Cultural tourist routes as a mechanism for geopolitical integration

Cultural tourist routes today act as mechanisms for interaction among countries in the field of tourism, preservation of historical and cultural heritage, as well as in geopolitical issues. The article studies approaches to the definition of a cultural route as a territorial service product. The authors hypothesize that a cultural route is a system territorial product combining the tangible and intangible historical and cultural heritage of countries and regions, performing significant geopolitical, socio-economic and historical tasks through tourism and stimulating interstate interaction in all matters related to its functioning. To confirm it, the article reveals experience of the "The Great Silk Road" UNWTO project and the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe. The first project is restrained by number of the factors but has great potential opportunities for participating countries if it will be implemented. The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe is a successful project that currently brings together 45 certified routes. The article systematizes information about each route, describes the mechanisms for integrating states in their implementation, and classifies routes by theme. Personalities and sacred motifs are the most popular and significant in cultural route themes today. The article presents groups of countries according to the degree of their involvement in the cultural space of Europe. As a result, the authors formulated a general model of the cultural route as a system. The features identified while studying cultural tourist routes, as well as the model developed, can be used in the functioning of modern national routes in Russia, which miss consistency, a constructive dialogue among regions and a single tourist route operator in the territorial sense.