Living in Smaller UNESCO Sites – Paradise or Hell? Factors Influencing the Perception of Residents

UNESCO sites are objects of extensive research. Generally, research concentrates on the tourists´ perspective. The small UNESCO sites are specific in several ways (smaller towns, seasonal demand, lower capacities, lower staff capacities in municipalities and DMOs, lower budget, etc.). Tourism is often the most visible phenomenon in these towns despite not being a major employer or income generator. Tourism´s impacts are divided into three areas – the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental ones. There are a total of 16 items representing them in the research. The Likert scale was used for impact evaluation. Research collected 258 questionnaires in 5 smaller UNESCO sites in the Czech Republic. Correlation analysis, reliability tests, and structural equation modelling (SEM) are applied to the dataset. The research results can help the municipalities and DMOs argue tourism’s positive impacts and focus on and manage the relevant aspects of being a tourism site.