The aim of this project was to contribute to the touristic capitalisation of material and immaterial cultural heritage in Banat. Cultural tourism is an essential aspect both for preserving and protecting the heritage and for socio-economic and cultural development of the region.

The project had two main phases. In the first phase an initial evaluation was carried on, along with a participatory process of developing a Strategy for Developing Cultural Tourism in Banat. The second phase brought a major contribution to implementing the strategy through three main activities: professional development of tour guides in the field of cultural tourism, an information and promotion campaign and development of a pilot cultural-touristic route.

The cross-border dimension of the project consisted of the exchange of ideas, information and experiences between the participants and of including Serbian tourist attractions in the 4 routes identified and promoted. Moreover, the project was replicated on the Serbian side of the border, by the Serbian partners with the support of the Romanian partners.

The main results of the project were:

• An inventory of the 50 most representative cultural heritage touristic attractions;
• Development of 4 touristic routes in the region, including components from Serbia;
• Creation of a regional strategy, in a participatory manner, in order to facilitate the development of cultural tourism and to engage public and private entities;
• Diverse multimedia resources to promote cultural tourism in Banat such as publications, videos, photo exhibitions, DVDs, a website and participation in an international tourism fair;
• Increased interest of institutions responsible for managing the cultural heritage (museums, memorial houses, historic sites, old churches, etc.) in developing partnerships with tour operators and local authorities to include the heritage sites in the offers;
• 20 tour guides trained on cultural tourism with focus on the Banat attractions.
• Including Banat region in the offer of more tour operators and increasing the number of tourists that visit the cultural heritage with direct educational impact.

Some publications realised during the project can be found here, in Romanian language: Map of Banat region, Calendar of cultural events in Banat region, Cultural touristic guide of Banat region, Strategic proposals for the development uf cultural tourism in the Banat region.