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Abstract: The purpose of this article is to identify cultural tourism as one of the best practices that can help in the implementation of the Strategy for Sustainable Growth of Slovenian Tourism (2017 - 2021) and to examine the role of cultural events as tools for the development of sustainable tourism. The latter is one of the main trends in the tourism sector, at least in the European context and also in Slovenia as a member country of the European Union. The challenge of developing sustainable tourism destinations is considerable in rural areas, where local communities must be closely observed and by all means included in the decision-making process on future tourism development. This is of the utmost importance as tourism is much more than an economic activity. Therefore, key decision-makers need to be aware that tourism activities affect all local people and many areas of their life and that the role of tourism in rural areas is to improve the quality of life of the local population. Since at least some form of culture can be found in every village, small (rural) tourist destinations often find important opportunities for sustainable tourism development in organizing cultural events, which lead to greater community visibility, cultural branding of the destination, which is significant and also several business opportunities. On the case of Sevnica, this article aims to demonstrate that there is great potential for further development of cultural tourism and its subtypes in Slovenia by further developing cultural tourism and various tourism products based on rich cultural heritage.
Keywords: cultural events, cultural tourism, sustainable tourism, preserving heritage, local stakeholders, Sevnica, Slovenia
Published in DKUM: 23.01.2024; Views: 342; Downloads: 22
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Abstract: The planning of tourism products in the north-central Cross River State (corresponding to ‘old Ogoja province) is examined in this study. Explained in the article are: justification of the need for undertaking community-based tourism development strategy as a means of reducing inter- regional disparity in development aroused by historical discrimination against the region through eras of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, colonialism, and successive post-independent governments; creation of special development funds aimed at addressing challenges posed by personalization of government thereby creating governance deficits; and descriptions of the tourism potentials/resources of the north-central Cross River State. Rather than adopting the advice of tourism experts in the 1960s that African countries ought to prefer to design cultural-heritage tourism products aiming towards attracting some 145 million tourists from the United States of America (USA) who might be satiated with natural heritage tourism products offered back home. Here, it is argued here that considering myriad socio-economic-political dynamics thereafter – including anti-African/Nigerian political measures such as barring US citizens from visiting Nigeria or parts of it- there is no need concentrating on such restricted tourism products. This is justified by the fact that with nearly 170 million population –most of whom are expecting to move from poverty towards the middle class among other prosperous economic statuses and who do not need to immediately access foreign natural heritage tourism, there is need for north- central Cross River State –a region possessing diverse tourism resources to plan tourism products that seek to integrate natural heritage with the cultural varieties in order to properly capture both local and foreign tourists. Foreign tourists here covers a larger spectrum beyond US visitors including visitors from large and increasing number of member states of the United Nations.
Keywords: Nigeria, natural heritage, cultural heritage, tourism, planning
Published in DKUM: 16.04.2018; Views: 1724; Downloads: 107
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Abstract: The European Capital of Culture (ECoC) is a title designated to a European city for a duration of one year, when it can present itself and its cultural life regionally, nationally and internationally. The origin of ECoC goes back in 1983 when then Greek Minister of Culture Melina Mercouri aimed to »bring the people of the Member States closer together« and to »highlight the richness and diversity of European cultures«. Since then over fifty European cities have taken the advantage and held the ECoC title, which has overgrown the original purpose and became today the most established EU’s cultural initiative. This Master’s Thesis discusses Maribor and Guimarães as the host cities of the ECoC 2012 event. The Master’s Thesis considers the ECoC event as a whole and provides a systematic review of the literature on the European cultural policy and on the development of the ECoC, as well as the evaluation of the ECoC in 2012. Therefore, the Master’s Thesis is divided into theoretical and empirical part and briefly presented further in this Abstract. The theoretical part first outlines the origins, purpose and definition of the European Cultural Policy. It traces the development of the European Cultural Programme, particularly the legislative and the flagship programme of the ECoC. This part is then followed by the presentation of culture’s incorporation into the EU’s objectives and the creation of the European cultural space. The second chapter highlights the ECoC event and presents the past ECoC cities from historical perspective and by their particularity. Maribor and Guimarães, as the ECoC 2012 cities, are also presented in detail, from the perspectives of the socio-economic indicators of the cities and the ECoC 2012 event. The next chapters provide a wider discussion on the relationship among the culture and economy. Previous empirical studies have identified the impacts of the ECoC event on the city’s economy. Additionally, cities are increasingly using cultural events to improve their image, stimulate urban development and attract visitors. Moreover, the ECoC event attracts great media attention. This Master’s Thesis examines the role of such event for tourism, as well as its cultural and promotion effects. In order to determine the effects of the ECoC event on the cities hosting the title in 2012, a comparison analysis of the indicators was performed and the quantitative analysis by the AHP method was undertaken in the empirical part. An evaluation model was formed, in which nine indicators were used to evaluate the effects of the 2012 event on the city’s tourism, culture and recognition. On the basis of this Master’s Thesis research we confirmed the hypothesis H2 and rejected the hypotheses H1, H3 and H4. We concluded that Guimarães as the ECoC 2012 achieved more favourable results than Maribor with its partner cities almost in all effects; Maribor was better than Guimarães only as regards the effects on the city’s culture. In the last chapter the conclusions and the recommendations for the future are drawn. The results of the Master’s Thesis are applicable for institutions that form development strategies, institutions that develop tourist and cultural offer in Maribor and Guimarães and for cities that will host the ECoC event in the future. The research findings are also applicable for the European Commission and general public.
Keywords: European Cultural Policy, European Capital of Culture, Tourism effects, Culture effects, Recognition effects, AHP method
Published in DKUM: 04.06.2015; Views: 3137; Downloads: 218
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