The Effects of World Heritage Sites on Domestic Tourism: A Spatial Interaction Model for Italy

Roberto Patuelli (roberto.patuelli@unibo.it), Maurizio Mussoni and Guido Candela
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Guido Candela: University of Bologna, Italy

Working Paper series from Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis

Abstract: Culture is gaining increasing importance in the modern tourism industry, and represents a significant force of attraction for tourists (both domestic and international). Cultural tourism allows destinations and regions to expand their customer base, diversify their offer, extend the stay of the tourist, and reduce seasonality. Great efforts are made, by national governments and regions, in order to obtain official designation regarding the relevance of their historical/cultural attractions, for example through UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites (WHS) list. Such an aspect seems particularly relevant for a country like Italy, which has a high number of entries in the WHS list, and where regions take an active role in promoting tourism. Using an 11-year panel of domestic tourism flows, we investigate the importance of the regional endowment in terms of WHS from two perspectives: (a) by separately estimating the effects, on tourism flows, of WHS located in the residence region of tourists and in the destination region; and (b) by taking into account potential spatial substitution/complementarity effects between regions due to their WHS endowment. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is offered to evaluate the spatial extent of the latter.

Keywords: cultural tourism; domestic tourism; World Heritage Sites; spatial interaction model; Italy; spatial competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 L83 R12 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-06, Revised 2013-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-geo, nep-tur and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (65)

Published in Journal of Geographical Systems, 15(3):369-402, 2013

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Related works:
Chapter: The Effects of World Heritage Sites on Domestic Tourism: A Spatial Interaction Model for Italy (2016)
Journal Article: The effects of World Heritage Sites on domestic tourism: a spatial interaction model for Italy (2013)
Working Paper: The Effects of World Heritage Sites on Domestic Tourism: A Spatial Interaction Model for Italy (2012)
Working Paper: The effects of World Heritage Sites on domestic tourism: a spatial interaction model for Italy (2012)
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