EN
The article presents different forms and activities of the legally-protected intangible cultural heritage with the special focus on the carnival. On the UNESO Intangible Cultural Heritage List there are currently 160 various activities, and only three carnivals among them. What is curious is that they are not the best-known or best-flourishing ones in the tourist attractions market. In the article, we will try to answer the following questions – why are so few carnival protected? and why, despite protection, the carnivals in Binche, Oruro and Barranquilla are not chosen by tourists as often as the carnivals in Venice or Rio de Janeiro? The article finishes with considerations of what form of cultural tourism is the carnival – is it event tourism? or is it the tourism of the legally-protected cultural heritage?