RURITAGE Webinar: Pilgrimage Routes, drivers for rural regeneration

Pilgrimage may be the earliest and perhaps, the leading future form of rural tourism. Heritage routes to sacred and historical places are a driver for sustainable and economic growth in many rural areas. Indeed, some observers describe ‘route tourism’ as the world’s best hope for securing sustainability in travel and tourism. Rediscovering local cultural and natural heritage (CNH) along pilgrimage routes poses great opportunities for less explored areas to gain recognition. In areas suffering from population decline and closing services, heritage routes can create new opportunities for growth, through key drivers such as tourism, cultural and natural heritage preservation and promotion.

During this webinar, several RURITAGE partners will share their experience in restoring heritage routes. Experts from ACIR Compostelle will introduce the Pilgrimage concept with focus on rural areas, to demonstrate that heritage routes can lead to a sustainable rural development and a better territorial cooperation.

Partners French Santiago Way through Castilla & Leon in Spain and Via Marie in Romania – will share their good practices on promotion and preservation of pilgrimage routes. Representatives from UNESCO Global Geopark Geopark Karavanke/Karawanken will provide insights on how they capitalize from RURITAGE methodologies to use CNH as a sustainable tool to combine old traditions and modern world along the Pilgrimage route to Hemmaberg.

Register here.