The Influence of Cultural Heritage on the Attractiveness of the Tourist Destination

The issues of assessing the attractiveness of tourist destinations in the framework of cultural tourism are studied. It is shown that the presence of cultural heritage acts as the main, but not the only motivational factor when choosing a tourist destination of cultural tourism and forms a tourist need. The factors determining the attractiveness of the tourist destination for cultural tourism were studied. The classification of tourist attractiveness of destinations according to various signs is suggested: duration of its existence, degree of manageability by attractiveness. For cultural tourism it is offered to allocate and estimate three levels of attractiveness of the tourist direction: the existing appeal of the tourist destination, really achievable appeal and potential appeal. A model for assessing the attractiveness of a tourist destination is proposed, which allows to calculate the integral index of attractiveness depending on the availability of cultural heritage, development of tourist infrastructure, transport accessibility of the destination and other factors. The index of tourist destination attractiveness for cultural tourism allows to quantify the importance of this destination attractiveness and to carry out a comparative analysis of similar competing destinations.