Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism in the Marche Region

The project “Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism in the Marche Region” is planned as a five-day Summer School, offered jointly for students of the Master programmes “Nachhaltige Tourismusentwicklung” (NTE) at Heilbronn University for Applied Sciences (HHN), Faculty of International Business, and “ITourDeM – International Tourism and Destination Management” at the Italian host university Università di Macerata (UniMC), Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism. The project aims at creating an academic and international learning experience for the Master students from both universities and to establish and promote professional and scientific exchange among the involved researchers related to the summer school topics (Ziel 1, 3). The HHN will contribute knowledge and expertise related to sustainable tourism and regional development. UniMC is highly experienced with regard to cultural marketing and cultural heritage management (Ziel 4). The two main components of the project are an international workshop and field excursions to explore how the Italian Marche region’s intangible cultural heritage can be promoted for a sustainable tourism development that is appropriate in the new business framework of a “post-Corona world” (Ziel 3). The innovativeness of the project is based on three pillars (Ziel 3,4): 1) A mix of formal (international workshop) and informal/non-formal learning experiences (traditional local finger food cooking class, social activities); 2) gamification in tourism (Mezzadria Stories Gamified Tour); 3) interactive dialogue on tourism development in the Marche Region (meeting with local policy makers and other stakeholders on tourism-related challenges and opportunities in the post-COVID-19 era).