Unique & diverse cultural resources are an important component of the tourism assets of the cross-border region. Cultural heritage and tourism are mutually beneficial. The UN World Tourism Organization's World Tourism Organization research demonstrates that interest in the environment, culture and heritage is a primary motivation for more than 50% of travel, while cultural tourism, which accounts for 40% of European tourism, is a key economic sector in terms of growth and employment prospects, being one of the main, rapidly growing economic activities and contributors to GDP. However, its development should be further enhanced by Today, the existence of cultural heritage alone is not sufficient to ensure the sustainability of the local communities that can benefit from it. In order for heritage sites to serve as an «engine» for regional development and tourism to their full potential in a responsible manner, as well as to increase the overall attractiveness of the region in the context of a global economy and globalised market, management and marketing strategies are needed. They must be promoted as «branded» tourism products, following an integrated plan designed and implemented by a structure created and dedicated to their management.
Given the fact that tourist activity is still concentrated in the coastal and island regions of Epirus, while the mountainous part of the island, although culturally rich, is still «exploited» as an asset for cultural tourism, the Region of Epirus has created a thematic Cultural Route that connects archaeological sites throughout Epirus with a central theme of the theatres of the ancient Greek and Roman era.
The absence of a holistic management & promotion of archaeological and cultural sites as «branded» destinations in the cross-border region, led to the genesis of the i-Thea project. To address this challenge, the i-Thea project provides/proposes a new integrated action plan approach, oriented towards the promotion and enhancement of the tangible and intangible cultural aspects of the sites included in the cultural route. The objective is twofold: a. to be a powerful driver for social innovation and inclusive regional development and b. to contribute to enhancing sustainable cultural tourism while reducing the impact of seasonality.
The innovative elements presented by i-Thea are:
At the tourism level: creating a «branded» destination image of the Cultural Route and its surroundings. At the management level: creating a Cultural Destination Management Structure for a holistic, integrated approach to the management and promotion of the Cultural Route. At the societal level: involving local communities, authorities, stakeholders, civil society and the private sector/entrepreneurs in decision-making and policy-making. At the educational level, investing in people: a. training specific professional/professional groups exclusively on the features of the Cultural Route to become «ambassadors» of the Cultural Route and to gain further knowledge b. specific training of university students on the values and conservation of cultural heritage.
