Community participation of cultural heritage tourism from innovation system perspective

Nowadays, tourism has become the second largest source of revenue after the manufacturing industry in Penang. In 2010, Penang received almost six million tourist arrivals. In Penang, cultural heritage is the most important tourism attraction especially after Georgetown, the state capital of Penang, was inscribed as a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO in 2008. However, cultural heritage tourism would not be able to achieve sustainable development unless local communities participate in the development process. As such, it has become increasingly important to drive local communities to participate positively in tourism activities under the rapid development of cultural heritage tourism in Penang. In constructing an appropriate community participation model of cultural heritage tourism from the perspective of the innovation system, this research initially reviews the previous studies on community participation in tourism and innovation system, and subsequently analyses the specific characteristics and current situation of cultural heritage tourism by using Penang as an example. Finally, based on the research findings and analysis of secondary data, this article constructs a community participation model of cultural heritage tourism from the perspective of the innovation system.