AER seminar on cultural tourism and public-private partnerships

St. Pölten, Niederösterreich (A), 10 September 2008

Themes and people rather than geographical boundaries: this was the basis of a seminar on cultural tourism and public-private partnerships hosted today in St. Poelten, Lower Austria (A) by the Assembly of European Regions (AER).

Around 60 representatives of regional authorities from across Europe heard that the tourism industry is growing at a rate of up to 5% each year, while the percentage of tourist travels with a cultural aspect stands at 40% and continues to increase. These figures suggest that the European regions should be playing a key role in developing sustainable tourism, since it is regional authorities that are best placed to develop the local-level partnerships a sustainable industry relies upon.

Professor Mike Robinson (speaker), Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change, Leeds Metropolitan University (UK)
“All tourism works on the basis of partnerships: between the service sectors and the cultural sectors, between the tourist and the toured communities, between the temporary and the permanent, and between the public and private sectors.”

Art Pedersen, Unesco World Heritage Centre, Paris (F)

Branimir Mitrovic (participant), Vice-President, Assembly of Vojvodina (Serbia)
“The whole concept of public-private partnerships is still quite new in the Balkans, and since my region is working to change that situation, this seminar has given me a lot of ideas to develop further.”

Today’s seminar was part of AER’s two-day plenary gathering of Committee 3 (Culture, Education and Youth) members.

The Assembly of European Regions  (AER) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 270 regions from 33 countries and 13 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.


AER Contacts:

Jascha Scheele, Senior Policy Coordinator for Committee 'Culture, Education and interregional cooperation', j.scheele@aer.eu - Tel. +33 3 88 22 74 47
Richard Medic, Spokesperson / Director of Press and Communications, r.medic@aer.eu - Tel. +33 3 88 22 74 36 - Tel (mob) +33 (0)6 78 69 52 35
Francine Huhardeaux, Press and Communications Officer, f.huhardeaux@aer.eu - Tel./Fax +33 3 88 22 74 49