Resident's Perceived Cultural Benefits of Heritage Tourism and Support for Tourism Development: A Case of Khajuraho

Abstract

Heritage tourism has become a significant area of the worldwide tourism industry. It helps make ancient preservation economically viable by using heritage attractions and culture to draw in and assist tourists. Heritage tourism can bring cultural prosperity at the places of heritage attractions. It produces a quality experience in the mind of tourist, at the same time it encourages the preservation and conservation of the heritage sites. Different cultural benefits and preservation both can be made while promoting heritage tourism in a sustainable way. This research deals with the heritage tourism in Khajuraho. Khajuraho is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites of Madhya Pradesh. This modest town of district Chhatarpur is very prosperous for heritage attractions, some of them are world famous for their unique architecture and erotic carvings. Prominent paws of medieval India passed through this historic township. This research seeks to explore the residents’ perceived cultural benefits of heritage tourism of Khajuraho. A questionnaire was designed to measure residents’ perceived economic benefits of heritage tourism in Khajuraho. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to find the significant difference for the perceived benefits of heritage tourism for different demographic elements. Substantial effects have been found on the research goals. The outcomes have important implication for government, DMO’s, DMC’s and different stakeholders of the tourism industry.