Is the WHS brand effective in attracting international tourism? Evidence from Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2022.20.020Keywords:
Cultural tourism, International tourism, Tourism Management, Tourism Marketing, WHS brandingAbstract
This research aims to clarify if the WHS acknowledgement is capable of attracting international tourists to sites in Spain, purely on its own. To that end, we analysed tourist arrivals by country of departure as visited 12 of the 15 cities that bear the distinction of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to see what nationalities visited where and identifying what characteristics drew certain nationalities to certain places. Two segments were found to be clearly differentiated, allowing us to come to the conclusion that the WHS award was not sufficient in itself to draw international tourism with requirements for further tourist incentives to bring the international tourists in.
Downloads
References
Adie, B. A. (2017). Franchising our heritage: the UNESCO world heritage Brand. Tourism Management Perspectives, 24, 48-53.
Bille, T., & Schulze, G. G. (2006). Culture in urban and regional development. Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, 1, 1051-1099.
Boyd, S. W., & Timothy, D. J. (2001). Developing partnerships: tools for interpretation and management of World Heritage Sites. Tourism Recreation Research, 26(1), 47-53.
Buckley, R. (2004). The effects of World Heritage listing on tourism to Australian national parks. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 12(1), 70-84.
Canale, R. R., De Simone, E., Di Maio, A., & Parenti, B. (2019). UNESCO World Heritage sites and tourism attractiveness: The case of Italian provinces. Land Use Policy, 85, 114-120.
Castañeda, J. A., Vena-Oya, J., Rodríguez-Molina, M. Á., & Martínez-Suárez, R. (2019). Analysis of domestic cultural tourism spend by segment in the city of Granada: An observational data approach. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 18-30.
Caust, J., & Vecco, M. (2017). Is UNESCO World Heritage recognition a blessing or burden? Evidence from developing Asian countries. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 27, 1-9.
Cellini, R. (2011). Is UNESCO recognition effective in fostering tourism? A comment on Yang, Lin and Han. Tourism Management, 32(2), 452-454.
Collins-Kreiner, N. (2020). Religion and tourism: A diverse and fragmented field in need of a holistic agenda. Annals of Tourism Research, 82, 102892.
Cooke, P. N., & Lazzeretti, L. (Eds.). (2008). Creative cities, cultural clusters and local economic development. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Correia, A., Kozak, M., & Ferradeira, J. (2013). From tourist motivations to tourist satisfaction. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.
Cortés, G. L., & Contri, G. B. (2013). Distintas etapas del uso de las fuentes de información de los turistas en Valencia, España. Estudios y perspectivas en turismo, 22(3), 410-424.
Cuccia, T., Guccio, C., & Rizzo, I. (2016). The effects of UNESCO World Heritage List inscription on tourism destinations performance in Italian regions. Economic Modelling, 53, 494-508.
Deb, M., & Lomo-David, E. (2021). Determinants of word of mouth intention for a World Heritage Site: The case of the Sun Temple in India. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 19, 100533.
De Simone, E., Canale, R. R., & Di Maio, A. (2019). Do UNESCO World Heritage Sites influence international tourist arrivals? Evidence from Italian provincial data. Social Indicators Research, 146(1-2), 345-359.
Deng, J., King, B., & Bauer, T. (2002). Evaluating natural attractions for tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(2), 422-438.
Devesa, M. J. S., & Esteban, L. P. (2008). La identificación de conglomerados en el sector hotelero español a partir de la estructura financiera. Cuadernos de turismo, (21), 239-252.
Drost, A. (1996). Developing sustainable tourism for world heritage sites. Annals of Tourism Research, 23(2), 479-484.
Dougan, J. W. (2007). Analysis of Japanese tourist demand to Guam. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 12(2), 79-88.
Gao, Y., & Su, W. (2019). Is the World Heritage just a title for tourism? Annals of Tourism Research, 78, 102748.
