Projects In Heritage Tourism Development – An Integrative Approach

It is not new that cultural tourism, based on heritage elements, represents a strategic orientation for the economies of many countries, including the emerging ones. The problem that prevalently occurs is the operationalization of this strategic direction and finding the most appropriate ways to generate sustainable initiatives in this field. For the touristic valorisation of the cultural heritage, extremely diverse projects are being initiated and supported. The success of these projects, seen in the light of the approach sustainability, is decisively determined by a series of correlated factors that can be customized for each project. Our approach is integrator and is based on the following information: the use of a multi-player model with the identification of the role and types of actions specific to each party involved; sequentiality, by taking into consideration the on-going stages of the project, the catalysts and their constraints; vertical integration, by analyzing in tandem the strategic, tactical and operational factors; the temporal comparative analysis by highlighting the evolution in time of the strategic pillars, the constraints and problems specific to the cultural tourism. Our study, based on a qualitative research, aims to highlight the catalysts and the main constraints in the operationalization of the development strategies of the cultural heritage tourism and the formulation of actions intended to support this process. The paper is structured as follows: highlighting in a comparative manner the strategic directions related to development of tourism sector, and especially for one of its branches – the cultural heritage, the main types of projects that sustain the development in this area, the analysis of relevant impact factors and the presentation of specific recommendations. The conclusions show the importance of a long-term, participative regulation framework in the touristic valorisation of heritage resources