ToSEE – Tourism in Southern and Eastern Europe, Vol. 4, pp. 377-392, 2017 J. Mijoč, S. Marković, J. Horvat: THE ROLE OF LOCAL AUTHENTICITY IN FORMING TOURISTS ... 377 THE ROLE OF LOCAL AUTHENTICITY IN FORMING TOURISTS' INTENTIONS Josipa Mijoč Suzana Marković Jasna Horvat Received 24 April 2017 Revised 30 June 2017 Accepted 14 June 2017 https://doi.org/10.20867/tosee.04.46 Abstract This paper examines the authenticity of a destination from the perspective of destination branding, based on globally recognized local authenticity. Accordingly, local authenticity implies the culture of a specific destination as the sublimation of heritage, inherited tradition, and cultural identity. Such an interpretation of the local authenticity of a tourist destination rests on knowledge dating back to the first branding campaigns and efforts to determine goods authenticity based on their origin (Hornskov 2007; Riza 2015).The purpose of this paper is to identify and characterize European urban cultural tourists (EUCTs).The motivations of the surveyed European citizens (33 countries) for choosing the destination of their last tourist travel represent the criterion variables for the empirical part of the paper. Statistical analysis was conducted using publicly available data from the Flash Eurobarometer: Preferences of Europeans towards tourism2015 (FB 414) and 2016 (FB 432),with a total number of 60,206 respondents. Factor analysis determined latent dimensions of the motivations of all respondents when choosing destinations. Those respondents, who selected “culture” and "city sightseeing" as the motivations for their choice of destination, were treated as members of European urban cultural tourist group. After demographic characteristics were determined, the profile of EUCTs was defined. Based on the analysis it was established that 23.8% of tourists are EUCTs. The paper also researched the number of EUCTs respondents who visited the Republic of Croatia, and specifies the conditions necessary for strengthening the branding of the country based on authenticity. Keywords Flash Eurobarometer, European urban cultural tourists, branding, cultural tourism, factor analysis Culture provides consumable experiences; culture acts as a source for economic activity; culture attracts the creative class; culture attracts tourists… Kavaratzis and Ashworth, 2015