IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/anture/v78y2019ic14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is the World Heritage just a title for tourism?

Author

Listed:
  • Gao, Yanyan
  • Su, Wei

Abstract

World Heritage inscription denotes recognition of cultural and natural properties that have outstanding universal value. This paper contributes to the debate on the tourism impact of WH inscription with prefectural city data from China. The difference-in-differences framework shows that WH inscription does not promote tourism in terms of tourism revenue and tourist arrivals, which is consistent under various robustness checks. Heterogeneity analysis finds a negative effect of World Heritage inscription on domestic tourism revenue in the developed eastern region, over time, and for World Cultural Heritages, caused by the inscription to properties involving multiple cities. The empirical results suggest that World Heritage inscription in China plays more roles in protecting inscribed properties than developing tourism from them.

Suggested Citation

  • Gao, Yanyan & Su, Wei, 2019. "Is the World Heritage just a title for tourism?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:78:y:2019:i:c:14
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2019.102748
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738319301057
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102748?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roberto Patuelli & Maurizio Mussoni & Guido Candela, 2016. "The Effects of World Heritage Sites on Domestic Tourism: A Spatial Interaction Model for Italy," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Roberto Patuelli & Giuseppe Arbia (ed.), Spatial Econometric Interaction Modelling, chapter 0, pages 281-315, Springer.
    2. Jimura, Takamitsu, 2011. "The impact of world heritage site designation on local communities – A case study of Ogimachi, Shirakawa-mura, Japan," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 288-296.
    3. Su, Yu-Wen & Lin, Hui-Lin, 2014. "Analysis of international tourist arrivals worldwide: The role of world heritage sites," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 46-58.
    4. Yang, Yang & Xue, Lan & Jones, Thomas E., 2019. "Tourism-enhancing effect of World Heritage Sites: Panacea or placebo? A meta-analysis," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 29-41.
    5. Massidda, Carla & Etzo, Ivan, 2012. "The determinants of Italian domestic tourism: A panel data analysis," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 603-610.
    6. Cellini, Roberto, 2011. "Is UNESCO recognition effective in fostering tourism? A comment on Yang, Lin and Han," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 452-454.
    7. Deng, Taotao & Hu, Yukun & Ma, Mulan, 2019. "Regional policy and tourism: A quasi-natural experiment," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-16.
    8. Albalate, Daniel & Fageda, Xavier, 2016. "High speed rail and tourism: Empirical evidence from Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 174-185.
    9. Yang, Chih-Hai & Lin, Hui-Lin, 2011. "Is UNESCO recognition effective in fostering tourism? A comment on Yang, Lin and Han: Reply," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 455-456.
    10. Trevor Mules, 2005. "Economic Impacts of National Park Tourism on Gateway Communities: The Case of Kosciuszko National Park," Tourism Economics, , vol. 11(2), pages 247-259, June.
    11. Yang, Chih-Hai & Lin, Hui-Lin & Han, Chia-Chun, 2010. "Analysis of international tourist arrivals in China: The role of World Heritage Sites," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 827-837.
    12. Huang, Chia-Hui & Tsaur, Jen-Ruey & Yang, Chih-Hai, 2012. "Does world heritage list really induce more tourists? Evidence from Macau," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1450-1457.
    13. Cuccia, Tiziana & Guccio, Calogero & Rizzo, Ilde, 2016. "The effects of UNESCO World Heritage List inscription on tourism destinations performance in Italian regions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 494-508.
    14. Parga Dans, Eva & Alonso González, Pablo, 2019. "Sustainable tourism and social value at World Heritage Sites: Towards a conservation plan for Altamira, Spain," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 68-80.
    15. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2014. "Mastering ’Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10363.
    16. Zhenhua Chen & Kingsley E. Haynes, 2015. "Impact of high-speed rail on international tourism demand in China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 57-60, January.
    17. David H. Autor, 2003. "Outsourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-42, January.
    18. Charalambos Louca, 2006. "Income and Expenditure in the Tourism Industry: Time Series Evidence from Cyprus," Tourism Economics, , vol. 12(4), pages 603-617, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jesús M. González-Pérez & Margarita Novo-Malvárez, 2022. "Ibiza (Spain) World Heritage Site: Socio-Urban Processes in a Touristified Space," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Sifeng Nian & Fajian Liu & Min Chen & Guoqing Cheng, 2022. "Satisfaction of Tourism Communities in World Heritage Sites Based on Residents’ Perceptions—Study Area of Mount Sanqingshan National Park, PRC," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Md. Karimul Islam & Fariha Farjana & Nishad Nasrin & Md. Shakil Ahmed, 2023. "The economic, social and environmental implications of heritage tourism: evidence from Bangladesh," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Gao, Yanyan & Zhang, Lin & Nan, Yongqing, 2023. "Travel to breathe the fresh air? Big data evidence on the short-term migration effect of air pollution from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Krzysztof Widawski & Piotr Oleśniewicz, 2023. "Education in Tourism—Digital Information as a Source of Memory on the Examples of Places Related to the Holocaust in Poland during World War II," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-24, July.
