Intangible Cultural Heritage: The New Frontier of Destination Branding
By representing a promise of value and differentiation, brands have become a competitive asset in a growing number of contexts and activities (Aaker, 1991; Kotler and Gertner, 2002). This is especially true in tourism, where there has been a proliferation
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er Capita, Foreign Arrivals and its Nation Brand Ranking. This is used to identify and underscore key relationships within the data. The statistically significant relationships in the bivariate analysis are then examined in a multivariate analysis to determine what types of influences or Vision Drivers seem to characterize the countries that are currently receiving ICH designations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results of the bivariate analysis indicate that ICH does not have a statistically significant negative relationship with GDP per Capita. In fact, these two measures have a statistically insignificant positive relationship. ICH is, however, significantly correlated with tangible World Heritage Sites and Foreign Arrivals. Thus, three variables from the bivariate analysis are used in the multivariate analysis. Intagible Cultural Heritage is used as the dependent variable and World Heritage Sites and Foreign Arrivals are used as independent variables. In the multivariate analysis, Foreign Arrivals, which is used as a proxy for tourismmakes a statistically significant contribution to predicting the dependent variable. This finding is significant because it suggests that countries with larger tourist industries are applying for ICH designations in greater numbers. The data indicates that ICH, since its introduction in 2006, has been more widely used by countries that already have large numbers of international arrivals. The adjusted R2 for the equation is .233. This may be interpreted as demonstrating that about 23% of the variance in selection for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) list. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE The findings of this preliminary study indicate that the countries that have the most ICH designations are also countries that receive a large number of foreign visitors. This suggests that decisions to seek ICH designations may be closely tied to the size and importance of a country’s tourism sector. As Balakrishnan (2009, p. 621) notes, “Destinations must choose combinations of brand components for attracting customers, helping customers take a decision to visit and to create loyalty.” An ICH designation, if properly managed and maintained, could contribute to that goal. The positive relationships between the dependent variable and both “foreign arrivals” and “World Heritage Sites” seems intuitive: the two independent variables are, in fact, the rewards that countries seek by proposing more of their cultural practices and traditions recognized as ICH. Establishing a link between ICH and tourism is a significant contribution to knowledge. It helps explain the importance of having intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO and inscribed on the ICH list. It associates it with the “World Heritage” brand. From a theoretical perspective, this study is important because it demonstrates how destination branding strategies and practices are evolving in complexity and nature. What does this study say to practitioners? First, the Intangible Cultural Heritage designation prov
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