Unveiling the heritage side of country images. A comparison between measurement scales adopted in place image literature and lexical content of web communication from leading cultural heritage countries.

The contribution of cultural heritage to a nation’s wellbeing has been the object of a significant debate in the field of economics and management. However, international marketing literature has devoted a very limited attention to this concept: in particular, research on place images and country of origin effect has virtually neglected the role of cultural heritage both as component of the place image domain and has antecedent of foreign consumers’ attitudes towards the national products and services. This paper aims to provide a contribution to address this gap by comparing the conceptual categories and measurement scales of the cultural heritage adopted in the country image literature with discursive categories adopted in the web communication of the nations listed in the first 10 positions of the “Heritage & Culture” ranking provided by the Country Brand Index. Results from a content analysis conducted on 25 websites identifies 9 tangible and intangible components of a nation’s cultural heritage image, labelled as Cultural assets, Natural environment, Craftsmanship, Performing arts, Art and literature, Cuisine and gastronomy, Language, Tradition and People. The paper concludes with discussion of implications for international marketing strategies employed by national companies and for for country image research.