JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

Tourism has a vital role in development of different destinations all around the world. Accordingly, culture is assumed as one of the primary beneficiaries and is regarded as a key asset in tourism development by promoting both tangible (i.e. cultural attractions, like museums and heritage centers, natural assets like beach, sun and mountain) and intangible (i.e. promoting gastronomy cultural events and festivals and selling “atmosphere”) elements. However, the diversity of known definitions and a complex relationship, between culture and tourism underlines the problems of defining cultural tourism. For instance, considering culture as a component in every single aspect of human life, it is possible to assume that everything is cultural, therefore all tourism are somehow cultural tourism. However, this broad and holistic approach is not particularly useful in identifying these cultural values important in tourism and vice visa, or in other words, in defining cultural tourism. The aim of this paper is to harness culture and tourism for national corollary. Consequently, the development of tourism is often a strategy employed either by a nongovernmental organization (NGO) or a government agency to promote a particular region for the purpose of increasing commerce through goods and services provided for tourists. The paper adopts a descriptive analysis in assessing culture and tourism for national development. This paper reiterates the fact that culture and tourism serves the dual purpose of re-enacting group sensitivity as well as yielding socio-economic benefits to the various stakeholders and the society. This paper recommends that government has the responsibility to identity and demarcate potential tourism zones and their products from other usages.