Artistic-religious tourism after the pandemic: towards the innovation of sustainable tourism or the return to the pre-crisis business model?

The research aims to study if and how the flows of tourism demand and supply will change after the pandemic. We want to understand what the effects of these changes could be on the elements that characterize the business models of Italian Fabbricerie. The analysis will allow us to understand whether the pandemic has produced effects on visitor flows in quantitative terms (e.g., the number of visitors) and qualitative ones (e.g., the type of visitors) to investigate the emergence of new market segments. In addition, we want to investigate whether the restrictions due to the health emergency and the resources in support of the cultural sector have changed the organization's cost and revenue structure, generating new costs or revenues. Finally, the analysis will focus on the strategies implemented by the organization to understand if and how its cultural offer has changed and explore the role of new ways of the digital use of heritage or of any new channels for communication with its audiences, which emerged in response to the effects of the pandemic. The analysis applyies the mutiple case study methodology and investigate the case of five Italian Fabbricerie located in some of the most visited Italian cities of art, Florence, Milan, Pisa, Siena and Venice. Data collection involved both primary sources from in-depth interviews with Directors and Presidents of the Fabbricerie and secondary sources from istitutions’ reports and documents, social media and websites. The analysis of the data followed two steps. First, the contents of the interviews have been analysed through the qualitative analysis software QDA Miner Lite in order to coding the information and identifing relevant changes in the dimensions of the business model and the significant topics. The second step of the analysis involved triangulation of the information from the coding with data from secondary sources. The results of the analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the business models of cultural organizations and the impact of the pandemic on the value generated for visitors and other stakeholders.