World Heritage Sites in developing countries: Assessing impacts and handling complexities toward sustainable tourism

The current study addresses several concerns regarding World Heritage Sites (WHSs) in developing countries. Using a novel super-efficiency parallel framework, this research firstly elucidates how WHS designation impacts the tourism sector in the 21 developing nations with the greatest number of WHSs from 2000 through 2016. The proposed parallel model assesses the tourism industry at both the macro level in the context of resource-oriented efficiency and the micro level in facility-oriented efficiency. The results demonstrate that the WHS brand positively impacts the tourism demand in developing countries and can be used as a promotional tool. Secondly, this work draws attention to the socio-ecological concerns related to WHSs in developing countries. It sets out a critical and factual discussion based on the current designation and conservation status of WHSs. The analysis highlights an unfair distribution of WHSs between developing and advanced economies and reveals negligence in their preservation, since around 94% of sites labeled In Danger are located in developing nations. The study concludes that the conservation of WHSs is a complex societal problem and offers policy implications for handling heritage inscription and preservation issues in developing countries. Finally, it explores pathways toward sustainable conservation of WHSs, based on United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) for safeguarding heritage and sustainable communities (SDG 11), for more effective institutions (SDG 16), and for fair and nonhegemonic partnership between advanced economies and developing countries (SDG 17). The outcomes may be of practical value to policymakers aiming to improve tourism and heritage management.