The French Ministry of Culture organized the 2nd Meeting of Cultural Tourism, held on 20th November at the Louvre-Lens, with the aim of “strengthening the link between culture and tourism and offering professionals from both sectors a favorable framework of exchange to the development of synergies and sustainable partnerships.”
These meetings enable to deepen the objectives of the interministerial strategy for cultural tourism in France, specified by the agreement signed on January 19, 2018 between the Ministry of Culture and the ministries in charge of tourism
Key players in cultural tourism such as François Bédard, Director of the Center of Excellence for Destinations, Jean Blaise, Director of Le Voyage à Nantes or Bernard Faivre d’Arcier, Project Manager of the French Capitals of Culture, to name but a few, have generously shared their experiences and views on the opportunities and challenges of the cultural tourism for a territory.
The success of this event was particularly reflected in the large attendance. Several hundreds of public and private actors have exchanged ideas through roundtables, workshops and conferences on topics as varied as : development strategies of cultural tourism in the territories, innovation, valuation of heritage, the integration of identity and living culture into the tourist experience, the tourism of know-how, the digital innovation and … the creative tourism!
Mrs. Maryline Laplace, Head of the Department for the Coordination of Cultural Policies and Innovation, pointed out that “the cultural tourism is reinventing itself by creating innovative, original, more immersive visitor to be fully involved in the discovery and to invest new territories. “
A “carte blanche” was given to Caroline Couret, founder of the Creative Tourism Network® through which she gave an overview of this booming sector and shared best practices to meet the current demand for experiential tourism as well as to create a value chain at the territorial level.
Examples of destinations as diverse as Biot (Provence), Medellín, the portuguese Algarve, Tuscany, or even Barcelona and the Magdalen Islands (Quebec) have demonstrated the adaptability of creative tourism to all types of territories and its many virtues in favor of:
– the preservation and promotion of intangible heritage and know-how,
– the differentiation and attractiveness of the destination through the reappropriation of its cultural identity and its DNA,
– the empowerment of the local communities through their participation in the process of co-creation of experiences,
– the (re) creation of a narrative used for external promotion,
– the growth of the tourist activity out of season, without investments, by simply optimizing existing resources,
– the setting up an eco-system between different sectors, including tourism, crafts, creative industries, culture, agriculture, etc.
-the social cohesion between residents and tourists, as well as within the local community,
to name a few.
Thanks to its diversity and the excellence of its know-how, France represents a paradigm for this type of tourism and new destinations CreativeFriendly(R), a label created by the CreativeTourism Network® should soon join the network, from the Hexagon and the Overseas.
Projects and publications to follow-up, but not without having once again thanked all the team of the Ministry of Culture and the Louvre-Lens for their invitation and warm welcome, and reiterated our congratulations for the relevance and perfect organization of the event.
