Western Balkan heritage tours are conceived as a tours through less known and sometimes hidden heritage of the Western Balkan. One of the themes of the RCC Triple P Tourism project is development of a cultural tourism route, the Balkan Monumental Trail. This kind of cultural tourism route is planned as a tour through Balkan heritage and monuments dedicated to the WWII period.
Balkan Monumental Trail (BMT) and Balkan heritage
The idea of BMT is to explore and to highlight hidden or forgotten monuments in the Western Balkans, with an emphasis on World War II Balkan heritage. This concept encompasses the historical and cultural significance of monumental sites, visual impressiveness, architectural and artistic appeal. The justification for this cultural tourism route is that Balkan heritage, history and culture has been modestly exposed to people outside this region. On the other hand, numerous recent publications and artistic events have proven that there is great international interest in the topic of modernist monumental art and architecture across the WB6 region. Cultural tours through Balkan heritage would bring people closer to ancient events and also would enable people to admire beautiful architectural works. As a result, tourists would not only admire the monuments itself, but also the story that describes the reason for the construction of this monument.
Balkan heritage reveal
The entire proposed route is comprised of 40 monument sites spread across the WB economies. This sites are a good base for Balkan heritage reveal.
The monument sites were chosen based on following integral concepts:
- Historical and cultural significance
- Visual impressiveness and architectural/artistic appeal
- The current condition and state of repair of the monument site
- Sites of great natural splendor and remarkable scenic beauty
- Sites which are not exclusively ideological in presentation
Organizing this kind of Balkan cultural tours, we present locations with great monumental complexes of exceptional beauty. As a result, there has been a growing international interest as well as domestic for this topic noted.
Pathway of cultural tours
A pathway of cultural tours stretching thousands of kilometres across each of WB6 economies is connecting each of these monument sites. Consideration taken when determining this pathway included the following key factors:
- Proximity to areas underserved by tourism
- Proximity to tourist facilities (restaurants, lodging, fuel, retail services, etc.)
- Proximity to well-maintained roadways
- A route which is simple and straightforward to follow and drive
- A route which is accessible all year round
Using such criteria, tourists hoping to travel the Balkan heritage tour will be able to do so in a manner that is not only tried and tested along an optimized pathway, but it will be such a route that can be utilized all year round. As a matter of fact, it will provide them all needed amenities that such tourists might desire.
