to get to know how the flamenco shows really are 5.94** 4.25* 4.24* 51.748 <.001 Flamenco increases my willingness to visit certain destinations 5.66** 3.15* 3.08* 105.873 <.001 Flamenco allows me to discover other cultural elements of Spain 6.38** 4.95* 4.76* 52.943 <.001 It is a scheduled visit in my programmed tourist itinerary 5.40** 2.95* 2.44* 101.433 <.001 In order to contrast the significant differences between the different averages the HSD Tukey test was implemented. ** Values indicate significant differences in two of the means of the three clusters, and * values in one of the means clusters, in the ANOVA post hoc analysis. G.A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez et al. Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 6 Table 4 Robust tests of equality of means. Motivational variables Levene statistic Equality of the means Learning about flamenco and enjoying its essence in its environment 25.69 <.001 Welch 132.897 .000 Brown-Forsythe 107.597 .000 Attending flamenco shows 9.62 <.001 Welch 130.211 .000 Brown-Forsythe 100.636 .000 Living and experiencing this art live 20.22 <.001 Welch 107.961 .000 Brown-Forsythe 109.700 .000 I am interested in the history and origins of flamenco 11.84 <.001 Welch 107.782 .000 Brown-Forsythe 86.816 .000 The feeling I get from flamenco 18.81 <.001 Welch 92.491 .000 Brown-Forsythe 86.950 .000 Visiting a flamenco ‘tablao’ at the destination 22.41 <.001 Welch 140.271 .000 Brown-Forsythe 89.840 .000 Interacting with people related to flamenco: singers, dancers, etc. 23.27 <.001 Welch 100.927 .000 Brown-Forsythe 75.448 .000 Music is important when it comes to travel motivation 12.52 <.001 Welch 56.827 .000 Brown-Forsythe 60.566 .000 The seeking of music-related experiences is important in the choice of a destination 4.00 <.001 Welch 73.384 .000 Brown-Forsythe 73.739 .000 A music-related experience is important for travel satisfaction 19.61 <.001 Welch 59.192 .000 Brown-Forsythe 60.244 .000 The existence of a certain type of local music is important when choosing a travel destination 0.19 <.001 Welch 87.684 .000 Brown-Forsythe 85.878 .000 Flamenco attracts more tourists to a particular destination 18.53 <.001 Welch 13.226 .000 Brown-Forsythe 14.898 .000 Flamenco increases the attractiveness of certain destinations 16.20 <.001 Welch 22.149 .000 Brown-Forsythe 19.599 .000 Flamenco is an unmissable tourist attraction 29.79 <.001 Welch 19.842 .000 Brown-Forsythe 21.987 .000 Flamenco allows me to get to know how the flamenco shows really are 8.49 <.001 Welch 45.725 .000 Brown-Forsythe 41.512 .000 Flamenco increases my willingness to visit certain destinations 3.36 <.001 Welch 98.095 .000 Brown-Forsythe 90.196 .000 Flamenco allows me to discover other cultural elements of Spain 17.11 <.001 Welch 44.828 .000 Brown-Forsythe 37.740 .000 Table 5 Opinion on aspects of flamenco. C1 C2 C3 F ANOVA Live Flamenco 6.64** 6.10** 5.39** 46.780 <.001 Quality of the dance 6.52* 6.17* 5.37** 35.022 <.001 Quality of the ‘cante’ 6.56** 6.14** 5.39** 35.771 <.001 Quality of guitar playing and musical instruments 6.6* 6.23* 5.83** 24.782 <.001 Lushness of clothing 6.15** 5.32** 4.76** 36.346 <.001 Emotions 6.56* 6.14* 5.49** 28.187 <.001 Art 6.60* 6.38* 5.86** 15.244 <.001 In order to contrast the significant differences between the different averages the HSD Tukey test was implemented. ** Values indicate significant differences in two of the means of the three clusters, and * values in one of the means clusters, in the ANOVA post hoc analysis. Table 6 Robust tests of equality of means. ANOVA Variances’ homogeneity Equality of the means Live Flamenco F Sig. Levene Sig. Statistical Sig. Pearson correlation F1 175.839 <.001 42.890 <.001 Welch 195.012 <.001 0.530 a Brown-Forsythe 115.173 <.001 F2 91.953 <.001 14.822 <.001 Welch 55.195 <.001 0.166 a Brown-Forsythe 69.352 <.001 F3 10.483 <.001 24.898 <.001 Welch 5.427 <.001 0.302 a Brown-Forsythe 6.746 <.001 F4 26.424 <.001 32.010 <.001 Welch 17.600 <.001 0.187 a Brown-Forsythe 22.720 <.001 a Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). G.A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez et al. Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 7 genres (blue, classical, pop, flamenco and jazz). Cronbach’s α coefficient, for this scale, reached the value 0.740, which implies an acceptable consistency among the items of this scale. The critical level (p) of the F statistic (99.983) was below 0.005, so it is assumed that the means of the items are not equal. Their musical preferences were evaluated based on the segmentation (Table 7). In this case, the respondents of cluster 1 value better all the musical genres analysed, especially flamenco. This is a type of person with special sensitivity to all types of musical genres, but notably to flamenco. In this cluster, foreign respondents rated flamenco higher than national respondents (6.59 vs. 6.18); on the other hand, they gave lower scores to the rest of the musical genres, with the exception of jazz, than national respondents. The second group, formed by the ‘friends of flamenco’, also gives a good evaluation of flamenco, higher than the rest of the musical genres, although it only has significant differences with respect to the other two clusters in the flamenco variable. Finally, the cluster formed by ‘musical tourists’ has its highest rating in the Pop genre, albeit not significantly, followed by flamenco. 