Newsletter 01 february 2015

Newsletter

ISSUE N°1 – FEBRUARY 2015

EXTRA-EXPO AT A GLANCE

The EXTRA-EXPO project (full name “from EXTRAction to EXPOsition: a journey on how rocks become masterpieces”), has been funded by the European Commission – DG Enterprise and Industry within the call for proposals ““Cooperation projects to support transnational tourism based on European and cultural and industrial heritage”. The project will last 18 months from the 1st of August 2014 to the 31st of January 2016.

The project aims at creating and promoting a new transnational tourist itinerary based on a common cultural and industrial heritage: the European chain of marble. The project will contribute to differentiate and improve the quality of the European tourist offer by giving value to a specific tourism sector with wide development potential and by capitalising on a shared cultural and industrial heritage.

The involved countries (Italy, Belgium, Greece, Portugal and Spain) have a long and important tradition related to the exploitation of this precious stone. The selected regions, within those countries, are characterized by a relevant presence of quarries for the extraction of different kind of marble used for several purposes (from architecture to sculpture or interior decoration). All the activities have been conceived in order to understand how existing heritages could be used and better exploited for tourist purposes. EXTRA-EXPO targets: quarries (active and disused), enterprises, artisan workshops, local museums and travellers but also local communities, architects and designers, tour operators and travel agencies, local tourist service providers, local public stakeholders.

Source: Stefano De Franceschi

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EXTRA-EXPO PARTNERSHIP

Lucca Promos (IT) is the special agency of the Chamber of Commerce of Lucca. It is a reference point for enterprises (SMEs) that want to go international. Tourism sector, together with stone-working is one of the main important for local economic system.

Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo_ENIT is the Italian National Tourism Agency. It has statutory autonomy with regards to management, accounting and organization, under the supervision of the Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities. ENIT develops promotional strategies on National and International level, aimed at informing foreign countries about the Italian tourism opportunities.

University of Algarve_CRIA Division of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer (PT). The institute aims at promoting relations between the university and the industry, increasing the technology and knowledge transfer, supporting the establishment of new firms, generalizing the use of industrial property rights mechanisms and developing technological infrastructures to enhance specific research fields in the Algarve.

German-Belgium-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce AHK DEBELUX , is a non-profit-making organisation which has represented the business interests of mainly Belgian, German and Luxembourgian SMEs for decades. The main objective of the DEBELUX is to help its members and clients to succeed in their export business.

MAKE IT BETTER_miB (PT) is an NGO, settled in a strongly disadvantage social-economic frame (Alentejo, Portugal), that exploits the experience of more then 15 years of joint work & cooperation with public and private organizations at national, European & international levels.

The Mancomunidad de Municipios Valle del Almanzora (SP) is an entity composed by 24 municipalities (including Macael whose Department of Tourism supports this project). It has been founded in 2002 and it works for improving the economy of the area. MMVA gives support to the municipalities in employment and tourism sector.

The Independent Community of Castilla La Mancha – General Direction of Tourism and Handicraft (SP) , is responsible of the planning, promotion and management of tourism and crafts activities in Castilla-La Mancha and the conservation and enhancement of the cultural heritage in the region of Castilla-La Mancha.

Folklore Company of Varnavas (GR) aims at local development through culture and tourism. It manages two museums and it works in close cooperation with artists of marble, marble quarries and SMEs processing marble.

IDEC SA (GR), is a consultancy, high tech and training company. It offers internet and corporate identity services. The company is active both Greece and transnational market.

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EXTRA-EXPO EVENTS The kick –off meeting of the project has been held on the 9th and 10th of October 2014 in Brussels, Belgium.

