This book presents a narrative of both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is to develop routes of cultural tourism in the North of Portugal, while empowering and engaging communities in the protection of their cultural heritage. The challenge is promoting sustainable tourism, with an impact on economic growth, poverty reduction, environmental protection and the preservation of authenticity in culture and heritage. This book appears at a pivotal moment, given the increased interest for the use of literature, arts, crafts, heritage, and traditions, as well as tangible and intangible cultural products, to promote places and destinations, while safeguarding the identity of social-cultural territories. The current cultural turn in tourism and related research methodologies has led to the development of business strategies where culture and creativity play a relevant role in the branding of competitive cities, regions and countries, using innovation and technology to promote their international image.

This book presents a narrative of both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is to develop routes of cultural tourism in the North of Portugal, while empowering and engaging communities in the protection of their cultural heritage. The challenge is promoting sustainable tourism, with an impact on economic growth, poverty reduction, environmental protection and the preservation of authenticity in culture and heritage. This book appears at a pivotal moment, given the increased interest for the use of literature, arts, crafts, heritage, and traditions, as well as tangible and intangible cultural products, to promote places and destinations, while safeguarding the identity of social-cultural territories. The current cultural turn in tourism and related research methodologies has led to the development of business strategies where culture and creativity play a relevant role in the branding of competitive cities, regions and countries, using innovation and technology to promote their international image.

Within the past 10 years ‘Religious Tourism’ has seen both economic and education-sector growth on a global scale. This book addresses the central role of religious tourism and interrelationships with other aspects of pilgrimage management. It provides practical applications, models and illustrations and looks at secular and sacred spaces on a global stage. The second edition sees the introduction of a new structure and the addition of new international case studies. It is an invaluable reference for academics, students and practitioners and is a timely text on the future of faith-based tourism and pilgrimage.

This volume explores how the promotion, marketing, and branding of culture have led to the development of economic strategies through creative industries, cultural tourism, and responsible business practices. It considers how culture-based initiatives can be used to boost the creation of business opportunities and enhance added value to the economy. The book also contextualizes western and non-western theories, paradigms, and practices, in order to sustain independent, ecological, and critical methodologies for intercultural business. By articulating principles, theories, structures, performances, and aesthetics across different cultures and communication channels, the networks of cultural codes and practices emerge and are critically observed, blurring conceptual frontiers and challenging conventional criteria of legitimation.

Cultural tourism is not only a major industry but also a support for national identity and a means for preserving heritage. Interdisciplinary explorations of cultural tourism, with essays about tourism between globalization and authenticity, township tourism in Soweto, South Africa, tourism in the culturally regenerated city, the new tourism areas in London, cultural routes, in the footsteps of Goethe, Humbert and Ulysses, tourism in inland Spain, indicators and qualitative observatories of heritage tourism, ecotourism and religious tourism in the North of Portugal, the festivalization of society, the consequences of the European Capitals of Culture, the economic impact of festivals, the future of cultural tourism: grounds for pessimism or optimism? Review in: Journal of cultural economics. 32(2008)3(.231-236).

Zusammenfassung: This proceedings book explores future prospects of cultural, heritage, and religious tourism and how it can impact the socioeconomic complexity of a community and future developments. It includes chapters on contemporary digital age pilgrimage, digital interpretation as a management strategy, tourism in the era of digital communication, and the role of social media in conserving intangible cultural heritage. This book focuses on policies and mechanisms for heritage preservation. It includes cultural heritage tourism management, how the digitalization of data has impacted and further developed tourism, World Heritage classification in urban tourism destinations, cultural tourism products, and experiences. Moreover, it discusses the sustainable environment and geography in tourism. It covers topics such as ecotourism and rural sustainable development, heritage in socioeconomic sustainable development, and tourists' perceptions of tourism. Another part of the book explores the social and economic impacts of tourism. It includes chapters on cycling tourism along the Elbe, residents' perceptions of the socioeconomic benefits of restaurants, architecture of historical mosques, tourism as a driver of soft power, tourists' perceptions of service quality, tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic, gastronomic narratives in tourism, and residents' perceptions of festivals. Also, it pinpoints the focus on user interaction-based development. It includes chapters on the role of community-led initiatives in heritage revitalization and addressing connectivity issues between historical and natural touristic heritage sites. These research papers provide valuable insights into the multidimensional nature of cultural sustainable tourism, covering a wide range of topics and offering diverse perspectives on its development, management, and impact

Lately, tourists consider their mobile devices as essential accessories for the realization of their trip before, during, and after the visit. Such devices allow them to consult information about points of interest, services, or products in real time. Thus, mobile devices have come to be considered as tools to support decision making regarding the realization of trips. In the digital environment, tourists seek complementary information to consolidate knowledge about the destination, heritage, culture, customs, and traditions that make the visited place unique. Simultaneously, they transform tourist experiences into a memory associated with travel, contribute to the sustainability of local populations, reduce inequalities, and cooperate to improve the quality of life of all involved. ICT as Innovator Between Tourism and Culture differs from others on the same areas because it aims to place the emphasis on and increase the bridge of knowledge between information communications technology (ICT), tourism, and culture, considering ICT as the main driver that creates the development environment and enhances the tourist experience in general. In particular, it is linked to cultural heritage, making it a more sustainable and intelligent tourist destination, taking into account the well-being of the local population and visitors. Covering topics such as destination image, religious tourism, and innovation dynamics, this book is an essential resource for IT consultants, hotel managers, marketers, travel agencies, tour operators, tourism researchers, professors, students, practitioners within the tourism industry, and academicians.

This book explores a wide range of emerging cultural, heritage, and other tourism issues that will shape the future of hospitality and tourism research and practice in the digital and innovation era. It offers stimulating new perspectives in the fields of tourism, travel, hospitality, culture and heritage, leisure, and sports within the context of a knowledge society and smart economy. A central theme is the need to adopt a more holistic approach to tourism development that is aligned with principles of sustainability; at the same time, the book critically reassesses the common emphasis on innovation as a tool for growth-led and market-oriented development. In turn, fresh approaches to innovation practices underpinned by ethics and sustainability are encouraged, and opportunities for the exploration of new research avenues and projects on innovation in tourism are highlighted. Based on the proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT) and edited in collaboration with IACuDiT, the book will appeal to a broad readership encompassing academia, industry, government, and other organizations.

This book features a collection of high-quality research papers presented at the International Conference on Tourism, Technology & Systems (ICOTTS 2019), held at the Universidad Abierta Interamericana, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 5th to 7th December 2019. It covers the areas technology in tourism and the tourist experience, generations and technology in tourism, digital marketing applied to tourism and travel, mobile technologies applied to sustainable tourism, information technologies in tourism, digital transformation of tourism business, e-tourism and tourism 2.0, big data and management for travel and tourism, geotagging and tourist mobility, smart destinations, robotics in tourism, and information systems and technologies.

This book analyses the cultural elements of 21st-century tourism. The structure of the book is based on four main issues, which will help further the reader’s understanding of present-day experiential tourism: namely urban and cultural tourism on a global scale; specific studies of new products linked to reappraising the landscape; heritage; and nature. It also examines the influence of branding and of the images projected in order to promote this new type of tourism, using both theoretical and general approaches. Finally, the Camino de Santiago is analysed as a paradigm of the new pilgrimage routes all over the world, with their implications and polysemic nature. Culture, nature, spirituality and urbanism are brought together in a series of studies of contemporary tourist activities. Tourism is, in short, an activity that marks the return of slow movement, of calm and relaxation, of the landscape and of self-rediscovery as a reappraised counterpoint to the frenetic pace of life in modern-day societies.