Silk Road Architectural Heritage and Polycentric Tourism Development

Abstract

AbstractPolycentricity is a useful multi-scalar spatial concept, operating at local, regional, or national level, that indicates the connection of neighboring centers with common characteristics and their integration in wider spatial networks. Tourism networking is expressed as the cooperation among destinations, their local authorities, tourism stakeholders, local communities etc., toward sustainable tourism development. Cultural heritage, rendering a destination appealing to visitors and tourists to discover the local cultural identity, is considered an important tool for sustainable tourism development. Hence, cultural heritage and tourism are considered important factors of integration in a polycentric spatial system. This paper provides a baseline research on Silk Road architectural heritage tourism, a rather untapped tourism research field, focusing on the interlinkages between polycentricity theory, tourism development and Silk Road built cultural heritage. Silk Road refers to the extensive network of ancient trade routes connecting Eastern and Western civilizations. On these routes, silk and other valuable products such as jewels, metals, glass, porcelain, spices, were transported. Silk Road built cultural heritage with its connotative meanings is an important part of the tangible cultural heritage as historical and cultural evidence. The revival of the Silk Road is expected to enhance new tourism destinations and products, as a major challenge, particularly for induced destinations. The main goal of the paper is to identify and classify Silk Road architectural assets and to introduce regional cooperation opportunities through networking, so as to enhance new tourism destinations. The Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece, endowed with a plethora of Silk Road built cultural assets, most of them still unexploited, is used as the study area to highlight the proposed methodology. The ultimate goal is the formation of polycentric tourism networks based on Silk Road architectural heritage in order to create a Silk Road regional brand to stimulate tourism development over the study area.KeywordsSilk roadArchitectural heritagePolycentricityTourismNetworks