The Adriatic's museums enrich cultural tourism
MUSEUMCULTOUR’s main aim is to contribute to the strengthening of cultural tourism by creating and promoting market-oriented programmes which include cultural heritage. In more detail, the project deals with the introduction of new museum exhibitions and collections, using modern, interactive and innovative techniques and approaches; with the establishment of better conditions for forming (new) integrated tourist products that emphasize cultural heritage and, finally, with an increase of activities relating to strategic marketing communication and networking. To obtain this, partners will elaborate, at interregional level, a joint and shared marketing strategy based on the specific characteristics of the addressed Adriatic regions, a joint manual for interpretative guidance based on the common interpretative guidance training, and they will create new innovative services and products. These products will be based on new and improved museum exhibitions, mutual shared knowledge and experience exchange. In doing so, the project gives a great contribute in the achievement of the main objective of the IPA Adriatic CBC Programme, that is the strengthening of the sustainable development capabilities of the Adriatic region. In particular, the project addresses the specific objective of promoting, improving and protecting the natural and cultural resources of the Adriatic area through the measure Sustainable tourism. The partnership is made of heterogeneous organisations with specific characteristics, roles, functions and different knowledge: local authorities, development agencies, museum institutions, and an undertaking from the tourist sector managing cultural and natural heritage. Partners represent a wide portion of the area interested by the programme, as they cover different areas from Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. Cross-border dimension will bring an added value as for the exchange of know-how, experiences and expertise among partners and stakeholders. The common and joint elaborated project’s studies and their implementation ensure a joint approach to the promotion of the Adriatic basin as a whole. Cultural Tourism is certainly one of the sectors able to initiate the development of eastern Adriatic countries and the sustainable exploitation of their resources. On the one hand, the involved museums are suffering from inadequate or inappropriate equipment, lack of innovative services and products and lack of strategic marketing communication and networking. On the other hand, museums are still under-used and not recognized tourist resources and are notoriously neglected by tourist organizations. The Project proposal intends to reduce problems relating to the absence of integrated package tours, to marketing of cultural heritage and to lack of information exchange within the tourism and cultural sectors. By reducing these problems it will have a long-term impact in the strengthening of cultural tourism and in the prolongation of the tourist season in the whole involved area