A first fact that can arouse a thought-provoking debate is the answer to the question: “How much do you plan to spend in cultural activities (theatre, exhibitions, tickets to museums, parks, wildlife reserves, etc.) in the next five years?”: over 30% of Italians answered that their spending would increase, and about 55% answered they would spend the same amount of money. Only 10% stated they would spend less in cultural activities in the next 5 years.

So, this means that citizens “beat” all expectations and, despite the crisis, identify the consumption of cultural activities as the pole star of the future. Such farsightedness certainly deserves a proper response. Florens 2010 volunteered to boost the discussion…

As to the negative factors that deter people from taking part in cultural activities, Italians put the high cost at the top of the list. For 60% of citizens, the high price is the most off-putting factor. Other factors that deter people from taking part in cultural activities are queuing at the entrance (40%) and problems with transport, or finding a parking place near the destination of their visit (37%).

Therefore, general factors such as hospitality and services offered by cities and territories have to be considered along with those controlled directly by who supply cultural activities (e.g. price, entrance, etc.).