Heritage protection and tourism income: the tourism heritage Kuznets curve

Purpose Protecting a nation's heritage is an essential element for sustainable development. Heritage attracts tourism and drives tourist income, as well as bringing wider economic, social and environmental benefits. This study aims to improve understanding of the relationship between heritage protection spending in countries and economic development via tourism revenues via economic logic and the Kuznets curve. Design/methodology/approach This study applies economic modelling to test for the presence of a Kuznets curve. This study uses rare available matched data on heritage protection spending from UNESCO and on travel and tourism total contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) from the World Travel and Tourism Council. Findings This paper finds evidence of a negative quadratic relationship between heritage protection spending per capita and tourism GDP per capita, whereby increases in heritage spending initially lead to more tourism income (typically less developed nations), but then tourism spending increases more rapidly for smaller increases heritage spending on top of this initial investment (typically more developed nations). No countries are yet at the stage where they reap high tourism income from much lower levels of heritage spending. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that the future of heritage tourism will be very different to that of today; future tourism is likely to develop significantly through innovations in management approach and advanced technologies to manage the balance between demand and heritage degradation. Practical implications The predictive model allows us to plot future possibilities for heritage tourism, which in turn enables more informed decision-making regarding the planning and management of future heritage resources and tourism demand. Tourism heritage institutions and their benefactors should further plan and invest in innovations (such as technologies and management practices) to advanced economically and move along the tourism heritage Kuznets curve. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper formally tests, for the first time, for the presence of a Kuznets curve in the relationship between heritage protection spending and tourism income. It provides original evidence of the value of applying the underlying theory of the Kuznets curve in a tourism context.