Cultural Motives in Cross-Border Tourism: A Typology of Polish and Czech Tourists in the Euroregion Cieszyn Silesia Łukasz Wróblewski Cultural Management: Science and Education 10 No. 1 (2026) https://doi.org/10.30819/cmse.10-1.05     pp: 89-104     2026-06-23

Cultural Motives in Cross-Border Tourism: A Typology of Polish and Czech Tourists in the Euroregion Cieszyn Silesia

Stichworte/keywords: Cultural tourism; cross-border tourism; tourist typology; cluster analysis; cultural management; EuroregionCieszyn Silesia; Polish-Czech borderland

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Abstract
The aim of this article is to identify and interpret types of cross-border tourists for whom culture constitutes one of the declared components of tourist behaviour in the Polish-Czech borderland. The empirical context of the study is the Euroregion Cieszyn Silesia, where cultural heritage, events, sightseeing, recreation, shopping and everyday border mobility create a complex space of participation in culture. The article assumes that cultural experience is designed and consumed in a networked configuration: it connects places, institutions, narratives, services, activities and social relations. The analysis is based on survey data collected among Polish and Czech tourists. From an operational database comprising 1,219 observations, 171 respondents were selected who indicated cultural tourism as one of a maximum of three declared forms of activity both on the Polish side and on the Czech side of the border. The selection criterion was deliberately conservative: the study focused only on cross-border tourists who used culture during one stay on both sides of the Euroregion, rather than on respondents interested in culture in a general or one-sided way. Culture was therefore not treated as an exclusive motive, but as an important component of a broader package of cross-border practices. A two-stage cluster analysis procedure was applied: hierarchical clustering using Ward's method with squared Euclidean distance, followed by non-hierarchical k-means clustering. Four segments were identified: occasional sightseeing and leisure explorers, Czech cultural-shopping-event pragmatists, Polish active-event culture integrators, and health-shopping cultural spa visitors. The results show that the cross-border cultural tourist is not a homogeneous figure of cultural audience, but a diversified user of the borderland who combines culture with sightseeing, events, recreation, shopping and health. The article contributes to cultural management by showing how behavioural typologies can support the design of cross-border cultural and tourism products, event calendars and integrated visitor journeys.

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