The study develops a comprehensive picture of tourism demand trends at UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHSs) with the aim of providing evidence of any growth in demand for specific destinations after the listing of their sites. In contrast to previous literature, this article focuses on the smallest statistical unit (the municipality) to examine WHS impact on the destination. Analyzing 16 Italian WHSs, we show the most relevant trends in hospitality demand, comparing tourism flows at destinations before and after listing. Data show that, on average, growth rates of tourism demand in the 5 years after WHS listing are not higher than growth rates in the 5 years before the listing, but a number of different patterns emerge. The policy and managerial implications of such findings are straightforward: at least for a mature destination like Italy, there is no statistical evidence that WHS listing is associated with accelerating market growth rates.
The globalization of tourism has recently increased the importance of foreign demand for most European destinations. Hotel chains have been long investigated from several perspectives. However, no research has verified the alleged ability of chains to attract foreign demand, while this information is highly sought after by hotel investors and owners when evaluating affiliation opportunities. The present study covers Italy. It is based on a survey of 148 branded hotels for 21 destinations and 22 brands. Adopting a new metric to compare the ability of hotels to sell abroad (Foreign market Per Available Room; FmPAR), it has been found that chain-affiliated hotels perform better than independent hotels in attracting foreign demand. This is particularly true for international chains compared to domestic ones. On the other hand, the effect is stronger in three-star hotels than in four and five-star ones, in destinations where chain penetration is low.
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