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The good weather in Tarragona invites visitors to fill tables in Plaça de la Font to enjoy a traditional glass of vermouth.
© Manel Antoli RV Edipress / Tarragona Tourist Board

Sustainable Tourism Impact Monitoring Instruments

Tourism markets and destinations are in a state of constant change. Monitoring instruments are a vital tool for understanding and monitoring this change.

About This Toolkit

For World Heritage site managers, monitoring visitation can help to understanding of the effects of tourism on the community and the contribution tourism makes to the site’s sustainability goals. Monitoring also helps identify areas where improvement is needed and areas where change is occurring which are critical pieces of information for site managers and decision-makers.

This toolkit includes three survey instruments designed to help World Heritage site managers understand tourism's performance and impacts.


Destination Management & Marketing Assessment

This survey instrument is designed for tourism and heritage stakeholders to assess how tourism is currently being managed and promoted at their site. The survey uses the UNESCO WHC Sustainable Tourism Toolkit to ask the respondants to state how much they agree with statements that measure tourism and WH conservation around the following key areas:

  1. Governance of Sustainable Tourism
  2. Tourism Products and Infrastructure
  3. Visitor Profile and Behavior
  4. Community Voice/Participation
  5. Heritage, cultural, social and ecological impacts
  6. Communication & Marketing
  7. Investing in Conservation & Marketing

Each World Heritage site manager particpating in the World Heritage Journeys Programme will be asked to complete the 10 minute survey at the beginning of each year to measure tourism's impact. We also encourage World Heritage site managers to share this survey with tourism stakeholders in their communities to obtain additional opinions on how tourism is being managed and promoted in and around the World Heritage sites.

Take the Destination Management & Marketing Assessment >


World Heritage Site Economic Impact Survey

This short survey is designed to collect quantitative data related to visitation and the economic impact of tourism at World Heritage sites. The survey should be completed by the site manager or destination manager at each World Heritage site each year.

Take the World Heritage Site Economic Impact Survey >


World Heritage Site Visitor Survey

The purpose of this survey is to identify who is visiting UNESCO World Heritage sites. For World Heritage sites managers, conducting a visitor survey provides a foundation for understanding the country of origin and demographic profile of site visitors.

The results of World Heritage site visitors surveys will be used for World Heritage Journeys of Europe to measure the impact of marketing activities. This will allow the programme to monitor the effectiveness of marketing and promotion and inform planning for future initaitives.

The survey provided here is intended to serve as a template for a visitor survey but may be adapted to fit the need of each specific World Heritage site.