This proceedings volume explores the socio-economic dimension of the heritage sector from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective. Featuring contributions from the 2016 ALECTOR International Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, this book presents current theoretical and empirical research related to such topics as: R&D and ICT in tourism; heritage products and services; climate change; finance and tourism; cultural communication; anthropological cultural heritage; and heritage management. Collectively, the papers presented in this book provides methodologies, strategies and applications to measure the socio-economic dimension of the heritage sector and also good practices in the heritage sector that drive regional, cultural and economic development and sustainability.
The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre (ENPI) Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Black Sea project Collaborative Networks of Multilevel Actors to Advance Quality Standards for Heritage Tourism at Cross Border Level , or ALECTOR, focuses on different types of heritage assets as a means to invest in human capital and tourism innovation in order to achieve socio-economic development and cooperation with social partners in the Black Sea region. Featuring collaborations from Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey, the project proposes a cognitive and educational framework for using a region´s assets, which would guide final beneficiaries (regions, communities, SMEs) to identify, signify, valorize and manage their natural and cultural resources, in order to use heritage potential as a vehicle for tourism.
Presenting case studies of successful initiatives, the enclosed papers are divided into two parts:
- Part I: Economics of Heritage features innovative research results on the heritage and tourism topics from countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia, and Romania
- Part II: Best Practices features best practices, experiences, and promotion plans for cultural heritage through tourism from countries such as Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Russia, and Romania
