Connecting various attractions and tourist destinations within a country or across many countries, cultural routes rely on a region's cultural legacy to give learning opportunities and tourist delight. These heritage-based routes that exist in all parts of the world, on various scales, features, and purposes, are considered an important tool for the social and economic development of tourism destinations via cultural tourism and feature in tourism marketing that offers various interests such as gastronomy, arts, linguistics, architecture, spirituality, religion, and sports. This chapter examines the contribution of cultural routes to sustainable tourism and socio-economic development due to the significance they have. The methodology will be literature review and critical evaluation of the findings.
TopIntroduction
Cultural route is a recently developed concept for tourism development. Connecting various attractions and tourist destinations within a country or across many countries, it offers the discovery of history and culture associated with the region. It is an innovative tool for revitalizing, promoting and preserving cultural heritage (McCormack, 2017). As complex and multidimensional as it is, what a cultural route represents is broader than physical pathways. It means a network of places united by a common theme, seen in various forms with the characteristics of each place (Berti, 2015). According to the Council of Europe (CoE), a cultural route refers to a cultural project that intends to develop and promote an itinerary or a network based on a historic route, a cultural concept, figure, or phenomenon which involves transnational importance to demonstrate common European values (2010).
Cultural routes may appeal to various interests such as gastronomy, arts, linguistics, architecture, spirituality, religion, and sports. (Puczkó & Rátz, 2000, 2007). Thus, they are attractive travel destinations with creative activities that serve multiple purposes. They promote sustainable tourism and simultaneously improve cultural and socio-economic development.
This chapter will examine the contribution of cultural routes to sustainable tourism and socio-economic development due to the significance they have. The methodology will be literature review and critical evaluation of the findings. First, characteristics and types of cultural routes will be presented based on their extent, purpose, duration, and creation, namely whether they are naturally evolved or purposively designed for tourism attraction. Second, the context and some examples of cultural routes will be reviewed. Then, the ways and objectives of creating them will be studied along with the significant aspects of their planning, development, and management in the tourism industry. Finally, the potentially beneficial aspects, the structure of activity they bring into the tourism industry, and the associated socio-economic outcomes will be analyzed.