Cultural tourism attractions’ contributions to ‘culturally sustainable’ tourism development: A case study of Maroochy Shire, Queensland, Australia

The sustainable relationship between economic growth and the cultural environment has not been covered to a considerable degree in the tourism literature. It is evident that although the idea that society should respect cultures is present the idea that we should sustain cultures has not yet been fully developed. This exploratory multi-case study first takes an in-depth look into tourist attraction operators€™ perceptions toward those concepts that consolidate the notion of €culturally sustainable€™ tourism development and second, determines the perceived contribution of cultural tourism attractions to the sustainable development of culture within Maroochy Shire, Queensland, Australia. It questions the commonly held belief that cultural tourism operations are economically driven and thus may disregard and fail to sustain the cultural resources that form the vitality and quality of the local tourism destination on which the tourism industry depends. The results indicated that although the cultural dimension has not been contemplated in the same vein as the economic dimension, cultural attractions essentially contribute to the concept of âculturally sustainableâ tourism development