ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

260 ■ THE ECONOMICS OF UNIQUENESS
the city and site management. First, it allows comparison of visitor fl ows across
the city; second, it provides data in case a city wants to evaluate the opportunity
of imposing limits due to the carrying capacity of a site, or for the purpose of
considering entry charges.
Additional indicators for visits can be used for mapping. Carrying capacity
of a site (i.e., maximum possible number of visitors per day) and visitor rate
(i.e., number of visitors as a percentage of carrying capacity) are useful tools to
describe the “visit market” of the historic city core. Derived from a straightforward
demand-supply relationship, the indicator of visitor rate highlights excess of
demand (hence, a risk for the heritage) or excess of supply (hence, a potential for
economic values).
As noted earlier, use values related to visitors and tourism are of two types:
direct use values (i.e., visits to the site, museum, or monument) and indirect
use values (i.e., expenditures made by visitors or tourists on lodging, food, and
souvenirs).
Indirect use values are the most complex to identify, to measure, and to map.
Indirect use values are measured by heritage-related expenditures made by
residents or visitors. Some of these expenditures are easily traceable and can be
inscribed on maps, because they are specifi cally and completely related to the
heritage (a museum of the monument, a souvenir shop, and such). Other expenditures
are more diffi cult to assess, or must be estimated as average values for
entire blocks, streets, city areas, or meaningful economic areas. When specifi c
places can be identifi ed or located with precision, the mapping of indirect use values
consists of an exhaustive recording and documenting of all such places across
the city. Th is requires extensive gathering of information from hotels, restaurants,
shops, visitor information centers, transportation services, guide agencies, and
such, which is a task probably applicable to only a small city or a district. Big
cities have staff , equipment, and resources to undertake such recording, but the
economic impact measured is not exclusively related to the heritage. Th e need for
measurement by sampling is inevitable.
Modern technology (e.g., GIS, GPS, Geocoding) will soon off er ways of better
managing tourism in historic city cores. Th ese tools will improve site management
and prevent congestion where cities struggle with excess tourism. Similar
mapping techniques will help city authorities increase the economic impact
from tourism. Assessing indirect use values requires relying on both sampling
and mapping. Tourist expenditures for lodging, food, transportation, and goods
or services are market transactions defi ned by a supply and a demand side.
Appraisal of these transactions can be two-fold:
• A demand-side analysis is undertaken through a sample survey among visitors,
to analyze the consumer’s behavior and to estimate expenditures per person,
per day. Expenditures can also be segmented between per-day trip and