Giglio, S., Bertacchini, F., Bilotta, E., & Pantano, P. (2019). Using social media to identify tourism attractiveness in six Italian cities. Tourism Management, 72, 306-312.
Groizard, J. L., & Santana-Gallego, M. (2018). The destruction of cultural heritage and international tourism: The case of the Arab countries. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 33, 285-292.
Guedes, A. S., & Jiménez, M. I. M. (2015). Spatial patterns of cultural tourism in Portugal. Tourism Management Perspectives, 16, 107-115.
Herbert, D. (2001). Literary places, tourism and the heritage experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 28(2), 312-333.
Hernández-Martín, R., Simancas-Cruz, M. R., González-Yanes, J. A., Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Y., García-Cruz, J. I., & González-Mora, Y. M. (2016). Identifying micro-destinations and providing statistical information: a pilot study in the Canary Islands (8), 771-790.
Huang, C. H., Tsaur, J. R., & Yang, C. H. (2012). Does world heritage list really induce more tourists? Evidence from Macau. Tourism Management, 33(6), 1450-1457.
Inbakaran, R., & Jackson, M. (2006). Resident attitudes inside Victoria's tourism product regions: A cluster analysis. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 13(1), 59-74.
Jacobsen, J. K. S., Gössling, S., Dybedal, P., & Skogheim, T. S. (2018). Exploring length of stay: International tourism in south-western Norway. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 35, 29-35.
Jimura, T. (2011). The impact of world heritage site designation on local communities–A case study of Ogimachi, Shirakawa-mura, Japan. Tourism Management, 32(2), 288-296.
Kim, H., Oh, C. O., Lee, S., & Lee, S. (2018). Assessing the economic values of World Heritage Sites and the effects of perceived authenticity on their values. International Journal of Tourism Research, 20(1), 126-136.
Kirilenko, A. P., Stepchenkova, S. O., & Hernandez, J. M. (2019). Comparative clustering of destination attractions for different origin markets with network and spatial analyses of online reviews. Tourism Management, 72, 400-410.
Li, M., Wu, B., & Cai, L. (2008). Tourism development of World Heritage Sites in China: A geographic perspective. Tourism Management, 29(2), 308-319.
Light, D. (2000). Gazing on communism: heritage tourism and post-communist identities in Germany, Hungary and Romania. Tourism Geographies, 2(2), 157-176.
Lo Piccolo, F., Leone, D., & Pizzuto, P. (2012). The (controversial) role of the UNESCO WHL Management Plans in promoting sustainable tourism development. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 4(3), 249-276.
MacQueen, J. (1967, June). Some methods for classification and analysis of multivariate observations. In Proceedings of the fifth Berkeley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability (Vol. 1, No. 14, pp. 281-297).
Medina-Viruel, M. J., López-Guzmán, T., Gálvez, J. C. P., & Jara-Alba, C. (2019). Emotional perception and tourist satisfaction in world heritage cities: The Renaissance monumental site of Úbeda and Baeza, Spain. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 27, 100226.
Mudarra-Fernández, A. B., & Vena-Oya, J. (2020). The influence of the Unesco WHS recognition on entrepreneurship in cultural microdestinations. Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research, 3(1), 411-426.
Patsouratis, V., Frangouli, Z., & Anastasopoulos, G. (2005). Competition in tourism among the Mediterranean countries. Applied economics, 37(16), 1865-1870.
Patuelli, R., Mussoni, M., & Candela, G. (2013). The effects of World Heritage Sites on domestic tourism: a spatial interaction model for Italy. Journal of Geographical Systems, 15(3), 369-402.
Pendlebury, J., Short, M., & While, A. (2009). Urban World Heritage Sites and the problem of authenticity. Cities, 26(6), 349-358.
Pedret, R. (1986). Técnicas cuantitativas al servicio del marketing: Métodos descriptivos de análisis multivariable (Doctoral dissertation, Universitat de Barcelona, Centre de Publicacions Intercanvi Científic i Extensió Universitària).
