BASIC CRITERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PLANNING OF CULTURAL WORLD HERITAGE SITES

Objective The center of the research is to identify items that must be considered for sustainable destination planning, in accordance with the practical guidelines for implementing the 1972 World Heritage Convention. With this aim, the most important implications that entails the recognition of UNESCO are reviewed looking forward to the improvement of destination management of the, which should consider a pool of strategies and plans for tourism, designed with some level of agreement between the different World Heritage sites and directed towards a sustainable balance. Methodology Based on a review of papers published in journals of Scopus database, related to the impact of tourism in world heritage cities; the analysis was made using the method of content analysis, reviewing the items which tend to mitigate the negative effects of tourism in this kind of destinations, which are fragile due to the complicated coexistence between heritage and contemporary dynamics. Conclusions Similar scenarios were identified in most of the World Heritage studied sites. One of the main findings is that in both consolidated and emerging destinations, one of the priority lines of attention is the improvement of tourist destination management. Originality A number of conclusions emerge from the work in order to improve the sustainability of destinations, useful both for the actors of the world heritage sites presenting challenges arising from the crowds of tourist as for researchers who work comparative incidence of heritage tourism.