Beatriz Plaza

Evaluating the Influence of a Large Cultural Artifact in the Attraction of Tourism The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Case

Bilbao is an outstanding test case for the impact of an internationally famous cultural facility in a context that otherwise does not lend itself to large flows of tourism. Although early for a complete impact study, the aim of this study is to quantify the influence of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in the attraction of tourism and to identify the potential factors that explain such impact in the short run.

Monitoring web traffic source effectiveness with Google Analytics: An experiment with time series

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to develop a new user‐friendly in‐house tracking methodology for academics to analyse the effectiveness of visits (return visit behaviour and length of sessions) depending on their traffic source: direct visits, referring site entries and search engine visits. In other words, how deep do visitors navigate into the web site? Which is their internal performance depending on their traffic source?Design/methodology/approach – This paper addresses these questions by time series analysis of Google Analytics data. Some statistical matters with regard to the use of Google Analytics data in combination with time series methodology are fine‐tuned.Findings – Return visits are the main engine for nurturing session length, but which type of traffic source nurtures these return visits? In order to answer this question, an important distinction must be made between “total return visits” and “marginal return visits”. Site entries stay longer to the extent their “marginal return effectiv...

Bilbao's Art Scene and the “Guggenheim effect” Revisited

The article analyzes the effects of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (GMB), adopting a new research perspective and trying to pursue the links between the museum and Bilbaos art scene. Until now, the impact of the museum has been analyzed from two different perspectives. The first focused on the urban development and regeneration aspects and the success of the museum as a tourist magnet and an image-making device. The second perspective concentrated on the direct economic benefits of the museum, i.e. direct returns and effects on the economy. The missing lens in previous analyses, however, was the impact of the museum on the citys art landscape, including the art support activities. In this context, the article describes for the first time in a detailed way how the GMB has contributed to the shaping and propulsion of changes on commercial and non-profit art spaces in Bilbao. Although it is clear that other factors may play a role, it can be asserted that the effects of the museum are not only limited to an increase in tourism or fiscal return, but also contribute to the development and spatial articulation of the local art scene and public support of the arts.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao: Between Regional Embeddedness and Global Networking

Abstract This paper aims to show the levels of local and regional embeddedness of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (GMB) as well as its effects on the position of Bilbao within global networks. Although it is often said that the GMB as an international art franchise did not fit well with the local traditions, values and culture of Bilbao and the Basque Country, this paper attempts to show that the GMB is quite embedded into the local and regional context of institutions, private agents and policies. This effect increases with the growing recognition of the potential effects of the GMB on the creative and service industry in the Bilbao region. On the other hand, there is also an increasing tendency for Bilbao and the GMB to be included in global networks, as can be demonstrated by the branding effect of the GMB on the attraction of tourists or the increasing importance of the term “Bilbao” in semantic networks. The authors conclude with some recommendations on strengthening both the regional embeddedness and the global networking potential of museums in order to generate positive effects on urban regeneration and regional development.

Research Note: Testing the Employment Impact of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao via TSA

The official report of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao states that the museum has contributed to the maintenance (note, not the ‘creation’) of almost 4,400 jobs. Yet, this estimate is not sufficiently enlightening, as it comes from sources too close to the museum. This article offers an alternative estimation based on the regional Tourism Satellite Accounts. The new results thus obtained suggest that overall direct and indirect employment generation can range from 1,000 to 1,200 new full-time jobs. That is, the ratio created by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is 1.25 jobs for every 1,000 visitors.

Renewal through Culture? The Role of Museums in the Renewal of Industrial Regions in Europe

Abstract Bilbao has become a role model for the regeneration of declining urban and industrial regions. The debate on the so-called Bilbao effect showed that rundown industrial cities and regions might profit from culture-based development strategies, even if successful urban regeneration cannot be induced by only one flagship project without an appropriate local and regional context. Based on the comparative analysis of six, in general recently founded, museums in five countries (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Louvre in Lens; Centre Pompidou in Metz; Istanbul Modern Art Museum; Museum Folkwang in Essen; Museum of Natural History in Florence), the authors of this special issue discuss the role of these museums in building the image and the attractiveness of their local and regional environment, the cross-fertilization of ideas and the integration of a region in global circuits and networks. Museums can play an important role in building up “social capital”, creating networks between different professionals, groups, sectors and segments of society, bridging diverse social backgrounds, lowering coordinating costs for individuals and businesses, and increasing the capacity of firms to reconnect.

Methodologies for monitoring website performance : Assessing the effectiveness of AdWords campaigns on a tourist SME website

Purpose – Online advertising such as Google AdWords gives small and medium-sized enterprises access to new markets at reduced costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the visibility and performance of a website and to test the effectiveness of online marketing using the data provided by Google Analytics. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a class of econometric time series models with unobservable components, Structural Time Series Models (STSM). The authors allow for time-varying trends to take into account the non-stationary behaviour displayed by time series. The authors illustrate the model using daily data from a local tourist website. Three specific questions are addressed: do paid keywords campaigns increase the volume and quality of search traffic? Do paid keywords affect the volume and quality of the unpaid traffic? How do paid and unpaid keywords perform? Findings – The results for the case study show that: first, online campaigns affect traffic volume positively but their effec...

Using Google Analytics for measuring inlinks effectiveness.

The aim of this brief communication is to develop a tracking methodology to analyse the effectiveness of inlink visits (return visit behaviour and length of sessions). In other words, how deep do inlink visitors navigate into the website? Do all inlinks perform the same? This paper addresses these questions by time series analysis of Google Analytics data, with a methodology developed by Plaza (2009). The importance of this article is not the particular website but the methodology tested to arrive at these results, an experiment that could be repeated with different websites.

Arts, Culture and Creativity as Drivers for Territorial Development, Innovation and Competitiveness

Notwithstanding the heterogeneity of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) sectors, all of them exhibit similar causes of market failure and face similar challenges related to the digital shift and to increasing globalisation. CCI share a common need for policy intervention to correct their market failures facing the digital and globalization challenges. This work seeks to establish a preliminary approach to the CCI’s related local/regional competitiveness and innovation policies. The general objective of the work is to develop a basic understanding of the risks and challenges (organizational, technological and institutional) of the CCI in Europe in order to be able to develop smart local and regional innovation policies for competitive CCI development and a favourable stimulation of innovative spill-over effects towards the rest of the economy. The understanding of risks and challenges is relevant for the design of effective and balanced European public policies for innovation and competitiveness in an ever-more intangible and creative economy. This work seeks to give a preliminary approach to a decisive lack of knowledge on the mechanisms of creative/cultural regional innovation policies.