Piotrowski, J. M., Arezki, R., & Cherif, R. (2009). Tourism Specialization and Economic Development; Evidence from the UNESCO World Heritage List (No. 09/176). International Monetary Fund.
Parga-Dans, E., González, P. A., & Enríquez, R. O. (2020). The social value of heritage: Balancing the promotion-preservation relationship in the Altamira World Heritage Site, Spain. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 18, 100499.
Perkins, R., Khoo-Lattimore, C., & Arcodia, C. (2021). Collaboration in marketing regional tourism destinations: Constructing a business cluster formation framework through participatory action research. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 46, 347-359.
Ramires, A., Brandao, F., & Sousa, A. C. (2018). Motivation-based cluster analysis of international tourists visiting a World Heritage City: The case of Porto, Portugal. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 8, 49-60.
Rivero, R. M., & Mora, Y. M. G. (2017). La segmentación del gasto turístico: el caso de Canarias. PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 15(2),359-374.
Rodwell, D. (2002). The World Heritage Convention and the exemplary management of complex heritage sites. Journal of Architectural Conservation, 8(3), 40-60.
Ryan, C., & Huimin, G. (Eds.). (2009). Tourism in China: Destination, cultures and communities. Routledge.
Santa-Cruz, F. G., & López-Guzmán, T. (2017). Culture, tourism and world heritage sites. Tourism Management Perspectives, 24, 111-116.
Su, Y. W., & Lin, H. L. (2014). Analysis of international tourist arrivals worldwide: The role of world heritage sites. Tourism Management, 40, 46-58.
Tan, A. Y., McCahon, C., & Miller, J. (2002). Modeling tourist flows to Indonesia and Malaysia. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 13(1-2), 61-82.
Tomljenović, R., & Dukić, L. (2017, January). Religious tourism-from a tourism product to an agent of societal transformation. In SITCON 2017.
Wang, L., & Xiao, S. (2020). Tourism space reconstruction of a world heritage site based on actor network theory: A case study of the Shibing Karst of the South China Karst World Heritage Site. International Journal of Geoheritage and Parks.
Wuepper, D., & Patry, M. (2017). The World Heritage list: Which sites promote the brand? A big data spatial econometrics approach. Journal of Cultural Economics, 41(1), 1-21.
Yang, C. H., & Lin, H. L. (2011). Is UNESCO recognition effective in fostering tourism? A comment on Yang, Lin and Han: Reply. Tourism Management, 32(2), 455-456.
Yang, C. H., & Lin, H. Y. (2014). Revisiting the relationship between World Heritage Sites and tourism. Tourism Economics, 20(1), 73-86.
Yang, C. H., Lin, H. L., & Han, C. C. (2010). Analysis of international tourist arrivals in China: The role of World Heritage Sites. Tourism Management, 31(6), 827-837.
Yang, Y., Xue, L., & Jones, T. E. (2019). Tourism-enhancing effect of World Heritage Sites: Panacea or placebo? A meta-analysis. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 29-41.
Zaman, G. (2015). Cultural heritage entrepreneurship (CHE) – challenges and difficulties. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188, 3 – 15.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Julio Vena Oya, Ana Belén Mudarra Fernández, Alberto Calahorro López, Ana María Cazallo Antúnez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
I confirm that the work is original (of my/our authorship), and that it will not be submitted to other journals or publications until the final resolution of the review process in PASOS, RTPC.
I authorize the publication of my work by PASOS, PSTN of free and open access in any of the formats that I deem appropriate, for an indefinite period of time and as a non-remunerated collaboration.
Likewise, the author(s) understands that the published work may be linked or deposited on any server or included in other publications (republication), provided that the new place and/or new edition references the original publication and acknowledges the authorship and copyright ownership of PASOS RTPC publications.
Authors understand that a plagiarism-self-plagiarism check will be performed, and the article may be removed at any time from the editorial flow.