In light of COVID-19 and the restrictions it has imposed on travel, many places are rethinking their tourism strategies. A more circular approach to cultural tourism is emerging alongside this paradigm shift; one that aims for sustainability, community empowerment and regional development along with providing unique experiences such as rural co-living, remote co-working or augmented reality tourism.

The new Be.CULTOUR project aims to support regions to take up this new approach, fostering regional development through circular cultural tourism. ICLEI Europe is a proud partner of this project, leading partners representing six heritage sites – namely, Aragon (Spain), Basilicata (Italy), Larnaca (Cyprus), Vojvodina (Serbia) and the cross-border area of North-East Romania and Moldova – to take on co-creative processes to develop circular tourism action plans.

Be.CULTOUR has opened a call to add 12 regions to this network, the members of which will work together to shape the future of cultural tourism in their territory.

Regions will collaborate on strategies to boost the attractiveness of remote or peripheral heritage sites, while supporting sustainable regional development through cultural tourism. They will participate in a fully-funded peer-learning programme, will interact closely with their peers located in the six heritage sites listed above, and will benefit from networking at the EU level, including taking part in quarterly community conversations, interviews, tailored webinars, and in-person learning labs (slated to take place in Brussels in 2022 and Naples in 2023).

Apply today! The call is open for applications until 8 June 2021.

For more information, click here.