HERITOUR · Enhancing collaborative synergies between Cultural HERItage and TOURism

Enhancing collaborative synergies between Cultural HERItage and TOURism - HERITOURHERITOUR addresses some of the most pressing challenges in the heritage and tourism sectors today: hybridisation, resilience, sustainability, and democratisation. Challenges that, until now, have mostly been understood and addressed from a perspective of economic growth. Instead, HERITOUR advocates for a radical paradigm shift by tackling these challenges through a regenerative framework, where social, cultural, political, ecological, and economic processes are interrelated. Investigating these challenges under this framework, we will significantly advance our understanding of heritage tourism and generate novel insights and contribute empirical evidence. To achieve this, 10 DCs will conduct cutting-edge research at six universities across Europe, Aruba, and Turkey. A central aim of the research is to incorporate overlooked and marginalised perspectives, including those of underrepresented communities, whose voices are nevertheless essential in the understanding and development of regenerative heritage tourism. DCs will conduct their research across governance levels - local, national, and European. Therefore, the training programme, delivered in partnership with 10 international partners across seven countries, will focus on equipping DCs with the skills to integrate overlooked perspectives, involve local communities, develop sustainable practices, and become future leaders and specialists on European heritage tourism. HERITOUR is deeply committed to cultivating a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers and professionals able to address these challenges, and transform them into workable actions. By creating synergies across these sectors, disciplines, regions, and governance levels, HERITOUR will be a transformative network, setting the way for a hybrid, resilient, sustainable, and democratic future for regenerative heritage tourism.