SMART CUL TOUR
FIELD | INFO |
|---|---|
Project Title | SMART CUL TOUR |
Type of Contract/Category | Grant contract |
IPA Component/ (national or regional) Programming year | IPA 2, Cross border cooepration: Republic of North Macedonia – Republic of Albania, allocations 2016-2017 |
Lead applicant and co-applicants | – Municipality of Bitola – Lead Partner (LP) – Municipality of Pustec – Project Partner (PP 2) – National Institution for Protection of Cultural Monuments and Museum Bitola – Project Partner (PP 3) – Regional Culture Directorate of Korce – Project Partner (PP 4) – Youth Cultural Centre Bitola – Project Partner (PP 5) |
Context/background | The relevance of the action comes out of several important points such as: unfavourable economic conditions in the cross-border region due to its constant depopulation, insufficient funding for protection of numerous tangible and intangible cultural heritage elements, insufficient networking between cultural and tourist stakeholders, lack of destination marketing organisation that focuses solely on promotion and sales of tourist packages at the cross-border region The role and connection between culture and tourism has been already recognised within the main strategic documents of many international organizations such as UNESCO, ICOM, ICCROME, and other political and/or economical unions such as EU. They all consider cultural heritage and tourism and their interconnections as a driving force of their national and/or international economies, allocating special funds for protection and revival of specific cultural elements in order to adopt and “use” them, in tourism purposes. Moreover, this call for proposals notes that cultural heritage and its interconnection with tourism has been set as the first specific objective that should be addressed to with particular actions undertaken within the cross-border area in both countries. Project partners have recognised the fact that tourism development depends on mutual cooperation and enriched tourist offer. In that manner, existing tourist offer in Municipality of Pustec, so far based on the natural resources, can be now enriched with cultural content including not only archaeological findings, but also specific cultural and historical elements. On the other side, the improved possibilities and undertaken activities will make Heraclea Lyncestis more “people and nature” friendly site, securing accessibility of the disabled people, and through the use of solar lightning system serve as “consciousness raisers” and promoters of renewable energy sources in cultural and tourist purposes. The existing partnership will act as accelerator for increased tourist visits and balanced socio-economic development in the cross border area by creation of integrated tourist offer and use of contemporary IT tools and media that will increase visibility and promote the cross-border region in order to meet the overall objective of this Call for Proposals. |
Abstract (short project summary) | SMART-CUL-TOUR will enable significant long-term impact as the action focuses on infrastructural interventions that bring specific tangible impact on the cross-border communities. In the same time, the Project supports the cooperation between different institutions, professionals and tourism related stakeholders from the cross-border region and addresses the challenges such are: preservation of cultural resources, promoting the wellbeing of local communities, limiting environmental impact of tourism and refurbishing of historical and cultural monuments making them more accessible to various groups of visitors. Furthermore, the Project supports cross-border cooperation, promoting good neighbourly relations, fostering social cohesion and stimulates sustainable socio-economic development of targeted cross-border region. Taking into consideration the particular needs and constraints of the targeted countries we can conclude that the cross-border regions share almost identical commitment to use all the available natural, cultural and historical resources but so far they haven’t been sufficiently integrated in order for them to become a real driving force for tourism development in the cross-border region of both participating countries. In that manner, the establishment of the Museum in Municipality of Pustec, as well as joint efforts of the Municipality of Bitola and NI “Institute and museum – Bitola” to improve Heraclea’s infrastructure and increase its’ attractiveness for local and international tourists, show the strong commitment of project partners to develop the cross-border region and to establish long-lasting professional and cooperative relations. The needs of both municipalities will be further meet through the development of joint integrated marketing strategy for promotion & sale of