Dr. Mariann Szabó held a presentation “Exploiting the potential of authentic tourism – introduction of the ‘Local Flavours’ INTERREG project” at the 3rd Conference of Spatial Development Practitioners – ‘Development Before and After 2020’ on 28 April, 2021.
The INTERREG EUROPE project, led by the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg, was launched on 1 August 2019 in partnership with 8 partners from different countries. Small and medium sized towns with rich but undervalued cultural heritage possess the potential to offer new, unique and authentic experiences, but suffer from either the dominance of major attractions in their vicinity, or from their relatively remote locations. Positioning them as authentic destinations can simultaneously sustain local cultural heritage and create better prospects for locals. The attraction of visitors to less recognized places can create a more even distribution of tourism and more cohesive regional economies. Local Flavours’ objective is to improve policies supporting places unable to fully exploit their cultural legacies due to less-advantaged locations. The project helps partners to identify the most effective ways to explore and valorise authentic cultural assets through an innovative analytical toolkit, knowledge sharing and improved communication between public and private stakeholders. The special feature of the ‘Local Flavours’ project is that it is implemented with the participation of a consortium that is diverse in terms of both territory and development (from Finland through Latvia to Romania). Dr. Szabó in her presentation provided insights about the challenges of the project, the system of evaluation of good practices, and a few interesting results of the Status Quo Analysis of the Kőszeg - Írottkő Nature Park and the possible directions of action planning.
