Route-based tourism on walking, hiking and cycling routes is experiencing resurgence throughout the world (Collins-Kreiner, 2010) and can be a driver of sustainable development, particularly for remote areas (Briedenhann & Wickens, 2004; UNWTO, 2015). This type of tourism is fostering sustainability for at least two main reasons: a) it is rooted in low-impacting tourism and transport practices (cycling, hiking) and b) it stimulates cooperation across regional economies, at transregional and transnational level. Nevertheless, successfully managing this type of tourism requires innovative approaches related to the nature of the tourism experience and to tourists’ patterns of movement across space.

Scuttari, De Bortoli, Pechlaner & Riegler, Product innovation in route-based tourism_Interactive design of hiking routes as a driver for sustainable tourism.pdf