Cultural tourism is one of the most quickly growing tourism segments. Cultural heritage is an important resource for developing cultural tourism. In rural areas, tourism plays an important role in safeguarding employment, income and supply structures, but in contrast to the situation in urban regions, resources for developing cultural tourism are scarcely used. As the border regions are largely rural in character, the question arises as to the role cultural tourism and cultural heritage currently play there. This paper investigates the use of cultural heritage in the tourism sector in the border areas of the Greater Region and the Trinational Metropolitan Region of the Upper Rhine and uses this as a basis for proposals concerning the further utilisation of cultural heritage as a resource for developing tourism. ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; peer reviewed ; Published Version