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.
Some 20 media representatives have gathered for a press lunch at ITB’s restaurant Brandenburg, organized in conjunction with the association Kultur und Arbeit e.V. – Association Culture & Work as well as our partner Kreativ Reisen Austria. The aim was to introduce the close-knit cooperation EUROPETOUR is set to achieve with stakeholders in cultural tourism all across Europe. It included a presentation of the “Deutsche Reiseanalyse” focused on the benefits of developing products for the growing market segment of senior citizens, an introduction to our very own EUROPETOUR project presented by Dr. Karin Drda-Kühn as well as Kreativ Reisen Austria, celebrating five years of existence this year.
Read more about what our project partner from Austria, represented by our communication expert Elena Paschinger, has to say about this year’s successful ITB event. More pictures are shown here:
Besides, the itb culture lounge highlights cultural tourism for all, including a presentation of the german cultural tourism study by our member “Klosterland”.
It has been a pleasure to hear and watch Lara Buschmann, of the German Klosterland network, speak about her passion for presenting some interesting results taken from the national study on cultural tourism. One of the main conclusions is that there has only been little progress in successfully harvesting the potential for creative cultural tourism development in rural areas. This is set to change as we grow together in our transnational EUROPETOUR partnership, bringing together experience and ideas from all our member states.

EUROPETOUR presenting our communication strategy at the ITB Berlin … © Elena Paschinger | www.CreativElena.com

… supported by the results highlighting the need for projects like ours by the German cultural tourism study … © Elena Paschinger | www.CreativElena.com

… and Lara Buschmann – Klosterland’s communication efforts. © Elena Paschinger | www.CreativElena.com
A detailed report on the results of the German study on cultural tourism (“Kulturtourismusstudie 2015/2016”) can be found on our partner’s website at http://www.kulturtourismusstudie.de.
What is your main goal in addressing positive change for cultural tourism in Europe?