For the past three years, European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) has been organising an international conference within European Heritage Days with an aim to encourage discussions related to heritage and tourism in Europe. This year, the conference will take place on 23rd and 24th September in Guimarães, Portugal with the theme Intangible Heritage: Incomparable Asset for Sustainable and Responsible Tourism Development.

As noted in the official announcement by ECTN, the conference aims to “explore major challenges, risks and opportunities for sustainable and responsible tourism development related to intangible heritage, as well as suggest practical steps for the development and marketing of intangible heritage-based tourism products.”

Like in previous years, the conference will assemble presenters from all over Europe to contribute with case studies and papers that give practical guidance for intangible heritage preservation, restoration and promotion. The conference organisers invite cultural tourism professionals to join presentations, panel debates and parallel sessions by submitting their abstracts until 30th April 2016.

This way, the participants will get an opportunity to join an elite group of presenters who helped in highlighting the emerging cultural issues in previous years. Last year, the conference was dedicated to industrial heritage to align with the official theme of 2015 European Heritage Days, as well as E-FAITH’s campaign dedicated to exploring industrial and technical heritage of European nations. Some of the most distinguished speakers last year included E-FAITH General Secretary, Adriaan Linters, Europa Nostra Council member and Chairman of Industrial and Engineering Heritage Committee Pierre Laconte, as well as FEDECRAIL President David Morgan.

The event successfully gathered new knowledge on industrial heritage and helped promoting this critical theme among the professionals in the field. This year, the conference is expected to be at least as successful and is intentionally set in one of the most important historical sites in Portugal. Namely, Guimarães is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also an attractive tourist destination, which makes it particularly convenient for discussing the title topic.  

The candidates who wish to be a part of this year’s conference are welcome to submit their abstract via the form that can be found here.