ABSTRACT
Urban tourism is arguably one of the most highly developed forms of tourism at a global scale, since most of the major tourist gateways are urban in nature, and yet it is still a poorly understood aspect in the wider tourism system even though such gateways often control the distribution and flows of tourism to other parts of regions and countries. G. Shaw and A. M. Williams argue that urban areas offer geographical concentration of facilities and attractions that are conveniently located to meet both visitor and resident needs alike. G. Ashworth conceptualizes urban tourism by identifying three approaches towards its analysis, where researchers have focused on: the supply of tourism facilities in urban areas, the demand generated by urban tourists and urban tourism policy. Urban tourism is a major economic activity in many of Europe’s capital cities but identifying the tourism markets in each area is problematic.
