I FORUM OF CULTURAL ROUTES OF SPAIN

D. During September 13th and 14th, 2023, the 1st Forum of Cultural Routes of Spain will be held in Cáceres.
Organised by the Spanish Cultural Routes Association, this event will be an opportunity to exchange experiences between itinerary managers, as well as an excellent chance to learn about some of the latest trends in cultural tourism that will be shared by the expert speakers participating in the meeting.

Presentation

Spain is one of the five countries in the world with the highest number of sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. These sites are just the tip of the iceberg of our country's vast heritage, the fruit of an equally rich and diverse history, which is scattered throughout the territory, especially in inland areas. These areas are sometimes little known and under threat from depopulation.

Themed route-based tourism allows for immersion in these territories, raising awareness of their history, generating economic resources, and fostering the development of new lines of work and opportunities for their inhabitants.

Following old footpaths and roadways, legendary itineraries, or simply connecting thematic networks of destinations with a cultural motivation, cultural routes represent an important contribution to the new tourism model that, from bodies such as the World Tourism Organisation, UNESCO, or the Council of Europe, has been proposed over the last 15 years. Values such as sustainability, social ethics, the sociocultural and economic development of rural populations, or the increased social appreciation of heritage, through participatory management and sustainable cultural tourism, are taking root strongly through networks (associations, foundations, consortia…) that manage this new cultural tourism.

The authenticity of the tourist offering, articulated in itineraries that incorporate Spain's cultural routes, its wide range of experiences and tourist products, its connection to the territories and their people, and its promise to travel not only in a spatial sense but also temporally and experientially, means that cultural routes are currently experiencing a period of development and recognition in the national and international tourist market that is unprecedented.

In this favourable context, the Cultural Routes of Spain Tourist Product Club (CPT-RCE) takes the initiative to create a technical discussion forum (specifically focused on the current work and development of heritage networks behind the cultural tourism offering known as cultural routes), where not only the five routes that make up the CPT-RCE will meet, but also all those established initiatives and projects in development that are currently working on the offering of cultural routes as a tourist activity.

Objectives

The central objective of the 1st Forum on Spanish Cultural Routes is to analyse the current situation of the “cultural routes” product in the Spanish and European tourism market, based on a panel of experts in cultural tourism and managers of internationally recognised routes.

Furthermore, we can point out other secondary objectives, but no less important, such as:

To foster mutual understanding among Spanish networks working on the development and management of cultural routes.

To understand the current state of this sector of cultural tourism, its problems, its needs, and also its successful initiatives and projects.

– Generate a participatory working forum among politicians, technicians, route managers, and tourism experts around the “cultural itinerary/route” model.

To facilitate the discovery of synergies and joint projects among all routes operating in the Spanish cultural tourism market.

– Open the CPT-RCE to all routes that have reached maturity in terms of cultural and tourism management of their heritage offerings.

More details about the event will be published soon, but with the date now set and the programme about to be released, it's time to mark this forum in your diaries as a must-attend event.

For more information:

info@spainculturalroutes.com