ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST, TOURISM, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH ■ 187
a description of the data, estimation strategy, and results; our robustness
checks; and our conclusion. (See box 7.1.)
UNESCO World Heritage List as an Instrument
for Tourism Specialization
As discussed above, the instrument for tourism is based on the number of sites
on the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) per country. We argue that the
presence of cultural or natural sites that are valued by tourists is likely to aff ect
growth only through tourism activity. However, biases in the process of selection
of the WHL could lead to a violation of the exclusion restriction. In the following,
we describe our instrument further and discuss its validity in terms of coverage,
political clout over the selection process, and the inclusion of natural sites as
opposed to only cultural sites.
BOX 7.1
Tourism Is an Important Part of the Development
Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa
In 2010, the World Bank’s Finance and Private Sector Development group for
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) announced a tourism strategy employing wide client
country consultation and based on evidence that tourism is well suited to
energize SSA economies. Thanks to the appeal of Africa’s historic cities, natural
landscapes and wildlife, and rich cultural heritage, tourism has grown steadily
over the past 20 years at a rate of over 5 percent. In 2008, there were more than
29 million tourist visits to Africa. Tourism contributed about 8 percent to GDP
for the region and generated more than 10 million direct and indirect jobs and
US$42 billion in export revenues. This translated into a signifi cant 12.6 percent
of total exports. The strategy cited several key reasons for the emphasis on
the sector, including tourism’s ability to (1) encourage pro-business policies
and reforms that help small and medium enterprise development, (2) stimulate
foreign investment, (3) help diversify exports, (4) trigger infrastructure improvements,
(5) benefi t women (women manage more than 50 percent of hospitality
businesses in SSA), and (6) generate income for biodiversity and cultural heritage
conservation.
Source: Africa Tourism Strategy: Transformation through Tourism. World Bank. 2010.