The Cultural Routes programme of the Council of Europe aims at increasing cultural exchange, enhancing a European identity, stimulating tourism and supporting sustainable development by promoting...Show moreThe Cultural Routes programme of the Council of Europe aims at increasing cultural exchange, enhancing a European identity, stimulating tourism and supporting sustainable development by promoting cultural heritage under one theme, thus creating transnational cultural itineraries like the Phoenicians’ Route. This requires a complex structure based on cooperation and complementation, involving multiple stakeholders and making its implementation potentially uncertain due to its intricate machinery. These are the original ideas behind the research question around which the investigation is centered: to what extent have the goals of the Phoenicians’ Route, added in 2003 to the Cultural Routes programme of the Council of Europe, been achieved in Spain? By means of a literature review and a series of interviews conducted to key participants, I have concluded that the Phoenicians’ Route in Spain is at an initial stage of implementation. This is indicated firstly by the general unawareness I have perceived, both when preparing for the interviews and through the responses, and secondly by the direct answers of the interviewees. I suggest the problem is the confederation model on which the Phoenicians’ Route is based because it prompts uncomittement, disorganisation and an unequal implementation. This could be solved by incorporating a central figure with influential competence power that could animate the operators.Show less
