Tourism performances, government effectiveness and local growth: The Italian cultural heritage perspective

The cultural heritage endowment represents a cross road for boosting economic growth in tourism destinations, and broad literature has recognized how a heritage site is able to generate positive effects on local economies. These effects are increased when a heritage site is placed under the protection of UNESCO, where the destination becomes more appealing, and tourists’ behaviour is positively influenced by World Heritage Site condition. As for the Italian perspective, the cultural heritage endowment is almost wholly merged with UNESCO protection programmes, and this has resulted in a proliferation of regulations and legislative arrangements which often stand in the way of full exploitation of the cultural heritage resources. After reviewing literature concerning the effects of cultural tourism on growth, this chapter is proposing an eight-year panel data analysis, including all Italian provinces involved in UNESCO protection programmes. Main findings reveal that an increased level of government effectiveness and improvements of tourism coverage across the territory would result in significant economic growth at a provincial scale. Among other findings, after testing for year-round and non-seasonal periods, the results appear not to be affected by seasonality; however, as frequently occurs in mature destinations, accommodation overcapacity looks as though it produces negative effects on growth. The policy implications are discussed.