The Writen Treasures of Lower Danube

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The common challenges of the programme area the project partners are jointly tackling in our project are: 1. Low level of promotion of the written intangible cultural heritage and thus potential local and international visitors are currently unaware of the area’s potential for literary tourism; 2. Absence of coherent cross-border literary tourism development policies and working network of interested stakeholders; 3. Lack of integrated tourist information and well-developed attractive literary tourism products, services, itineraries and programme packages; 4. The written treasures are divided between three different kinds of institutions: libraries, museums and archives. There is lack of enough good cooperation between them for presentation and promotion of the common written Intangible cultural heritage. 5. There is a great risk of losing much of the older written heritage, as most of it is not digitized because most of these institutions lack the proper technology. 6. Lots of written heritage exponents are still in private collections of local people and historians and cannot be presented to the wide public. 7. In the Danube area there are too little overnights. Mainly as a result of business trips and in some regions because of weekend leisure trips. Overall project objective is encouraging joint conservation, protection, promotion and development of the written intangible cultural heritage of the RO–BG CBC region through diversification of tourist services and literary tourism development, as a major factor for using and exploiting common advantages and potentials, and overcoming discrepancies. Specific project objectives are: 1. Establishing integrated tourist product Lower Danube Cross-border Destination for Literary Tourism (Lower Danube CBDLT), and promoting updated joint positive image of cross-border area. 2. Creating cross-border network uniting all interested parties and enhancing its capacity for joint strategic planning, managing, and sustainable development of Lower Danube CBDLT. The expected change our project will make to the current situation consist of the following: Project implementation will lead to better protection and valorisation of unused written spiritual cultural heritage advantages and achieving balanced territorial tourism development in cross-border area. Diversification of tourist services supply will support the entry on new EU and world market niche – literary tourism that is characterized with more solvent tourists and is the most dynamic growing and developing in Europe and will increase tourist number in the region and opening of new jobs. It will overcome seasonal character of tourism supply, will lead to better saving of written exponents and nature and will decrease the pressure upon nature through diversification of Black Sea tourist product. The project will strengthen the capacities of relevant actors to restore, preserve and sustainably use the written and literary intangible heritage of the Romania-Bulgaria cross-border area. The main emphasis will be on the joint management and coordination approaches that will ensure the decrease of the current pressure and avoid future usage conflicts. The CBC stakeholders’ network will unite all participants in supplying and managing literary tourism products. Due to these measures a balanced and sustainable socio-economic development will be achieved in the target cross-border area. Joint cooperation will contribute to higher social and cultural cohesion between the Bulgarian and Romanian communities from both sides of the border. The project contributes to the following programme output indicators: 1. I9 - Number of integrated tourism products/services created: 1) A new integrated tourist product Lower Danube Cross-border Destination for Literary Tourism (Lower Danube CBDLT. 2) Two pilot modern and innovative for the whole region literary tourist attractions will be created in the libraries in Ruse and Craiova, based on the newest digital technologies, 3) At least 5 literature tourist packages and 5 tourist routes will be created in the cross-border region. 4) Two international literary festivals. 2. I10 - Number of common strategies, policies or management plans for valorising (including raising awareness) the cultural and natural heritage through its restoration and promotion for sustainable economic uses. - An Integrated Development Strategy of Lower Danube CBDLT worked out with the active participation of all kind of stakeholders in the CBC region; - A Three Year Action Plan for Management of the New Lower Danube CBDLT; - A Strategic plan for Cross-border network of stakeholders development will be prepared. - An Innovative Marketing strategy for internationally promoting the new image of Lower Danube CBDLT. For achieving these goals a team of three partners is formed and they are complementary to one another: regional libraries of Ruse and Craiova specialized in conservation and presentation of written and literary heritage and GLBF – an NGO, specialized in developing and marketing of innovative library services, developing wide stakeholders’ networks, policy and strategic planning and local communities’ development. Present project has overall and long-term strategic vision for literary tourism development, innovativeness, immediate practical realization and more wide-spread scope. It will be the first time to develop and promote the image of the region as a united attractive international destination for literary tourism and for the first time will be united in a working network the efforts of all kind stakeholders. A working model for intensive interaction between libraries, museums, archival services and local historians will be created to study, digitize, borrow and present the written and literary heritage. A new generation of innovative interactive tourist attractions will be developed in the regional libraries of Ruse and Craiova. By using technologies such as augmented reality, holograms and others the tourist will become be a protagonist who, by his actions and decisions, develops the story in which is involved in the interaction with the written heritage. Innovative marketing techniques, such as viral marketing and behaviour in social media will be developed and implemented to promote the new literary tourist destination. Only by cross-border approach can be fully presented the common written heritage which is spread on both sides of the border, to unite their advantages and to create abundant and various product, which gives possibilities for successful positioning on tourist market, internationalization of local businesses and increasing the tourist flow – with at least 720 tourist overnights as a result of the project. The project is soft and its indicative budget is about 470 000 EUR.

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