Abstract
Many cities consider development of cultural tourism as opportunity to sustain employment and economic
growth of the area. However, increasing tourist flows affect local economies and lives of local residents in a
number of ways not excluding negative effects. Careful consideration of benefits and pitfalls of cultural
tourism development is necessary in order to sustain balanced urban development. In the present paper,
experience of tourism development in 11 German cities, capitals of German cultural tourism, is evaluated.
The analysis is focused on the effect of cultural tourism on the well-being of urban residents. To address this
issue, the effect of tourist arrivals to the centres of cultural tourism on the satisfaction with life of urban
residents is investigated. Based on the results of the study, policy implications for the development of
cultural tourism are suggested that lead to improvements of quality of life of locals.