Tourism-led Heritage Development: TOURITAGE

Programme(s): Erasmus+ (ERASMUS+)-undefined

Topic(s): ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE-STRAND-1

Type of action: ERASMUS Lump Sum Grants

Project ID: 101082832

Objective :

Cultural heritage is recognized as a driver and enabler for sustainable development. Its reuse / adaptive reuse and valorisation plays a crucial role in attracting tourism, increasing employability, advancing the region’s economic potentials, producing urban and regional development, while prolonging the heritage lifespan. However, many heritage sites are not recognized by their governments and lack the tourism awareness and publicity. The unclear strategy for developing and marketing these sites, induce the loss of their unique values. Additionally, the inappropriateness of the facilities and/or services in such sites, produce a repellent effect for visitors. The South-Mediterranean region (3) is characterized by numerous overlooked heritage sites that are poorly publicized for the tourism industry. This drawback reflects in the academic sector that needs to acquire the suitable skills for innovative Management of Cultural Heritage via Tourism Development. The academia requires the inauguration of a blended education that delivers an intermediate shade between Heritage, Planning, Tourism, and Economics. The project aims to delineates the drivers connected to the potentials of cultural heritage in the context of developing a touristic destination, encouraging a socio-economic recovery. From another angle, it also investigates the role of touristic sites in promoting the preservation and revival of heritage assets. The project will implement Intensive Study Programs (ISP) in six universities, promoting peer-learning approaches while allowing the urban development of the case studies in Italy, Spain, Egypt and Tunisia. It will provide a Strategic Partnership between HEIs, in order to address the issues found in Heritage Management education associated with tourism promotion, addressing the insufficient exploitation of heritage assets (tangible & intangible). The project will approach the field of heritage management by tackling 6 main threads: Urban Planning, Socio-Economic Planning, Architecture Directives, Creative Usage, Environmental Efficiency, and Circular Economy. The project has a cross-sectorial approach, as it will involve several sectors during the ISPs, including the academia, business, tourism, heritage authorities, local government, and local citizens. The project will deliver 6 main Intellectual Outputs that will be accessible to students, teachers and professional bodies, active in the field of Cultural Heritage and Tourism. 1) The Intensive Study Programs will provide theoretical and practical development of Cultural Heritage case studies. Developed on different phases, each ISP will be available for students from the four beneficiary universities. ISPs will increase students’ exposure, contributing to internationalization and mobility activities. 2) Case study-based ISPs will provide proposals to develop and actual overlooked local heritage sites with the contribution of experts in the field of Heritage Management and local authorities. 3) The output of each case study-based ISP will be published as “Tourism-led Heritage Development” guiding manuals for each of the selected case study. 4) Detailed factsheets will be developed and publicized about the designated case study heritage site of each University. 5) TOURITAGE micro-lab will be initiated to assist researcher in the survey and mapping of the designated case study, while being an important asset for future researchers. 6) A final international exhibition & forum will take place at the end of the project, to present the findings of the project to the wider public. It will exhibit students’ work across the 6 different heritage sites. The event will encompass the launching the developed guiding manuals for “Tourism-led Heritage Development” for the different investigated case studies, where ideas, views and methods can be exchanged for future development and progress and expansion with other universities, businesses and local authorities. The forum would be open to experts of Heritage Management and Planning from all over the world. It will involve other academic institutions, the enterprise sector and regional authorities.