Intangible Cultural Heritage as An Essential Element of Cultural Tourism Infrastructure

Many types of tourism, including cultural, ethnic, gastronomic, are based on the intangible cultural heritage that tourist destinations have. In this regard, the work revises the traditional understanding of the tourism infrastructure, which is usually understood as the totality of facilities, roads, engineering, communication networks and other facilities that support the activities of the tourism industry in order to serve tourists. Taking into account the growing role of the non-material cultural in the development of tourism, it was proposed to include in the tourism infrastructure not only the traditional material component, but also the non-material component, referring it to a specific infrastructure. In a highly competitive tourist market, when tourist destinations are making enormous efforts to attract tourists, the possession of unique tourist resources is a key competitive advantage. It is such a competitive non-reproducible advantage that is a unique intangible cultural heritage. The main objective is to incorporate the intangible cultural heritage into the tourist industry, which will allow for the more successful development of cultural tourism. It is noted that the material component of the intangible cultural heritage can be attributed to this cultural heritage, including national musical instruments, clothing, etc., as well as individual performers and collectives, which reproduce this heritage. Inclusion of intangible cultural heritage in the tourism turnover allows to preserve it and to ensure the uniqueness of cultural tourism programs.