CERTESS news letter

In this issue:

• Knowledge Platform
• RIP Tool Kit
• Study Visits
• Steering Committee
• Partner mid-term seminars
• Next appointments

Knowledge Platform

The documentation of 39 Good Practices (GPs) and of nearly 80 Governance Instruments (GIs) is now completed. Over 200 documents have been classified according to the proposed structure for the Route Implementation Plan (RIP). Each partner hast started drawing his own RIP from October 2013. The final Plans are expected to be completed in early Autumn of next year for their presentation in CERTESS Final Conference in mid-October 2014 in Luxembourg.

All documents are available for partners’ consultation in the Intranet section (Archive) of the project website. CERTESS intends to make them available shortly in the form of a public Knowledge Platform (KP).

RIP Tool Kit

The Lead Partner has prepared a RIP toolkit, which was presented to the partners during the Steering Committee n.5 in Poland. This document aims at facilitating the searching of suitable GP, GI or other documents to assist the preparation of specific sections of the Route Implementation Plan. The Toolkit is, therefore, a suitable complement to the Knowledge Platform available in CERTESS website. Partners are contributing at present to the beefing up and editing of this useful document, which will be made available as well, together with the KP inside the project website.

Study Visits

SV3 in Salzburg area, Austria

CERTESS partner, Salzburg Research Center, organized the Site Visit n.3 in the days 3- 5 July, 2013 in Salzburg area.

The programme focus was on New services and ICT-based innovations in e-Culture -Tourism for innovating European Cultural Routes: Challenges, Barriers and Success factors. Partners were presented with a number of innovative project experiences on European pilgrimage tutoring, E-services, mobile ICT and cooperation with a cultural content provider, Web 2.0 services for Cultural Tourism, presented by project managers and other technical speakers. The indoor session was followed by the visit to a number of sites: Basilika Maria Plain, Hallein for the Celt-Salt Culture, Keltenmuseum, with practical tests of a virtual walk and virtual tour.

SV4 in Lazio region, Italy

In the days from 18 to 20 September, 2013 Regione Lazio hosted Study Visit n. 4 and the related Workshop in Rome, Viterbo and other areas interested by Via Amerina, Via Francigena and Via Benedicti . The partners got acquainted with infrastructure, cooperation and other activities which have taken place along the three Routes, including a public hostel for pilgrims in Formello, a bio-district in Amerina area, a start-up incubator at Viterbo, routine maintenance of tracks involving external organizations and other pioneering actions from Subiaco to Casamari Abbeys.

In the final day an open Seminar was held in the Regional headquarters, participated also by a European Parliament member who provided useful indications on the next programming period opportunities for cultural initiatives.

Steering Committee n. 5

In Wroclaw, Poland (27-28 November 2013), the partners reviewed the technical and financial progress of CERTESS project and decided on follow-up actions. The meeting gave the opportunity to the new Polish partner D.O.T. to host the partners’ meeting on the Barka Tumska on the Oder river and to present current tourism promotion activities being executed in Southern Silesian region.

Partner Mid-term Seminars

A number of stakeholders’ seminars have taken place also in the second Semester of 2013, in Germany, Italy, Finland, Baleares, Poland, Andalusia and Luxembourg.

Mid-term Seminar in Germany

The workshop organized by the German partner K.I.T. on July 8, 2013 was entitled “Cultural Tourism, Networking, Governance, Cooperation. Pathways to Successful Partnerships”. People working in cultural tourism at local or regional level were invited to attend. Aim of the workshop was to discuss the participants’ experiences in (inter-) regional cooperation in cultural tourism and to identify successful cooperation forms and procedures. The results of this workshop will be incorporated in an analysis on how cultural tourism networks function, to become publicly available at the end of CERTESS project.

Mid-term Seminar in Baleares

On September 13, 2013 also the Tourism Agency of the Balearic Islands (ATB) organized the 1st edition of the Local Seminar, aimed at analyzing cultural itineraries in the Balearic Islands and discussing with the local and regional interest groups, the opportunities, challenges and the potential for cultural routes to enhance the competitiveness of the Balearic Islands as a tourist destination.

Next appointments

The 1st Semester 2014 will see a significant number of activities taking place: 3-day tutoring sessions (n. 4) in Luxembourg, Italy, Malta and Spain; up to 8 mentoring sessions carried out by the Lead Partner to assist in the preparation of the individual Route Implementation Plan, in addition to other joint activities planned earlier. Here are some of the initial dates:

• January 22-23-24, 2014 : 3-day tutoring session in Luxembourg
• February 4-5-6, 2014 : 3-day tutoring session in Rome
• 26-27 March 2014 : Workshop n. 4 in Jyväskylä (Finland)
• early June 2014 : Steering Committee n. 6 in Andalusia.