Assessment of the impact and interrelation of UNESCO World Heritage on the tourism attractiveness of the country

Authors

  • Vitalii Ivanunik Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University
  • Halyna Krul
  • Stepan Bryk Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.353.12

Keywords:

international touristic arrivals, tourism attractiveness, ravel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, UNESCO World Heritage

Abstract

This work aims to investigate the impact of popular UNESCO World Heritage objects on the country’s tourist arrivals as a factor of attractiveness, to estimate the strong correlation between these phenomena, and to mathematically validate the assumption that the number of such sites has a direct impact on the country’s tourism competitiveness. We used data from the UNWTO’s open sources, UNESCO, the World Economic Forum expert reports on the competitiveness of travels and tourism of the world’s countries for 2017. The analysis is based on three rankings of countries in terms of World Heritage assets, international touristic arrivals and the country’s tourism and travel competitiveness index, and correlation analysis between these values. Also, to determine the influence and interdependencies between the studied concepts, the method of paired correlation analysis was chosen as a convenient way to demonstrate the influence of one variable on another. Determination of the correlation coefficient allowed to speak about the complexity of the relationship and the linearity of these phenomena. In particular, the increase in the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites leads to an increase in tourist arrivals and makes the country attractive for tourism development. As a result, we have obtained estimates of the unidirectional impact of the number of World Heritage sites on the territory of a particular country on the volume of international tourist arrivals. However, not always the overall attractiveness and competitiveness of the country in the field of tourism is linked to the World Heritage, and our study only confirms the thesis that among the many ways to increase the attractiveness of the country, an increase in World Heritage sites leads to an increase in tourist traffic. In current trends, choosing public policy to enhance and preserve UNESCO sites one obviously can expect the growth of tourist flows to the countries.

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Author Biographies

Vitalii Ivanunik, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

Vitalii Ivanunik, PhD, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Chernivtsi, Ukraine), Department of Geography and Management of Tourism. PhD in Geography, associate professor. He has graduated from the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. Author’s research interests concern issues of international tourism flows, tourist attraction of the territory, guided tour service, world heritage sites.

Halyna Krul

Halyna Krul, PhD in Geography, associate professor of the Department of Geography and Management of Tourism, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Chernivtsi, Ukraine). Graduated from the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. The author’s research interests relate to the hotel and restaurant business, recreational geography, tourism resources, hospitality and service.

Stepan Bryk, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University

Stepan Bryk, PhD in Geography, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Management of Tourism, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Geography for educational work, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University (Chernivtsi, Ukraine). Graduated from the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. Author’s research interests concern issues of international tourism flows, international tourism market, tourism marketing, tourism animation, guided tour service.

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Published

2021-09-30

How to Cite

Ivanunik, V. ., Krul, H. ., & Bryk, S. . (2021). Assessment of the impact and interrelation of UNESCO World Heritage on the tourism attractiveness of the country. Studies of the Industrial Geography Commission of the Polish Geographical Society, 35(3), 186–204. https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.353.12