Disclosing the cultural heritage dimension of the country image. A comparison between the lexical contents of the web communication from ten leading countries

The role of cultural heritage in a nation’s well-being has been widely debated in economics and management. However, the international marketing literature has largely overlooked this concept. In order to contribute to a proper understanding of the role of cultural heritage within the theoretical domain of country image (cultural heritage image) and simultaneously highlight the thematic structure of institutional communication adopted by nations characterized by a high endowment of cultural resources, this study carried out a content analysis on the official documents presented on the web for the communication of cultural heritage by the ten countries considered best-in-class according to the annual Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands index (Ipsos, 2023). The choice of the inductive approach stems from the pervasiveness of current communication systems that make the peculiarities and signalling elements of national cultural heritage visible, albeit in extremely different ways (Napolitano et al., 2015; Marino and Mainolfi, 2013). Methodologically, the study was developed through three main phases: data collection, analysis, and interpretation of results. The content analysis identified twelve tangible and intangible components of a nation’s cultural heritage image, categorized as historic sites, cultural institutions, natural environment, craftsmanship, visual arts and audio-visuals, performing arts, literature, language, gastronomy, traditions, people, diversity, equity and inclusion. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for international marketing strategies employed by national companies and for research on country image.