Tourism is recognized as a useful alternative to traditional industries that are in decline. Heritage tourism (these days often called cultural heritage tourism) is a fast growing industry. The National Trust for Historic Preservation (USA), citing a study of the American Association of Tourism Industry from 2003 states that US participants in cultural heritage tourism remain longer in tourist destinations and spend more money than other segments of visitors. They have more respect for the places they visit and are less likely to have a negative impact on the cultural and historical resources. Cultural heritage tourism is a powerful tool for bringing together preservation of cultural values and economic development. Cultural heritage tourism contributes to economy development by generating income, creating new jobs and business opportunities for small businesses. Responsible cultural heritage tourism stimulates the revitalization of cultural heritage and helps to create resources for competitive development. Development strategies of cultural heritage tourism are in recent years used by local government as economic development strategies of the cities, towns and tourist destinations for tourism development and to increase the efficiency of utilization of local resources. But local government often sees cultural heritage more as a burden on public budgets than an opportunity to develop. Likewise, cultural heritage tourism is rather understood in terms of negative effects on the socio-economic environment. The article discusses theoretical approaches and their possible application to selected tourist destinations in the Czech Republic.