Planning Cultural Tourism In Europe

Because few comparative data existed on European cultural tourism, when the European commission designated cultural tourism as a key area of tourism development in Europe, the European association for tourism and leisure education undertook a transnational study of European cultural tourism. The first five chapters address general themes (the scope and significance, the social context, the economic context and the political context of cultural tourism). The are followed by eleven chapters on individual countries from the European Union. Re-issued in 2005 in electronic format by ATLAS, the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education.

In 1987, the Santiago de Compostela Declaration laid the foundations for the first Council of Europe Cultural Route, highlighting the importance of our rich, colourful and diverse European identities. Today, the Council of Europe Enlarged Partial Agreement (EPA) on Cultural Routes oversees 29 routes connecting culture and heritage across Europe. Cultural Routes are powerful tools for promoting and preserving these shared and diverse cultural identities. They are a model for grass-roots cultural co-operation, providing important lessons about identity and citizenship through a participative experience of culture. From the European Route of Megalithic Culture with its monuments built as long as 6 000 years ago, to the ATRIUM route of Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes, the routes contain elements of our past which help us to understand the present and to approach the future with confidence. The Cultural Routes also stimulate thematic cultural tourism in lesserknown parts of the continent, helping to develop economic and social stability in Europe. This first ever step-by-step guide to the design and management of Council of Europe Cultural Routes will be an essential reference for route managers, project developers, students and researchers in cultural tourism and related subjects. It addresses aspects ranging from the Council of Europe’s conventions to co-creation, fund-raising and governance, and it explores a Cultural Route model that has evolved into an exemplary system for sustainable, transnational co-operation and that has proved to be a successful road map for socio-economic development, cultural heritage promotion and intergenerational communication. The Council of Europe EPA on Cultural Routes is the result of our successful co-operation with the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture and the European Union. Increasingly, other organisations, such as the United Nations World Tourism Organization, are joining this project. This handbook was funded by the third European Commission/Council of Europe Joint Programme on Cultural Routes.

At the heart of the European debate lies the tension between the idea of European unity and individual state identities and nationalisms. This volume provides an insight into this dichotomy by exploring the role of heritage in the new Europe. The main theme of this book is that a number of possible heritages can be shaped from the European past depending on the purposes for which they are intended. Through different methods of management intervention, heritage can fulfil a variety of functions, becoming a major commercial resource in the form of the tourism industry, or enlisted in the creation and maintenance of place identities. Leading contributors look at different perceptions of heritage by different cultures, and the social and political consequences of heritage planning. The nature of heritage planning for emerging, spatially fragmented state structures is also discussed.

This publication contains the proceedings of two UNWTO conferences on "Tourism: a Tool for Sustainable Development in Transitional Economies", held in Belgrade on 20-21 June 2005, and "Impact of European Union Enlargement on Tourism Development in Europe", held in Vilnius, on 1-2 March 2006. There is an overlap between economies in transition and the group of countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and, from the perspective of tourism development, a large group of European countries share similar challenges and opportunities. While Europe is the region that receives the largest number of international tourists and registers the highest amount of receipts from international tourism, there is a great difference between traditional destinations with a long history of tourism development and the countries that recovered independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some countries already undertook major reforms in their political and economic spheres while others are still addressing structural issues inherited from the past. Tourism contributes positively to European integration and at the same time its success depends on the development and modernisation of several economic and social sectors.

This report considers issues involved in the promotion of sustainable cultural tourism development in Europe, including the establishment of cultural routes, as well as containing the text of resolutions of the Council of Europe and recommendations made by the Committee of Ministers on the topic. It focuses on the new member states of central and eastern Europe, with a view to their growing involvement in the pan- European networks of routes.

This book reviews the cultural tourism market in Europe from a survey carried out in 1997. It analyzes the way in which cultural attractions are produced for, and used by, cultural tourists and how such cultural attractions as museums, art galleries, monuments and heritage attractions are marketed.

For many decades, Western European countries have undertaken diverse pathways in tourism development and planning. Most have experienced fast or even unlimited growth, resulting in overtourism and, now, the introduction of policies that respect the limits of communities and the sustainability of their resources. Focusing exclusively on tourism development, planning and policy, this book draws together new voices to discuss issues across Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. An invaluable collection for policy-makers, researchers and academics, this book is also an insightful source of engaging contemporary case studies for use in the classroom.