Tourist flows and protection of cultural heritage in Andalusia (Spain): An econometric analysis with panel data

Abstract

This article analyzes the influence of heritage labeling on tourist flows in Andalusia (Spain). Some of the labels considered correspond to public registries whose purpose is the protection of heritage, while others correspond to specific recognitions aimed at promoting tourism and local development. A data panel of 31 tourist destinations covering the entire territory of Andalusia has been constructed for the period 2009-2022, incorporating the tourist flows of travelers as response variables and the density of the different typologies of cultural heritage elements as explanatory variables and different control variables. Different models with temporal and transversal effects have been estimated, aimed at evaluating the contribution of different typologies of cultural heritage on traveler flows. The results show that cultural heritage has a significant effect on tourist flows in Andalusia, but with a different distribution depending on the type of flow and the typology of the tourist destination.