Heritage Tourism Development: Balancing Preservation, Authenticity, and Stakeholder Interests

In 1993, ICOMOS emphasized the importance of heritage preservation in tourism development and management, stating that 'protection should be prioritized over development' as the fundamental principle of heritage tourism. However, Apostolakis A (2003) argued that in the process of heritage tourism development, the 'authenticity and integrity' of heritage attractions are often deliberately distorted to cater to tourists and meet market demand.

Mc Kercher B and Ho P S Y et al. (2005) found that not all heritage sites face difficulties in protecting their heritage while developing tourism. Pendlebury J and Short M et al. (2009) researched the impact of commercialization brought by World Heritage tourism development on the 'authenticity' of heritage sites. Catibog Sinha C. (2011) believed that tourism development of World Heritage sites plays an important role in protecting heritage and promoting sustainable development. However, Zhu Y (2012) argued that heritage tourism development not only promotes tourists' awareness of heritage 'authenticity' but also damages it.

G￳mez Ortiz A and Oliva M et al. (2013) conducted in-depth research on heritage tourism development and found that as heritage tourism development gradually rises, the contradiction between heritage protection and tourism development and urban development becomes increasingly prominent, making it difficult to achieve a win-win situation for both economic development and heritage protection.

Stakeholders' influence on heritage tourism development has also been studied. Zamani Farahani H and Musa G (2008) proposed that the opinions of local residents should be given priority in the tourism development plan of heritage sites, and a certain proportion of the local community should participate in the management of heritage sites. Nicholas L N and Thapa B (2009) explored the relationship between community residents and heritage protection and development, arguing that community residents play a crucial role in both heritage protection and tourism development and utilization. Yan H and Bramwell B. (2008) conducted a survey on the relationship between government and heritage tourism resource development, finding that the government's attitude towards heritage tourism development largely determines the success or failure of such development. Lee T. J and Riley M (2010) suggested that political conflicts directly affect the process of heritage tourism development. Wang Y and Bramwell B (2012) found that government intervention has a significant impact on the decision-making of heritage tourism development and is a key factor in determining the priority of heritage protection and tourism development.