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

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.