Behind the greatest European wine names there’s always a land and its people trying to preserve the secrets of its production. This cultural wealth, patiently gathered over centuries in some parts of the EU, is today being threatened by the economic pressures on the land. Productivity, urbanization and mass tourism are phenomena that urgently need to be brought under control. Designing new regulations and policies to encourage sustainable development of Europe’s wine producing regions is a challenge which needs a collective and international approach, involving both decision-makers and professionals in wine and tourism.
The project
OBJECTIVES: The overall objective of the VITOUR project is to
create new references on the sustainable development of world
heritage sites, through improving their landscape management and
developing innovative tourist offers by : 1) Identifying good
practice and the critical success factors in achieving high levels
of sustainable development ; 2) Informing decision-makers of
relevant landscape management issues and new tourist offers -
discussing their application at the local level ; 3) Using the
mechanisms developed in the project to bring the lessons learnt to
the attention of a wider audience in each of the 7 local sites and
during international wine fairs.
PARTNERSHIP: The VITOUR network is made up of 7 partners from
6 EU Member States. It combines public authorities and wine /
tourism representatives. These 7 European regions are designated as
UNESCO World Heritage sites, due to their cultural landscapes.
Working together, they should achieve the identified goals. The
close involvement of public authorities will be secured directly or
indirectly in each area.
ACTIVITIES: There are 4 components: C1: Management and
coordination ; C2: Development of joint tools and strategic
guidelines ; C3: Interregional workshops on landscape management /
innovative tourist offers ; C4: Dissemination of the results.
MAIN EXPECTED OUTPUTS, RESULTS and IMPACTS: Outputs :C1 : 6
steering committees; C2 : 7 local territorial analyses + 1
synthesis, 1 study on a better territorial adaptation to
international demand for wine tourism, 1 joint database, proposal
of charter and action plan ; C3 : 4 workshops on four specific
themes, 4 local dissemination sessions with public authorities, 4
study visits ; C4 : 4 working group "communication" meetings, 1
expert session on communication, 2 conferences, 1 communication
plan, 1 set of communication tools. Results: - exchange of
“know-how” between wine professionals, tourism
professionals and regional/local authorities ; - definition of a
plan of action to conceive and promote international products for
wine tourism development; - creation of a common charter on
sustainable development of the World Heritage wine sites (to be
transferred to other regions). Impact : mainly application of
renewed sustainable development practices in the UNESCO
sites.
Partners
- Leader: the Val de Loire Mission, a public-private
interregional body, France
- Interloire, the interprofessional body for the wines of the
Val de Loire, France
- Association of towns and villages in the jurisdiction of
Saint-Emilion, France
- Neusiedlersee World Heritage Association, Austria
- Institute of the wines of the Douro and Porto, Portugal
-
The
Rheinland–Pfalz region, Germany
- Cinqueterre National Park, Italy
- Tokaj World Heritage Association, Hungary
Duration of the project
The project will run for a period of 2½ years, from July
2005 to December 2007.
Budget
The total budget for the project is €639,000 and is
financed from European funds.
Steering committees
Steering committee meetings will take place as follows (more
details in the
provisional
schedule):
- September 2005, Upper Douro, Portugal
- March 2006, Upper Middle Rhine Valley, Germany
- June 2006, Val de Loire at Fontevraud Abbey, France
- January 2007, Cinqueterre National Park, Italy
- June 2007, Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion, France
- October 2007, Tokaj, Hungary
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