The capital of Cyprus owns all the assets to offer visitors authentic and creative experiences: a rich and mixed historical heritage, centuries of merchant know-how and traditions, and friendly, creative, enterprise people.
But a successful creative tourism development also relies on a cross-sectoral ecosystem to underpin a tourist industry that includes artists, craftspeople, cultural and creative industries, tourist entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, and academic researchers, among others.
Two events held this week confirm the engagement of such stakeholders in Nicosia and show the fertile grounds that exist for turning Nicosia into a center of creative tourism:
– On January 26th, a workshop on Creative Tourism was organized by the EU-funded international Network for Medieval Arts & Rituals (NetMAR), housed at the University of Cyprus.
– While on January 27th, the Nicosia Tourism Board will formally join the CreativeTourismNetwork® and become a CreativeFriendlyDestination.
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The workshop, held on January 26th at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, aimed to exchange insights and good practices about creative tourism, as well as to create synergies within a broad network of academics, industry experts, policymakers, and key actors of local and governmental agencies, in an informal and friendly environment.
A panel of experts shared their complementary visions of this theme.
Among them, the event featured Caroline Couret, director of the CreativeTourismNetwork® and Dr. Stavroula Constantinou, Project Coordinator of NetMAR, the network that pairs the University of Cyprus and its recently launched Centre for Medieval Arts & Rituals (CeMAR) with two advanced research centers: the Centre for Medieval Literature at the University of Southern Denmark and the Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Bamberg in Germany.
Dr. Constantinou spoke on the subject of “Bridging Academia and Industry: The Network for Medieval Arts & Rituals”.
Caroline Couret led a discussion on “Creative Tourism as a New Way to Experience Heritage”, showcasing the fundamental principles of creative tourism, which promotes tourism linked to the local culture of a place and promotes active participation in creative activities, linked to a place’s heritage and identity.
“Such synergies between the academic sector and the tourist industries are key to guaranteeing the development of a sustainable tourism that is, at the same time, attractive for the new travelers, and respectful of the historical heritage”, Couret said.
Indeed, one of the chief missions of NetMAR is to bring together academics, industry experts, local and governmental authorities and NGOs, and policy-makers with a view to finding exciting and original ways in which the rich medieval heritage of Cyprus can be mobilized for social and economic benefit.
The medieval history of Cyprus, its long and rich heritage of medieval rituals and arts, can make Cyprus an even more desirable destination for tourists than currently is, while this heritage can also be commercialized by local industries and businesses.
NetMAR is committed to soliciting the views and advice of experts from local industry and SMEs, artists and artisans, local, municipal and state organizations from all over Cyprus.
On behalf of the Creative Tourism Network®, Caroline Couret congratulated the NetMAR consortium for the relevance of the event and the perfect organization and thanked the team for the good organization.
This workshop is included in a series of three events; a second workshop and a networking conference will follow.
Further information: https://netmar.cy
