The Potential of Cultural Heritage Tourism to Promote Sustainable Urban Development: The Case of Tainan City

As cultural heritage tourism is widely regarded as a key element of promoting sustainable urban development and making a city competitive, allocating suitable budget for developing cultural heritage tourism thus becomes an important issue. Tainan City is an ancient cultural city with many cultural heritages, up to 112 attractions, in Taiwan. As the budget of local governments to promote tourism activities is limited, it is exceptionally important to assess the potential of cultural heritage tourism. Modified the cultural tourism assessment indicators proposed by Mckercher and Ho, this study assessed the potential of eight cultural heritage attractions in Tainan City by surveying visitors who have visited these attractions to verify the positioning of tourism development and to prioritize the resources for enhancing these attractions. The outcomes can provide a reference for decision-makers to promote sustainable tourism and allocate resources.