Authentic tourism based on local cultural flavours

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Major tourism attractions are emerging as internationally acclaimed hubs of visits and services, leading to oversight of other cultural sites and to non-sustainability of most-visited destinations. At the same time tourists are upgrading authentic cultural heritage, offering specific experience rooted in local history and the preserved cultural legacy of communities, adding unique flavours and excitement to their adventure. Small and medium sized towns with rich but undervalued cultural heritage possess the potential to offer new, unique and authentic experiences, but suffer from either the dominance of major attractions in their vicinity, or from their relatively remote locations. Positioning them as authentic destinations can simultaneously sustain local cultural heritage and create better prospects for locals. The attraction of tourists to less recognized places can create a more even distribution of tourism and more cohesive regional economies. Local Flavours’ objective is to improve policies supporting places unable to fully exploit their cultural legacies due to less-advantaged locations. The project will help partners to meet the challenge of identifying the most effective ways to support unique local sites with an innovative analysis toolkit, extensive knowledge sharing and with assisted interaction with local public and private stakeholders. This way the specific local and regional potentials and bottlenecks can be properly explored and used to elaborate the right policy frameworks elevating and positioning new authentic destinations. As a result of the cooperation of the international partnership, 8 Action Plans will be produced as main outcomes, targeting various policy instruments (ERDF Operational Programmes, development and marketing strategies) supporting the addressed locations in their pursuit to become more integrated and integral players in regional tourism, based on their recognized and properly used authentic cultural assets.

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