6. Discussion Due to the potential of flamenco as a differentiating element of the culture of southern Spain, further research is needed to obtain key ideas for the development of differentiating promotional strategies that position flamenco as a cultural identity. This research also gives an introduction to the missing knowledge gaps from previous studies about flamenco impacts on tourism. There are studies related to the valuation of popular music and its festivals, with its impact on the territories [79–82], but it is true that there is a gap in the existing academic literature that this study aims to cover. The objective of this study is to discover whether flamenco can be a determining motivation when choosing the places where it is practised and whether there really is tourism specifically related to flamenco. It has also been analysed what motivational factors influence travel related to flamenco and music in general. The study also seeks to characterize this tourist to find out his or her interests, preferences and tastes. The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate that there is a flamenco motivation when visiting places where flamenco is practised and part of popular culture. This flamenco motivation can give rise to a type of traveller who wants to see shows, learn, or have an experience related to flamenco. In fact, flamenco motivation is very present in two of the three segments found in this survey and is shown as an external attraction motive. The analysis of musical motivation when travelling had been studied in studies related to the attendance to music festivals [83,84] but it has been scarcely studied in terms of visiting places where popular music and folklore are practised, such as flamenco [69], because this art form has mainly been studied from other perspectives such as the sociocultural [56], local [57], or from gipsy people identity [64]. The results of this research show the existence of three motivational dimensions related to flamenco in the sample analysed: flamenco experience, flamenco brand, flamenco pretext and musical dimension. This result is a novelty compared to previous research, since, until now, the scientific literature had only considered a single flamenco dimension as an element of attraction to places related to this art [15,69]. The first of the found dimensions, flamenco experience, is related to the desire to experience the flamenco atmosphere and, in essence, the live experience of this art form. This dimension can be considered as a pull factor towards those specific places where there are flamenco shows, culture and history, being the dimension with the greatest weight of the motivational dimensions found. Flamenco brand is a brand-building motivational dimension of a flamenco destination. Flamenco pretext considers flamenco as a good excuse to visit those places where it is practiced. These last two dimensions could be considered as push factors towards those places. The existence of a musical dimension was also observed, where the motivation to participate in musical experiences in general and not specifically flamenco experiences is more important. This study also intended to determine whether a specific flamenco tourist exists. The results suggest that there is a tourist whose motivation for travelling is flamenco, with three different typologies: flamenco lovers, friends of flamenco and musical attraction. The most numerous group of respondents is flamenco lovers, who have a special sensitivity towards flamenco, as well as towards all popular musical expressions. Moreover, this flamenco-loving tourist is both national and international in origin. As an important theoretical implication, it can be claimed that this characterization of the typology of potential flamenco tourists suggests, in a certain way, the existence of a graduation in the intensity of the passion towards flamenco among these tourists. And also, each of these clusters has a different relationship with other types of popular music genres. These findings have not been detected in previous investigations, although some types of tourists who travel motivated by a certain genre of popular art, including flamenco, have been characterized [21,69,75]. From the results of this work, it is intuited that the passion for flamenco has a correspondence with the love for other types of classical and popular musical genres such as classical music, blues, jazz, or even rock. 7. Conclusions It can be affirmed that flamenco should not only be considered as a complementary attraction to a tourist destination, but as a main motivation of that destination, because there is a specific flamenco tourist that is both national and international. Among the practical applications of this work, the first notorious one is helping the cultural promoters and tourism managers have scientific evidence of the existence of a type of tourist who has as motivation to travel thanks to consuming flamenco, who is a great lover of this art and, at the same time, of other popular classical music in general. The second practical application refers to the fact that this research confirms the need to promote flamenco as a rising value to be considered in cultural policies and as an element to promote cultural tourism in the south of Spain. In other words, investing in flamenco shows and events, both by private and public initiative, is profitable as a differentiating element of the identifying mark of a cultural destination. The possibility of combining flamenco art with other types of G.A. Mu˜ noz-Fern´ andez et al. Heliyon 9 (2023) e14134 8 classical musical genres is also suggested. The main limitation of this research are related to the methodology of the survey for convenience and carried out mainly among groups of social networks and associations of flamenco friends, it was answered by a population sector involved with flamenco, and has a high level of education, almost 75% of those surveyed have a university education or higher, so the results cannot be generalized, since they have the risk of being biased, which makes impossible to determine the size of this group of people who are flamenco lovers and travel to have flamenco experiences. Although this described limitation does not invalidate the conclusions of these results of this work in reference to motivation and segmentation. As a proposal for future lines of research, it would be interesting to extend this survey to other groups in order to be able to generalize the results [79] and have the possibility of determining the size of this group of flamenco lovers. 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