Is heritage tourism a panacea for rural decline? A comparative study of the Camino de Santiago and the Canal de Castilla in Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to establish whether fostering rural tourism by reuse and promotion of heritage has been able to mitigate the demographic decline in a depopulating area of Spain. Two types of route-based tourism in the north-west of Castile are compared, namely the millenary pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and the nineteenth-century Castile Canal. For three decades, public authorities have actively stimulated tourism along these routes in order to retain the population. The findings reveal that public-sector investments and promotion have contributed to the growth of tourism along both routes but have not stopped demographic decline. The lack of revitalisation of the countryside is the result of the preceding rural exodus that has destroyed village communities.