On the second day, a meeting with local enterprises, dealing with marble and other stakeholders (such as a representative of the Rance Museum of Marble) has been organised in Namur. The consortium had the occasion to present the partners organisations and the project (activities, expected results) to the selected target audience. The discussion focused on how a project like Extra-Expo, could be useful for helping those areas (like Belgium) facing a problem of industrial reconversion and loss of jobs. Most of the entrepreneurs were very sceptic on the fact that, a project for the promotion of tourism, could help them facing “real” problems like sale products on the market. The consortium explained that the creation of a specific itineraries and their wide promotion, will represent a good chance to offer visibility to “emerging destinations”, that to say to places with a high tourist potential but not duly exploited and explored yet. Finally, the experience of Almaden Mining Park has been presented in order to demonstrate how it is possible to re-convert an industrial territory for tourism purposes. The Almadén mines were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage. The Committee recognised their value as the largest mercury mines in the world, and as unique examples of exploitation of this metal throughout the centuries.

http://www.parqueminerodealmaden.es

KEY WORD: “TOURISM PRODUCT”

……a combination of different aspects - characteristics of the places visited, modes of transport, types of accommodation, specific activities at destination, etc.- around a specific centre of interest, such as nature tours, life on farms, visits to historical and cultural sites, visits to a particular city, the practice of specific sports, the beach, etc. This notion of “tourism product” is not related to the concept of “product” used in economic statistics, but rather to that used by professionals in the tourism business to market specific packages or destinations. It is then possible to speak of specific types of “tourism products”, such as culinari tourism, city tourism, sun-and-sand

tourism, agro-tourism, health tourism, winter tourism.

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EXTRA- EXPO ACTIVITIES

The main activities foreseen in the project are the following: Mapping and content creations; Itineraries of marble; Public conferences; Web site; Marketing and promotion. What has been done so far………. Mapping During the first six months of the project, the main effort by all members of the partnership is been devoted to the development of local analysis. In fact, the partnership enrolled in Extra-Expo initiative started an extensive study of the participating European regions, setting it in a crossed approach between two important sectors of regions economy: Marble chains & Tourism. The single surveys conducted at local level have been assembled by Make it Better and University of Algarve (Portugal) and the result is a comprehensive tool – a “Marble Tourist Atlas” – for the analysis, settlement and promotion of European Industrial Heritage itineraries, based in Marble chains.

The TOURIST ATLAS in numbers

- 5 regions in analysis - 20 items in 5 categories in study (Extraction: active and obsolete mines and quarries; Exploration: active & relevant obsolete companies, organizations, manufacturing, commerce; Tourist animation: agencies, museums & permanent expositions, marble heritage, research & academic, art galleries & artisan, fairs & events; Supporting Services: hotels, restaurants, commerce, transportation; Symbolic Resources: geography, geology, history, culture and economy); - More than 3000 registries (quarries, agents & organizations, thematic sites, and so on) labelled in more than 20 data field attributes each.

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EXTRA- EXPO ACTIVITIES Website The technical partner, IDEC has been in charge of creating the website of the project. The main objective of the website will be the promotion of partner regions and their tourist products related to the theme of marble. The website will act as the main source of information for tourists about the history, the cultural heritage, the market of marble in these regions and will provide them with information on how to contact the relevant actors. It will also allow visitors to follow a virtual itinerary of the suggested marble routes. The website will not act as intermediary for buys or booking of services, but rather an information and promotional website for this new tourist product, the routes of marble. The new web site will be on line very soon…..at the following address: www.marbleroutes.eu. Marketing and promotion In parallel some activities of marketing and promotion have been carried out. In particular, the Communication Plan of the project together with the first edition of the project leaflet have been produced by an external society. The Communication Plan has given a number of suggestion for the project’s promotion such as: establishment of a corporate identity; advertising (brochures, pay per click; magazines); international contest with prizes for final tourists and so on.

What will be done in the following months………. The activities that will be carried out during the following months are mainly linked to the development of local itineraries. In addition, the partnership will organize the mid term meeting in Toledo from the 26th to the 30th of April. The partnership will take the occasion of the mid term meeting to visit also the Mining Park of Almaden, which has been selected as best practice to possibly replicate on our local territories. More news will be given within the next newsletter……..

For more information, please write to: [email protected]