Perception of Local Residents towards Heritage Tourism Development and Conservation: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

This study aims to investigate the perceptions of residents toward the development and conservation of heritage tourism based on an emerging economy, Bangladesh. The study is quantitative and exploratory in nature and has employed descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. The researcher utilized a self-administered, close-ended questionnaire to get responses from the participants. The Nawabganj Upazila Sadar has been selected as the study area for the research purpose. The sample size for this study has been determined based on the population size of Nawabganj Upazila Sadar and the samples are selected utilizing the deliberate sampling method. The findings indicate that heritage tourism development and conservation are necessary at Nawabganj as it is enriched with attractive heritage sites. Transportation, safety and security, and authenticity are positively associated with heritage development while the attractiveness and attitude of the residents have a significant positive connection with heritage growth and maintenance. According to the perceptions of the local community, heritage tourism development has both positive and negative repercussions. So, the development of heritage tourism must be accomplished based on some criteria which will increase the positive impacts and reduce the negative externalities to the heritage tourism development. The findings and recommendations of this study will have policy implications for tourism policymakers to develop and conserve tourist sites.  This is one of the pioneer studies from Bangladesh's perspective to promote heritage tourism although the paper is not out of its limitations recognized at the conclusion part of this paper.