Visitors’ heritage location choices in Amsterdam in times of mass tourism: A latent class analysis

The popularity of must-see tourism destinations raises concerns about negative impacts including pollution, vandalism, and overcrowding in cultural heritage sites and the surrounding landscape. To address these challenges, understanding visitors’ choice behavior and motivations is essential. This study aims to identify visitor segments based on their location choice and formulate policy recommendations to address overtourism challenges by examining visitors’ choice behavior in a stated choice experiment. It provides evidence-based policy suggestions for mitigating mass tourism effects. The choice experiment was implemented in an online survey which was completed by a sample of 437 individuals who had paid a visit to Amsterdam in recent years. The results shed light on how individuals trade-off location attributes in making a choice between heritage destinations. A latent class analysis revealed three segments which can be labeled as cultural-attraction seekers, selective sightseers, and city-life lovers. The results show that crowdedness and entrance fees for additional experiences significantly influence visitors’ location choices across all segments.