The cultural heritage in tourist services in the province of Manabi, Ecuador.

Tourism development is particularly closely linked to the management of communities' tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Ecuador. This research solves the problem of evaluation of the use of cultural heritage values in tourism services in Manabi, Ecuador. The objective is to diagnose how cultural heritage can offer added value to tourism in Manabi as seen by the various people involved in cultural amangement. An extensive bibliographical review and a descriptive field research were carried out, with emphasis on the qualitative aspects of heritage, using mainly surveys and interviews. A survey with quota sampling was used to assess the research from different perspectives by groups closely related to cultual heritage, but with broadly different roles in terms of management. The main results show the wealth and diversity of the Manabi culture with its excellent heritage, of great commercial value as a tourist resource.