DANTE: How to reinforce ICT and tourism strategies in rural and mountain areas?

This event is the final conference of the INTERREG IVC project DANTE - Digital Agenda for new tourism approach in European rural and mountain areas, which looks at how the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) can positively contribute to the development of tourism in rural and remote areas.

Rural and mountainous territories host countless sites of tourism excellence, beautiful landscapes and infinite possibilities of outdoor activities, precious heritage sites and warm small rural communities who are offering tourists a different, quality experience. Beyond the famous but limited big tourism centres, rural and mountain tourism destinations are characterized by a great number of often small actors, hotels and B&B owners, guides, outdoor activity centres and authentic natural or historical sites. ICT have a potential to help these destinations promote their specific assets, provide tourists with quality information in a cost efficient way, help businesses to better coordinate and connect their offers, design attractive new products and services and finally give tourists the possibility to interact and share their experience in a proactive way.

The core part of the event will be dedicated to the communication of the main results from the project. In particular, DANTE will present the pilot web platform assembling the functionalities of the best practices identified in partner regions in one operational tool that is already implemented in the Province of Torino, and will soon be implemented in other rural and mountainous areas.

Partners believe that ICT and tourism should be addressed as a dedicated strategy under their Smart Specialisation Strategy and Operational Programmes. DANTE partners regions will discuss their regional strategies.

These regional strategies are supported by a new European framework: the ICT and tourism initiative, defined in 2013, and the launch of the new Interreg Europe programme are giving new opportunities to develop and reinforce ICT and tourism strategies in rural and mountain territories.

You are in charge of tourism in your organisation,? You wish to learn more on the use of ICT to reinforce tourism in rural and mountain areas? You are a policy-maker and you need to define your future tourism policy ?

On the 24th of June don't miss also the opportunity to participate in the final conference of TOURISMlink, an EU funded initiative to improve the connection of SMEs to the global digital value chain through the development of simple, low cost and easy to use ICT solutions. Read more about TOURISMlink and register to the event: http://www.tourismlink.eu/conference/

So come and have your say!