Heritage as a Source of Competitive Advantage
Heritage tourism, as one of the most relevant market niches in the tourism sector, plays a key role in furthering the competitiveness of destinations in general. The relationship between cultural heritage and tourism development has received an increasing amount of attention by academia, owing to the persistent efforts of the DMOs to incorporate heritage resources in tourism plans. This chapter explores the potential impact of heritage tourism in the development of tourism products to increase overall competitiveness based on new combinations of heritage resources and traditional competitive advantages of the tourism sector. To this end, the chapter examines data pertaining to respondents hosted in one of the Quintas da Madeira. Findings suggest initiatives to increase the cultural component of the tourism experience to reinforce the capacity to transform heritage and culture in competitive products.