Critical success factors for cultural heritage tourism operations

Abstract

Cultural heritage tourism is a complex field involving many factors, including the business of tourism, the needs of the host community, and the management and preservation of heritage assets. This thesis aims to discover what factors play a key role in the success of cultural heritage tourism operations. Through research of literature and case studies, recurring factors taken from success stories and the evaluation of cultural heritage tourism failures has led to the development of a list of eight critical success factors that play a key role in successful cultural heritage tourism operations. Although success is not solely dependent upon these factors, they have been important in the successes of the case studies discussed in this thesis and throughout cases studied in academic literature. Therefore, it is recommended that these factors be considered when developing any cultural heritage tourism operation.