Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SPOT (Social and innovative Platform On cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation)
Période du rapport: 2021-01-01 au 2022-12-31
The conclusions of the action: The SPOT project provided a new approach to cultural tourism that reflects patterns of travel in the 21st century. An important and innovative aspect of the project was the integration of stakeholders into its design and one of the main outputs included the creation of the innovative SPOT-IT tool analysing the potential for cultural tourism in the selected areas. The project enhanced social cohesion through cultural tourism in EU regions, assisted and will further assist relevant policymakers, including the European Commission, in engaging national/regional governance actors to better anticipate and respond to the social and cultural challenges presented by globalisation and Europeanization processes. Also, SPOT contributed to the formulation of national/regional development strategies responding to social challenges. Lessons are drawn from the research with tourists in particular EU regions, UK and Israel for the further development of strategies to improve and make it more attractive for the tourist groups and responded to the negative consequences of tourism (including damage caused by over-tourism, but also considering the impact of COVID-19).
The project results identify, document and discuss a huge wealth of knowledge about Cultural Tourism as gathered in examples of good practices observed during the three years of the SPOT project running. The importance of a European approach to tourism policy and governance was emphasised, safeguarding a balanced development of cultural tourism in the sense of “unity in diversity” towards a European quality level of heritage protection and collaboration. The project highlighted that sustainability is an underrated issue in the practice of cultural tourism, with a high potential to improve the quality of tourist attractions. However, the governance of cultural tourism is fragmented and largely dominated by market interests. Several recommendations for improved governance at the EU, national and regional levels were made and presented through "8 Golden rules" policy recommendations available at the SPOT project website. Innovation brought out by the SPOT project is seen in the SPOT-IT tool which has been developed as a web-based collaborative platform and is accessible on the SPOT website. Its major purpose is to realize the existing and future potential in the fields of cultural heritage tourism to promote local and regional development. SPOT project fully accomplished its vision and provided a new approach to cultural tourism reflecting patterns of travel in the 21st century. By bringing together partners from across the European Union and beyond, it was possible to analyse the varieties of cultural tourism and its benefits for host communities and regional economies.
The project results identify, document and discuss a huge wealth of knowledge about Cultural Tourism as gathered in examples of good practices observed during the three years of the SPOT project running. The importance of a European approach to tourism policy and governance was emphasised, safeguarding a balanced development of cultural tourism in the sense of “unity in diversity” towards a European quality level of heritage protection and collaboration. The project highlighted that sustainability is an underrated issue in the practice of cultural tourism, with a high potential to improve the quality of tourist attractions. However, the governance of cultural tourism is fragmented and largely dominated by market interests. Several recommendations for improved governance at the EU, national and regional levels were made and presented through "8 Golden rules" policy recommendations available at the SPOT project website. Innovation brought out by the SPOT project is seen in the SPOT-IT tool which has been developed as a web-based collaborative platform and is accessible on the SPOT website. Its major purpose is to realize the existing and future potential in the fields of cultural heritage tourism to promote local and regional development. SPOT project fully accomplished its vision and provided a new approach to cultural tourism reflecting patterns of travel in the 21st century. By bringing together partners from across the European Union and beyond, it was possible to analyse the varieties of cultural tourism and its benefits for host communities and regional economies.
All 15 teams in the SPOT consortium have accomplished the whole program for the three years of project realization. Just a few project deliverables have been re-scheduled due to the limitations exposed by COVID-related restrictions and the impossibility to implement the fieldwork at a full scale. The changes have been agreed upon with the Project Officer and did not affect the implementation of the whole research program by the end of the project in December 2022.
The SPOT project team provided continuous dissemination, and communication but also exploitation of the results as soon as the activities and tasks were completed. The progress is possible to follow through three periodically released Newsletters covering the main results and actions during the last three years. In particular, starting from introducing the project and informing interested parties about the achievements of the first year, later on, focused on a summary of four specialized workshops and the SPOT Symposium. The Newsletter introduced the series of Thematic and Case Study Policy Briefs produced by the work packages and individual teams as well. This was followed by the segment of Case study news and a comprehensive list of conferences and events, in which individual teams disseminated the results of the project. The Newsletter listed also the publications produced and the media appearances by individual teams, including a summary of other scientific results related to the topics of the SPOT project. Significant importance was given also to the Web-based Resource Centre, which is part of the SPOT project homepage. It is a tool designed to provide information for scientists, policy-makers, stakeholders, NGOs and practitioners in the field of cultural tourism. The Resource Centre contains a rich database of external sources, a list of project research results and a compilation of information related to 15 case study areas. For those that seek to acquire more knowledge on cultural tourism in general and in the case study areas the collection of external sources and the case study area map serves as a junction point to information. The collection of good practices helps to gain insight into successful cultural tourism policies and development programs. The SPOT team completed or was involved in the following activities during the three years: Partners organized 9 international conferences and 28 Workshops, produced 46 press releases, published 44 scientific and popular publications, organized 5 exhibitions, 37 trainings, contributed 136 information to Social Media and more information can be found in the Project final report. Besides, the SPOT team have produced and updated a detailed Data Management Plan and implemented all eight Ethical Requirements for social studies under H2020.
