CCI4TOURISM was approved under the Interreg V-B Adriatic Ionian Cooperation Programme (ADRION) and is funded under the European Regional Development Fund and IPA II Fund. The project concerns the strengthening of entrepreneurial skills of Cultural and Creative Industries for the valorization of cultural heritage and the development of sustainable tourism models in the Adriatic-Ionian regions. The CCI4TOURISM project has the strategic objective of introducing a new approach for tourism strategies in the programme area, centered in the CCIs as drivers of a radical change in the enhancement of cultural heritage. The project duration is 30 months and the budget for KEPA will reach approximately 230.000,00 €.

The CCI4TOURISM project has the strategic objective of introducing a new approach for tourism strategies in the program area, centered in the CCIs as drivers of a radical change in the enhancement of cultural heritage. To achieve this goal, the project makes use of specific skills developed by partners in programs to support entrepreneurship and the development of tourism-oriented skills. It is therefore a question of highlighting the experiences and skills of each partner to create a real ecosystem of services in the program area aimed at strengthening the role of culture and creativity for new models of sustainable tourism.

The partners already have in their portfolio the provision of professional services dedicated to the CCI and the tourism sector; the scope is therefore to leverage on the already existing services to strengthen a network for the benefit of the whole Adriatic-Ionian area. In order to guarantee the sustainability of the actions, a network made of regional nodes will be created (Creative Hubs), whose purpose will be to animate the operators, mobilize expertise, and increase the interest on sustainable tourism topic, thus giving continuity to the identified services.

Partners hold key roles as implementing bodies in the regions involved and are therefore able to deliver these services and support the model even after the end of the activities. At this regard, the well-balanced participation of incubators (for the part related to entrepreneurship skills development services) as well as partners already acting for Tourism Development and Cultural Heritage valorization, is a strength point for project. The participation of partners with different focus/specialization (rural tourism, cultural heritage, tourism entrepreneurship, innovation strategy) but working all together for the same strategic mission (economic development) represents an added value in terms of competences, skills and expertise.

CCI4TOURISM addresses the problem of unsustainable tourism paradigms in place in many Adriatic Ionian areas being them one of the main risks that are challenging cultural and natural heritage preservation. In order to fully exploit the sustainable tourism potential across the Programme area, the project proposes to empower the Cultural and Creative Industries as a key player in the design of new tourism policies. CCIs will be the original element of new business models for Adriatic Ionian tourism industry, besides traditional tourism actors, stakeholders (tourism networks, local communities, etc.) and policy makers.

In the ADRION area the CCIs, despite their relevance and dynamism, are still poorly valued in their economic potential, largely due to a lack of awareness of their capacities and, consequently, of the relatively scarce entrepreneurship. In particular, the CCIs need a more solid background in the definition of their own business model and in the identification of new markets, niches of specialization and partnership capacity. In this context, the tourism sector, and in particular Travel 4.0, may be considered both as a partner and as a potential customer for those economic activities having culture and heritage as "input" of their business and that may be able develop products for the tourism market. Two folded project approaches (CCIs raising awareness/skills & bringing CCIs at the centre of the new tourism policies definition) will guarantee a concrete contribution to the programme priority specific objective “Preserve, capitalize and innovate cultural and natural heritage”.

The partnership includes 9 organisations, namely:

For any information regarding "CCI4TOURISM" project, interested parties can contact KEPA's European Projects Department (Tel 0030 2310-480000, eu_dpt@e-kepa.gr) or submit their question via the special submission form, by clicking here.

Interested parties can also visit the project's website that will be developed soon by the ADRION Programme, https://www.adrioninterreg.eu/index.php/projects/project-websites/