Cross-border Cultural Tourism in Europe: Drivers for Cross-border Travels for the Performing Arts

The aim of this paper is to examine the drivers for cross-border tourist exchanges between the two closest capitals in Europe - Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria). We focus on the field of cultural tourism in view of the cross-border visits to two major performing arts institutions - the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and the Staatsoper in Vienna. The basic question raised by the study is: What makes tourists travel for the performing arts? The paper presents partial results of a bigger research analyzing intercultural differences in perception of cultural products among different audiences.