Social and Economic Effects of UNESCO World Heritage Designation

Cultural sites and landmarks can play a unique role in the socioeconomic development of a community. Yet many cultural sites are facing two conflicting priorities: cultural preservation and economic gain. In response, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) attempts to help alleviate this conflict by creating the World Heritage list, a group of cultural and natural global sites that have “Outstanding Universal Value.” By designating a landmark as a “World Heritage” site, the landmark can obtain UN funds as needed. Although a widely held belief is that such UNESCO efforts help play a role in social and economic development of a community, this has not been proven. This paper examines this belief through analyzing correlations between increased UNESCO sites in an area and greater socioeconomic development. Four different socioeconomic factors were compared: Gross Domestic Product, Nights Spent in Tourist Accommodations, Unemployment, and Higher Education Levels. By standardizing these factors and drawing comparisons between sites, there was no evidence that there is a connection between a UNESCO designation and socioeconomic development. This then demonstrates that the aforementioned commonly held belief regarding development seems to be false. This paper concludes by outlining how a more thorough examination and understanding of the cultural contexts of World Heritage sites should be a required foundational best practice throughout this process. In turn, this paper advocates for drawing upon such knowledge when implementing enhanced publicity methods to help foster recognition of cultural sites in mainstream society. As a result of these endeavors, such communities would be more likely to gain greater economic prosperity.