An economic impact assessment of UNESCO World Heritage designation in Eastern Canada
LE3 .A278 2013
2013
Kayahan, Burc VanBlarcom, Brian
Acadia University
Bachelor of Arts
Honours
Economics
As the tourism industry continues to grow and become increasingly competitive, destinations want to find ways of distinguishing themselves. One such option is a World Heritage designation. We investigate whether or not sites that have been added to the World Heritage List have realized positive economic benefits as a result of their World Heritage designation. This study focused on four sites in Eastern Canada: Old Town Lunenburg, Grand Pre National Historic Site, the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, and Miguasha National Park. Data from before and after the World Heritage designation was used to conduct regression analysis to quantify the impact of designation on visitation to the site. A net present benefit was calculated for each site using 16 years of benefits and 19 years of discounting. A positive net present value was found for all four of the sites, although The Joggins Fossil Cliffs and Miguasha National Park had smaller economic impacts than the others. We find that World Heritage does indeed have a positive effect; however, the overall impact for Natural sites as designated by UNESCO is less than Historical/Cultural sites.
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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:963