Cultural Routes and Heritage Trails - Tourism and Trails: Cultural, Ecological and Management Issues - page 24

developed and assembled for modern recreational and touristic use. These
routes are shown as schema (ii) in Figure 2.1. Conceptually, the position taken
is that a designed tourist track/route was developed from a defined geographic
area that had nodes of common thematic interest contained within. Purposive
routes are typically delineated not by their historic association with a set
route but rather by thematic content to link sites, establishments and com-
munities together that have similar pasts and similar products which appeal
to comparable demand cohorts. Of this sort of trail, Logan (2002: 23) noted
that they must 'possess a set of values whose whole is greater than the sum
of the parts' and that points along the route must be understood holistically
as an entire thematic collection, not the parts individually. Derrett and St
Vincent Welch (2008) illustrated this notion in their examination of farm
shed clusters in Australia's Outback that could be catalogued and connected
by a drivable scenic route to preserve the rural landscape and highlight a nos-
talgic network of farm buildings that illustrate the 'spirit of the Australian
Outback'. Likewise, Smith et al. (1986) examined the potential for this sort of
route to join small, rural communities in northern California under the theme
of 'Highway 89: California's scenic mountain route'. Each community lacked
the financial resources to promote themselves individually; the route was
proposed as a way of promoting the villages together for the common good
as a regional destination.
The lines between these two types of heritage trails are often blurry and
ill-defined. However, there is little mistaking that nearly all, if not all, cul-
tural tourism routes fit within the parameters of either organic or purposive
heritage trails.
Organic cultural routes
As stated earlier, there are a few different varieties of organic cultural
routes that are commonly used and promoted as tourism and recreation
trails today. This section presents a number of examples of heritage trails
that include a mix of indigenous, trade, migration, engineering trails of the
modern world, and cultural paths that follow linear natural features.
Trade routes
For millennia, humans have traveled away from home for commerce.
Buying and selling agricultural produce, manufactured items or the products
of hunting and fishing, people have long traveled great distances by foot,
horse, carriage and watercraft for trade. Many trade routes became famous
and provided the fodder of great literary works and worldwide legends. Some
ancient channels of commerce functioned for centuries until modern trans-
portation methods replaced traditional corridors, while some still function
today. Several historic and well-known market routes have garnered the
attention of supranational alliances. These organizations (e.g. the World