The fast growth of cultural tourism in the last few years has dramatically altered the way the architectural heritage of Spanish cities is perceived and preserved. This change in outlook has affected both the local population and the political and economic authorities. The revival of an old medieval pilgrimage road – the Route to Santiago – in the 1990s has entailed the rise to cultural prominence of a number of northwestern Spanish cities and towns. The reassessment of the notion of tourist potential has turned parts of the heritage that used to be neglected into valuable assets. Thus, due to the emergence of cultural tourism the Camino has become an important source of economic growth in northwestern Spain. This paper focuses on the analysis of four case studies: León, Astorga, Sarria and Santiago de Compostela. All of them have recently offered a programme of events related to the pilgrimage, although with very different degrees of success. These examples illustrate the way that cultural tourism has generated a new space and economic dynamics. The scenarios they have created are perceived as a renovated sign of identity by both the local community and the potential visitors.
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González et al. (2003) studied this question.