The Impact of Cultural Routes on Traditional Settlements: The Case of Greece

Abstract

Cultural routes as a product of cultural tourism are a lever of economic, social and environmental development of a place. When combined with other forms of tourism, they are a powerful tool for the development of a region, which may contribute to the prolongation of its tourist season. But is the local community (residents, cultural operators and local businesses) prepared, both in infrastructure and in a context of mood and interest, to contribute to the realization of cultural routes? On the other hand, who are the actors involved in the development of cultural routes in Greece? Cultural routes differ from the tours. The cultural routes are a trigger for visitors to follow a humane path in the way and time of visit that links, links and highlights the interrelated elements of the region within a central theme that invites simultaneously the successive discovery of historical and modern life and culture. In this context, monuments and cultural sites promote the perception of a living social space by approaching the visitor as a person with a fervent interest in an environment of encounter and conflict of various ideologies and identities that concern the past and present. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact that the cultural routes have on the sustainability and development of traditional settlements. This has occurred through an extensive cover of the existing literature review. The outcome is that cultural routes have a particular impact on the preservation of cultural heritage. For this reason there is a need to focus on the creation and development of such routes but also to conduct a case study research so to examine the effects on some of the existing routes.