Religious heritage
Religious heritage is valuable from historical and architectural point of view. These abbeys and monastery's are often located in green, natural areas which offer an escape to a quiet place in times of pandemics and reduce touristic pressure on old town centres in cities. Religious heritage of closed communities is often not touristically developed because the community lives a life in silence and prayer without being disturbed. Often they are willing to share their story with the rest of the world but they don't want to get visitors every day. With new digital technologies like AR, VR,... a lot is possible to show visitors the way of life behind the walls of the abbey without having to go inside. Touristic authorities need to develop knowledge on the profile of the visitors, the needs/interests, the story the religious community wants to bring and which tools to use to best bring the story. In every participating region one pilot will be used to validate the developed methodology. In Antwerp this will be the Abbey of Tongerlo (Norbertines).