www.charts-interreg4c.eu Project CHARTS “Culture and Heritage Added value to Regional policies for Tourism Sustainability” Workshop E “Quality Criteria” Event Report Apr 28th-May 1st 2013 Gothenburg, Sweden _________________________________________________________________________________________ Report on the Workshop E “Quality Criteria” 28 April-1 May 2013 in Västra Götaland, Sweden 1 by Region Västra Götaland, December 2013 www.charts-interreg4c.eu Table of contents 1. Introduction...................................................... ....................................................... ......3 2. Workshop on Quality Criteria on April 29, 2013 ............................................................ 5 2.1. Session 1: Opening at the Dicksonska Palace, Göteborg ..................................................... 5 2.2. Workshop on Quality Criteria in Cultural Tourism ............................................................... 8 3. Donor’s point of view ................................................................................................... 10 3.1. Counting beans, ticking boxes or herding cats – approaches to measuring the quality of cultural destinations ............................................................................................................. 10 3.2. Culture Destination Quality Net – Case Turkku Castle ...................................................... 11 3.3. Quality Assurance System – West Sweden Tourist Board ................................................. 12 4. Walking workshop in the city of Göteborg .................................................................. 13 4.1. Walking workshop ......................................................................................................... 13 4.2. Evening reception at the Dicksonska Palace .................................................................... 16 5. Workshop on Quality Criteria, day 2 ............................................................................ 17 5.1. Emotional mapping of yesterday’s walking workshop + Who is the customer? ................... 17 6. EU Tourism Policy Actions and GNTO .......................................................................... 18 6.1. The EU Commission’s approach to ensure Service Quality and Sustainability ..................... 18 6.2. GNTO’s contribution to cultural tourism of Greece: initiatives and projects ........................ 21 7. Concluding session ....................................................................................................... 22 7.1. Next step for transfer of good practice on Quality Criteria ................................................ 22 7.2. GNTO’s contribution to cultural tourism of Greece: initiatives and projects ........................ 23 8. Steering group meeting+The Barber of Seville ............................................................ 24 9. Study tours to the West Coast ...................................................................................... 25 9.1. Nordic Watercoulour Museum, Tjörn .............................................................................. 25 9.2. Herring Museum, Klädesholmen ..................................................................................... 26 10. Contacts ...................................................................................................................... 27 Annex I Workshop programme and information ............................................................. 28 Annex II Lists of Participants ........................................................................................... 32 Special thanks to: Krisztina Boros, European Commission and Liselott Carlsson, City of Gothenburg for providing the Dicksonska Palace _________________________________________________________________________________________ Report on the Workshop E “Quality Criteria” 28 April-1 May 2013 in Västra Götaland, Sweden 2 by Region Västra Götaland, December 2013 www.charts-interreg4c.eu 1. INTRODUCTION What is quality and quality criteria in cultural tourism? It should never be a label, once and for all stated, but rather an always ongoing work of improvement, involving your clients and your staff. That is a very brief conclusion on the thematic workshop, E, on quality criteria held in Göteborg, Västra Götaland, Sweden on 28-30 April 2013, followed by study visit on 1st of May. The aim was to develop useful tools for quality improvement in cultural tourism. The workshop was led by Mr Bo Bergman, Professor of Quality Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg. The workshop and the study visits were arranged by Region Västra Götaland. All partners, except for one, were present, altogether 35 persons. The seminar was also lucky to host Krisztina Boros, Policy Officer in the European Commission, who presented the work on EU Tourism Policy Actions. The conference was opened by Lars Nordström at a welcoming dinner on April 28 at Hotel Eggers. Vice president of the Cultural Committee of Region Västra Götaland and professor of human geography, Lars Nordström stressed the importance of international relations within the cultural area. He also underlined the danger of being too sure about what quality is – we cannot always know what the future will consider as high quality. Subsequently, it is crucial to be open to new impulses and always keep an open attitude, concluded Lars Nordström. In Västra Götaland, we have for a long time developed tools for improving security systems in the automotive industry. Now, when the sector of tourism is growing, it is crucial to contribute to the important work of developing tools for improving the quality of cultural tourism in Europe. What is quality? It is impossible to answer this question once and for all. Quality improvement is a process that always needs to be developed, and we are happy to contribute to this important work within the CHART’s project. The welcoming dinner was held at Hotel Eggers in the city center of Gothenburg. An old, well reputed hotel close to the Gothenburg Railway Station, where many famous people and artists have resided throughout the years. One of the most well known is the Swedish poet and artist Evert Taube, who actually wrote one of his most loved refrains in Hotel Eggers – at the back of his menu! Thus, as an honor to the CHARTS guests, Evert Taube himself resurrected occasionally (played by the troubadour Martin Bagge) to sing his beloved refrain in “Waltz of Sjösala”: _________________________________________________________________________________________ Report on the Workshop E “Quality Criteria” 28 April-1 May 2013 in Västra Götaland, Sweden 3 by Region Västra Götaland, December 2013 www.charts-interreg4c.eu Och se så många blommor som redan slagit ut på ängen: Gullviva, mandelblom, kattfot och blå viol! And look at all those flowers Who just fell in blossom in the meadow: Cowslip, almond blossom, cats’ foot and blue violets! Evert Taube, 1890-1976. In the afternoon, prior to the welcoming dinner, the ECTN General Assembly had a meeting with the agenda to update the action plan of 2013, the communication plan and the web site. Some pretended new members were discussed, i a Civilscape and Culturepolis. Another discussion was about the participation in Europa Nostra and European Heritage Alliance. The meeting had a large discussion on how to take forward the opportunities arising from the 2014- 2020 EU programmes. Troubadour Martin Bagge, photo: Lars Arned _________________________________________________________________________________________ Report on the Workshop E “Quality Criteria” 28 April-1 May 2013 in Västra Götaland, Sweden 4 by Region Västra Götaland, December 2013 www.charts-interreg4c.eu 2. WORKSHOP ON QUALITY CRITERIA on April 29, 2013 2.1. Session 1: Opening at the Dicksonska Palace, Göteborg • Welcome address by Mr Lars Nordström, Vice President of the Cultural Committee, Region Västra Götaland, Sweden – Most welcome to Västra Götaland and to this workshop on quality criteria! What is quality? It is not always easy to say or to predict. In fact, the Swedish automotive sector, based in Västra Götaland, has been extremely good at quality improvement. Security and quality have been the key words for Volvo and Saab. But when it comes to cultural tourism? I am not sure myself. But as the president of the Cultural Committee of Region Västra Götaland, I have been working hard for the internationalization of the cultural sector in Västra Götaland. We often tend to believe that we have all the solutions within our country. That’s not true. We need to Lars Nordström collaborate, globally, both with those countries or regions who are similar to us and with those who are very different. I am very happy that we are a part of CHARTS, and I want to welcome all of you to our region. I hope you will have fruitful discussions about quality and continue to improve the sector of cultural tourism in Europe. • CHARTS – actions and achievements. Manos Vougioukas, project coordinator Manos Vougioukas introduced the CHARTS project; its objectives, approach, actions and achievements until now and the forthcoming program up to 2014. Manos Vougioukas reminded about the Göteborg declaration of environment in 2001 – if we will be as successful this time, he said, quality criteria will, through ECTN, hopefully be on the EU agenda from next year! The task of CHARTS is thus to use culture and heritage as an added value when it comes to strategies of cultural tourism and policymaking