Heritage routes

New cultural routes celebrate our Romanesque inheritance, Charlemagne, and the adventures of Don Quixote.

Pilgrim route to Mont Saint-Michel

Seven new itineraries have recently been granted membership of the exclusive club of European cultural Routes.

"The European Cultural Convention" under the patronage of The European Council can make proposals for new routes, which satisfy the following criteria. The routes should:

• Be centred on a theme representative of European values and common to several European countries;
• Follow a historical route or (in the case of cultural tourism) a newly created route
• Give rise to long-term multilateral co-operation projects in priority areas (scientific research; heritage conservation and enhancement; cultural and educational exchanges among young Europeans; contemporary cultural and artistic practices; cultural tourism and sustainable development)
• Be managed by one or more independent, organised networks (in the form of an association or a federation of associations)

The new routes that the entire group of countries have agreed upon are Transromanica, The Pilgrim Roads to Mont Saint-Michel, The Phoenicians' Routes, the European Migratory Itinerary, The Iron Route in Central Europe, The Carolingian Route and the Route of Don Quixote.

A general overview
The idea of the routes was launched in 1987. Since then a wide variety of routes have been granted the prestigious label. The first route was the medieval Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim Route that nowadays serves as a role model for wanderers, travellers and tourism policy-makers. This pilgrimage route is highly traversed. Approximately 100.000 "pilgrims" take the trip each year - by foot, on horseback, on bicycles or by car.

Do the new routes have a similar potential?
The seven new routes are a mixture of old and well established routes conforming to the traditional form as well as new and untried concepts. A common denominator for most of the new routes is, however, that they do not represent limited itineraries. Rather they wish to present a series of common European denominators: iron forging, Romanesque art or multicultural mixing. These are fields, which have made their mark over large areas and regions. These new routes do not seem to invite the travellers and tourists on tours characterised by in-depth investigation, but rather continental knocking about. Further, two routes - the Phoenician routes and the Migratory routes - seem to be decidedly more political than practical.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Slow travel and ecotravel
Thus the new initiative from the European Council raises a number of questions. Is it an eco-friendly idea to invite tourists on long and harrowing car-tours in order to sample widely dispersed highlights? How does this correspond with the current European agenda to further a sustainable tourism?