Measuring the Value of World Heritage: Lessons from The Great Spa Towns of Europe

During their press conference, local media focused on the added value of the UNESCO World Heritage inscription. The press asked representatives from the property for concrete indicators of how the UNESCO World Heritage inscription continues to add measurable value to the town of Bad Ems, and across the property.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe is a serial, transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site comprised of eleven spa towns from seven countries across Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy and the UK.

Measuring the value of its inscription evenly across its component towns can vary according to local conditions, from differences in tourism data collection to the presence of a World Heritage Visitor Centre.

However, recent case studies demonstrate that their UNESCO inscription brings both practical and reputational gains.

Speaking at the General Assembly, the Chair of The Great Spa Towns of Europe Association and the Mayor of Bad Ems, Oliver Krügel, spoke to the press alongside the Secretary General, Chiara Ronchini, and Julia Palotas, World Heritage Coordinator and Museum Director of City of Bad Ems.

The trio detailed how the inscription has affected tourism, heritage management and local development. The resulting press coverage drew attention to some methods of quantifying the added value of being inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Regional German news outlet SWR Aktuell reported on increased tourism in Bad Ems, stating the World Heritage inscription "isn't just a prestige gain for the town—since receiving the title, the number of overnight guests in the spa town on the Lahn River has increased by almost ten per cent."

"The title not only enhanced the city's reputation and image, but also boosted tourism."

Krügel confirmed the trend, carefully predicting a small increase in overnight stays. "In 2022, one year after the award ceremony, approximately eight to nine percent more overnight guests came to the town – a total of around 300,000 overnight stays were recorded in Bad Ems."

As a result of the inscription, Bad Ems has also been granted additional monument protection zones, and urban planning has been restructured. "It must be emphasised that the World Heritage title is not a tourism title”, Krügel explained, “but rather a commitment to even greater monument preservation".

Each year, The Great Spa Towns of Europe reports on the added value of the UNESCO World Heritage inscription across its eleven component towns every year in its annual review.

Besides tourism numbers, other indicators — such as local events, heritage tours, cultural programming and increased investment — can help give a picture of the impact of World Heritage status.

In the United Kingdom, the City of Bath is a notable example. Bath holds a dual-UNESCO World Heritage Status, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987, and again in 2021 as one of The Great Spa Towns of Europe. Its World Heritage Centre is a key attraction; it received 48,130 visitors in the first 7 months of operation, and in 2023 exceeded its annual target of 100,000 with 127,051 visitors.

Bath’s tourism economy has seen similar growth. Set against the backdrop of the heritage city, Bath Christmas Market has developed to become one of the most popular in England and brings significant footfall to the city during an otherwise quiet period. 2024 was a record-breaking year, with an estimated 444,000 visitors to the market. This generated a £41.5 million business turnover and an estimated contribution of approximately £60.4 million spend across the wider city, while platforming local businesses and supporting around 500 jobs.

Much of the popularity of the market is due to the atmosphere Bath’s history, heritage and iconic Georgian architecture, demonstrating the key relationship between conservation of Outstanding Universal Value and economic vibrancy.

When visitor numbers are inaccessible, The Great Spa Towns of Europe reports on the number of visitors signing up to World Heritage Tours. For overnight tourism in Austria, there is no obligation to state the reason for travel in the registration forms — so in the Austrian spa town of Baden bei Wien, tour numbers help paint a picture of visitor interest in World Heritage.

These tours were redesigned in line with the criteria of The Great Spa Towns of Europe and renamed as 'World Heritage tours'. Approximately 1,500 participants join these. In 2019, tour numbers were 20-30 per tour, which doubled to 50-70 per tour in 2024. As numbers have more than doubled, two guides must be booked for each tour, and the increase indicates how the World Heritage Status is bringing more tourism and income to Baden bei Wien.

The French spa town of Vichy has another approach. In the absence of a museum or interpretation centre, it is hard to find any other figures that might indicate visitation as a direct result of the UNESCO World Heritage status. Instead, the positive impact of the inscription is more apparent in the dynamic of investment in property and renovation projects, which have increased considerably, as well as in State subsidies.

Vichy holds major festivities celebrating its inclusion in The Great Spa Towns of Europe. Every July, it marks the inscription date (24th July 2021) with a spectacular event themed on one of the other towns in the transnational site. In 2025, the Czech city of Karlovy Vary was honoured.

The international relationships created by the inscription also become the basis for artistic commissions. To celebrate 200 years of the Vichy Pastille, an iconic product of Vichy made from extracts of the famous Vichy waters, the town commissioned artists from each of the seven countries to create giant pastilles, themed on their town. These giant, octagonal pastilles are still in Vichy and are included in urban orienteering projects for children in the town.

The interest from local press shows the continued importance of tangible metrics of the impacts of a UNESCO World Heritage inscription, while the case studies from The Great Spa Towns of Europe Association show how context, opportunities and expansion can illustrate the wider benefits, from cultural enrichment to creating vibrant local businesses.