SECOND NEWSLETTER OF THE CCI4TOURISM INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

NEW STORIES FOR NEW TIMES

Tourism is one of the economic sectors that were hit the hardest by the COVID–19 pandemic, so its successful revitalization, survival, and development will require new and innovative solutions. Trends that had in recent years been pointing to a shift from the mass to more sustainable, local, personal and adventure tourism will now become even more pertinent in the new circumstances. The same goes for connecting tourism with cultural and creative industries (CCI) that provide the most demanding users with fresh narratives and experiences in the tourist offer. This collaboration is also one of the main goals of the international project Strengthen Entrepreneurial Skills of Cultural and Creative Industries for the Valorization of Cultural Heritage.

and the Development of Sustainable Tourism Models in the Adriatic–Ionian Region (INTERREG ADRION CCI4TOURISM). The project is a collaboration of nine partners from Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Greece and supports enterprises and individuals working in CCI and tourism providers by developing new ideas, services, and products. The project has been creating new connections and ideas despite these troubling times and will aim to address key questions on the future of tourism and strive for CCI to gradually assume the main role in tourism development in the Adriatic–Ionian Region.

Among the selected creative tourist ideas, there is also the animation of local
folk tales, chosen at the public invitation of the Sora Development Agency
project partner.

SELECTED OVER 100 FRESH IDEAS

The participating partner organizations managed to carry out nine open calls for creative business ideas and have managed to select over 100 compelling ideas by the end of May 2021. Compelling ideas are those that contribute to the development of new and interesting perspectives of sustainable tourism, as they have business potential, but also include the use of digital technologies and (im)material cultural heritage.

The selected creative business ideas from Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Greece cover diverse areas. In addition to the aforementioned connecting CCI with the tourism sector and sustainable orientation, the ideas also share the fact that they follow the so–called triple–profit model (people–profit–planet), recognize the need for a digital transformation of the field, and are tailored to the specific environment.

FROM CREATIVE TOURISM TOURS TO DIGITAL SOLUTIONS AND GAMIFICATION

One example is the conceptual project in Slovenia’s Upper Carniola region (Gorenjska) of a boutique tourist offer that combines local arts and crafts, creativity, and cultural heritage. A couple of the projects selected to support the development and promotion included photography tours around Slovenia and animated folk tales. In the Littoral–Inner Carniola region (Primorsko-Notranjska), some of the supported projects included a new guided tour of local castles, a project connecting beekeeping with tourism, and personalized photo stories of cultural tourism experiences.

A number of the selected conceptual projects for new sustainable tourism offers in Friuli-Venezia Giulia include digital tools and gamification. Italy plans to introduce new routes for arts and crafts, urban trekking exploring industrial archaeology, and much more. Banja Luka is developing new digital products promoting local cultural heritage, a cycling route along concerts of classical, pop and film soundtrack music on people’s gardens, as well as a project dedicated to the presentation of smithery and the rakia festival.

These projects are just a sampling of those selected in the international project, which also provides group and individual trainings as parts of its program to develop and promote ideas. These are carried out by experts in CCI, tourism, and entrepreneurship who are listed as transnational trainers. In addition, the project provides digital and business training to the participating individual and organizations, which take place in the project hubs.

LIVELY ONLINE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE

Even though the pandemic has largely halted travel and live events in the past year, our connections have not withered, as we we’ve been happily sharing our knowledge and experience over the internet. The CCI4TOURISM project organized several local and international online events on sustainable cultural tourism over the past few months that were attended by hundreds of people.

Italy: Guidelines for new tourism ideas
How has the pandemic transformed tourism? Do tourism providers understand the visitors’ needs? What are the needs of new cultural and creative enterprises? These and other questions were addressed in late last year by the attendees of the event Tourism and creative enterprises: what challenge for the future? organized by the Tecnopolis Science and Technology Park from Italy.

The main takeaway of the event was that individuals and enterprises in CCI play a key role in the pandemic tourism scenario. This is because they are able to reshape and create new added–value services and products. In addition to that, innovation and more responsible tourism will require much more active involvement from the local providers, digitalization, creating and telling stories, and encouraging adventure tourism and non–conventional, nature–related accommodation.

