Abstract
This chapter offers a “touripilgrimage” that takes place on the Portuguese Way of the Interior of Santiago de Compostela–PIWSC and how such a phenomenon can add new and different experiences to the “turipilgrims” while helping to promote the development of the local communities inserted along the way. In accordance, firstly, there is the discussion of a theoretical framework associated to the role of local identity in the sustainable development of tourism. Additionally, there is debate about the transformations in the act of pilgrimage. Secondly, it follows a case study approach based on the PIWSC. The results of this exploratory analysis highlight elements that enhance the possibilities of increasing exchanges between locals and visitors in order to insert the visitor into the local context and the community to develop through the convergence of its endogenous attributes. The dialogue between the different local actors is essential to establish guiding strategies that will compose the dynamics of the communities.
TopTheoretical Framework
The theoretical framework begins with a review of the transformation in the connotation of the act of pilgrimage over time. This situation points to an approximation of what was previously an essentially religious act towards a slightly more “profane” side of current society, being used in different contexts and approaches, such as in tourism.
Then, the emphasis is on the question of the perception of local values and identities in a community. How to value and encourage the development of these virtues? How do such actions provide the possibility of developing sustainable tourism?
Finally, we present a small review of the importance of the Saint James Way as a tourist-cultural route and detail some of the characteristics that make the PIWSC a unique Jacobean route.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Sustainable Tourism: A type of non-predatory tourism that is concerned with the preservation of a locality's natural, social and cultural resources as well as local development.
Touripilgrims: Individuals endowed with multi-motivations who do a pilgrimage.
Multi-Motivations for Pilgrimage: Characteristic of the modern pilgrim who does not have only a single motivational factor for carrying out the pilgrimage, such as the religious factor.
Community Development: Development promoted by local actors that result in identity, cultural, social, heritage and economic benefits for the locality.
Local Identities: The set of elements, values and traditions of a locality that differentiates it from another.
Endogenous Capacities: Virtues, local potential, and locality elements of capacity that can provide community development.
Local Actors: People from different sectors of a locality inserted in the dynamics of power and decision within the community.