Mapping cultural tourism routes in Baixo Alentejo, Portugal: An exploratory study of the municipality of Beja

Abstract

Routes have been a characteristic of human societies since ancient times: two prominent examples are the Silk Roads and the Pilgrim’s Ways (namely the Way of Saint James Santiago de Compostela), which are now World Heritage sites and highly popular, well established tourism products. The creation of routes with leisure purposes is , however, a phenomenon of modern industrial societies From the last decades of the 20 th century onwards, we have witnessed the unprecedented growth of tourist routes and itineraries around the globe, purportedly due to the changing patterns of tourist de mand, namely the search for more flexible, non traditional holidays and for new experiences, and to the perceived benefits of tourist routes, namely in terms of tourists/income diffusion, the affirmation of lesser known localities, and the increased attrac ti veness and sustainability of destinations. For its geographical, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics, the Baixo Alentejo region would at first sight benefit greatly from a route based tourism development strategy It consists of a thinly populated , vast rural territory, with distinctive natural features, a rich history, heritage and culture and an outstanding gastronomy, based on high quality, certified and prize winning products, such as olive oil, cheese, meat products and wines. Against this bac k drop , the present study, which is of a mostly exploratory nature, aims at mapping the tourist routes and trails that exist in and around Beja, the capital of the Baixo Alentejo region and intermunicipal community. It offer s a preliminary evaluation and cl assification of the identified trails based on the typologies proposed by Timothy and Boyd (2015) 2015). It also makes a first assessment of the uses and perceived relevance of the existing itineraries , based on collected primary data . The paper draws some conclusions which may contribute to the development and/or improvement of cultural touris m routes in Baixo Alentejo, particularly in the region of Beja. Given its intended purposes, the study rel ied both on qualitative and quantitati ve research methods.