THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE USE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL TOURISM
Abstract
The article examines the contemporary theoretical foundations for the use of cultural heritage in cultural tourism and identifies promising directions for its development in global and Ukrainian contexts. The aim of the study is to systematise scholarly approaches to understanding cultural heritage as a resource for cultural tourism, to analyse current models of its use and related risks, and to substantiate development priorities under conditions of digitalisation, the growing role of intangible cultural heritage, the spread of community-oriented approaches, and Ukraine’s post-war recovery. The methodological framework combines an interdisciplinary approach with methods of analysis and synthesis, comparative legal analysis, systemic-structural analysis, and typological analysis. The article clarifies the meanings of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, cultural tourism, and cultural routes on the basis of UNESCO documents, Council of Europe frameworks, and Ukrainian legislation. Five approaches to the use of heritage as a tourism resource are systematised: resource-based, value-based, experience-based, institutional-managerial, and sustainability-oriented. The study identifies five contemporary models of using cultural heritage in tourism: object-based local, route-based, intangible-heritage-based, creative-interpretive, and digital. It demonstrates that their potential is accompanied by risks of commodification, loss of authenticity, pressure on historic environments, tensions between preservation and commercialisation, and the simplification of cultural narratives in digital environments. It is argued that the prospects for cultural tourism development are linked to the spread of place-oriented and community-oriented models, the integration of cultural routes, the stronger inclusion of intangible cultural heritage, the digitalisation of interpretation, the use of indicators for governance, and stronger interaction with cultural and creative industries. For Ukraine, these directions are particularly important as mechanisms of post-war recovery, cultural resilience, the renewed positioning of territories, and European integration.
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