Our final EUROPETOUR meeting took place in the German region of the Tauber valley, hosted by our coordinating organisation Kultur und Arbeit e.V. in cooperation with Bronnbach Monastery and the International Convention Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation IZKK.
The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 (EYCH) label is a label promoting the slogan: “Our Heritage: Where Past meets the Future”, including the hashtag #EuropeForCulture.
The EUROPETOUR project has successfully met all the award criteria of the EYCH label. The ground for the decision is that the initiative contributes to the achievement of one or more of the objectives of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, as endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU in Article 2 of the legal decision calling for the EYCH.
Lots of cultural tourism learning, excellence in Social Media management, and many interesting tips and learning curves on how to develop (and maintain) networked offers in rural cultural tourism: Those were the main outcomes from the second to last #EUROPETOUR meeting that took place during the month of June 2018 in Geras, Waldviertel, Lower Austria.
Next to all study visits in the rural area of the Upper Waldviertel, which is located about 1,5 hours away from Vienna, the main focus has been on finishing off details to the Training Modules, as well as the Social Media Guidelines for Cultural Tourism in rural areas.
From 13-16 June, 2018, the #EUROPETOUR partnership meets for the second to last time in the rural area of Waldviertel, upper Lower Austria, about one and a half hours drive from Vienna. The focus is on finishing the discussion about (the translations of) the Training Modules, as well as the Social Media Guidelines for Cultural Tourism in rural areas.
2018 highlights the final round of meetings for the EUROPETOUR partnership, starting with an experience of the German-Polish “Klosterland” network and our reception near the town of Mysliborz, hosted by Izabela Matusiak, of the community of Mysliborz, and Stefan Beier, head of the board of the transnational monastery network: www.klosterland.de
Are you, too, curious about networking across borders in cultural tourism in rural areas? Then read on, and learn more about what we found during our meeting in Poland and Germany.
Marche region, in central Italy near the city of Ancona, has welcomed the EUROPETOUR partnership with a wealth of interesting, small-to-medium-sized enterprises which are offering products and services for cultural tourism in rural areas, and do so very smartly and successfully.
During 12-15 September, 2017, the final meeting of the EUROPETOUR partnership for the year 2017 will take place in and around the city of Ancona, Marche region, north-western Italy. The topics for discussion are manifold, focusing on the final elaboration of the EUROPETOUR training modules, as well as further work on the Social Media Guidelines for cultural tourism in rural areas.
During the last meeting of the EUROPETOUR team hosted by our project partner Pilar Bahamonde in Potes / Cantabria, we not only had the honour (and tasty pleasure!) of learning more about the actual Cantabrian cultural tourism products, services, and their marketing for cultural, religious heritage enthusiasts, and food lovers (see our latest blog post here), but also made good progress on the development of our training modules for cultural tourism stakeholders.
These modules are now further developed & translated into seven European languages, available for download soon.
As part of the EUROPETOUR meeting in Potes, Cantabria taking place from 7-11 June, 2017, Cantabrian experiences for cultural tourism in rural areas included three types of cultural tourism products, which were very well selected by our partner Pilar Bahamonde of SRECD in Spain. The aim was to showcase, and highlight, the quality of Cantabrian culinary products on the one hand, as well as emphasising the strong links to Cantabrian culture and cultural tourism on the other hand.
The town of Potes, located along the pilgrimage route of the “Camino Lebaniégo” in Cantabria, is a cultural tourism destination known for its importance as an ancient site of pilgrimage. For the second time in 2017, our partners will gather from all over Europe, Elena Paschinger of partner Kreativ Reisen Österreich even covering the first four days ahead of the meeting as a true pilgrim on the Camino del Norte – self-awareness life!
For the first time in 2017, the EUROPETOUR partnership has again gathered in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, north central Bulgaria. Hosted in conjunction with the city’s International Cultural Tourism Fair, as well as our Bulgarian partner’s INI-Novation first multiplier event, the meeting proved to be very successful indeed, putting the final touches to the collection of training modules, written as a result of the EUROPETOUR survey conducted in 2016.