The SPOT project team provided continuous dissemination, and communication but also exploitation of the results as soon as the activities and tasks were completed. The progress is possible to follow through three periodically released Newsletters covering the main results and actions during the last three years. In particular, starting from introducing the project and informing interested parties about the achievements of the first year, later on, focused on a summary of four specialized workshops and the SPOT Symposium. The Newsletter introduced the series of Thematic and Case Study Policy Briefs produced by the work packages and individual teams as well. This was followed by the segment of Case study news and a comprehensive list of conferences and events, in which individual teams disseminated the results of the project. The Newsletter listed also the publications produced and the media appearances by individual teams, including a summary of other scientific results related to the topics of the SPOT project. Significant importance was given also to the Web-based Resource Centre, which is part of the SPOT project homepage. It is a tool designed to provide information for scientists, policy-makers, stakeholders, NGOs and practitioners in the field of cultural tourism. The Resource Centre contains a rich database of external sources, a list of project research results and a compilation of information related to 15 case study areas. For those that seek to acquire more knowledge on cultural tourism in general and in the case study areas the collection of external sources and the case study area map serves as a junction point to information. The collection of good practices helps to gain insight into successful cultural tourism policies and development programs. The SPOT team completed or was involved in the following activities during the three years: Partners organized 9 international conferences and 28 Workshops, produced 46 press releases, published 44 scientific and popular publications, organized 5 exhibitions, 37 trainings, contributed 136 information to Social Media and more information can be found in the Project final report. Besides, the SPOT team have produced and updated a detailed Data Management Plan and implemented all eight Ethical Requirements for social studies under H2020.
The proposed research progressed beyond the current state of the art by undertaking an integrated analysis of distinct tourist flows. In particular:
- Generated new data filled some of the current gaps in the evidence base relating to international and transnational tourism mobilities, which has not been adequately recorded in official statistics.
- Developed a greater understanding of the histories, pathways, motivations and intentions of cultural tourism tourists by conducting interviews with key informants.
- Explored the impacts of tourism on local communities and minorities and identified the key social challenges posed by tourism for cultural development.
- Understood how local communities, stakeholders and policymakers could develop a stake in cultural tourism and cultural heritage.
- Conducted digital NET-nography and online analysis to understand the interactions between visitors, local communities and cultural tourist attractions.
The following impacts on communities and society have been created:
• Better understanding and therefore acceptance of tourists by local communities, drawing on lessons from other regions and examples of good practice.
• Improved identification of tourism’s impacts on cultural tourism and enhanced development of strategies for addressing these issues.
• Development of strategies for encouraging tourists to return to the less attractive/visible regions, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.
• Improved strategies for managing population decline (by involving women, ethnic minorities and young people) in disadvantaged regions, including actions to address pressures on the sustainability of service provision and the consequences of demographic concentration. This draw on lessons from other regions and examples of good practice.
• Promotion of development strategies aimed at improving gender equality.
- Generated new data filled some of the current gaps in the evidence base relating to international and transnational tourism mobilities, which has not been adequately recorded in official statistics.
- Developed a greater understanding of the histories, pathways, motivations and intentions of cultural tourism tourists by conducting interviews with key informants.
- Explored the impacts of tourism on local communities and minorities and identified the key social challenges posed by tourism for cultural development.
- Understood how local communities, stakeholders and policymakers could develop a stake in cultural tourism and cultural heritage.
- Conducted digital NET-nography and online analysis to understand the interactions between visitors, local communities and cultural tourist attractions.
The following impacts on communities and society have been created:
• Better understanding and therefore acceptance of tourists by local communities, drawing on lessons from other regions and examples of good practice.
• Improved identification of tourism’s impacts on cultural tourism and enhanced development of strategies for addressing these issues.
• Development of strategies for encouraging tourists to return to the less attractive/visible regions, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.
• Improved strategies for managing population decline (by involving women, ethnic minorities and young people) in disadvantaged regions, including actions to address pressures on the sustainability of service provision and the consequences of demographic concentration. This draw on lessons from other regions and examples of good practice.
• Promotion of development strategies aimed at improving gender equality.