Planning and Developing Trails and Routes - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 189

These include cooperation between and among government agencies, levels
of administration, same-level polities across political boundaries, public and
private sectors, and private-sector organizations. A comprehensive collabora-
tive approach to tourism development utilizing these modes of cooperation
and involving as many different stakeholder cohorts as possible in decision-
making and implementation has a better chance of assuring a greater degree
of sustainable outcomes (Beritelli, 2011; Chhabra, 2010; Erkus-Öztürk &
Eraydin, 2010; Jamal & Getz, 1995; Settina & Kauffman, 2001).
Collaboration among these various players has the potential to increase
fiscal stability, adopt more grass-roots knowledge, reduce redundancies,
strengthen marketing efforts, protect cultural and natural environments,
manage and mitigate overuse of resources, enhance resident quality of life,
and diminish cross-border socio-economic and ecological imbalances
(Timothy, 1998b, 1999a). Together these help uphold the basic principles of
sustainable tourism development: maintenance of ecological and cultural
integrity, efficiency, equity, participatory community growth, holistic
growth, harmony and balance (Bramwell & Lane, 2011; Hall & Lew, 1998;
Timothy, 1999b).
The very act of developing themed, purposive routes is an exercise of
collaboration and networking because each site, or node, on the route agrees
to participate (Cope et al. , 1998). In short routes or tracks within a single
public landholding this is less important, but for long-distance trails it is
imperative.
Because medium- and long-distance tracks so frequently traverse differ-
ent landscapes and properties owned by different people, agencies and orga-
nizations, cooperation is especially important in trail development when it
comes to land use and route planning (Boyd & Timothy, 1999; Paine, 2001).
Without closely correlated partnerships, many trail ideas would never come
to fruition, not least because of the need to consolidate various properties,
landlords and agencies (Mahoney, 1999; Ottman, 1989). Some of the most
popular long-distance heritage routes in the US, such as the Oregon National
Historic Trail or the Santa Fe National Historic Trail, extend over privately-
owned ranchland, municipal holdings (e.g. city parks), county or state lands,
federal government lands (e.g. Bureau of Land Management, National Forest
Service, or the National Park Service), Native American tribal lands, and acre-
age managed by various non-profit organizations (Fiala, 1999; Payne, 1997).
As well, some lengthy trails pass through a variety of ecosystems or cultural
landscapes, including urban areas, farmland, deserts, rainforests or moun-
tains, each of which might require different management techniques to pre-
serve their core integrity (Means, 1999).
Cross-border routes are gaining popularity all over the world, such as the
European Cultural Routes noted earlier, as well as a variety of nature trails
and hiking footpaths. Cross-boundary cooperation is critical to ensure that
corresponding trail resources on either side of a political divide are