Identifying the spatial limits or the geographical borders of the local communities – as the 
term “local” may quite impose – could bring a significant help in defining these communities: 
approaching the topic in the context of assessing the role of the heritage in the sustainable 
community tourism development, Joppe (1996) has observed that human settlements situated in the 
close proximity to a given heritage site could be considered as comprising a community, actually 
the local community around the site. Pacione (2001) has defined a local community as a group of 
people who share a geographic area and are bound together by common culture, values, race or 
social class.