Culture and Sustainable Tourism: Does the Pair Pay in Medium-Sized Cities?

Stefania Środa-Murawska, Elżbieta Grzelak-Kostulska, Jadwiga Biegańska and Leszek S. Dąbrowski
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Stefania Środa-Murawska: Department of Urban Studies and Regional Development, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Elżbieta Grzelak-Kostulska: Department of Urban Studies and Regional Development, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Jadwiga Biegańska: Department of Urban Studies and Regional Development, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Leszek S. Dąbrowski: Interdisciplinary Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87-100 Toruń, Poland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-26

Abstract: Undoubtedly, one of the greatest challenges to civilisation today is the need to fulfil commitments to build a just and caring global society. These commitments also apply to the tourism sector. The aim of the article was to determine how to identify opportunities for sustainable tourism development based on cultural heritage in medium-sized cities whose tourism assets can hardly be considered outstanding. This is an even more significant problem, as even in conditions of relatively low tourist traffic cultural tourism may have an unsustainable character if the relevant policy is pursued and the attitude of the inhabitants are inappropriate. The authors proposed to complement the Triple Bottom Line used to assess the sustainability of a destination with the assessment of the local authority’s attitude towards cultural development and characteristics regarding the involvement of the inhabitants. The study has shown that even if the cultural assets of medium-sized cities are not outstanding, they can play a role in tourism development. It is important to remember that their advantage lies in their locality, and that expecting too much of an economic effect of developing tourism can deprive them of this advantage permanently.

Keywords: sustainable tourism; medium-sized cities; cultural heritage tourism; cultural heritage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9072-:d:613793

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