Cultural tourism and the social revaluation of History: the War of Independence in the city of Alicante (Spain)

Abstract

Qualified staff in several tourist destinations on the Alicante coast are presently developing initiatives intended to enhance cultural and natural heritage and to expand and adjust traditional seasonal “sun-and-beach” tourism. For this purpose, as part of the Research Project “War and Public History” (GeHP), a digital platform has been built to “Understand war, educate for peace and foster tourism”. It considers the possibility to use resources dealing with the Peninsular War on the basis of a proposal of historical routes that may be used for tourism purposes. The use of these resources serves two purposes: to publicise the events related to that war episodes and their historical significance; and to contribute to the preservation of heritage as a sign of identity. An innovative element is added, on the basis of state-of-the-art technology, which enables free access to said resources on the GeHP website.