Culture and cross-border cooperation

Living Heritage – an unlimited resource for tourism development

The project was implemented between November 2013 and April 2015 and had the following objectives:

  • To increase the knowledge degree regarding the immaterial cultural heritage and natural heritage in the cross‐border area;
  • To raise the awareness among the population in the cross‐border area regarding the opportunities of preservation and exploitation of the cultural and natural heritage through tourism;
  • To increase the quality and quantity of touristic attractions in the region, in order to create community development.

The project was coordinated by the West University Timisoara in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Timis County, the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara and the Kikinda municipality, being financed through the Romania-Republic of Serbia IPA Cross‐border Cooperation Programme.

The project activities included research, development of touristic products, heritage education, training courses and among the results we can mention: touristic maps, awareness raising campaigns in communities, press conference, regional gastronomic fair, scientific conferences, touristic billboards, maps with thematic routes, an intercultural calendar in Romanian, Serbian and

English, a bilingual legend book (in Romanian and Serbian), a bilingual cooking book, audio‐book, an audio CD with music of Banat, DVD with dances of Banat, promotional materials. The Intercultural Institute of Timisoara was responsible for coordinating the process of drawing up the touristic and thematic maps; the awareness raising campaign in communities by involving pupils in heritage education activities; the training course focused on the exploitation of the cultural heritage. The Intercultural Institute also contributed to the development of all the other activities included in the project by offering consultancy on the intercultural dimension.