land Article The Influence of Elements of Cultural Heritage on the Image of Destinations, Using Four Polish Cities as an Example Mariusz Szubert, Witold Warcholik and Michał Zemła˙ * Department of Tourism and Regional Studies, Pedagogical University in Cracow, 30-084 Cracow, Poland;
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[email protected] Abstract: Cultural heritage and its various elements are an important factor that supports the development of tourism in destinations. One of the key factors of a successful destination is its positive image that allows it to effectively attract visitors. This paper investigates the impact of selected elements of material cultural heritage on the image of four Polish metropolitan destinations. The results indicate thathistorical and cultural heritage plays a more significantrole in creating an attractive image of a city than the city’s contemporary and post-industrial facilities. Cities perceived as historical areconsideredas much more attractive to spend free time in than cities predominantly associated with industrial functions. Moreover, the presented research results confirm a relationship between the familiarity of a destination and its positive image. These features have also been observed in previous studies. Keywords: destination image; cultural heritage; urban tourism; Polish cities Citation: Szubert, M.; Warcholik, W.; Zemła,˙ M. The Influence of Elements 1. Introduction of Cultural Heritage on the Image of The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century created favourable Destinations, Using Four Polish Cities conditions for the development of global tourism. As it has grown, the scale and the variety as an Example.