The relationship between cultural heritage and economic development of a territory is explained when the tourism value chain, endogenous factors of the destination -such as cultural tradition-, and supporting factors - infrastructure and political conditions- intervene. In this context, it is important to recognize the dynamics that are particular to the destinations, as these allow creating competitive advantages to take the lead over direct competitors when attracting tourists. This article presents a methodological review of the Regional Tourism Competitiveness Index in Colombia for capital cities, with the purpose of evaluating the performance of cities and the existing relationships between endogenous factors, the tourism value chain, and the economic and social conditions. This is carried out by using the Partial Least Squares-Path Modeling method, with a view to establish relationships among unobservable variables based on values that were evaluated on a Likert scale. The results show that there is a positive relationship between the use of cultural heritage and the competitiveness of a tourist destination. Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena are the cities with the best overall performance, due to the good support structure given to the tourism chain and political conditions. Cities with a high level of heritage, such as Tunja or Popayán, signal performance problems attributed the conditions of infrastructure, marketing, and destination management, which prevent them from taking advantage of their capabilities.
