Citation
(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-05-2014-001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Awards for Excellence
Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Volume 4, Issue 1
The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award for Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
"Is the World Heritage label used as a promotional argument for sustainable tourism?"
Pascale Marcotte
Department of Recreational, Cultural and Tourism Studies, Université du Québec Trois-Riviéres, Trois-Riviéres, Canada
Laurent Bourdeau
Department of Geography, Université Laval, Québec City, Canada
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find out if destination marketing organizations (DMOs), in charge of promoting World Heritage
Sites (WHS), use the World Heritage label in their electronic promotional tools, and if so, do promotional arguments include
considerations linked to sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative and qualitative study was conducted of web site content created by local, regional and national DMOs representing
120 organizations of World Heritage Cities member cities.
Findings – Results show that western European cities are the primary users of the World Heritage label in their promotional material.
Cities that obtained their label less than ten years ago use it more often for promoting tourism. Concurrently a significant
theme associated with WHS categorization is the presentation of a must-see “tourism product”. Conversely the advertising contains
little information about the protection of the site or sustainable development actions undertaken since the labelling.
Practical implications – Mostly a DMO communicates with tourists and visitors. It would be in the interest of WHS managers who work in partnership
with these DMOs to convey why the site was labelled. Further, they need to demonstrate that obtaining the World Heritage status
implies implementing sustainable development objectives. Finally, a better understanding of the economic, cultural, social
and environmental issues associated with the label would help tourists appreciate their visit more.
Originality/value – The paper is the first insightful study of the World Heritage label usage as both a promotional argument and means of enhancing
sustainable tourism practices.
Keywords Cities, Promotional methods, Sustainable development, Sustainable marketing, Tourism, Web sites, World Heritage, World Heritage
label
www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/20441261211223289
This article originally appeared in Volume 2 Number 1, 2012, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
The following articles were selected for this year's Highly Commended Award
“An urban regeneration model in heritage areas in search of sustainable urban development and internal cohesion”
Roberto Cervelló-Royo, Rubén Garrido-Yserte and Baldomero Segura-García del Río
This article originally appeared in Volume 2 Number 1, 2012, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
“Traditional vs modern Arabian morphologies”
Roha W. Khalaf
This article originally appeared in Volume 2 Number 1, 2012, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
Outstanding Reviewers
Roberto Cervelló-Royo
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Sophia Labadi
UNESCO, Paris, France