IMPACTOUR

Short description of the project:

IMPACTOUR is a 42 months project, funded by the EU programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020, which kicked off in January 2020. The main ambition of the project is to create an innovative and easy-to-use methodology and tool to measure and assess the impact of Cultural Tourism on European economic and social development and to improve Europe’s policies and practices on cultural tourism, strengthening its role as a sustainable driving force in the growth and economic development of European regions. IMPACTOUR proposes to bring together cultural tourism-related stakeholders and researchers to achieve new approaches taking advantage of the large amounts of information that confront policy-makers. By identifying and comparing quantitative/qualitative pan-European information on cultural tourism forms and promotion, and by providing quantifiable evidence of cultural tourism strategies and their effect on European regions’ development and Europeanisation, IMPACTOUR will deliver an innovative methodology and tool (combining data analytics algorithms with artificial intelligence and machine learning strategies) providing cultural tourism stakeholders with strategic guidance so that policies and practices on CT can be improved.

Liaison with RURITAGE:

As a result of collaboration with IMPACTOUR project, RURITAGE was invited to prepare scientific publication in the special issue of the Sustainability Journal. The following to papers have been published as a result of this collaboration (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/Regional_Resilience):

de Luca, C.; López-Murcia, J.; Conticelli, E.; Santangelo, A.; Perello, M.; Tondelli, S. Participatory Process for Regenerating Rural Areas through Heritage-Led Plans: The RURITAGE Community-Based Methodology. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5212. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095212
Egusquiza, A.; Zubiaga, M.; Gandini, A.; de Luca, C.; Tondelli, S. Systemic Innovation Areas for Heritage-Led Rural Regeneration: A Multilevel Repository of Best Practices. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5069. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095069

IMPACTOUR collaborated with RURITAGE in the framework of a series of RURITAGE webinars called ‘Rural Connections – knowledge exchange with EU Rural projects’ .The first webinar of the series took place on 12 April 2021 and was related to the topic of ‘Rural tourism and marketing’. Four EU projects working in the area of sustainable local tourism – namely IMPACTOUR, SmartCulTour, SPOT and EuropeTour, were invited to present the topic form their perspectives. The event gathered 56 participants. More information about the event is available at: https://www.ruritage.eu/news-events/events/#1489503959261-4697954d-1d499c31-6e5f. The recording link is available here: https://www.facebook.com/ruritage/videos/191540462780910.

RURITAGE and IMPACTOUR exchanged social media accounts to be regularly updated about new project results and upcoming activities of mutual interest.

Further networking activities will be developed.