SMART-CUL-TOUR touristic products/packages and the use of new ICT tools. Municipality of Bitola and Municipality of Pustec have shown their full commitment to support and upgrade touristic potentials in both regions emphasizing the moment of capitalization of the results of the previously implemented projects. In that manner, Municipality of Pustec will include and capitalize the results of the already implemented project titled as “Green Boat” and a project that is currently implemented by Municipality of Bitola “Green inter e mobility”, both co-funded by the European Union. SMART-CUL-TOUR proposes the use of both, solar transportation means (boat and bus), especially within the newly developed tours in order to enrich the tourist offer, in the same time promoting the use of renewable energy sources and environmental protection. Furthermore, NI “Institute and museum” – Bitola with the realization of this project, as well as with the other ongoing small scale projects will encircle the conservation of one integral part of the site and improve Heraclea’s infrastructure making it more tourist friendly, attractive and accessible for various tourist groups and visitors. SMART-CUL-TOUR is fully complementary with European Union initiatives related to tourism industry in a way that our proposal addresses challenges that are very close to the ones detected by the EU tourism policy (security and safety; economic competitiveness; technological challenges; markets and competition). |
Final beneficiary | – Cultural heritage experts; – Cultural institutions; – Tourism related stakeholders; – Civil society organizations; – Local & regional governmental units. |
Action location/s | – Republic of North Macedonia, Pelagonija Region, Municipality of Bitola – Republic of Albania, Korce Region, Municipality of pustec |
Objectives |
– To develop potential of tourism by promoting cultural heritage and values
Specific objectives: – To initiate establishment of new exhibition spaces in order to protect and promote cultural heritage in Municipality of Pustec; – To upgrade the potentials of Heraclea Lyncestis in order to preserve the site for the new generations and to increase the approachability and contents so we could attract greater number of visitors at the site and in the Municipality of Bitola; – To increase business opportunities for local tourism stakeholders through integrated marketing strategy designed to reach domestic and European tourism market. |
Activities | 1. MANAGEMENT & COORDINATION 1.1 Project Management; 1.2 Project Meetings; 1.3 Expenditure verification;
2. INFORMATION & PUBLICITY 2.1 Project Visual Identity; 2.2 Project web site (trilingual); 2.3 Project Final Brochure (trilingual); 2.4 Project events (kick off & final);
3. TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE 3.1 Reconstruction of existing, old school building, and establishment of museum in Globochani, Municipality of Pustec; 3.2 Reconstruction/improvement arrangements of Archeological Site Heraclea Lyncestis Bitola; 3.3 Reconstruction of access path to Heraclea Lyncestis “Roman road” including pedestrian zones;
4. TOURISM PROMOTION 4.1 Permanent Exhibition in Museum “Sterjo Spase” in Globochani, Pustec; 4.2 Development of multilingual audio guide to be used in Heraclea Lyncestis (6 languages: MK, EN, DE, FR, AL,TR); 4.3 Smart CBC application for Pelagonija & Korce region; 4.4 Integrated marketing strategy for development, promotion & sale of SMART-CUL-TOUR tourist offer; |
Impact/Output/Result |
1.1. Protected and promoted cultural heritage in Municipality of Pustec;
1.2. Initiated cooperation, understanding and respect of cultural heritage in the cross-border region; 1.3. Improved touristic offer and increased number of visitors in the region; 1.4. Increased public awareness on cultural heritage values; 2.1. Eased accessibility and implemented appropriate ambient solution corresponding to the archaeological site; 2.2. Initiated use of renewable energy resources in order to promote environmental protection; 2.3. Secured safety and security of the archaeological site and visitors; 2.4. Enabled access to people with disabilities; 2.5. Improved experience of visitors that contributes to repeated visits, increased pleasure, positive recommendations; 3.1. Disseminated information and increased visibility of cross-border touristic attractions and potentials; 3.2. Promoted cross-border touristic destination and sales of newly developed touristic products / packages. |
Facts & Figures | The key facts & figures relevant to the project:
End date of the project 30.11.2021 Figures
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Final useful footnotes | Include at the bottom of the page the statement For more information: followed by an appropriate web address and contact details |