National capital tourism marketing issues: A comparison of three political national capital cities

Vital to the development of urban tourism are capital cities. According to Hall (2002: 235) “capital cities are an important component of the national fabric of almost every country in the world yet, surprisingly, very little has been written about their tourism significance.” Capital cities provide an administrative base of government operations that create spin off effects for business travel. National capital cities also provide the setting for the nation’s culture, history and democracy and can therefore attract significant numbers of school excursions for students. National capitals also hold major national institutions that are significant for tourism as well as preserving national heritage and culture (Therborn, 1996)