Analysis of international tourist arrivals worldwide: The role of world heritage sites

• Published in: Tourism management (1982) Vol. 40; pp. 46 - 58
• Main Authors: Su, Yu-Wen, Lin, Hui-Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2014
• Subjects: Cultural sites; Natural sites; Panel data; Tourism demand; WHSs; Cultural sites; Panel data; C23; L83; WHSs; Tourism demand; Natural sites
• ISSN: 0261-5177; 1879-3193
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2013.04.005

This study examines the impact on inbound tourism caused by the presence of world heritage sites. The statistics are derived from panel data for 66 countries for the period 2006–2009. The results indicate that there exists a positive relationship between having such heritage sites and tourist numbers, and the relationship is stronger for natural rather than for cultural heritage sites. The evidence also indicates the presence of a U-shaped relationship between numbers of world heritage sites in a country and tourist numbers. These relationships are found to be robust even though differences in patterns are found in different regions. •Investigate in the positive influence of world heritage sites on international tourist arrivals.•Divide the sample into several groups according to the number of WHSs to study effects of WHSs across these groups.•Explore the pooled, fixed and random effect models with panel data (66 countries, 2000–2009).•Eliminate the problem of time-invariant variables in panel data model by increasing the number of countries.