World Heritage Sites: The Purposes and Politics of Destination Branding

ABSTRACT

Stakeholder management and politics have been described as key component of destination branding (Balakrishnan, 2009). This article investigates the impact of political influences on destination branding by examining a sample of 94 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites (WHS) in 54 countries to determine whether democracy and political instability have a significant influence on the decisions of national tourism offices (NTOs) to promote their WHS as tourist destinations. It also examines the relative importance of political instability and democracy on the promotion of WHS by NTOs in comparison to other influences such as stewardship, economic development, and tourism. One of the key contributions of this article is that it applies a multivariate analysis to a field dominated by case study methodologies and suggests the potential complementarities between the two approaches. Democracy, it is hypothesized, facilitates the give and take inherent in reaching a common consensus among stakeholders on the nature and special meaning of a destination. It increases a society or country's civic capacity for collective action. Political instability, by contrast, is assumed to complicate the building of a consensus that enables nations to invest in and promote their heritage sites. The findings of this study suggest that the degree of democracy in a society has a significant role in encouraging the promotion of WHS as destinations. Political instability, by contrast, does not appear to have a significant impact in that regard. Democracy also appears to have a greater influence on the promotion of WHS by NTOs than influences such as economic development, quality of stewardship, and tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Destination branding
• world heritage
• democracy
• politics
• political instability