World Heritage: The Potential Economic Benefits

Transcription

1 World Heritage: The Potential Economic Benefits What I am going to talk about Why (world) heritage might just be the most important asset a community has and why some people are waking up to this and using it to good effect James Rebanks RULE ONE If I say something you don t understand then stop me, its probably my fault. What s the point of old stuff anyway I dunno Source: 1

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3 All he thinks about is money Why should I support her silly hobby? UK s nominated site in 2016 World Heritage What is this relationship? But, like you, we have questions about it, and for the last ten years its been my business to answer them Primarily answering this simple question Economic development Do we really belong together? What good does this do (or can it do under certain circumstances) for businesses? Farms? Tourism? Cities? Regions? I m not going to talk stats 3

4 What do Iknow? Excellent piece of work ICOMOS Paradigm changing Very excellent UNESCO Brilliant NOKIA Impressive World Bank What is WHS for? Saving Stuff Emergency attention for unique heritage at risk Celebration Award Celebration/reward for heritage already preserved Another Logo Marketing/quality brand for historic places Place Making Catalyst for economic development using heritage How sites perceive WHS status matters Motivations matter It can be a blocker or an enabler of change Five lessons No Free Lunch But potential for benefit PR Value International media love it makes it easy to know you matter The value of association The world s leading companies want to be associated WHS Literacy Useful tool for attracting international high spending cultural visitors and spenders Cultural Glue Binding bits together into coherent product WHS provides a set of tools 4

5 Similar places have radically different outcomes from same thing We can do anything, we are world class We can t do that here World Heritage sells It s that simple 5

6 The World s Most Expensive Holiday WHS literacy WHS literacy is linked to affluence and has global reach Two year tour of 962 World Heritage Sites 157 countries 990,000 (for two people) ( 7500 donation to UNESCO) ( 50 membership fee) Idea: Simple. If you had unlimited funds you would want to see these places. Everything on the list is awesome. From a marketing perspective this matters E.g. Bamberg Association? Your competitors for trade, talent and tourism Outstanding Universal Value Globally endorsed specialness Avoiding the Clone Trap A crucial economic development issue There are over 1,000 locations in Europe alone, all promoting exactly the same thing, looking identical and representing themselves in similar ways through pictures of people playing golf, people in call centres, airplanes taking off. These places have become commodities, indistinguishable from one another and offering little or no added value. The big shed theory of economic development 6

7 Culture/heritage/environment as critical ingredients in placemaking 1) Strong economy 68% 2) Agreeable climate and environment 67% 3) Friendly local people 66% 4) Strong tradition in culture and the arts 60% 5) Widely available entertainment/leisure 60% 6) Skills base/educated workforce 58% 7) Exceptional architecture 50% 8) Good public services 46% 9) Attractive labour legislation 32% 10) Strong currency 30% 11) Attractive employer legislation 30% 12) Affordable housing 28% 13) Sporting excellence 26% 14) Celebrities in music, film and fashion 22% 15) Other 6% Everywhere now has the hardware you now need hardware + differentiation Source: The Power of Destinations (Communications Group Plc) 7

8 Key trends 1. The continuing growth of cultural tourism as a key sector of the tourism market with 40% of European visitors now being cultural tourists 2. The increasing need to differentiate tourism, investment destinations, or products from a homogenous mass of other clone places and products 92% of commercial decision makers say image and profile of locations becoming more important 60% say culture becoming more important in decision making 3. The growing awareness among high value consumers of the World Heritage brand with a marked growth in the use of the brand in the past 3 years 4. The growth of long haul tourism in the developing world, where our traditional cultural reference points are less effective and World Heritage is recognized global quality marks/brands matter more than ever 5. Increased pressure (from the market and from changes to CAP) to find ways to add value to traditional farm businesses so they can continue to sustain the distinctive sense of place Abu Dhabi A billion $ reminder Authentic heritage some places have to buy it New ideas from old buildings Jane Jacobs Tourism 8

