Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This paper considers the need to examine the similarities and differences in preferences of the two types of visitors as well as local non-visitors intending to go a performing arts centre. The case study on Singapore for this purpose is particularly relevant and interesting given that the city state of Singapore is at a crossroads when it comes to promoting itself as a cultural city. However, studies warned of two dangers: first, adopting an outdated “build it and they will come” cultural planning paradigm (Markusen and Gadwa 2010); and second, “placing the preferences of ephemeral tourists over that of local residents, over-investing in large-scale arts facilities which eventually become white elephants” (Turok 2009). To capture people’s preferences for public and quasi-public goods such as cultural infrastructure, the non-market valuation techniques of choice modelling is used. This is so that both use and the non-use value of cultural resources can be evaluated. This will enable policy makers to better understand the community’s response to a cultural institution with new features and/or the potential impact of new combinations of arts programs for to satisfy both local and tourist taste. Our study provides the following contributions. This is the first application of the choice modelling on the performing arts centre as a cultural good. Second, our sample spans both local residents and tourist. Third, we compute the total economic and social value of the cultural resource for the economy.