The World Heritage brand signals the best in protected areas. Certain destinations and places hold particular appeal to special interest tourists resulting in the conscious collection of those sites. TV programs, authors and others take advantage of this penchant to collect places; yet, there is little literature on this behaviour. This paper reports on research testing the contention there is a specific group of visitors who collect World Heritage listed sites. The article examines World Heritage visitor recognition prior to and after time on-site. A case study approach is applied and visitor surveys used across five Australian properties. Findings demonstrate only 13% of site visitor do collect World Heritage Areas but their socio-demographics profiles are too diverse to develop a specific socio-demographic profile of this group. Additionally, only 60% of respondents knew they were visiting a World Heritage listed site indicating a significant weakness in the World Heritage brand.
ABC News (22 April 2008) Experts Choose 7 Wonders of America: Panelists Debated which American Landmarks Should be on the 7 Wonders List. Available at: http://abcnews.com/GMA/7WondersofAmerica/story?id=4694902 [Accessed 27 February 2009 ].
2.
American Marketing Association (2010) Dictionary. American Marketing Association Marketing Power website . Available at: http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B [Accessed 25 November 2008].
3.
Australian Government Department of the the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts [DEWHA] (2008) Australia’s World Heritage: Australia’s Places of Outstanding Universal Value. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
4.
Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia’s Seven Wonders of Barbados (2009) AXES SCI, Barbados.org website. Available at: http://www.barbados.org/7wonders.htm [Accessed 20 February 2009].
5.
Baxter K. ( 2007) Top 100 Golf Courses of England. Brighton : Top 100 Golf Courses Ltd.
6.
Belk R. ( 1995) Collecting in a Consumer Society. London: Routledge.
7.
Belk R. ( 2006) Collectors and collecting. In: Tilley C, Keane W, Küchler S, Rowlands M, Spyer P (eds) Handbook of Material Culture. London: Sage, pp. 534-46.
8.
Bentrupperbäumer J., Reser J. ( 2002) Measuring & Monitoring Impacts of Visitation and Use in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area: A Site Based Bioregional Perspective . Cairns: Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre.
9.
Bentrupperbäumer J., O’Farrell S. and, Reser J. ( 2004) Visitor Monitoring System for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area: Volume 2 Visitor Monitoring Process - from Pre-destination to Post-destination . Cairns, Australia: Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management (Rainforest CRC).
10.
Bramblett R., Kennedy J. ( 2008) Top 10 Rome (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide). New York: DK Publishing.
11.
Buckley R. ( 2002) World Heritage Icon Value: Contribution of World Heritage Branding to Nature Tourism. Canberra, Australia: Australian Heritage Commission.
12.
Casson L. ( 1974) Travel in the Ancient World. London : John Hopkins.
13.
Chape S., Blyth L., Fish L., and Spalding M. ( 2003) United Nations List of Protected Areas. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK & UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge : UK.
14.
CNN. (2007) New 7 wonders of the world named. CNN.com/travel. Available at: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/07/06/seven.wonders/index.html [Accessed 24 November 2008].
15.
Coulombe C. ( 2004) Haunted Places in America: A Guide to Spooked and Spooky Public Places in the United States. Guildford, CT: Lyons Press.
16.
Culture and Recreation Portal. (2008) Australian Government. Available at: http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/greatbarrierreef/ [Accessed 30 November 2008 ].
17.
Davey S., Scholossman M. ( 2007) Unforgettable Islands to Escape to Before You Die . Tonawanda, NY: Firefly Books Ltd.
18.
Eagles P., McCool S. ( 2002) Tourism in National Parks and Protected Areas: Management and Planning. Wallingsford: CABI Publishing.
19.
Fyall A., Rakic T. ( 2006) The future market for World Heritage sites. In: Leask A, Fyall A (eds) Managing World Heritage Sites. SydneyButterworth-Heinemann, Sydney, 160-75.
20.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority ( 2008) Government of Australia. Available at: http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au [Accessed 24 November 2008 ].