    6. Jiafeng Gu, 2024. "The impact of national tourism day festivals on inbound tourism: A spatial difference-in-differences approach," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(2), pages 417-441, March.
    7. Elina De Simone & Mara Giua & Cristina Vaquero-Piñeiro, 2024. "Eat, visit, love. World heritage list and geographical indications: Joint acknowledgement and consistency as drivers of tourism attractiveness in Italy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(6), pages 1531-1556, September.
    8. Jiafeng Gu, 2024. "Does the Visa-Free Policy Promote Inbound Tourism? Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, June.
    9. Bailey Ashton Adie & Martin Falk, 2021. "Residents’ perception of cultural heritage in terms of job creation and overtourism in Europe," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(6), pages 1185-1201, September.
    10. Zhixin Zeng & Xiaojun Wang, 2023. "Will World Cultural Heritage Sites Boost Economic Growth? Evidence from Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Cheng Zhang & Wei Cheng & Wanli Zhang, 2023. "Does World Heritage inscription promote regional tourism? Evidence from China," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(4), pages 929-951, June.
    12. Yueqi Wang & Shouming Chen & Ahmed Rabeeu, 2024. "Does world heritage site initiation promote tourism? A difference-in-difference approach," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(8), pages 2111-2133, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cheng Zhang & Wei Cheng & Wanli Zhang, 2023. "Does World Heritage inscription promote regional tourism? Evidence from China," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(4), pages 929-951, June.
    2. Yang, Yang & Xue, Lan & Jones, Thomas E., 2019. "Tourism-enhancing effect of World Heritage Sites: Panacea or placebo? A meta-analysis," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 29-41.
    3. Elina Simone & Rosaria Rita Canale & Amedeo Maio, 2019. "Do UNESCO World Heritage Sites Influence International Tourist Arrivals? Evidence from Italian Provincial Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 345-359, November.
    4. Canale, Rosaria Rita & De Simone, Elina & Di Maio, Amedeo & Parenti, Benedetta, 2019. "UNESCO World Heritage sites and tourism attractiveness: The case of Italian provinces," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 114-120.
    5. Elina De Simone & Mara Giua & Cristina Vaquero-Piñeiro, 2024. "Eat, visit, love. World heritage list and geographical indications: Joint acknowledgement and consistency as drivers of tourism attractiveness in Italy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(6), pages 1531-1556, September.
    6. Jones, Thomas E. & Yang, Yang & Yamamoto, Kiyotatsu, 2017. "Assessing the recreational value of world heritage site inscription: A longitudinal travel cost analysis of Mount Fuji climbers," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 67-78.
    7. Corneliu Iațu & Bogdan-Constantin Ibănescu & Oana Mihaela Stoleriu & Alina Munteanu, 2018. "The WHS Designation—A Factor of Sustainable Tourism Growth for Romanian Rural Areas?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-12, February.
    8. Yu-Xia Lin & Ming-Hsiang Chen & Bi-Shu Lin & Shu-Yin Tseng & Ching-Hui (Joan) Su, 2021. "Nonlinear impact of World Heritage Sites on China’s tourism expansion," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(4), pages 795-819, June.
    9. Onur Selcuk & Hatice Karakas & Beykan Cizel & Emre Ipekci Cetin, 2023. "How does tourism affect protected areas?: A multi-criteria decision making application in UNESCO natural heritage sites," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1923-1944, June.
    10. Bertacchini, Enrico & Revelli, Federico & Zotti, Roberto, 2023. "Lord, how I want to be in that number! On the blessing of UNESCO World Heritage listing," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202304, University of Turin.
    11. Honghong Wei & Mingming Cheng & Li Huang, 2024. "5A accreditation of tourist attractions in China and international tourist arrivals: A system generalised method of moments approach," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 627-645, December.
    12. Mohamed Abdalla Elsayed Hassan & Konstantina Zerva & Silvia Aulet, 2021. "Brand Personality Traits of World Heritage Sites: Text Mining Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    13. Can, Ali Selcuk & Ekinci, Yuksel & Pino, Giovanni, 2021. "Joint brand advertising for emerging heritage sites," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2018. "The art of attracting international conferences to European cities," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(3), pages 337-351, May.
    15. David Wuepper, 2017. "What is the value of world heritage status for a German national park? A choice experiment from Jasmund, 1 year after inscription," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(5), pages 1114-1123, August.
    16. Tiziana Cuccia & Calogero Guccio & Ilde Rizzo, 2017. "UNESCO sites and performance trend of Italian regional tourism destinations," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(2), pages 316-342, March.
    17. Bernardina Algieri & Antonio à lvarez, 2023. "Assessing the ability of regions to attract foreign tourists: The case of Italy," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(3), pages 788-811, May.
    18. Elisa Panzera & Thomas de Graaff & Henri L.F. de Groot, 2021. "European cultural heritage and tourism flows: The magnetic role of superstar World Heritage Sites," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(1), pages 101-122, February.
    19. Cuccia, Tiziana & Guccio, Calogero & Rizzo, Ilde, 2016. "The effects of UNESCO World Heritage List inscription on tourism destinations performance in Italian regions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 494-508.
    20. Bertacchini, Enrico & Revelli, Federico & Zotti, Roberto, 2024. "The economic impact of UNESCO World Heritage: Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:78:y:2019:i:c:14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.