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This research used Huangshan, Xidi and Hongcun in southern Anhui (China) as a case to study the impact of World Heritage List (WHL) status on international visitors. The study categorised all the visitors into two types – WHL aware and WHL unaware – based on awareness levels of the World Heritage status of the destination. The two groups were compared in terms of visit purposes, socio-demographics and other characteristics. The results showed that the World Heritage List status did have an impact on travellers' visit decisions. Additionally, the World Heritage List status proved to be related to tourists' visit purposes, activity patterns and socio-demographic characteristics. However, the World Heritage List status will be a more influential tool for destinations when marketers place emphasis on the underlying cultural contents of sites and make the cultural elements accessible and interpretable for international visitors.
Cheng et al. (Mon,) studied this question.