CLLD-CulTour aims to realise the potential of partnership territories for cultural tourism development by proposing a new collaborative and community-based methodology for the support of tourism, capable of addressing the aforementioned weaknesses, which is based on the customisation of the Community-led local development tool (CLLD) so that it can be used in cross-border territories.
CLLD-CulTour includes horizontal management & coordination and dissemination activities and three thematic WPs which a) map the cultural resources of partnership territories, customize CLLD, and design a joint strategy for cultural tourism development (WP3), b) build the capacity of public and private sector stakeholders to apply the customized CLLD methodology (WP4), and c) culminate in developing the main CLLD-CulTour output, i.e. the ‘Culture of the Cradle of Europe’ route via the formation of cross-border action groups and the use of Web GIS platforms, mobile apps and exhibition centres (WP5).
The key objective of CLLD-CulTour is to initiate the formation of cross-border action groups capable of developing innovative cultural tourism products, such as the thematic route ‘Culture of the Cradle of Europe’ that apply innovative digital tools (i.e., Web GIS platforms and mobile apps) and exhibition centres that offer tourists the opportunity to experience the cultural sector in partnership territories.
The project balances sustainable regional development and cross-border cooperation, as well as preserves cultural and natural resources, by adapting the CLLD tool to the needs of the cultural tourism sector of cross-border territories. The partnership adapts CLLD to the needs of cultural tourism in cross-border territories and thus create cross-border action groups that will plan & implement development strategies, as per past analogous examples in the EU (e.g., Three Countries Park BE-NL-DE). Via the function of action groups, CLLD-CulTour aims to improve governance for applying community-based approaches, build the capacity of cultural tourism stakeholders to cooperate, and develop and test innovative resources for cultural heritage valorisation.
Achieving this objective is expected to:
modernise tourism in programme territories
attract new investments to the cultural sector of partnership territories
prolong the touristic season, thereby creating new job openings
In addition, developing cultural tourism through a community-based approach requires the preservation and valorization of existing cultural resources. Developing via tourism a market for the cultural sector of these territories will rebrand their contemporary cultural resources as crucial for the sustainable development of the area.