TURISMO, PATRIMONIO E CULTURA: VERSO UN’ EDUCAZIONE TERRITORIALE. UN CASO DI STUDIO IN GALIZIA (SPAGNA)

Abstract

Motivations for cultural tourism are essentially to learn and experience the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of tourism destinations, which is very significantly in the context of informal learning. At the same time, cultural heritage is more and more becoming part of the teaching curriculum through active and cross-curricular methods, partnership with the field of culture and the application of the widest variety of communication and expression forms. Apart from the educational purpose, cultural heritage is also considered a leading force in local and sustainable development processes. Therefore, this paper aim is to propose development strategies to promote sustainable cultural tourism and heritage education in the Portuguese Way of St. James, the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. The starting point of this proposal is an analysis of the territorial heritage of the Galicia-Northern Portugal Euro-region. From here, forms of heritage communication based on participatory management strategies are introduced. Results are pretended to be inspiring to public administrations, communities and stakeholders to establish territorial development models based on sustainable cultural tourism and heritage education, especially relevant for rural areas.