This study examines whether World Heritage designation acts as public intangible capital that improves tourist destination perceptions.
Using 51,000 user-generated reviews from destinations in nine countries, we compare ratings and text sentiment for heritage and non-heritage sites and test for differences by visitor segment using several text-mining approaches, from transformer-based (BERT) sentiment to lexicon averages, aspect-level analysis (architecture, crowding, price) and polarity-based content analysis.
The results show that, first, heritage sites and the destinations hosting heritage sites receive higher star ratings than non-heritage sites. Second, heritage sites show highly positive transformer sentiment; while aspect analysis shows systematically positive scores for architecture. Third, heritage-oriented visitors respond differently to heritage and non-heritage locations. They show a stronger heritage premium in star ratings, while their written evaluations are more critical, particularly at non-heritage locations. Fourth, content analysis shows that negative heritage reviews are driven primarily by operational aspects (tickets, queues), not by criticism of the heritage itself. Last, methodologically, we show that traditional, lexicon methods underestimate the positivity of reviews.
The results support the conceptualization of UNESCO World Heritage designation as a public intangible resource, specifically a reputation-based asset associated with positive visitor perceptions. The impact of the heritage also extends to the wider destination, most clearly through higher visitor ratings. These results have important implications for destination management. In addition, the paper has several implications for data-driven destination management, where visitor reviews represent a feedback channel through which the destination can improve itself.
