Value of Cultural Heritage and Visitor Preferences

Cultural heritage plays an important role in our lives. It is of economic, social, cultural, and environmental importance to our society. The impact of cultural heritage and its preservation has already been investigated in many studies, especially in the economic area. Against the background of justifying investments, safeguarding cultural heritage has been recognized as “… a ‘multiplier’ through which investment can have positive impacts …, thereby increasing the level of benefit and sustainability of the initial investment.” (Jagodzińska et al., 16-17) But what exactly are the benefits of protecting heritage? How can its specific value be determined? And how do emergent and established trends of digitalization play a role in the value and valuation of cultural heritage?
In this chapter, we introduce two methods to determine the use and non-use values of cultural heritage, investigate the value of original cultural assets and the benefits of digitization, and present a method to prioritize the implementation of digital offers in heritage institutions. The section on the benefits of digitization and the value of originals structures existing concepts in the literature. Then the methods are briefly summarized and case studies are used to present possible applications.