Cultural Sites and Tourism: Development of European Strategies

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Since cultural richness of the Central Europe area is very high, cultural tourism is one of the main pillars in the economic development of many cities and towns. However this richness can produce negative effects, as well known touristic sites are overcrowded, while other important sites near to these cultural centres are poorly visited by the main tourism flows. This has also a negative effect on cohesion policy, since the current trends prevent the creation of several new jobs in the neglected cultural sites, while they increase pollution in large cities. CUSTODES intends to address these topics, focusing on less known cultural sites, enhancing their potential as sustainable tourism destinations and promoting the socio-economic development of these areas. As a follow-up project of the INTERREG IIIC project ROMIT the aim of was to find new ways of preservation, valorisation and management of Roman heritage CUSTODES project intends to increase the economic value of relevant cultural sites (archaeological areas, but also historical castles, landscapes, spas...), enhancing their potential as sustainable tourism destinations and promoting the socio-economic development of surrounding areas. In particular the project focuses on the development of tourist products specifically created for cultural sites in small centres, usually excluded from main tourism flows. Thereby the promotion of touristic sites is interconnected with the creation of new sustainable tourism infrastructures at local level, benefitting from the proximity of a well known tourism destination not too far from the cultural site. In this matter it is important to find a European strategy in order to transfer knowledge, practices, experiences, skills and products on a wider dimension. CUSTODES aims to establish models and tools which can be well transferred in other European areas with similar characteristics.

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