Communicating the World Heritage brand: visitor awareness of UNESCO's World Heritage symbol and the implications for sites, stakeholders and sustainable management

AbstractThe World Heritage (WH) brand signals property so irreplaceable that its values must be sustained intact in perpetuity. A primary function of the WH symbol, one element of the WH brand, is to prompt positive visitor emotions and behaviors favored by management agencies. This paper investigates if the symbol communicates any message to viewers. To determine visitor recognition and recall of the WH symbol tested against a variety of variables, 1827 visitors to five WH sites in Queensland, Australia and 712 visitors to the WH part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA were surveyed. Sixty percent of visitors to the Queensland sites and 19% of visitors to the Hawaii site were aware of the site's WH status; 96% of Queensland site visitors, and 99% of Hawaii site visitors could not recall what the WH symbol represented. Park agencies appear to take a laissez-faire attitude to branding, have little interest or capacity to brand properly or have strategically restricted usage of the WH brand to de-clutter their brand landscape. This limits opportunities to transmit to visitors and communities why WH properties should be valued and sustained, with significant implications for the long-term sustainability of WH sites.关于世界遗产品牌的交流:旅游者对联合国教科文组织的世界遗产象征性、涵义、利益相关者和可持续管理的认知世界遗产的品牌是这样的不可代替,所以必须被完整的保护下去,直至永远。世界遗产符号作为世界遗产的组成部分,其主要作用是通过管理人员的引导操作,唤起游客对其的敬畏感。这篇文章研究世界遗产这个符号是否给游客传递了某种信息。美国调查了名去澳洲昆士兰处世界遗产的游客和名去夏威夷火山国家公园的游客,通过一系列变量公式来计算游客对于世界遗产的认知和联想。去昆士兰的游客中有感觉到他们正位于世界遗产中,但是去夏威夷的游客中只有感觉到了;去昆士兰的游客以及去夏威夷的游客无法感受到世界遗产这个符号传递了什么信息。一些变量的影响很小。公园的管理者对遗产品牌采取了放任主义的态度,对于品牌价值以及限制品牌滥用兴趣寥寥或心有余而力不足。这种情况限制了向游客宣传世界遗产的伟大,而这种宣传恰恰对世界遗产未来的长期保护起到了决定性的作用。关Keywords: World Heritagebrand identityprotected area logosbrand marksQueensland, AustraliaHawaii Volcanoes National Park键词: 世界遗产品牌标识保护区标志品牌标志昆士兰澳大利亚夏威夷火山公园 AcknowledgementsThis research was funded by a joint PhD scholarship between James Cook University, Cairns and the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC). The authors would also like to thank Ted Brattstrom and Lyn Hogan for comments on the draft.Additional informationNotes on contributorsLisa M. KingLisa M. King holds a PhD degree in tourism (James Cook University, Queensland, Australia), an MA degree in ecotourism (James Cook University, Queensland, Australia), an MEd degree in curriculum and instruction (University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI) and a BSc degree in marine biology (University of Texas, Austin, TX). She is a member of the IUCN Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group. Lisa currently conducts research in protected area marketing, the presentation of WH sites and the relationship between WH certification and tourism development. She is based at Curtin Sarawak Research Institute, part of Curtin University, Sarawak, Malaysia. Current projects include investigating visitor knowledge of UNESCO protected area brands and the impacts of community-based natural resource management programs in Asia.Elizabeth A. HalpennyElizabeth A. Halpenny has a PhD degree in recreation and leisure studies (University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada), an MES degree in environmental studies (York University, Toronto, Canada), and a BA degree in geography (Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada). She teaches and conducts research in tourism, marketing, and protected areas management, based at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Elizabeth's research focuses on individual's interactions with nature environments, attachments to place, tourism experience and environmental stewardship. Current projects include (1) nature-based volunteerism, (2) the effect of mobile digital technologies on tourists' visitation experiences, (3) individual's attitudes toward and use of natural areas and (4) the relationship between WH designation and tourism development.