UNESCO World Heritage sites and tourism attractiveness: The case of Italian provinces

This paper aims at investigating whether the inscriptions in the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites influence tourism attractiveness. An empirical analysis, based on dynamic panel data methodology, was implemented to study the effect of WHL cultural and natural properties inclusion on international tourist arrivals in Italian provinces in the 2000–2014 time span. Results suggest that being awarded with a World Heritage recognition, together with the province’s wealth, environmental habits and the openness to external markets, may influence attractiveness, confirming a tourism-enhancing role of the List, beyond the simple heritage preservation.