Cultural Routes and Heritage Trails - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 18

important tourism resources, there are several different characteristics that
separate them. The next chapter will examine nature trails in greater detail.
This chapter is structured as follows. First is a discussion on the purposes
of cultural heritage trails, including enjoyment, preservation, image enhance-
ment of place, economic development and as instruments of power and per-
suasion. Second, a typology and model of cultural heritage trails is introduced,
which categorizes trails into two defined types: organically evolved and pur-
posive routes. Organically evolved routes include trade routes, explorer-
settler-migration routes, religious routes/pilgrim trails, and intentionally
built linear resources such as historic railways, canals and relict boundaries.
In contrast, purposive cultural trails are composed of short trails at historic
sites or gardens, maritime routes, urban heritage ways, literary, film and
music trails, industrial trails, agricultural trails, food and wine routes, and
inorganic religious trails that are products of collaborative networks devel-
oped between individual nodes.
Purposes of Cultural Heritage Trails
Cultural resource-based routes provide considerable public enjoyment
and recreation, both for residents and tourists. In addition, they serve a vari-
ety of important social, economic and political purposes.
One of the leading roles of heritage trails is the preservation of historic
values and conservation of cultural resources and historic routeways, includ-
ing migration routes, explorer trails, railways and logging paths (Hayes &
MacLeod, 2007; Ramsay & Truscott, 2003; Snowball & Courtney, 2010;
Timothy, 2014). In common with cultural heritage-based tourism in general,
these routes provide information about, and commemorate, past historical
events, places and peoples. They are interpreted with a variety of tools,
including signs, plaques, audio guides, maps and leaflets, or human guides.
Interpretation is a well-recognized method of increasing public awareness
and education, and according to interpretation specialists, knowledge begets
respect, which has a tendency to translate into increased public appreciation
for resources and boosted efforts to conserve (O'Brien & Curtis, 1979; Tilden,
1977; Timothy & Boyd, 2003).
Part of the Council of Europe's rationale for initiating the Cultural Routes
Programme was to help protect Europe's cultural heritage (Moulin &
Boniface, 2001). Likewise, the 1968 National Trails System Act was imple-
mented to protect cultural and natural resources in the United States (US).
In Belize, the Punta Gorda Trail was set up for tourists in large part to help
protect traditional Garifuna and Maya cultures, including houses, agricul-
ture, food and language (Boucher, 1990).
A second purpose of cultural routes is image enhancement and boosting
a sense of place. There are many examples of cities that have utilized urban