Following a successful networking event at ITB Berlin this year, the EUROPETOUR family is proud to meet again in Bulgaria in early April 2017. The purpose of this meeting is to highlight and discuss progress made on the EUROPETOUR training modules for stakeholders in cultural tourism, including those attending from the Bulgarian region of Veliko Tarnovo.
2017 is shaping up to be an exciting year for the EUROPETOUR partnership. After celebrating the success of our previous project meetings in places as culturally attractive as Bad Wimpfen, Waidhofen, Suceava or Vicenza, the partnership is pleased to announce that the “EUROPETOUR family” will once again gather in 2017.
For the third time in 2016, the EUROPETOUR team has gathered in the town of Vicenza, Italy. The aim has been to discuss the content, structure and writing style of the training modules for stakeholders in cultural tourism development, and to use the conference “Tourists, Travellers & Pilgrims” of EUROPETOUR partner “Future for Religious Heritage” for dissemination purposes about the goals & aims of EUROPETOUR.
The European Network “Future for Religious Heritage” (FRH), a strong networking partner within the EUROPETOUR project, will have their Biennial Conference from 9-11 November 2016 in Vicenza, Italy. Once again this year, it will bring together those committed to save and promote religious heritage across Europe and beyond. Several topics are dedicated to religious heritage tourism, which is an important part of cultural tourism.
The conference “Tourists, Travellers and Pilgrims: Encountering Religious Heritage in Today’s Europe” will examine pilgrimage in both its traditional and modern sense. As such, it will likewise be an example of how to involve and engage people in religious heritage.
Registration is now open and you are welcome to join.
It has been a tremendously successful EUROPETOUR meeting in Suceava, Romania this past summer. From participating in a traditional dance with the locals, to marvelling at the skilled craftspeople of the Bucovina area, to being literally taken away & left breathless in front of the UNESCO World Heritage painted outdoor fresco churches: EUROPETOUR is European cultural tourism development at its best. To this end, the entire project team is working hard to develop multilingual training modules for stakeholders in cultural heritage tourism across Europe, based on the outcome of the EUROPETOUR survey.
Somewhere in the north part of Romania, the EUROPETOUR project team is set to discover a small piece of heaven: Bucovina. Famous for its countless churches and monasteries, the north-eastern parts of Romania are center stage to our vision of developing training modules for stakeholders in cultural tourism management across Europe. To do so, we will be visiting the famous local Dragomirna & Moldovita monasteries, among others.
Continue reading
Our EuropeTour experts from Spain, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium, Germany & Austria have once again gathered in order to discuss results from our previously conducted EuropeTour survey so as to establish training modules for stakeholders in cultural tourism. EuropeTour partner Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) conducted the survey and analysed the results with country specific input of all partners and their respective regions.
The principal aim of the EuropeTour survey has been to disclose the training needs of stakeholders in cultural tourism across Europe. The survey has been conducted neither exhaustively nor scientifically, but rather as a bottom-up, practical approach highlighting the most relevant issues currently being discussed in rural cultural tourism development. Continue reading
The last days of April will again be home to the international gathering of all EUROPETOUR partners, hosted by our project partner E-C-C (“Education – Culture – Citizenship”) in the Mostviertel destination in Lower Austria. The Mostviertel has been chosen for its long-standing history of culture and tradition that forms the basis of modern-day rural cultural tourism. Our goal this time is to discuss the results of the EUROPETOUR survey, followed by a proposed analysis of the qualification gaps of local actors for cultural tourism.
Continue reading
Over the past couple of months, the EUROPETOUR team has been working hard on getting the first results of our international cultural tourism country analysis under way, which are due to be published shortly in the lead-up to our next project meeting in Waidhofen, Austria. Meanwhile, ITB Berlin provided us with another chance to meet & greet international media representatives and trade visitors at the world’s largest travel trade show in March 2016. Continue reading