Currently the tourist attractions are not well defined in the country despite of the recent significant financial public support for the adaptation and socialization of the rich cultural heritage for tourism purposes.

The Ministry of tourism has launched an e-register of tourist attractions, festivals and events without clear guidance for local authorities on the selection of tourist sites and events to be inscribed and how they have to be classified. At the same time some policy documents are in process of elaborating - a Strategy for the development of Bulgarian culture and a master plan for cultural tourism development, requiring a practical typology of tourist attractions in order to mainstream the future activities. Thus, the main aim of the research is to provide to key stakeholders a theoretically sound, workable and acceptable typology of cultural heritage attractions to support their proper and sustainable management. In addition, the typology should guide the own empirical research of cultural heritage attractions ensuring that most if not all of attractions types are covered. The methodology of research is based on a thorough review of scientific literature on tourist attractions and their typology as well as of relevant legislation and strategies in Bulgaria. The proposed typology was tested through field research including semi-structured interviews with attractions’ operators and questionnaire surveys of tourists. The contribution is both theoretical – further development of existing definitions and typology, and practical – improved focus of public policies and allocation of public funds for conversion of cultural heritage into tourist attractions.