UNESCO Moscow Office for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia Republic of Moldova and Russian Federation Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation – Azerbaijan Baku Arts Centre Cultural tourism: Local cases and global trends Seminar programme Friday, March 25, 2005 10:00 – 11:30 greeting speech, participants’ brief presentations 11:30 – 12:00 coffee break 12:00 – 13:30 Cultural tourism in Azerbaijan^ current state and perspectives (presentation of the projects around cultural and historical heritage site Gobustan) 13:30 – 14:30 lunch 14:30 – 16:00 a series of presentations of project proposals on cultural routes and marketing of museums and cultural resources of the regions 16:00 – 16:30 coffee break 16:30 – 17:30 discussion on presented cases Saturday, March 26, 2005 10:00 – 11:30 Current international trends in cultural tourism a lecture talk by Greg Richards, professor of Tilburg University (the Netherlands), coordinator of ATLAS, international network for cultural tourism, director of TRAM- Tourism Research and Marketing agency in Barcelona (Spain) 11:30 – 12:00 coffee break 12:00 – 13:30 lecture continued 13:30 – 14:30 lunch 14:30 – 15:30 Discussion over topics of the lecture, Q&A session 15:30 – 16:00 coffee break 16:00 – 17:00 de-briefing, proposals on future collaborative actions Final Report on the project “Cultural policies for tourism” (Azerbaijan ) Currently the tourism sector is at the stage of active development in Azerbaijan under state supervision and support. The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism deals with establishing regulatory mechanisms in the tourism sector, setting standards and qualifications, staff training, and promotion of local tour products and services both within the country and abroad (mostly through fairs, branded image etc.). The local private companies are emerging now, and they just start to think about those tourism products which are targeted towards diversified client demand. Nevertheless, routes with special focus on some experiences, impressions and entertainment which may offer a cultural tour are not available yet on the local market. All those factors allowed to expect that the project on widening knowledge and making new collaborations in the sphere of cultural tourism might be well demanded by professionals in Azerbaijan. In accordance with outlined list of activities, the project included the following components: a. Organizing a capacity-building workshop “Cultural policies for tourism” in Baku with participation of governmental representatives, international development agencies, tourism sector businesses, museums, community groups engaged in heritage protection. The objectives of the seminar were the following: - - defining prospects for coordinated development of cultural tourism with involvement of actors at various levels and domains within the country and in the regional and international schemes; - establishing a channel for information exchange and joint actions between policy-makers, agencies and individual enterprises, between cultural and tourism sectors, between international agencies working in the country in the fields as diverse as poverty reduction, SME development, communities empowerment, heritage protection, museum development all having some relation to the issue of cultural tourism. The seminar indeed gathered representatives of various sectors, and as it turned out, some people were meeting and discussing the matters of common interest for the first time. Local tourism agencies which already were keen to develop niche products and services in tourism sector, were not aware of proposals which are already available in terms of concept and information development, as well cultural;, historical, architectural attribution. The representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Youth, Spots and Tourism, invited to the seminar, for the first time were discussing the fact of accepting ‘cultural tourism’ as an important topic into their priorities agenda, moreover the perception of addressing this issue on transversal level in the variety of attitudes has been formulated in the course of lively discussion during the seminar. b. Creation of information kits on the cases of innovative approach to cultural tourism development containing practical recommendations The information kit includes materials of the PowerPoint presentation of the ideas and information for potential cultural tours which have been shown at the seminar, as well as recommendations by the international expert, Mr. Greg Richards which have been developed after the event in Baku. Those materials compiled in the electronic format are to be distributed soon on CD-ROMs among the seminar participants c. Compilation of the CD-ROM on mapping exercise of existing resources in fostering cultural tourism. Simultaneously, the research, analysis and compilation work has been done in regard a data-base on cultural tourism potential of the country , a sort of reference material for further development of cultural tours products. It includes interactive map of the country with detailed data on monuments, museums, theatres, galleries and other cultural attractions available in a given locality. This resource is ready for distribution within the target group. Arts and Culture Program at Open Society Institute AF-Azerbaijan has been involved in raising the issue of cultural tourism over a series of projects in the recent years: Crafts fair in Lahich village, 2001, seminar in Baku on crafts tours with Satu Miettinen (Finland), 2003, concept and marketing development of a week-end tour into carpet-making regions (jointly with EBRD Business Advisory Services Programme, 2004. Recently has been approved a project related with commercial video ads on new cultural tours to be shot by young film-maker crews under guidance of producer Kevin Sullivan (USA). The interest raised by the seminar activities has pointed out to the clear demand for a follow-up project. The scope of the project is to foster development of new cultural routes and tour products to be marketed among local population and tourists visiting Azerbaijan. Those tours are intended to promote local cultural heritage, regenerate interest towards national history and culture and gain the sense of local pride, and indirectly also to help in establishing new jobs in culture-related economy. Project implies the following actions: - Identification of four to five cultural tours throughout Azerbaijan (in consultation with museums, as well as archeology, history, architecture, ethnography specialists) - Development of preliminary tour proposals (description of cultural value and possible duration and routes) - Testing the feasibility and potential attractiveness of proposed tours with tourism companies - Attracting consultancy in developing the details of the tours (scenarios, logistics, on-spot testing, pricing, training for the guides) - Developing the ‘marketing mix’ recommendations for each of tours - Promotion/ visibility event in Baku announcing the results of the project Jahangir SELIMKHANOV, Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Azerbaijan Arts & Culture Programme Director, Cultural tourism: local cases and global trends A report based on the seminar held in Baku, 25-26th March 2005 Greg Richards Barcelona [email protected] The seminar organised to discuss the development of cultural tourism in Azerbaijan was a very successful event, not least because it brought together many of the key players who will be central to the development process. It was very positive that representatives of both the tourism and cultural sectors in Azerbaijan participated actively in the event, indicating a willingness to collaborate which will be a major asset in cultural tourism development and marketing. This report sets out some initial suggestions about the steps that are needed to create the conditions for successful cultural tourism development in Azerbaijan. It should be emphasised that these conclusions are drawn from the information presented at the seminar rather than an exhaustive study of the state of the supply and demand of cultural tourism in the country. The document is divided into two parts. First, an assessment of some of the major challenges for cultural tourism development (and tourism development in general) are outlined. The second part then provides some suggestions as to how these problems might be overcome. Basic issues in cultural and tourism development Finance and investment needs Many presentations at the seminar made it clear that lack of resources is a basic obstacle to the development of both cultural and tourism institutions. In a country in which resources for development are limited, it is not surprising that the cultural sector is poorly funded, as this is often seen as a luxury which can only be afforded once other priorities in fields such as health, housing and education are met. Tourism seems to be in a stronger position in this respect, since it is perceived as a potential source of income. As in many other countries, however, tourism is seen as a concern of the private sector since tourism enterprises are perceived as the main beneficiaries of tourism expenditure. In the context of cultural tourism, it is important to challenge some of these basic assumptions. As culture is the main motivation for cultural tourists, it is important to invest in the cultural attractions and institutions that provide the basic reason for visiting the country. Such investment also needs to take into account the fact that