**1. Introduction**

The concept of cultural heritage is subjective and evolves over the years. It is subjective in the sense that cultural heritage is made up of those goods that the values that prevail in each society at a given time establish must be susceptible of being protected and preserved as a legacy of the past for future generations. This approach is reflected in the definition of cultural heritage proposed in The Charter of Krakow [1] (p. 5): "heritage is that complex of man's works in which a community recognizes its particular and specific values and with which it identifies. Identification and specification of heritage is therefore a process related to the choice of values". Smith [2] defines the concept of cultural heritage as the footprint of memory and oblivion, as a cultural practice involved in the construction and regulation of a spectrum of values and ways of understanding. This footprint is composed of the set of products of human activity, and its remains, intentional and unintentional, tangible intangibles, represent historical and social processes.

Therefore, in the first place it is important to establish the concept of "cultural heritage" and the elements that make it up. First, it is important to refer to the work done by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization—UNESCO. UNESCO aims to encourage "the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural and natural heritage" throughout the world that is considered of great value to humanity [3]. The work was shown in the international treaty adopted in 1972, the "Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage" [3], which lays the foundation for the first definition of the term "cultural heritage".

In this sense, one of the first definitions is the one proposed by UNESCO in the Declaration of Mexico on Cultural Policies [4] (p. 3): "The cultural heritage of a people includes the works of its artists, architects, musicians, writers and scientists and also the work of anonymous artists, expressions of the people's spirituality, and the body of values which give meaning to life. It includes both tangible and intangible works through which the creativity of that people finds expression: languages, rites, beliefs, historic places and monuments, literature, works of art, archives and libraries".

Subsequently, UNESCO approved The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage [5] (p. 4) in 2003, which specifically defines what is meant by intangible cultural heritage: "the 'intangible cultural heritage' means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills—as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith—that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity ... ". According to Timothy and Boyd [6] (p. 94), the conservation of cultural heritage can be carried out in different ways: by the preservation, restoration, renovation of goods, and urban regeneration.

According to UNESCO, cultural heritage is subdivided into the tangible (movable and immovable property), which can be preserved and restored by some kind of intervention [4], and intangible, which "is manifested inter alia in the following domains: (a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; (b) performing arts; (c) social practices, rituals, and festive events; (d) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; (e) traditional craftsmanship" [5] (p. 4).

Continuing with the contextualization of this research work, the next step is to relate cultural heritage and tourism. Thus, cultural heritage, composed of a wide variety of tangible and intangible assets, can be enhanced in order to articulate new development alternatives by the tourism activity. Tourism management of cultural heritage enables it to be transformed into tourist resources.

Thus arises the concept of heritage tourism and cultural tourism. Timothy [7] (pp. 4–5) points out that both terms are often used in the literature as distinct but related concepts. For Timothy and Boyd [6] (p. 14), the terms cultural and heritage tourism overlap and, in their opinion, are interchangeable (see the overlapping of the concepts cultural and heritage tourism in Timothy and Boyd [6] (p. 9)). Along the same lines, Timothy [7] suggests that heritage tourism is based on "old things" and usually occurs in rural areas and in more specific places, while cultural tourism predominates in urban areas and less determined places (see the exhaustive classification of the different attractions offered by heritage tourism in Timothy [7] (p. 49)). For Timothy [7], all definitions of heritage tourism include elements of the human past as a resource, and all collect a variety of reasons why tourists move (tourists move for reasons that may stem from the desire to improve their own personal culture, learn something new, spend time with friends or family, satisfy a curiosity, or simply spend the free time available).

In this sense, there are several studies that show that knowledge of the culture of other spaces is one of the main motivations that drive tourists [8–11]. Therefore, exploiting cultural heritage, being either tangible or intangible, through tourism activity becomes a fundamental means throughout the world for the development of spaces where this heritage is located. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), it was identified that within the practice of tourism activities related to culture, those related to intangible heritage are the most important, closely followed by tangible ones [12]. In short, tourism becomes an attractive option to take advantage of the local resources available, including heritage [13].

Focusing on cultural wealth as attractions of tourist interest allows for the creation of several hubs through which the cultural heritage and tourism relationship is developed, including: (1) the recovery or conservation of heritage, (2) economic growth focused on the commercialization of goods, (3) the increase of tourist facilities from internal or external investment ad an improved image for the community, and (4) social benefit for communities in order to improve living conditions [14–17]. In this way, cultural heritage becomes an element capable of generating benefits for the development of societies, the relationship with tourism being the most often used to achieve this goal. Thus, cultural tourism becomes an essential strategic feasibility for tourism development. This type of tourism may reduce the seasonality of the sector and favor the opening to new markets.

Developing tourism around cultural heritage is considered an action that is not focused on mass culture that homogenizes, imposing one culture over another, or that mythologizes or fragments the value of heritage. In this sense, it is proposed by the popular culture in which its vital particularities are created and preserved, and it is not based on selling but on participating with the purpose that this is produced and consumed by the human group itself. This approach allows for an increase in the quality of life, which, at the same time, enables the strengthening of the transmission and revitalization networks of elements contained in the collective memory of groups [14,15]. With this, it is argued that each community has something unique to offer that manages to generate considerable tourist flows based on the interests that they arouse for the existence of a vibrant culture.

The participation of the community is essential, and it should not be left out; the empowerment of processes leads to a more efficient development of heritage [18]. This must be the pillar in the process of tourism development and heritage management [19], always supported by local identity, that is, heritage [20,21].

In this context, this research aims to analyze and examine the scientific production developed in relation to exploiting cultural heritage by tourism activities for regional development. To achieve the objective, a bibliometric analysis is first performed, which is complemented by a bibliographic analysis, allowing for a systematic and structured analysis of production. The novelty of the study is based on the fact that there is no research of similar characteristics that provides a complete view of the research carried out in this field of study. The findings will be very useful for researchers as they provide a better understanding of current research and serve as a guide for future research.

This article is structured into five sections. The topic is contextualized, the literature is reviewed, and the objective is presented in the introduction. In the second section, the methodology is introduced. The results are shown in the third section and in the fourth section, the bibliographic analysis. Finally, to conclude, the conclusions and limitations of the investigation are discussed.

### **2. Methodology**

The methodology used in this research is an exploratory quantitative bibliometric and bibliographic analysis, focused on identifying and analyzing scientific production on cultural heritage and its use by the tourism activity for regional development. This methodology is the most adequate to organize scientific information; on the one hand, it enables the identification and analysis of bibliographical sources of interest, while on the other hand, it provides an evaluation structure for this scientific production [22].

In the bibliometric analysis, indicators are applied [23] that arise from different mathematical models that are based on the relationship of two or more variables [24], which enables the measurement of the bibliographic material in quantitative terms. The indicators that will be used in this research are classified according to two criteria: activity indicators that provide information on quantity, productivity, dispersion, and collaboration, among others, and impact indicators, which provide information on the citation level of the documents through the impact factor or immediacy index, the H index, among others [25].
