Culture Heritage Tourism – New uses, new opportunities
Cultural tourism – new uses and opportunities
France Muséums and the SCET Group, a public-interest organization fully owned subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts, have jointly published a white paper to analyse the challenges of territorial tourist attractiveness and the key role of cultural tourism today.
New uses, new opportunities
Culture and heritage are powerful action leverages for boosting France’s tourism competitiveness. The percentage of tourists visiting cultural establishments represents more than 60 %. Through the promotion of historic sites and artistic festivals, cultural tourism contributes to the economic development of the regions, providing more than 100,000 jobs and 15 billion euros in revenue.
The aim is therefore to analyze and understand the real problems that are facing professionals in the tourism and cultural sectors. What are the challenges, new territories, and potential leverages? How can we rethink cultural venues to guarantee fair access to culture and reach out primarily to a local audience? How to envisage a new generation of cultural venues intended for residents as well as tourists? What are the new economic models? How can we rethink the convergences and divergences between the expectations of domestic and foreign tourists and local visitors, in order to build new cultural and tourist offers for the future?
The first part of this white paper explains these phenomena by providing an overview of Culture and Tourism today in France. Throughout this publication, the challenges and difficulties of the sector are outlined, giving stakeholders (project leaders, companies, local and regional actors, etc.) food for thought about potential leverages, and presenting the first elements of response.
To shed light on how to rethink the cultural and tourism strategies of territories, several levers are addressed. The design of a new generation of hybrid cultural venues catering for residents as well as tourists is one option. A second one can be the construction of diversified and resilient business models.
France Muséums and SCET join their expertise to support the development of territory and the modernization of cultural sites to help cultural establishments innovate, rethink their approach, fit into a denser and more diverse urban project, and meet the requirements of contemporary tourism.