9 Cultural tourists are more likely to be: New customers/first time visitors From geographically distant source markets Staying visitors and stay longer in a destination Respect, understand and engage meaningfully Engage in other travel and hospitality activities To spend more per trip than non cultural tourists Bamberg data WHS as driver of higher value tourism WHS literacy WHS literacy is linked to affluence and has global reach Things to worry about From a marketing perspective this matters E.g. Bamberg What have we got to get the world s attention? What endorses our quality on the global stage? How do we raise profile in a changing world? Do we want other destinations to get this? 9

10 Latest UK evidence Cultural and heritage tourism worth 4.5 billion to UK (and sustains c.100,000 jobs) 57% of UK visitors agree that history and culture strong influences on choice of destination (only 15% disagreed) Mix and vibrancy is critical Heritage+ shopping etc. The Seven Potential Benefits from World Heritage+ for places like 1 yours Raising Focuses efforts international Attracting profile and Upgrading to sustain the Enhancing and competitiveness the underpinning Creating Being in the ability to secure retaining talent visitor economy cultural entrepreneurial WHS elite club funding/investm landscape opportunities Global PR boost ent Civic and commercial opportunities for uniting behind a Cultural (WH) pride in place global vision of what is best visitors, quality and Farming and culture Translating OUV into WHS would raise the focused on World collaboration/researc about this place storytelling sustained and ideally profile with funders Class lifestyle offer h given contemporary endorsed by 190 of destination resonance countries Overseas visitors want to see key sites must see destinations in UK 22 of 25 top UK attractions cultural/heritage based Museums 4 th best activity in UK Stewardship of past is a key part of UK s global appeal people come to see the past looked after Three hot tourism buzzwords Authenticity, cultural immersion and experiential Source: pdf Helps make brands more powerful around the world Global media PR boost High quality brand associations Clear narrative of global significance Endorsed by 190 countries Attracting international visitors Entering developing World Heritage market Change visitor profile Cultural tourism destination Develop better quality products and experiences Improve benefits for local communities Giving clarity about focus on investment and efforts sustaining OUV Raising profile of culture of Lake District and why it matters Development of a simple investment strategy for sustaining what matters Raising heritage significance for funders like HLF Increased leverage of funding to support evolution of farm businesses Raising profile with major global companies Emphasising importance of investment relative to other competitor areas Using WHSs as key lifestyle assets Focus on liveability for highly skilled employees Focus on civic pride for retaining local talent Key identity to differentiate destination as an investment location Recognition that sustaining place is valued and respected Outdoor education Landscape conservation OUV interpretation Guiding New OUV based visitor attractions Cultural tourism packages Farming culture experiences High value itineraries packages for WH market Global partnerships on farming or cultural projects Access to significant donor programmes Partnerships at global level with other cultural landscapes International showcase for our solutions Minor perks of being in WHS club 10

11 Cinque Terre Landscape based economic system supported by innovation 11

12 Vega egg 12

13 CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE OUR BASIC IDEA: THE BEST DEFENSE OF IMPORTANT NATURAL OR CULTURAL HERITAGE IS THROUGH A PROGRESSIVE VISION OF HOW IT CAN EVOLVE TO MAKE PEOPLE S LIVES BETTER. THEN PEOPLE WILL PROTECT AND DEFEND IT BETTER. Have we got the right strategy and structure for managing tourism? How do I get a skeptical tourism sector and the community to buy into sustainability? How do we do fundraising? Or attract investment? How do we tell our OUV stories to best effect? How do we develop products and experiences from our OUV to sustain our site and community? Do we really understand the tourism affecting us? And its social/economic and ecological impacts? How do we use marketing to bring about our objectives? How do we best manage the influx of visitors? How do we do these things? How have other places solved these issues? 13

14 WARNING The Sissinghurst Underpants The conquistadors discovered the Americas but didn t discover the Americans Tzvetan Todorov Thank you james@rebanksconsulting.co.uk Mobile (+44)