EN
Cultural heritage and tourism are very complex in their content. Considering that tourism contributes to the overall economic development, tourist valorization of cultural heritage that has evolved over the centuries has to be one of the primary objectives. Concurrently, the protection and improvement of cultural and historical values, especially those architectural, in terms of market democracy as one of the primary tasks in which tourist destination should build its identity. The focus of the concept of economic development are not only the needs of a particular segment of consumers, but also the needs of the whole society which means it should take into account the necessity of preserving the characteristics of tourist destinations in the social, cultural and environmental terms. Since tourism development is unthinkable without such logic thinking, it is the foundation of its existence and further development. To create a concept of tourism development at lower spatial levels it is essential to make a thorough study to determine the possibility of tourist characteristics/features and values as well as the receptive possibilities of all those resources, natural and social, that will meet tourists’ needs. This paper discusses the importance of cultural heritage, analyzes the development of cultural tourism in Croatia, presents Croatian good practice examples of tourist valorization of the culture heritage, and explains the importance of the needs of tourist valorization of cultural heritage for the effective development of Croatian tourism and tourism in general.