21.
Hall M., Piggin R. ( 2003) World Heritage sites: managing the brand. In: Fyall A, Garrod B, Leask A (eds,) Managing Visitor Attractions: New Directions. Sydney: Elsevier , 203-19.
22.
Jackson J. ( 2003) Dive Atlas of the World: An Illustrated Reference to the Best Sites. London: New Holland Publishers Ltd.
23.
Keller K. ( 2008) Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
24.
Kleinhardt-FGI (2002) Tourism & Recreation Values of the Daintree and Fraser Island. Prepared for the Australian Tropical Research Foundation (AUS-TROP). March 2002.
25.
Lande N., Lande A. ( 2008) The 10 Best of Everything: An Ultimate Guide for Travelers , National Geographic Society.
26.
Luly G., Valentine P. ( 1998) On the Outstanding Universal Value of the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte) World Heritage Area. Townsville, Australia: James Cook University .
27.
Marcotte P., Bourdeau L. ( 2006) Tourists’ knowledge of the UNESCO designation of World Heritage sites: the case of visitors to Quebec City. International Journal of Arts Management8(2): 4-13.
28.
McIntosh W., Schmeichel B. ( 2004) Collectors and collecting: a social psychological perspective . Leisure Sciences26: 85-97.
29.
Mitchell R., Hall C. ( 2006) Wine tourism research: the state of play. Tourism Review International9: 307-332.
30.
Morgan M. ( 2006) State park names: implications for tourism marketing . Tourism Analysis11: 71-74.
31.
Moscardo G., Ormsby J. ( 2004) A Social Indicators Monitoring System for Tourists and Recreational user of the Great Barrier Reef, Research report #80. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
32.
O’Brien G. ( 1981) Living with collections. New York Times Magazine, 26 April, pp. 25-42.
33.
Pearce S. ( 1992) Museums, Objects and Collections: A Cultural Study . Leicester: Leicester University Press.
34.
Prideaux B., Falco-Mammone F. ( 2007) The economic values of tourism in the Wet Tropics World Heritage area. Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management, James Cook University, Cairns.
35.
Reinius S., Fredman P. ( 2007) Protected areas as attractions. Annals of Tourism Research34(4): 839-854.
36.
Ries A., Trout J. ( 1989) Brand Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. New York: Warner Books.
37.
Schwartzman, M. ( 2003) Trophy ports, Cruise Travel25 (November/December).
38.
Smith M. ( 2002) A critical evaluation of the global accolade: the significance of World Heritage site status for Maritime Greenwich. International Journal of Heritage Studies8(2): 137-151.
39.
Sorensen A. ( 2008) Top 10 Barcelona (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide) , New York: DK.
40.
Thompson E., Phua F. ( 2005) Reliability among senior managers of the Marlowe-Crowne Short-Form Social Desirability Scale. Journal of Business & Psychology19(4): 542-554.
41.
Timothy D. ( 1998) Collecting places: geodetic lines in tourist space . Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing7(4): 123-129.
42.
Tourism & Transport Forum Australia (2007 ) Natural Tourism Partnerships: Action Plan. Sydney: Tourism & Transport Forum Australia.
43.
Traveler’s Century Club. Available at: http://www.travelerscenturyclub.org [Accessed 1 May 2010].
44.
Unesco (2010a) World Heritage List: UNESCO World Heritage site. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list [Accessed 29 May 2010].
45.
Unesco (2010b) World Heritage Emblem. UNESCO World Heritage site. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/emblem/[Accessed 23 May 2010].
46.
Weiler S., Seidl A. ( 2004) What’s in a name? Extracting econometric drivers to assess the impact of national park designation. Journal of Regional Science44(2): 245-262.
47.
Yin R. ( 2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Singapore: Sage.
48.
Yuan J., Cai L., Morrison A. and Linton S. ( 2005) An analysis of wine festival attendees’ motivations: a synergy of wine, travel and special events?Journal of Vacation Marketing11(1): 41-58.