The Friuli Innovazione, Research and Technology Transfer Centre (FINN) from Italy has already presented the INTERREG ADRION CCI4TOURISM project at various events. The regional decision–makers were briefed on the project at the Towards new European cultural routes: cultural and creative enterprises as opportunities event, while entrepreneurs, individuals, and organisations in the field of CCI learned about it at a one–day workshop on innovation and opportunities in CCI. FINN also organized a two–day meeting late last year, where over 50 entrepreneurs, students, digital experts, creators, craftspeople, and experts on tourism and cultural heritage together formed the guidelines for new tourism ideas. Tourism will have to adapt to new, post–pandemic conditions, in which safety, innovation, and digitalization will be the main drivers for restoring the field.

Collecting ideas in CIDEA Banja Luka.

Slovenia: Digitalization and sustainable tourism

Digitalization is an important tool for developing sustainable tourism, which has proven to be especially true during the pandemic. This was the central message of a local event organized by Development Agency Sora. The main issue that was addressed at the event was how to further strengthen the local community and also featured the CCI presentation video of old town Škofja Loka.

Post–pandemic tourism will need to be even more sustainable, niche, personalized, and adventure–based. This was one of the key findings of the online conference Cultural and creative industries for sustainable tourism, organized by RDA Green Karst supported by Kreativna baza. This leads us to expect that tourism will continue to interlink with CCI, as it introduces new and fresh stories that focus on old traditions, culture, and special experiences to the field.

Greece: Significance of ICT for tourism in the future

The Business and Cultural Development Centre KEPA from Greece presented the INTERREG ADRION CCI4TOURISM international project at the ICT Meets the Arts event. The event was organized by partner organization KEPA in the RegionArts (Interreg Europe) project and was focused on promoting and strengthening collaboration between CCI and information and communication technology (ICT), which is one of the major areas of collaboration for future challenges.

Innovation and tourism

The KEPA project was presented at the Innovation ID 2020 international conference in Thessaloniki in November, announcing a transnational call for creative business ideas and the opening of a creative and cultural hub. The event attracted around 500 attendees and was organized by Hellenic Design Center, which operates as part of the KEPA partner, and features experts in design thinking and innovation from Greece and other European countries as well as the USA.

GUIDELINES FOR TOURISM IN THE ADRIATIC–IONIAN REGION

Our joint cross–border project has also produced the CCI4TOURISM Guidelines, which offer a support scheme for cultural and creative start–ups, small and medium–sized enterprises entering the tourism market in the Adriatic–Ionian Region. The guidelines are a “living document” that are constantly being updated by the partner organizations in line with sector developments and the latest analyses. The guidelines highlight best practice examples in integrating CCI and tourism, the results of focus groups and online surveys, trends in CCI and tourism, as well as national and international recommendations to overcome the effects of the pandemic. The document, which focuses on developing a vision of the Adriatic–Ionian Region as a unified, but diverse destination, is thus an important guideline for shaping transnational business concepts and products in the field of sustainable cultural tourism.

AGGRA has opened a creative innovation centre, which is important for
connecting cultural, creative and tourism companies and strengthening their
entrepreneurial skills.

CREATIVE HUBS LAUNCH IN CROATIA
Despite the many restrictions due to the pandemic, Biograd na Moru managed to launch the Cultural and Creative Industries Hub. The platform was launched by the Zadar County Rural Development Agency and is important for connecting cultural, creative, and tourism enterprises and strengthening their entrepreneurial skills. The hub provides creatives and entrepreneurs with different business and technical support and workspace and will soon be outfitted with a photography and graphic design studio. The goal of the new project space is for it to become the hub for knowledge exchange and shaping innovation and be the hub for CCIs in the entire Zadar County. In early June, the IRI Center from Kaštel Novi in Croatia is also planning to open 3ANGLE HUB cultural and creative centre, which will be located in the local high school. It will provide support programs for CCI and tourism, with a focus on the digital development of storytelling, which is one of the most important tools for creating adventure tourism offers that have true business potential.

HUB IN BANJA LUKA
The City Development Agency Banja Luka (CIDEA) from Banja Luka had a similar vision to the Croatian hub and opened its own creative innovation centre. The cultural and creative hub will enable young and experienced CCI experts in
the region to come together and create new and innovative tourism services and products.

CONTACT

Mateja Simčič

Project coordinator at RDA Green Karst

mateja@rra-zk.si

+386(0)5 72 12 243

The project is financially supported by the European Union, INTERREG ADRION (Adriatic-Ionian) Programme 2014–2020.

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